Template talk:Since
Linking to a list (chronology) of games?
![Icon-white-user-multiple.png](/w/images/thumb/5/55/Icon-white-user-multiple.png/32px-Icon-white-user-multiple.png)
When the discussion has ended, remove this tag and it will be removed from the list.
For as long as this template's been used to describe various entities, keyvalues, shader parameters, I've felt that it has a flaw in how chronology of games doesn't always match the progression of technology in the Source engine.
For example, Portal 2 is a 2011 game; saying something exists "in all games since Portal 2" may be interpreted as being applicable to Source 2013, but most often it isn't. Some quirks even exist between Orange Box's Source 2007 and Source 2007 that's for modding (the SDK base). What counts as "games since", then, do "updates (made since) to games (from before)" also count, like Steampipe?
Even beside the question of differences, most of Source 1 games are a decade+ old so having to keep a mental map of what's newer or older, isn't ideal.
Maybe the template can be used to link to some ordered chronology tree or table that explains when something does and doesn't apply? Ideally something that's better than Category:Source_engine_branches.
Alternatively, can it be made to be used with branches rather than games on a case by case basis? (or maybe it already can, I just don't know the syntax for it?)
I'm not sure how to readily imagine a much better system, so right now I'm interested in more opinions most of all.
P. S. All this also applies to {{Removed}}, I'm writing here as 'since' is the more common one out of the two. Cvoxalury (talk) 02:16, 8 August 2024 (PDT)