7. igame.data files
The next iGame release will have a new feature: the usage of a custom file with the filename igame.data. These files will be responsible to let iGame know some crucial information for each entry (game/demo/application). Those files will have a very specific structure and should be in the same folder of the WHDLoad items where the slave file exists, or in the same folder where an executable file exists.
igame.data information is meant to cover (non)WHDLoad items and Demos, including as much information as possible. Not all the information is going to be loaded in the memory, just those that are necessary for some features that will be added in future iGame releases. Other information will be used only when the user requests to view it.
There is no plan for now to edit the igame.data through iGame itself. This decision might change in the future.
The benefits for the users of iGame will be the following, as long as these files exist and are populated:
- The games/demos will get a title name that is going to be specific and not generated by iGame itself
- The genre will be assigned automatically
- Information like the year of release, the max number of players, the company that developed it and many more can be set for each entry and used inside iGame in various ways
- Games/Demos that are not based on WHDLoad can also be scanned and automatically added to the list, ready to be launched
- If igame.data files are included in community-maintained collections of games and demos the users will be benefited a lot, as they will have them categorised automatically and named correctly after a scan of the collection
- Other game launchers will be able to use that information as well
igame.data file is a text file with the following information:
title=Menace
year=1988
by=Psyclapse
chipset=OCS
genre=Shoot'em up
players=1
exe=
arguments=
lemon=735
hol=2448
pouet=
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title: This is going to be the title of the entry in iGame list. If two titles are the same then a number will be appended in square brackets, ie. Menace [1], the same happens in the latest versions of iGame. The user will be able to alter that title, but that is not going to be saved back to the igame.data file but in gameslist.csv file.
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year: The year of release. This is going to be used in the main list of iGame and the user will be able to sort the entries by that information.
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by: The responsible company/group/programmer for the development of the entry. This going to be used as an extra field in the entry information window
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chipset: This can take values about the supported chipset, ie. ECS, OCS, AGA, RTG etc. Multiple values can be separated with commas, ie. OCS,ECS. Those values are going to be used to filter the list the same way the genre is used in future versions of iGame.
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genre: This is the major genre of the game. This will not support multiple values but this decision might change in the future.
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players: This value refers to the maximum number of players. This is going to be used in the main list of iGame and the user will be able to sort the entries by that information.
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exe: This refers to the executable filename when the item is not a WHDLoad games/demo, i.e. quake.
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arguments: This refers to the needed arguments that an item requires so as to run properly.
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lemon: This is the id of the game entry at https://www.lemonamiga.com/. There is a plan to use that id in the information window as a link, so as the user to visit that page using a web browser
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hol: This is the id of the game entry at https://hol.abime.net/. There is a plan to use that id in the information window as a link, so as the user to visit that page using a web browser
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pouet: This is the id of the demo entry at https://www.pouet.net/. There is a plan to use that id in the information window as a link, so as the user to visit that page using a web browser
The next iGame release will have an updated multi-column list of entries. This is going to require the NList MUI library to be installed, which is free to download and use from Aminet. NList is widely used by many projects, which means that probably is already installed in users' systems. For computers that are based on 68000 CPU, there is an older version in Aminet that should be preferred against the latest release.
Here is a preview of what the next version of iGame will look like, using the new igame.data
