The Independent Game Rating System

[leiradel]

I've made a small utility to generate a TIGRS's rating box to put in games. Unzip the attached file to the root of your game and follow the instructions on the tigrs/tigrs.lua file.

Enjoy!

PS: Please notice I'm not advocating the use of this or any other rating system. I wrote this utility for my personal use and am sharing here just in case someone has a similar need.

[leiradel]

I've made some changes to the library...

CHANGELOG

tigrs-1.1

* Now uses LÖVE's built-in font.
* The rating configuration is now embededd in the tigrs.lua file.
* Got rid of "require" to release memory when the rating is no longer used.

tigrs-1.0

* First public release.

INSTRUCTIONS

Generates a TIGRS (TM) logo to be displayed on the screen.

Edit the comments below to suit your needs, leaving exactly one line
uncommented in each section. To generate the rating box, write:

Code: Select all

tigrs = love.filesystem.load( 'tigrs/tigrs.lua' )()

To draw the logo, write:

Code: Select all

tigrs:draw( x, y )

If x is nil, the logo is horizontally centered. If y is nil, the logo is
vertically centered.

[Jasoco]

Interesting. But why do they only have "Brief Nudity" and "Nudity"? Where's "Cartoon Nudity"?

Am I allowed to modify it to have a "Cartoon Nudity" label? Or does TIGRS not allow changes? I mean it's just changing a phrase from "Nudity" to "Cartoon Nudity".

Which I haven't even put in my engine yet, but totally plan on it. Mmm... "Cartoodity"

Also, can I modify it to be a little smaller? And use my own font? I assume I can. Serious about the nudity part though.

[VideroBoy]

Jasoco, what kind of cartoon nudity is your game going to have exactly?

[leiradel]

Interesting. But why do they only have "Brief Nudity" and "Nudity"? Where's "Cartoon Nudity"?

Am I allowed to modify it to have a "Cartoon Nudity" label? Or does TIGRS not allow changes? I mean it's just changing a phrase from "Nudity" to "Cartoon Nudity".

Which I haven't even put in my engine yet, but totally plan on it. Mmm... "Cartoodity"

No, you can't. Check this page for more information about the rating box specification.

Also, can I modify it to be a little smaller? And use my own font? I assume I can. Serious about the nudity part though.

After reading the specification again, I think I'll get a bold font to use with the descriptions since VeraSans is not bold. I've contact Daniel Kinney in the past about DejaVuBold, which I used in tigrs-1.0, and he said that font is ok. I'll update the library and to DejaVuBold again. I think you can use another font as long as it's a similar typeface, i.e. sans serif and bold.

Regarding the image size, I *guess* it's ok to change it, but there's only one size available at the TIGRS site. When in doubt, contact Daniel Kinney, he's a nice guy and will be more than glad to help you out with the specification.

Cheers,

Andre

[Robin]

Although, from the FAQ:

Q: Can we have other descriptors, such as...?
A: Indeed! I'm keeping a list of suggestions and will include the suitable ones. TIGRS is always evolving and changing to suit your needs!

[leiradel]

Ugh, new release...

CHANGELOG

tigrs-1.2

* Now uses an image with the text for the ratings because it provides a better
rendering than the engine.
* All images have dimensions of a power of two.
* Made configuration setup inside the tigrs table (avoids "tigrs." all over
it.)
* Round down coordinates to avoid blurring the image.

I think now that's it, unless someone provides me a better rendering of the texts... I've just copied the text into Open Office Writer, selected DejaVuSans bold, 9 points, and copied the screen to the clipboard to take advantage of Clear Type. But the letters are funny, sometimes with too much space to the left or to the right.

Cheers,

Andre

[Jasoco]

That's a pretty ugly font rendering. I assume it's Windows ugly rendering engine. Mind if I redraw it myself in Photoshop? If I choose to use it.

And i'll put whatever cartoon nudity I want in my game if I want to.

Also, I resized the older versions image because it's way too damn big. Too damn big! I don't think a rating should take up that much space on screen. It's bad enough when you see a huge "TVMA" taking up a whole 1/8th of the screen on TV. If the size is a requirement of TIGRS, then I just won't use their system. I like customization.

[leiradel]

That's a pretty ugly font rendering. I assume it's Windows ugly rendering engine. Mind if I redraw it myself in Photoshop? If I choose to use it.

I find the rendering itself quite pleasant. The problem is the kerning.If you redraw them in Photoshop I'd love to include it into the library if you don't mind.

And i'll put whatever cartoon nudity I want in my game if I want to.

I wouldn't do that. The beauty of TIGRS is the tight specification. If everyone choses to add their own ratings the system fails in getting credibility from the players. And this credibility is already hard to achieve given that TIGRS is a self-rating system.

For example, I don't like the image for the Adult rating, I find it too scary with the red background and the vampire teeth. But if I ever release a game which I think should be rated as adult, I will use that image without complaining or I'll drop the self-rating system for that game.

Suggest new ratings to David, it's the best thing you can do to support TIGRS.

Also, I resized the older versions image because it's way too damn big. Too damn big! I don't think a rating should take up that much space on screen. It's bad enough when you see a huge "TVMA" taking up a whole 1/8th of the screen on TV. If the size is a requirement of TIGRS, then I just won't use their system. I like customization.

I don't find the image size a problem since I intend to display it in its own screen just like ESRB ratings. But yeah, I don't think resizing the whole thing is a problem but again, I'd ask David if it's ok.

I already had this functionality in my closed-source 2D engine. After it was ready, I submitted the result to David who said it was ok and only then I felt I could use it in the engine.

Again, please follow the specs. Nobody is forcing you to use TIGRS or any other rating system. If you choose to use one, follow its specs, it's the best thing you can do to help the credibility of the system. If you really really want custom ratings and stuff, you could draw your own image and come up with your own ratings.

Cheers,

Andre

[leiradel]

I've put the TIGRS utility available at my website. I will post update notices here in the forum.

Cheers,

Andre