moho_00 Curator Backer Posts: 6844 Registered: 6/10/2011
moho_00
# 1 - Posted on 7/14/2018 10:29:02

When we introduced the platform / region specific box art a while back, we made some additional changes to our data model to collect data more accurately. One of these changes was to add an alias name for each release. Previously, we just had a single alias name for each game that would collect the regional name differences.

For example, let's look at Star Fox 64, which was the North American name. In Europe and Japan, the game was known as Lylat Wars. Our entry for this game used to be:

  • Name: Star Fox 64
  • Alias: Lylat Wars (EU, JP)

If anyone had the game in their collection, they would see Star Fox 64, even if they specified a region other than North America. With the latest release, that is no longer the case! Instead, if we've entered a platform / region specific alias, that's exactly what you'll see, which should match the box art.

It will take us a while to convert all of the old alias names such that they'll start propagating into everyone's collections, but feel free to post here if you have any you'd like us to take a look at first.

This change has been implemented everywhere that the platform / region box art is displayed, such as the Collection Search, Completion Search, Profile, etc. As always, if you find any issues with it, please let me know!

elko84 Curator Backer Posts: 372 Registered: 5/6/2017
elko84
# 2 - Posted on 10/18/2018 6:45:15

Are these aliases showing up when searching under Browse Games? If I was an owner of Lylat Wars and did not know it was called Star Fox 64 in America, I would go to Browse Games and type Lylat Wars. I tried this and nothing showed up.

Post Edited on 10/19/2018 16:15:16
moho_00 Curator Backer Posts: 6844 Registered: 6/10/2011
moho_00
# 3 - Posted on 10/19/2018 12:57:46

Currently, the "new" alias names do not show up when using Browse Games. They're only used when viewing your collection, completions, etc. Eventually, they will replace the "old" aliases though.

elko84 Curator Backer Posts: 372 Registered: 5/6/2017
elko84
# 4 - Posted on 10/19/2018 16:03:51

Ok good to know. I've been adding aliases under the new system.

Post Edited on 10/19/2018 16:15:03
moho_00 Curator Backer Posts: 6844 Registered: 6/10/2011
moho_00
# 5 - Posted on 5/17/2019 18:21:12

It's been a long time coming, but I'm finally wrapping back around to this! Completionator supports two types of alias names:

  • Regional naming differences (such as the Star Fox 64 vs. Lylat Wars in my original post)
  • "Generic" aliases, otherwise commonly used unofficial names (such as Superman 64, which is not the official name for that game in any region)

Regional names are by far more common and cover probably 98% of the scenarios where we need to add an alias. And while I had originally reworked the various user pages (collection, completion, etc) to use regional names, the Browse Items page was still using the generic alias. But with the next release, that will all change! The Browse Items page will finally start showing both regional and generic alias names. When viewing the game in your collection, you will still see the regional name and the generic name never comes into play. The idea there being that what you see in your collection is exactly what's on the cover of your game.

Additionally, I've added the alias names to the Game Details page as well. They will show up just below the game name / title. Previously, this page did not show them at all.

elko84 Curator Backer Posts: 372 Registered: 5/6/2017
elko84
# 6 - Posted on 5/17/2019 19:44:49

Sweet news!