HoL genre system: need lexicon + how to submit new categories?

[lilalurl]

Since RCK said improvement suggestions should be posted here...


1) It would be great to have a lexicon of what every/most/problematic terms in the new genre system mean. For instance, as TCD said, I have actually no idea what Navigator is (although I get the idea when looking at the subcategories).

Ideally, the lexicon would have one or more "emblematic" games in the definition.
Also, I believe it should be featured on one page to allow people to do some searches.
For instance, although I can understand the logic behind putting Jigsaw puzzles under the (real-life/board) Games - Jigsaw subcategory, if I were looking for these, I would of course look at Puzzlers - Jigsaw.
With a lexicon, I could do a search on jigsaw and see if there is a match.


Also I had no idea what 4th person meant. As I was on IRC with TCD he told me, IIRC, it was meant to refer to games in which you control somebody else.
Is that exact?
After listing those, there are some entries that I am not sure should have this rather than 3rd person (which criterion was retained?).



2) This leads me to the second part of this post: How do we submit corrections and suggestions for new categories? A thread like this one?
Also, which criteria will be considered to see if a category is worthy or not?


I have a suggestion, although it will only concern two games (unless some people have additions),
- Gravity Power
- Dogfight (Richard Ling)

Based on the thread on dynamic screen splitting/joining, I believe it might be worth to add it. As a viewpoint category?



3) Finally, will there be, sooner or later some "community" genres/tags?
I ask because I was notably thinking of this thread about games suited for young children.
Of course, there is the thread and people can ask things in the forum.
Still, I believe this kind of information would be useful to have in HoL

On the other hand, I would not like HoL to become a big mess with lots of genres/tags that anyone would add as they feel.
Perhaps this need some discussion, unless of course it is already considered to be out of question.

[TCD]

There is the new theme entry, which could be used for various things (for example the 'suited for young children' one). Others could go into the quickmatch category. Shouldn't become too fragmented (games with Zool...), but of course feel free to submit your suggestions and best top it with a list of games

[CodyJarrett]

I'm documenting the system and will create some threads about it.

The idea behind the person field is:

First person ...is the eyes of the player's character
Second person ...is the eyes of another character
Third person ...follows the player's character from outside
Fourth person ...spectates on any part of the action

I'm not very happy with this though and will probably redesign it.

I'll probably create a thread for each field or major genre type to facilitate discussion and input.

[StrategyGamer]

I can't find any Second Person games in HOL. The Amiga lacks an entire genre of games!

[TCD]

Actually '2nd' for person is already removed.

[lilalurl]

Ok Cody, things seem to go well .


May I suggest the use of "Omniscient" rather than "4th person"?

Although technically omniscient is a 3rd person view, given that "3rd person" is "perverted" by the modern use of the notion in gaming (follows the player's character from outside), I believe it would be a better choice.

And omniscient does/should make sense to everyone who studied a bit literature/languages in school. Whereas 4th person is far from obvious.
This assumption is based on my experience via the French education system but I believe that this is the case for most education systems?



Finally, I noticed that Prince of Persia (and its French release) is listed as 4th person.

I can see one reason for that, you see the princess from time to time. But given that these are "cinematic" moments (you don't play) I would have rather seen the game listed as 3rd person.


Hmmm after writing this I had a quick look and other similar games (Flashback, Another World) are also listed as 4th.
Whereas some shooters like Apidya or platform games like Arabian nights are listed as 3rd.

Well then, I quite disagree with this classification (unless there is a criterion that I don't think about right now). I guess it will be one of the first debates to have once the threads are created.

[Retro-Nerd]

For the Origin category:

Console and Arcade

or a new Genre: ported from (Console, PC, Arcade)

[TCD]

Hmm, that's a rather hard to gather information to be honest. It's hidden in the conversion notes and 'consoles' includes quite a range of systems. Not sure there is a good way to get them all, but I'll have a look.

[CodyJarrett]

I think that we need to extend the conversion section for this one. "Origin" is games based on non-computer origins such as books, films, teams and brands.

[killergorilla]

I agree.

I think the conversion info needs to specify where the game appeared first. Then you can search/filter around that.

[TCD]

The 'Amiga original' field should be used for that one. 'Original platform' or something like that.

[killergorilla]

Sounds good to me.

[john4p]

I think "simulation" should be splitted in business simulation, racing simulation, flight simulation, etc.. I don't think Oil Imperium and F/A-18 Interceptor are the same genre...

[TCD]

Simulation isn't used for games like Oil Imperium anymore. It's only used for flight, submarine and tank simulations now (which should be splitted I guess...).

[CodyJarrett]

I'm not sure what you mean. F/A-18 Interceptor is in "Simulation" and Oil Imperium is in " Strategy - Managerial".

Also, the modes of transportation have been included in the Theme field:

Transport - Bicycle
Transport - Boat
Transport - Car
Transport - Civilian plane
Transport - Combat plane
Transport - Control tower
Transport - Flying Craft
Transport - Helicopter
Transport - Inflated Tube
Transport - Kart
Transport - Motorcycle
Transport - Multi vehicle
Transport - Radio controlled
Transport - Sailing
Transport - Snow scooter
Transport - Snowmobile
Transport - Spacecraft
Transport - Stunt plane
Transport - Submarine
Transport - Tank
Transport - Traffic
Transport - Train
Transport - Truck
Transport - UFO

[john4p]

Ah, okay. Business simulations used to be under Simulation, too.

[CodyJarrett]

Yeah, there was a lot of recategorisation for the new system.

I'll close this thread now. Please use the following thread or the sub-threads it links to:

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=54732