Hosting a database of rpgs.

[Abu Antar]

We kinda have such database already, although obviously you cannot comment there.

That's one of the things that inspired this thought process of mine.

 

[Lady Error]

Something a Codex-only database could offer that no-one else does:

1) Find all the Codex GOTY, Age of Incline, etc. vote results and link them in one place.

2) In the RPG list, post the place that the game got in any of these votes, for example:

Pillars of Eternity
#5 GOTY 2014
#25 Age of Incline Vote 2016

Adding a couple screenshots to each entry would definitely help. I also remember that we had some Top 100 list where people submitted short reviews, but I can't find it. Something like that would also be useful and can be "outsourced" to the whole community.

Edit: Found the one with the user reviews: https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=11193

 

[Lady Error]

Top 10s From All RPG Codex Votes (2013-2022)​

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/top-10s-from-all-rpg-codex-votes.146293/

 

[Peachcurl]

Is this something that this site would be interested in?

It's been discussed since the site was founded. It never happened because of the amount of work involved entering the data (IE: We have a mostly simple news system but only Infinitron ever posts news).

That and GameBanshee had a pretty decent one back on the day from what I recall, and there's Moby Games for everything else.

I checked the games section of the site, but that isn't exactly what I had in mind.

What did you have in mind and what do you need it to do? At the moment, the "games" section is a WIP that just links all tags we've entered. They're not even broken into whether they're a game or just a developer.

What I would want it to do is similar to what Taluntain posted from the rpg watch list.

But I would also (if possible) want to link threads, screens, patches, essential mods + conversion mods. These things (other than screens, maybe) would be linked to offsite stuff. Scans would be more of a bonus.

The rpgwatch list already does exactly that, only of course it just links to their own data/posts/galleries. (and seeing how often no galleries are present really shows the "data entry" bottleneck)

 

[DarkUnderlord]

What I would want it to do is similar to what Taluntain posted from the rpg watch list.

Hey Taluntain, can we just steal RPG Watch's stuff? I mean, we're basically the same site now anyway rite?

 

[Tweed]

The "troon game" section of the database will take up all your time and never be complete.

 

[laclongquan]

Is this something that this site would be interested in? We'd have to go full autism on this one, but I have been thinking about this more and more. I mean, the site is named RPG Codex, so it would be cool to actually have a database of officially released role playing games. I would be interested in helping in such a project, if others feel compelled to join, but more importantly, if the site admins would be interested in such a thing.

If there already is a good database, I would love it if someone sent me in the right direction. I checked the games section of the site, but that isn't exactly what I had in mind.

Otherwise, I would love it if I could get to create a thread where only interested members are allowed to post and update such a list.

Basic requirement: tags and the number of person agree with said tag by clicking on it. If clicks reach a threshold that tag can become official tags under said tittle.

Advanced requirement: A list of twelve RPG requirement constituted by Codexers If satisfied requirement, it can be listed as Heavy RPG, normal RPG, and lite RPG.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

 

[Taluntain]

What I would want it to do is similar to what Taluntain posted from the rpg watch list.

Hey Taluntain, can we just steal RPG Watch's stuff? I mean, we're basically the same site now anyway rite?

I've heard that wet dream before. As for the db, I'd have to ask the guy(s) who built the database there how they'd feel about that. I assume they'd want to know exactly how it'd be used and if it was basically just to replicate it on the Codex (or worse), I assume the answer would be no, because there wouldn't really be any point in that and it'd just be ripping off years of their work.

I think you'd be better off using Wikipedia's list since you can freely rip that without any conditions attached, then trim it down to what's usable for the Codex.

 

[LostHisMarbles]

So basically Abu, what he's saying here is that you may find yourself.. heavily inspired, how's that.
A love letter if you will to a sister site, whose work you think of so highly the influence's to be expected, if you get me.

 

[Don Peste]

With no intention to disrespect their work, and I know a 21-year-old indie game from a defunct studio might be the worst possible game I could have picked, but...

 

[Taluntain]

I assume "Unknown" just means that that particular field wasn't filled, so that's nothing special. Entries get added to the Watch database when news starts being posted about a certain game and they may or may not get updated later on when more info becomes known. Or, in the case of Arcanum, it's a game that was released long before RPG Watch was founded and the entry was probably one of hundreds that was made at some point just so that it's there, because by then hardly any news posts about it would still be made.

