Monday! Monday! Monday!

[Retodon8]

I didn't dare asking about some of the behind the scenes stuff I was still curious about, and then Wormy goes ahead and writes all that.
Thanks dude, it definitely shed some light!
Thanks to everybody else too of course!

[snowkissed]

Great to know, Wormy, but that raises a question... if you've identified the platforms of various games, is there a way for us to go back and identify the platform on which we played the game? I had a look at the gamerDNA panel and couldn't find anything short of readding (and thus removing the old entry) of the game.

[Wormy]

Unfortunately, I think that is the only available option.

With the existing games, we had the un-enviable task of having to match them with SOMETHING. Our (new) data has the notion of one of the platforms being dicated as the primary version (this could be as arbitrary as that it was the first one entered in.. or as smart as the first to be released).

We had to choose something, so we chose to use the data's indication of the primary version.

So... this means that for sure, the "Call of Duty 4" that people had before is now mapped to the "Call of Duty 4" that is "IBM PC Compatible". If you view the game now (http://www.gamerdna.com/game/call-of-duty-4), we don't have the platform listed on the page.. but thats coming as a hotfix this week (today?). Same with release date..etc.

Anyway.. the downside is.. we had to pick one, so we picked wha the data indicated was it's best guess. No doubt for lots of folks that is the wrong plaatform, but its the best we could do given the original setup.


To clean up your own game list... .I suggest one of 2 options.

1) For those who are lazier:
Add the correct platform... and just add new experiences, images..etc to the new game. Leave the old stuff attached to the old game.. and meh.. no big deal. This is pretty easy, and it means all new data going forward is accurate.

2) For those who want to have their old data accurate:
Add the correct platform as a new game. Then go into the items associated with the old game, and one by one, re-associate them to the new game. Time consuming.. yes.. but it will work. Each piece of data (character, image, experience..etc) is associated with a game via gameid, and that means that for anything you want to roll under the new game, you'll have to move them over one at a time.


Since we realize that neither of these options is terribly appealing, we are working internally to come up with either a tool, or a repeatable script that can be used by the support team to migrate data around the old game, and associate it to the new game. We'll keep you informed on what we end up with there.

Either way the first step is to add the new game with the correct platform, and any new info you add, associate it properly with that game.

[Wormy]

oh look.. hotfix in. Platforms now are specified on the game page!

[Pocketwolf]

Thanks for the crazy info Wormy, great job again!

Another issue: Even when I select a platform-specific title and add it to my games list, in the gamerDNA panel the platform is not mentioned. I did it for a few yesterday, but today I'm looking at the rest, and I can't tell which ones I've done and which ones I haven't, as the platform doesn't show up there. Any way to change the display so that the platform always shows up in parentheses after the title?

[Retodon8]

If I use the search form at the top right, the platforms aren't listed in the results either.
If I search for "Serious Sam", I get a few "duplicates".
I can check the URL in the status bar (or just try them until I get the one I want), but it would be easier to have the platforms listed.

Say I open this Serious Sam II page.
If I now click "Add game to DNA" at the top right, the gDNA Panel pops up with the Games section open.
However the name field isn't automatically populated with the title of the page I just came from.
Is that intended, is something broken, or is it just me?
It's still a quick way to open the right part of the gDNA Panel, but I expected to have the game pre-selected to be honest.

Both DOS and Windows platforms are filed under the PC moniker.
I seriously doubt there is much overlap, if any, for specific titles, but it could introduce problems for games with Linux versions (Macs are seperate I see).
Actually if there is a "Linux" platform there isn't a problem other than that it suggests Linux isn't PC, but I figured I'd bring it up.

Is there going to be a way to submit icons for games missing those?
Right now there are still a lot of green gDNA logos, and perhaps people could do some of this work for you.
(I think more games have box art than icons at the moment.)

I suggested earlier that I'd like to be able to distinguish tier 4 games from tier 3 - 1 games (manually added vs. "proper" games).
I later thought about the icons; would it be possible/desirable to have tier 4 games have a different icon?

Looking for double entries is a bit difficult on my profile's Games section, since the games aren't alphabetized.
I'm guessing/hoping this could be the special sauce mentioned in the blog/release notes.
I'd love the sauce to also let us sort by platform.
That would also make it easier to see if person X plays game Y on the same platform as I do, or a different one.

OK, I'll leave it at that for now.

[snowkissed]

^ what he said.