[REL] Sizimizi Game Catalog 1.0

[bad4u]

I started a new project 'Game Catalog' for PC and all kinds of console games, as besides a movie catalog it is THE most wanted database by myself .. and maybe some of you, too

It will not be only a modification of the language file in combination with a script. Although I have just few delphi knowledge, I started changing the source of AMC 3.5.1, so that at the end there will be (hopefully) a brandnew distribution of a game catalog with own language files and scripts, that you can install and use just like Ant Movie Catalog. That means all menus, titles or texts the user gets in touch with, should appear as game catalog, and if it succeeds - and I find time for that - I might even change the fieldnames for scripts and the helpfile ..


And this is where I need YOUR help if you are interested in this catalog, too. It probably will not be done in some days or even weeks, but later I will need some people that could do some translation work on the language files as I can do german and english ones only. At least a french one should be done, as it will be supported by one of the first scripts. Scripts for World-of-Video (german) and Amazon (english/german/french) will be part of the first release, more scripts are welcome (especially adaptions of the existing game script mods).

But before anything else could be done, I need YOUR suggestions : Please suggest a list of fields that you think should be supported by a game catalog. What are the most important fields on the database besides title, description, rating, etc.. I think I can change the layout of AMC, so that it fits gamers needs better - even if I won't be able to increase number or change function of fields.. and just to mention it right now - there will be no support for multiple pictures, as catalog will be based on AMC 3.5.1 - sorry!

So ladies and gentlemen, please make your suggestions (in english or german)...


PS: Antoine, I hope you agree with this modification and that I (mis)use your forum for that, else do not hesitate to protest

[antp]

Sure I agree: if the program is opensource it is also for that, and that "Mods" section of the forum is there for that too

[bad4u]

Sure it will be open source, it's just that I prefer to ask before I take something. It's better to be on the safe side.

[antp]

Sure it will be open source

I mean, I made it opensource for allowing things like this

[draco31.fr]

Hi,

I would appreciate a native GNU/Linux version.
Now, I should launch AMC by the Wine Emulator, that is not the simpliest way.
Should it be possible to compile from sources under Linux ?

[bad4u]

Sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about that. Glad enough about getting code changed on the windows version

[antp]

It is not possible to compile the program as it is: it uses VCL components for GUI, and Kylix (Delphi for Linux) only includes CLX components.
As most of the code of that program is GUI-stuff, it will probably be not much more work to rewrite the program on Linux (eventually using something else) than trying to port existing code.

[draco31.fr]

OK, but I'm not sure to be able to rewrite AMC from scratch under Linux !!!

Delphi isn't an often used language under Linux, and it should be possible to find developers in an other language like Python or Java.
Unfortunately, the most interesting thing in AMC is the number of script avaible for downloading content on the web. If AMC is rewritten in another language, the scripts would not be working anymore.

[antp]

Indeed, that is an annoying point.
Note that the script engine could maybe be compiled in Kylix, in a kind of DLL-equivalent (some library, I do not know how it works on Linux) to be used by a program written in another language.

[draco31.fr]

That's a good things !!!
I hope there will be a programmer that could read this and launch the project of AMC under Linux.

[bad4u]

Update: Game Catalog will support the following fields..

same as on AMC:
media type (fieldMediaType), date (fieldDate), borrower (fieldBorrower), original title (fieldOriginalTitle), rating (fieldRating), category (fieldCategory), year (fieldYear), url (fieldURL), disks (fieldDisks), languages (fieldLanguages), description (fieldDescription)

new ones:
platform (fieldPlatform), publisher (fieldPublisher), developer (fieldDeveloper), classification (fieldClassification), maximum local players (fieldLocalPlayers), maximum network players (fieldNetworkPlayers)

Between the patenthesis you find the names that will be used on scripts.

Not sure about the remaining fields yet: There will be probably a 'status' field (i.e. for on wishlist/collection/for sale or played/not played) and the 'comments' field. Other ones like 'media label', 'source' or 'translated title' are not neccessary for my personal needs - so maybe I'll delete them if noone asks for it
Considerations for other fields are 'awards', 'series', 'technical specs' (only intersting for PC, not for consoles), 'storage place', 'price', 'casing' or 'version' (i.e. special edition or from magazine).

[bad4u]

Just for those who are interested in what's going on. Do not care for the 'Length / Price' and 'Disc/Files' field, it has not been changed yet. The layout still might be changed 'til first release..