 

[JarlFrank]

I've been an active contributor to Mobygames for a couple of years now, and even they don't have a full catalog of all RPGs ever released. Quite a few obscure ones were missing (and probably still are).

And managing such a database is a lot of work.

 

[Alienman]

A curated list is the way to go. At least starting with that. Could become something nice, a database dedicated to RPGs, with links to articles, old scans, developer citations, and forum posts. Just listing stuff would be very uninteresting and is done all over already.

 

[Theodora]

Could become something nice, a database dedicated to RPGs, with links to articles, old scans, developer citations, and forum posts. Just listing stuff would be very uninteresting and is done all over already.

When whocares mentioned these kinds of additions, it immediately stood out because this kind of information would be genuinely useful for researchers (esp. if their source is cited clearly). Not that writing about video games is the most glamorous field, or that they're an audience Abu should be seeking to serve first and foremost, but it's one very real avenue in which this kind of project could be beneficial to others beyond someone deciding what old game they want to play next.

Also helpful to indie devs trying to work out what was the "spark" in older titles, so that they can emulate the good bits without carrying over the baggage through blind mimicry.

 

[Abu Antar]

Imma just do a megathread with games in alphabetical order.

Only thing I need is to not have the 27 first posts interrupted.

 

[Infinitron]

Imma just do a megathread with games in alphabetical order.

Only thing I need is to not have the 27 first posts interrupted.

Make 27 empty posts, edit later.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Imma just do a megathread with games in alphabetical order.

Only thing I need is to not have the 27 first posts interrupted.

Make 27 empty posts, edit later.

My honest two cents just looking at the entries up so far for just two games is that that thing is going to be ridiculously unwieldy both to write in, but also to read, at which point it will be worthless. Imo, spend time figuring out your medium and template first unless you're hellbent on having a forum post mess. I just can't even wrap my head around how cumbersome it will be.

I'd probably try to make either some sort of hyperlinked shared doc (a la shared and hosted Word doc) at the minimum and ideally something more like an Access database where you've determined the fields in advance with participation like you're doing now and then spend the rest of your life doing data entry, even if the details are crowd sourced.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I don't find them hard to read now, but if there are a million clickable links in a page it might get that way. Example of a big shared document if the format is not decided yet, courtesy of /vg/

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WaxvbLx7UoSZaBqdFr1u32F2uWVLo-CJunJB4nlGUE4/

Only cons is that it's less engaging than a thread (though updates could be summarized and discussed in it) and you'd be subject to another site's rules about what you can link.
-

 

[Chippy]

Did this ever kick off? I'm replaying Satalite Reign atm after kinda quitting when it first came out, and after 30mins or so I've gotta say it's not bad at all. First impressions and all that.

 

[Abu Antar]

Did this ever kick off? I'm replaying Satalite Reign atm after kinda quitting when it first came out, and after 30mins or so I've gotta say it's not bad at all. First impressions and all that.

Sort of, yes: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/a-list-of-rpgs-a-codex-collaboration.146323/

 

[mediocrepoet]

So far it looks much cleaner than I was fearing. Good work (as usual), Abu and other contributors. I do wonder if there will be an issue if a single post would normally take up more than a single forum page, but I guess it either won't come up or you'll find out.

 

[Lord of Riva]

Very prestigious Abu Antar

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

So far it looks much cleaner than I was fearing. Good work (as usual), Abu and other contributors. I do wonder if there will be an issue if a single post would normally take up more than a single forum page, but I guess it either won't come up or you'll find out.

Oh, I'll make sure it happens. It'll mean Abu needs to think of another way to list them or just cut 50% of my contributions when they come.

 

[mediocrepoet]

So far it looks much cleaner than I was fearing. Good work (as usual), Abu and other contributors. I do wonder if there will be an issue if a single post would normally take up more than a single forum page, but I guess it either won't come up or you'll find out.

Oh, I'll make sure it happens. It'll mean Abu needs to think of another way to list them or just cut 50% of my contributions when they come.

That's the sort of thing that makes me think trying to index it as a web thread will be nightmarish, but we'll see. At the least, the layout is far cleaner than I figured it'd be.