Lark/metadata

Metadata definitions

TODO

• Add a new category for romhacks (like releases but for romhacks) and their respective versions.

• Decide on a file structure. This shouldn't be one giant json file, but it needs to be split in useful ways.

Image

• A stored copy of a game's disk image. For example:

  • Star Fox 64 (U) v1.2.z64
  • Star Fox 64 (U) v1.2.v64
  • UUID
    • A unique identifier for this specific data object.
  • format
    • The format this image is stored in. For example: bin, iso, chd, z64, v64
  • sha1sum
    • The sha1sum hash of this specific image.
  • release
    • The release that this image was taken from.
  • dump credit
    • Where the hash came from, who dumped it, etc

Release

• A single release of a game. For example: Star Fox 64 (U) v1.2

  • UUID
  • name
    • The release's name in the language and script it was released in.
  • region
    • The region intended for release.
  • version
    • The release version of the game. Some are verison numbers, some are just sequential release numbers.
  • disambiguation (can be empty)
    • If this release is different in a way that isn't region or version, that information goes here.
  • release group
    • The UUID of release group that this release belongs to.
  • platform
    • The UUID of the platform that this release is built for.

Release group

• A container for all languages and versions of a release. For example, the Star Fox 64 release group would contain all of the following releases:

  • Star Fox 64 (U) v1.2
  • Star Fox 64 (U) v1.0
  • Star Fox 64 (J) v1.0
  • Lylat Wars (E) v1.0
  • UUID
  • name
    • The English name for the release group. This is largely for contributors to quickly understand the raw data, as frontends should ideally pull the name from a configured region or something.

Platform

• A single set of hardware and/or software that shares compatibility. For example:

  • Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Microsoft Windows 7
  • Microsoft Windows 98
  • UUID
  • name
    • The English name of the platform. As with release group names, this is mostly for hand-editing data.
  • regional_names
    • A hash map with the keys being language identifers (en-US, jp, fr, etc) and the values being the platform's name in the language and script it was released in.
  • shortcode
    • A small, three-letter code for the platform. This is essentially for directory names.

Design notes

• This spec is designed with the intent to be imported into databases while also being reasonably hand-editable for contributors.

• Everything has a UUID because formats and hashing algorithms change, and this should be made as long-term and language-agnostic as is reasonable.

• Releases have multiple images to account for different formats. The z64 and v64 images of the same N64 game are different files with different hashes.