ifnews/app/Models/Author.php

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use App\Models\Game;

class Author extends Model
{
  protected $table = 'authors';
  public $timestamps = FALSE;

	public function games() {
		return $this->belongsToMany(Game::class, 'authors_games');
  }

  public static function findByName($name) {
    return self::whereRaw('LOWER(name) = ?', mb_strtolower($name))->first();
  }
}