[raistlin2k]

Looks great!!
Looking forward your first release!
Till now I use an Access DB, which is much less comfortable.

Just a question: is Media Label already used?
Or can it be used for example for the name of a harddisk?
Because I keep a copy of my games as ISO on several harddisks,
easier to handle, especially installing with virtual CD drive is much faster

THanks Raist

[bad4u]

Just a question: is Media Label already used?
Or can it be used for example for the name of a harddisk?

Sure media label can be used to store name/number of harddisk or other media where you can find the game - especially if there's more than one game on this media (that's why I decided not to delete this field). By default it should not be used by scripts (but it could, like on AMC).


Update: Besides the fields mentioned on a previous posting, game catalog supports the following fields..

media label (fieldMediaLabel), translated title (fieldTranslatedTitle), game series (fieldSeries), comments (fieldComments), reviews (fieldReviews), awards (fieldAwards), hints/tips/solution (fieldHints), cheats/tricks (fieldCheats), game status (fieldStatus), serial number (fieldSerial). Not sure about if the last one will be 'price' or simply 'personal notes'.

What you cannot see on the first screenshot: The rating system now features an additional visualization through stars on main window. Game catalog supports a minimal screen resolution of 800x600, the cover picture from the screenshot will change its size on higher resolutions.

A beta version will be available when I made a decision about the name for the catalog and registered a domain for it. Eventually there might be some kind of pre-release for scripters who did AMC game mods and want to adapt their scripts before the public release..

[bad4u]

This should be layout for release version. As you can see, I added some kind of 'status LED' .. (btw. screenshots are smallest resolution 800x600; if large picture does not load, try again later)

[bad4u]

Update: I'm going to release a 'preview' version next week. Although I do not find enough time to work on it during week, I decided to not let you wait any longer. Preview means, there are still some things I have to work on (export and statistics part, clean up internal code, no language files yet), but everything else should be fully functional.

[bad4u]

As promised, here's a preview of the upcoming game catalog.

Ant Game Catalog will be Sisimizi Game Catalog will be Ant Game Catalog will be ..
Well, sisimizi is Swahili for ant, so it's still an Ant Game Catalog, is it ? And hell, yeah, I know about siafu, but they are too bad4u, so shut up

Sisimizi Game Catalog 0.7.0 Preview (new version available, see below)

Just download, unzip (with folders) and start..

This is just a preview, so there are few things still missing:
- export and statistics parts have been disabled as they have not been finished
- help file is still missing
- no language file for translations yet
- shortcuts might be missing or wrong

The preview comes with a beta version of AmazonGames script that supports several localized Amazon versions (EN/FR/DE..). Other AMC mod scripts can be adapted quickly (only some fieldnames need to be changed). If you use an AMC mod for cataloging your games, you can easily import your catalogs (only the original 'length' field won't be imported yet), but please make a backup of your original database before you try anything. There should be no problems, but who knows..

I could not test this version on Vista, so please someone let me know if it works ..
Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Haf phun !

[bad4u]

I've just finished a first version of the English help file for Sisimizi Game Catalog. It is an adaption of AMC's helpfile, so thanks to Antoine for doing the most of the work (once more) Just download the zipfile and unpack to a Game Catalog subfolder 'Languages' (e.g. C:\programs\Game Catalog\Languages\ ).

English Helpfile

On the helpfile you have a 'Technical information -> Script files creation' page, where you can find all the new fieldnames for easy adaption of existing game scripts or writing new ones.

PS: Eventually I'll write a more personal helpfile some time..

[bad4u]

I finished the export part, so here's a new version :

Sisimizi Game Catalog 0.7.2 Preview (new version available, see below)

This version contains the english helpfile and only misses statistics part and shortcuts on the menues. I've added export of partial catalogs to *.xml and *.sgc , so it's easy to export catalogs for your kids or friends if you don't want to pass your complete catalog. Just download and unzip into an empty folder. Although this is still called a preview instead of beta, please let me know if you find any bugs besides the things I mentioned above.. thanks!

If you are able to provide scripts or templates (i.e. for html export or printing) that support games instead of movies, they would be greatly appreciated (if you want to change existing ones, please respect copyright notes!).

[antp]

I added a link on http://www.antp.be/software/moviecatalog to try to get more people checking this