The upcoming EAB's Database
 

18 of November 2001:

the AGD is now near completition,
the beta-test withing the main moderator is going well.

expect one public release at the end of the year ? :cool

wait & see.

I will
 

Count me in, don't know if i'd be of much help though. Maybe some dates of release and obscure Australian game names and a few screen shots, but that's about it. Sorry :)

Maybe
 

Excellent idea for the thread.

Now, why do I say maybe? Just because I don't have think I'll have anything new to contribute. But you never know ofcourse...

In any case, here are some little remarks (and be warned, they're of a very nitpicky quality :)):

It's company, not compagny (in the table Games, and as an own table name).
What's doskpop?
It's ambient, instead of ambiante.


Games categories:
First Person Shooter (Alien Breed 3D, etc)
Racer

// RCK:
// Sorry I forgot to reply you: Doskpop is one of the best style of Amiga Classic, invented by LizardKing. more on it when the website will be done :)

Database
 

Although I can appreciate individual databases. Most people don't realise the enormity of the task. I've thought about this type of project loads of time myself, but have been put off by the sheer size of the undertaking. I have a pretty big collection and from this I think it would take many years and years for an individual to complete (maybe all of his life). How many games would you estimate exist?

C'mon guys, lets use the internet in the way it should be used, everybody contributing and helping to make a good project work. If we could get a large team together as well as having other people contributing on the web, we could have a really good database in a fraction of the time.

Of course, if people are contributing, through the web, then the accuracy and quality of the database needs to be monitored, so the team needs some sort of team of moderators, otherwise we'd end up with a totally useless database of inaccurate facts. Any offers?

I can think of someone, who would be perfect for the job, but I think he's working on his own from what I remember reading elsewhere.

The idea about the reviewers was good from zeewolf. Maybe have mini reviews from three different people showing different viewpoint, a bit like zzap 64 used to do.

As for other databases, I'm pretty sure they could be merged into this one. I think this would be a great way to start it off, but this might depend on permission from their authors. How about contacting amiga active and any other amiga mags to encourage amiga readers to go on the webpage. This project could really grow if we wanted...

Maybe as well as a text file it would be possible to generate a web page for each game from the information. I think each game would need a webpage for itself to get all those details in. Of course an index would also need to be generated and a fair bit of webspace for it all to work.

God, I'd love for this all to be possible, just imagine such a massive project llike this actually working...

Sorry, to have waffled on, but I'm starting to drool now, so I'll leave it here....

OK, lemme give my input ;)

I think that ANYTHING, to work, needs to be focused. You have to focus to make this database.

Thus, I think the idea of including mods, and everything else that it's not software it's arse. Even demos.

First, Big task. Too much stuff to cover.

Second, there are people who are more dedicated into this. Good example is Exotica, with mods, and Back 2 the Roots has a similar database system going on. Why make what is already out there in some form? Innovate, be original, don't do 'me too stuff'. These matters are key to me.

If you focus like this, you remove unnecessary stuff from the database, thus easing the updating job and make it more cool. You have enough Amiga software to last you a lifetime (games and utilities, commercial, shareware, freeware, F1 licenseware, coverdisks.... now try to make a list of that!)

I think that if you widespan the database so much, it would end up having too much innacurate data, or llots of empty spots, thus being shite. If you focus it I'd be glad to contribute.

I think that if you make a database of Amiga software ONLY, you could be succesful in getting it to a great level of complexity. If you widespread it as it stands now, it will prolly fail and be 'another one'.

My 0.02

focus
 

I agree and I also think that utils and apps should be left out unless they're games related. After all we want our goal to be achievable and apps and utils are appearing daily on aminet.

I'm only really interested in games on the amiga.

I beg to differ...
 

New games appear daily on teh Aminet too, so we should leave them out as well?

