Recently, we have been fine-tuning our scope, which defines the albums that are eligible for submission. Most of the changes are minor, but the most significant change is the addition of a new album category called "Game-adjacent". This category replaces the old "Demo Scene" category, which has always seemed out-of-place when compared to the other album categories. The broader definition of "Game-adjacent" allows us to take some other albums that were classified under other categories and move them into this more suitable category.

Game-adjacent music encompasses the following:

• Music related to gaming or game systems but not attached to any specific game.
• Notional game soundtracks: Music created for fictional games.
• Original music created for rhythm game simulators: Albums containing short, extended, arranged and remixed versions of songs used for rhythm game chart simulators such as Be-Music Source (BMS) files, osu! maps, and other chart simulators that are not directly tied to a specific game/releases.
• Chiptunes: Music created using the sound chips of older gaming and computing hardware, including modern iterations that utilize digital audio workstations (DAWs) and software synthesizers to emulate the sound of retro hardware
• Demoscene: music created for "demos", which were computer programs that demonstrated graphics and audio capabilities of computer systems.
• Other miscellaneous music/sound from gaming systems. (e.g., Wii menu music.)
• Example1, Example2, Example3, Example4

We have also adjusted a quirk of the color-selection rules. Formerly, an album in the Demo Scene category that was also marked as Doujin would display its title in purple instead of orange. With the move to the Game-adjacent category, we have fixed this behavior, so game-adjacent doujins will be orange, and standard commercial ones will be purple.

The updated scope can be found here.

Last summer, in response to a steady increase in the number and the complexity of submissions, we announced that we were working on some new tools and processes to help deal with the intertwined topics of moderation and user progression. We are happy to announce that all of the pieces of the new system are in place.

More of the moderation process is now visible to the public. You may notice a new category on the menu bar called "modq". Here, you can view all recent submissions that require moderation. You can also see the most recently accepted and rejected submissions. In addition, all rejection comments and questions from staff are publicly visible in the forums, and the notification system is used to keep users updated.

The new system is also more streamlined to make it easier for staff to moderate submission. You will notice a new information block at the top of album or artist page whenever it has pending changes.

Finally we are no longer limited to the old binary Trusted/Not Trusted. We can fine tune submission settings for any user. You can read more about how user progression works in this post. The baseline submission limits are fairly small now, but our intent is to keep the queue times to a maximum of 3 days.

Much thanks go to Illidan for development, cal for graphics and testing, nstz for storyboarding and testing, and the rest of staff for additional ideas and testing.

VGMdb has been experiencing some growth pains, due in part to new features and expanded scope. This has led to quite a backlog in the moderation queues. As a stop-gap measure, we have drastically reduced the number of pending albums and drafts submitted by regular users.

This is only a band-aid however. A long-term solution is going to require some considerable development work on the moderation tools and processes. We are currently storyboarding some new ideas, but major emphasis is on making the process more visible to the public, so you will be able to see the queue, the status of submissions, and any communication.

In the meantime, please be patient.

Today, we've pushed an update that changes the way information is displayed on album pages. For the last decade, albums on VGMdb have only displayed 4 credits: composer, arranger, performer, and lyricist. Now, album pages will be able to display any type of credit listed on an album. For example: instead of only seeing a vague "performer" credit, you'll be able to see all the specific instruments that were performed and who performed them. It will take a while for albums to be updated to this new system, so you likely won't notice any changes immediately. But in time, we hope this update will improve the accuracy of credits and make VGMdb a more valuable resource.

For the full list of today's updates, please see this thread.

The VGMdb Team

A common request we've received over the last decade is to add support for games without soundtracks. Wouldn't it be great to see all the games a composer has worked on, and not just the ones with album releases?
Today we've added a new system to link artists to products. You'll now be able to find a "Product" tab on artist pages listing everything they've worked on. Along with these changes, you'll now see products featured here on the main page. Going forward, we hope that VGMdb will be a one-stop source for finding out which games (and other products) an artist has worked on. We hope to expand on these features even further in the coming weeks.

For the full list of today's updates and examples of the new features, see here. As always, please use this thread if you have any feedback about this update!

The VGMdb Team