[Suggestion] Badges for programs' metadata

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#1

I’d love each new Game / Software forum post to include a ‘signature’ of shields / badges. These shields are to convey a bit more info to the user. The suggested order is for consistency. I propose (1) and (2) are mandatory. Each shield should be separated by a single space.

1. USB stack

Indicate if the USB stack is still present, or has been removed. This may be quite critical to some users, if they struggle to upload new software on the OG unit.

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/USB-✓-success">

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/USB-✗-critical">

2. FX support

This will be of growing importance, as more software is written to use the new FX units. It’s useful to know if: (i) there’s no FX features (supports OG and FX); (ii) an enhanced FX version is available; or (iii) if it only supports the FX units.

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/FX-n/a-inactive?logo=data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAwAAAAMCAQAAAD8fJRsAAAAKElEQVQY02NggIL//xEkCsAh8R8FoKlG46GpQRXBqoPqRuFwLkk+BwB5ZFWrX6ylDAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==">

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/FX-Enhanced-success?logo=data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAwAAAAMCAQAAAD8fJRsAAAAKElEQVQY02NggIL//xEkCsAh8R8FoKlG46GpQRXBqoPqRuFwLkk+BwB5ZFWrX6ylDAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==">

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/FX-Required-important?logo=data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAwAAAAMCAQAAAD8fJRsAAAAKElEQVQY02NggIL//xEkCsAh8R8FoKlG46GpQRXBqoPqRuFwLkk+BwB5ZFWrX6ylDAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==">

3. Audio

Is there any audio provided? Users often try a game in the emulator before installing on their device; It’s not always possible to work out if any sound is expected.

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Audio-✗-inactive?logo=data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAMAQAAAABzEBENAAAAAnRSTlMAAHaTzTgAAAAjSURBVHgBY2BiYGBzYOBqYNjEwLAIiA4ASSAbKAIUB8oCAQBvfAWvPejJagAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==">

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Audio-✓-success?logo=data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAMAQAAAABzEBENAAAAAnRSTlMAAHaTzTgAAAAjSURBVHgBY2BiYGBzYOBqYNjEwLAIiA4ASSAbKAIUB8oCAQBvfAWvPejJagAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==">

4. EEPROM usage

Users would like to know if there is any ‘game save’ feature. Increasing it’s useful to know if there will be any data overwritten due to an address collision. The start ‒end addresses are inclusive and should be in decimal format, separated by an en-dash (U+2013 ‒). E.g. the system reserved start block is 0‒15. Do not abbreviate numbers. E.g. 180‒187 (not 180‒7).

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/EEPROM-n/a-inactive?">

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/EEPROM-16‒1023-informational">



I welcome @bateske and the community’s feedback! :slight_smile:
This obviously relies on shields.io to generate. Perhaps this could be self-hosted?
Is there anything else we should add? Is this too much? Cheers.


Example:

4 Likes
#2

Great idea!

1 Like
#3

I’m a fan. Updated ArduChess and ArduRogue.

2 Likes
#4

Wow!! Amazing! So glad this has support :slight_smile:
But… have you seen my suggestion about EEPROM usage?

#5

The save slot approach looks good too – I’d defer to the rest of the community. Which do you prefer?

#6

This is cool but since most of the games have already been published it requires developers to go back and update their pages not sure how many will be able to do that. Seems like a good idea just not sure how to integrate it further. I don’t really have much ability to host it within the site here since it’s done by discourse but it might be something I could integrate if there is an easy way to do it.

#7

In terms of practicality, rather than expecting everyone to change their games to say whether or not they have these things, it would be easier to put a notice up only for the games that break convention.

I.e.

  • Games that remove the USB stack should have a big warning icon, other games would not need any kind of warning
  • Games that require the FX or have FX-specific features would have some kind of icon, but other games wouldn’t need them

Another issue is that not every game has a corresponding forum post.

(What would really be ideal is some kind of successor to Eried’s repo that could keep a database of games that includes this sort of information, perhaps updated with GitHub hooks to keep it relevant.)

As I mentioned in the other thread, decimal would be fine too:

(I’m using dots because they’re easier to type, and that’s the syntax a lot of programming languages use for ranges.)

I wonder why they designed it as a server?
Surely basic box drawing could just as easily be done with JavaScript, HTML and CSS?

The icons aren’t even stored on the server, they’re base64-encoded as part of the URL.

I mention this simply because a HTML+CSS/JavaScript solution would be much easier than self-hosting a separate server instance.

Communicating EEPROM usage / collisions
#8

Yeah I can make a little javascript thing that grabs our own syntax for a “badge” and formats it.

Suggestion for syntax?

#9

2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Communicating EEPROM usage / collisions

#10
#11

I’ma go ahead put this on hold until we resolve the EEPROM issue it’s bigger.