Apps MUST be put in the database. What I say is make a complete SOFTWARE database. Ok, it might include demos, since they are software. However do not put data as artists, mods, softcos, whatever. Sure, put softco info in the game entry, but don't make a list of softcos. You know what I mean? :)

Personally I am not interested in Amiga games only. The Amiga is FAR MORE than a games machine, and this is a FACT a lot of people never discovered, even today.\

I think the goal of teh database si to be damned complete (that explains why RCK added so many fields), but I thik taht with a little focus, it is achievable. It won't be a one-man effort anyway, so I bet you can et a pertty darn nice list in a year.

apps
 

Well, I agree the amiga is far more than a games machine, any computer is by it's very nature and the amiga is certainly adept at many other things. That's not what I said, though, all I said is that I'm only interested in games on the amiga, not, that's all I was ever interested in. I've programmed, word-processed, created music and numerous other things on the amiga in my time. But my interest in the amiga now is purely as a games machine.

I woudn't personally find any enjoyment in trawling through a list of utils.

But, if it is to be complete it should have demos as well then. After all demos are software. I don't think by doing a few demos we are losing focus to be honest, if we're doing 10 of thousands of utils, then what's the difference in a few thousand demos as well.

That's what I just said ;) Add demos :) But they are a paerticular kind of thing, they are not interactive, not all of them anyway. Just eyecandy.

However, you don't have to crawl thru a list of utils. Since this is an online database, it has all the facilities of any SQL database, so you can make it just show games, and not waste valuable time.

If you can filter, then why am I against widespreading it? Because an increased size would slow it to a crawl, mainly. And because I think focus is necessary :)

Accuracy
 

As Warlock says, accuracy is a big problem!

For example, a well-meaning person might notice that Dragon Breed says 'Copyright Irem 1989' on the title and put the year of release down as 1989, not realising that this is the date of the arcade machine, not the Amiga game (which is 1990). Now you have an incorrect date.

Then you have to further break down the parties involved in making Dragon Breed - Irem (original arcade), Activision (publisher), Arc Developments (conversion), Software Studios (production). This is pretty much spelt out on the titlescreen, but usually this isn't the case.

Another example - in a similar arcade conversion, Atomic Robo-Kid, the titlescreen says that it was done in association with Marjacq Micros. Someone might put this down as a developer or publisher, when it is really a company that specialises in doing things like acquiring licences for other companies - nothing to do with the creation of the game.

I don't know how many times I've downloaded an ADF off the Internet, only to find that it is something different or not what the filename suggested. It's easy to put something on the Internet - people are not bothered about accuracy.

There may also be a lack of standardisation.

However, a large number of people will make the task much easier! And user-contributions work okay for the Internet Movie Database.

Apps and games
 

Whatever the majority decide is fine with me. Maybe a vote would help!

Cody, you just emphasize the need for trimming down the database ;) I rather have an accurate little database taht covers just software, than a big load of useless data.

Submissions to the database shouldn't be done by anyone either methinks. Troddlers might fill in with crap. A login should be neded to fill data IMO.

interactive
 

Who said software had to be interactive, look at FMV games, most of them are barely even games.

Sorry I couldn't resist that!

I have to agree ;)
 

Dragon's Lair et al are shite, which should not be considered games. But let's not get into this, we're heading off track ;)

Moderating
 

OK - truce akira.

Well, let's just say if we did have user contributions, is there a way we could ensure accuracy? How does that internet movie database work?

We cannot assure 100% accuracy, but we can edit them later anyway.

accuracy
 

What do you think about merging existing databases/lists and then adding to them and editing them, after all there's no point re-inventing the wheel? I say edit because information would still need to be checked, obviously.

It would be cool if duplicate records could be filtered out or merged together or something?

I think that would be good, why not use what's already out there as a base? However this all goes against my ' anti-me too' policy ;) but it ain't my database, so be it.

I spoke about Mods & Demos only for the EAB's upcoming ModPlug jukebox. sorry for the confusion !

About the database, Let's focus on Software.
so only Games and Apps ?

(check out #revision3)


And for the database public update, one solution may be that public can post his review / new screenshot / etc ...
but this new information must be validated by one of the "Database Moderator" (like Us) before the posting.

Validation should be very easy, you will just have to read the new information and click on "OK" :)

Re: Validation
 

the Validation module should also allow modification to the data to be validated. Otherwise you'd end up deleting stuff that might be useful.

I am still against public posts. A lot of work for moderators if someones sees fit to fill in with garbage, or if there is someone excited to make entries but who doesn't know shit about what he's writing.

I'd say a login is needed. Just ask for email and verify the addy. Once verification is done he could start posting data onto the database.