The site would act similar to
MobyGames, allowing listing and submission of games, but, instead of a 1-game-per-page summary, would combine mutliple games for comparison in a table/matrix, configurable by game and game feature. As in the current
comparison table, the feature title (genre, player character, level editor, etc) would have a link (or popup) with more info (currently most of them just link to Wikipedia). However, ideally, each feature attribute ("action-adventure" genre, weapon "targeting", etc) would be clickable and then lead to a page showing the other games that have these features--a very relational navigation system. Granted, a lot of these features are very common, but some are not--plus, that page would then be configurable to only show games by/within certain years, genres, etc--basically, a full-featured search engine/browser kind of like how MobyGames does it. It's easy enough to create a large table of data, but, like my current table, I want the comparison table/matrix to have
colspan/
rowspan attributes and be able to auto-adjust/recalculate itself as columns (games) and features (rows) are added/removed.
Why don't I just try to get MobyGames to integrate my info with theirs? I've tried, but they're not interested--and neither is DevMaster's 3D Engines Database. So, if I want this comparison database created, I guess I gotta do it myself--no matter how long it takes. Am I just an idiot who can't figure out this database crap? Probably...but I still want to create it...
See the outline to the right and the game entry form for more detailed feature breakup.
Relational database normalization is the hardest part I'm having trouble with (despite my philosophy of
absolute relativity). I don't know when to stop making tables so they don't duplicate data, and how to apply all of those relational tables anyway--it's very confusing! I don't like the idea of so many cross-reference tables either.
