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Add Fan Translation Tags for Games Database Media

LaunchBox Games Database

See also Tag-Based Media System for Flexible Asset Classification

šŸ“‹ Summary

Add dedicated Fan Translation tags for Games Database media so translated logos, box art, cartridges, and other assets can be categorized consistently.

ā— Problem

Fan-translated games often have custom translated media, but there is no clear place to assign these assets in the Games Database.

Currently, contributors may use regions like North America, United States, or World for fan-translated media. This causes problems because:

  • It can imply the game had an official release in that region

  • Users in other English-speaking regions may not scrape the translated media correctly

  • Improved fan translations can conflict with official English releases

  • Different contributors may use different region choices for the same type of asset

  • Non-English fan translations have no consistent tagging approach

šŸ’” Proposal

Add dedicated fan translation media tags based on translation language.

Examples:

  • Fan Translation - English

  • Fan Translation - Spanish

  • Fan Translation - Portuguese

  • Fan Translation - French

  • Fan Translation - German

  • Fan Translation - Italian

These would be used for media created for fan-translated versions of games, without incorrectly marking the game as an official regional release.

šŸ§© Use Cases

  • A Japanese-only game receives an English fan translation and translated clear logo

  • A game with an official English release also has an improved fan translation

  • Spanish, Portuguese, French, or other fan translation projects need matching media

  • Contributors need a consistent place to submit translated logos, boxes, carts, and discs

šŸ“¦ Benefits

  • Prevents fan-translated media from being misclassified as official regional media

  • Gives contributors clearer submission guidance

  • Improves scraping for translated assets

  • Supports multilingual fan translation projects

  • Reduces inconsistency across Games Database submissions

āš ļø Considerations

This should likely apply to media tagging, not necessarily the gameā€™s main region field. Users may also need a way to prioritize fan translation media in their region/media priority settings. A friendly naming format such as Fan Translation - English may be clearer than language-code labels like Fan Translation-en.

Posted by SMASHINGblargharghar Ā·
Status: Open To Community4 comments

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Comments4

  • AstroBob changed status to Open To Community
    Teamā€¢

    Sep 12

    Pinned

    Hi there!

    Thanks so much for submitting this request and for taking the time to explain your use case ā€” that context is always super helpful.

    Iā€™ve gone ahead and fleshed out the main idea using the info you provided, and Iā€™m opening it up to the community for further discussion and feedback. Please let me know if this fleshed-out version doesnā€™t match your original intended request.

    Feel free to let me know if you have any extra thoughts, examples, or edge cases you think might be relevant!

    Cheers,
    The LaunchBox team

    • SMASHINGblargharghar

      ā€¢

      Sep 13

      Thank you!

  • SMASHINGblargharghar

    ā€¢

    Sep 23

    If this gets approved, I will personally go through all the fan-translated logo's - not just the one's that I've submitted - every fan translated game that I know to exist that has a fan translated logo and fix them. It's important enough to me that I'm willing to do the grunt work. Please upvote/comment

    https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/93505-clear-logo-translation-project/

    Iā€™m working on a logo translation project and would really appreciate if you can help me get this feature implemented.

  • SMASHINGblargharghar

    ā€¢

    Sep 12

    Region Tag specifically for Fan Translations

    Suggested rewrite for Launchbox database submission:

    ---

    **Proposal: Add Fan Translation Region Tags**

    Iā€™ve been working on a clear logo translation project for Japanese games for several months. One recurring issue is the lack of community consensus on which Region to use when submitting media for fan-translated titles. This applies to box art and cartridges as well.

    Current Problems:
    - For a Japanese game that has been fan-translated into English, many people default to North America or United States. This is imperfect because:
    - It incorrectly implies the game is an official North American release.
    - Users whose LaunchBox region is set to United Kingdom, Australia, or other English-speaking regions often fail to scrape the translated logos/media correctly.
    - Some games already have official English releases but later receive improved fan translations. These often use the original Japanese title as the Game Name, which further complicates region assignment.
    - The issue is not limited to Japanese ā†’ English. Many other language pairs receive high-quality fan translations (Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc.).
    - Using World as a catch-all region is also unsatisfactory, as it doesnā€™t accurately describe the nature of the media.

    Proposed Solution:
    Introduce a new set of region tags specifically for fan translations, structured as:
    - Fan Translation-en
    - Fan Translation-es
    - Fan Translation-pt
    - Fan Translation-fr
    - (and similarly for other languages as needed)

    This approach would:
    - Clearly distinguish fan-translated media from official regional releases
    - Allow proper scraping regardless of a userā€™s default region setting
    - Scale cleanly to multiple languages
    - Give the community a consistent, unambiguous place to file these assets

    Thank you for considering this addition. Iā€™m happy to help refine the naming convention or provide examples if useful.

    Here's my forum thread of clear logo translations

    https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/93505-clear-logo-translation-project/