Author Topic: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved  (Read 12619 times)

jason

UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« on: July 19, 2016, 09:13:43 pm »
Hi everyone,

We have just overhauled the algorithm for the search on VGCollect. This should help to find games more easily from any of the search locations. If there are any issues, please let us know. Also, please let us know what you think.

Thanks!

- Jason

davifus

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2016, 11:47:56 pm »
TY
"Hard work betrays none, but dreams betray many." ( Hachiman Hikigaya)
"People say nothing's impossible, but I do nothing everyday." (Winnie The Pooh)


retromangia

PRO Supporter

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2016, 11:53:50 pm »
definitely some issues... I knew something was up.. I had no idea you updated the search function either lol.

anyhow, when i go to search for say Rapala Bass fishing... it brings up Everything with any of those words in the title, which was over 600 results or some crazy number.

also, even when i do an advanced search, say for a PS3 Accessory... it's showing results from EVERY category.

word up  ;)

-Retro

necrosexual

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2016, 12:38:47 am »
yeaaa i second the issues with EVERYTHING with ANY of the words in the title
it's really nice tho that you don't have to put things in perfect now, but that needs to be fixed i think? i don't know how to do it exactly, or the code, or anything... i've got some minimal experience with databases and programming, but yeah... it needs to include all words in search in one title, rather than...

for example, i did a test, looking up "castlevania blood rondo"
and found a bleach game (which ofc does not have 'castlevania' in it, or 'blood' i think, but it does have 'rondo', so it's causing it to show up)
while it's nice to have sometimes, it's not, uh, slim lined enough to make sure someone didn't get series mixed up... i guess.
but it's an improvement where before, that same search string would bring up 0 results (because it's not exactly 'castlevania: rondo of blood', with a bit of bold for emphasis.

for example... putting in "the world ends with you" gave me >1900 results... when in reality, the amount of titles with all of those words is probably pretty slim, if not JUST the game 'the world ends with you'.
fortunately, though, of course, TWEWY shows up first. at least, the NA and EU versions, the strat guide and the solo remix soundtrack.

animal crossing gave me >200 results, but looking through it (since i can, it's only 11 pages) it seems 'prioritised' to hit that specific string first and foremost... so maybe this was intentional, i'm not sure?

on another note, i never tried them but... are wildcards new? i tried one just to see, and it worked nice enough. but quoting doesn't seem to change the results ("the world ends with you" like that exactly still nets >1800 results, and "animal crossing" still has 11 pages of results) so i'm not sure if we're supposed to be able to use things like wildcards and quoting to make it work 'in our favour' or better, or if it's just wildcard or what. tho i never tried wildcard before because the search seemed so specific before that i never thought to try.

i really want to reiterate that i'm SUPER HAPPY that the search is now FAR LESS PICKY overall, because having to remember the colons and such was awful, i'm really glad that it's just overall been improved. and honestly, as long as searches come up where the games (or items) that seem to hit the most 'flags' in string queries or w/e you'd call it still come up first, i don't care if there's 10 results or 10000. as long as the most relevant still pops up first. so i'm actually really glad it's been overhauled and is just a lot more user friendly overall. it's really appreciated and i can't imagine how much work went into that, so it's really a nice thing, thank you~)))
w/e w/e it's really nice. thank you.

(i want to add my complaint about the search results is kinda a bit petty overall, it just seems a li'l messy is all tbh, it doesn't seem to effect searches)
« Last Edit: July 20, 2016, 12:47:35 am by necrosexual »


if i'm an NPC, i want to be the secret boss in a low tier niche JRPG.

rayne315

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2016, 10:17:02 am »
random issue I noticed in the quick search. when I was searching for Knack on ps4 just today I put in "knac" their are no results but when I enter "kna" or "knack" the list fills out.

same issue when searching Castlevania games "castl" and "castlev"-"castlevani" shows zero results while "cas" "cast" and "castlevania" show results
PS2 Palooza: 8/2XXX games finished
Now Playing: Dark cloud
Stopped recording so now back on track.

XIII
.Hack//G.U. Vol 1//Rebirth
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Sly 2
.hack//g.u. vol 2
.hack//g.u. vol 3
Katamari Damacy
Bully

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2016, 01:36:05 pm »
There are definitely some errors in the algorithm, as it brings up results from every category even when I limit the search to a specific category.
Nevertheless, thanks for your efforts. Greatly appreciated. Please just try to adjust it a little more.

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2016, 04:24:01 pm »
hooray!

jason

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2016, 07:27:45 pm »
Thank you all for the feedback! We are looking into the current issues and hope to have an updated rollout soon.

azure

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #8 on: July 21, 2016, 06:03:53 pm »
Just a heads up, the specific console search function under advanced doesn't work for some things. It will just boot you to a normal search, instead of a console specific one.

jason

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2016, 09:44:30 pm »
Just a heads up, the specific console search function under advanced doesn't work for some things. It will just boot you to a normal search, instead of a console specific one.

Thank you for the heads up. This should be functioning as normal now.

- Jason

Flashback2012

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2016, 12:59:27 am »
Just a heads up, the specific console search function under advanced doesn't work for some things. It will just boot you to a normal search, instead of a console specific one.

Thank you for the heads up. This should be functioning as normal now.

- Jason

Keep up the good work!  ;D

azure

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2016, 07:30:02 pm »
Just a heads up, the specific console search function under advanced doesn't work for some things. It will just boot you to a normal search, instead of a console specific one.

Thank you for the heads up. This should be functioning as normal now.

- Jason

Working fine, nice job!

tripredacus

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2016, 11:58:42 am »
Search allows for use of double quotes for exact matches. Using single quotes generates an error.

Compare:
http://vgcollect.com/search/%22alpha%20protocol%22
37 result(s) for ""alpha protocol""
Only shows items where Alpha Protocol are together.

and (default search) :
http://vgcollect.com/search/alpha%20protocol
172 result(s) for "alpha protocol"
Shows any item where either Alpha or Protocol exist in the item name OR alt name fields.

+1 we are now searching in the alt-name field.
Test:
http://vgcollect.com/search/%22espionage%20rpg%22
33 result(s) for ""espionage rpg""
Even with quotes, it is searching alt-name field, showing the non-english releases of this game.
NOTE: the difference in the search results (33vs37) is the 4 items which are digital games and a strategy guide. ;)

My only complaint about the new search is that the results are not in a good order. Prior to this update, results would be returned in alphabetical order.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2016, 12:01:55 pm by tripredacus »

tripredacus

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2016, 11:40:35 am »

Re: UPDATE - Overall Search Improved
« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2016, 12:26:58 pm »
Bug report

"Tekken 5" 0 results:
http://vgcollect.com/search/%22tekken%205%22

Tekken 5 10 results:
http://vgcollect.com/search/tekken%205
I had a similar issue with "State of Emergency"