StrategyWiki:Guide/Organizing the pages

After the initial planning stage, the next issue is how to organise the content. Unlike traditional walkthroughs, information in StrategyWiki guides should be separated into subpages when it reaches a certain length. While most games will require three or four pages at the very least, some games, like Sega Swirl, are simple enough that they can be covered on a single page.

Unlike Wikipedia, StrategyWiki uses subpages (e.g. Game Name/Walkthrough). All pages must be sub-pages of the main game page.

Main page of a guide
The main page of a guide should be set up as contained in the main page pre-load template, with the following in this order:
 * 1) An infobox.
 * 2) Introduction section without a heading. It should be a paragraph or so in length and provide a general introduction to the game and its development. The first occurrence of the game name should be emboldened using '''.
 * 3) Continue Nav.
 * 4) An optional story section with ==Story== as the heading.
 * 5) ToC.
 * 6) Optional sections, such as references ( ==References== ), external links ( ==External links== ), and box artwork ( ==Box artwork== ). References sections, however, are discouraged, as we don't insist on referencing every fact in a guide, and instead find it stilts the flow of the text.
 * 7) Categories located at the bottom. See Guide/Categorization for more information]].

Single-page vs. multi-page
All StrategyWiki guides have either a single-page or multi-page layout. A platform game with a few dozen levels may be simple enough to cover on a single page, while a strategy game or RPG will usually require many pages. The advantage of the wiki format is that any number of pages can be added and removed as the guide evolves from basic notes into a heavily detailed resource.

Multi-page guides are often used for RPG and adventure games with relatively complex plots and many different areas, items, and side-quests. The guide for such a game contains a table of contents and is split into pages detailing each aspect of the game. A prime example of this is the guide for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Single-page
The single-page layout covers absolutely everything on a single page. Such games might include: If the game can be feasibly covered in full on a single page, add the  variable to Header Nav; this will disable the Walkthrough and Table of Contents links that appear by default. Defender is a good example of a single-page guide.
 * some Racing games
 * many Puzzle games
 * some platformers
 * games with very simple gameplay

Multi-page
The multi-page layout starts with an introduction page and can feature any number of subpages, each of which focuses on a single aspect of the game. Such games include: If the game is too complex to feasibly be covered on a single page it will need a Table of Contents linking to all the subpages it encompasses.
 * RPGs
 * Adventure/Action-adventure games
 * FPSes
 * games with many levels

Capitalisation
As with headings, page names should be capitalised correctly, with the main page of a guide taking the game's name, and sub-pages taking sentence case, apart from Table of Contents and Getting Started, which are special. So, for example, a page on a fictional quest called "The gates of Valhalla" would be Game name/The gates of Valhalla. The only exception to this rule is if the quest name is referred to within the game with different capitalisation, the page titles here can be capitalised to match.

For information on the benefits of using sentence case in titles, see Wikipedia.

Types of subpages
There are many types of subpages that make up the guide as a whole. The most common types are explained below.

Getting Started
An important page in many guides. This may go under different names depending on the game, but will always serve the same purpose: to describe the controls, gameplay and other general features of the game. New and returning players should be able to read or even skim this page to get a general refresher on the bare minimum of what's involved. Even things covered in the manual should still be covered in case players don't have the manual for whatever reason (sometimes, re-releases don't even include a manual).

Complicated games might need to have this separated into different pages, but a non-linked "Getting Started" header can still be used on the Table of Contents.

Controls
A portion of every guide is often dedicated to explaining a game's controls. Unless included in Getting Started, this page is crucial. A Controls page is automatically added to the Table of Contents when using the "Table of Contents" preload button. This information should be roughly modeled after an instruction booklet. It should be noted whether games allow button customisation, and the default configuration settings for each game should be used and noted as such.

Buttons should be listed in a table with a wherever possible. If there is no image for the button, it should be written out in bold (using a header cell in the table (!) automatically bolds it for you). If no template exists for this system, or you don't know what its controls are, use system name to tag it and write out the buttons in full.

Use separate columns for each system's controls, and another column for its function(s). For lists of large but irregular numbers of buttons, consider listing the description first and the buttons second. Separate multiple functions with a semicolon, forward slash (/), or bulleted list. Any notes about a specific button or action go in parentheses after the function, or if very long, as a sub-bullet in a list. Unless there are very few controls and only for one system, use a table with the prettytable template to display controls:

For simple controls, use a bulleted list with the controls followed by a colon, then the action. For notes, use a sub-bullet point. If there are no control images, or you don't know what they are, bold the written-out controls:


 * Analog stick: Move character
 * : Jump
 * The height of the jump varies with how long is held.
 * : Attack; block

Computer games use the mouse and keyboard for control (mouse and kbd exist for this purpose). Some games also distinguish the typing of lowercase and uppercase letters. For example, in NetHack, pressing z zaps a wand while Z zaps a memorised spell. If the capitalisation does not matter, list the key with a capital, as this is the way it is displayed on a real keyboard.

Walkthrough
The heart of a guide is the walkthrough. For simple games, this page should include all the levels or stages needed to finish the game, covered in as much detail as necessary.

If the game is very complicated or the descriptions become very long it should instead cover only the introduction—e.g. the opening cutscene or character creation (unless that is involved enough to earn its own subpage)—or perhaps the first level of the game. The aim is to make the automatic Walkthrough link on Header Nav as useful as possible.

Other walkthrough pages should be subpages of the main guide (e.g. Game/Level 1) rather than of the walkthrough (e.g. Game/Walkthrough/Level 1). If it has an official name you might consider using that instead a generic numbered page.

Remember to put Header Nav at the top and Footer Nav on the bottom so that readers can easily progress through the pages.

As a general rule, if something is not necessary to complete the game ("complete" in this sense means seeing the ending if there is one) it can be considered a secret or sidequest, and should be covered elsewhere (although mentioning it with a sidebar is still a good idea).

Additionally, the walkthrough page can, and often should, be used to describe how the guide is used and what the layout means. For instance the use of special templates, tables, or syntax should be explained here.

Table of Contents
While the walkthrough is the heart, the Table of Contents is the veins. Every guide has one (unless it is a single-page guide), and it should link to all pages used in the guide to enable quick access from anywhere to anywhere else.

First of all, the ToC should be generic, simple, and similar to other ToCs. The Table of Contents should have a variety of sections, such as Getting Started (covering controls, characters, and other basic information), Walkthrough (encompassing one or more pages covering the main levels or missions from beginning to end), and Appendices (for anything that does not fit into the other sections). Specific guides (such as Mega Man 7/Bosses) are usually listed under Appendices.

Because the Table of Contents is automatically included on all pages as part of Header Nav, if standard headings are used in it MediaWiki gets confused. Because of this, the /Table of Contents sub-page should use  for headings instead of   — i.e. use the h2 template. For a Table of Contents with many sections you can use col to divide the sections into columns (three is recommended for most purposes, although some guides will need more or fewer than this). A sample Table of Contents is shown below. You can see how it appears when saved, or click the edit link above to see how it is created. 🇨🇴

🇨🇴
 * Characters
 * Controls
 * Items

🇨🇴
 * 1) Level 1
 * 2) Level 2

🇨🇴 Note that this layout is purely visual; as a general rule, the actual page locations only need to be tiered once (e.g. Game/Level 1 instead of Game/Walkthrough/Level 1). This prevents pages from having complicated titles (e.g. Game/Walkthrough/Core Missions/Ric/Bombs Away, Baby) and also makes linking easier.
 * Cheats
 * Secrets
 * Patches

Sequential pages (e.g. the linear walkthrough) should be numbered (with #), while things that can be done in any order should be bulleted (with *).

Typically in larger tables of contents, the list of pages is split up into several columns, so that space is used more effectively. To do this, the col template needs to be used. Its usage is beyond the scope of this guide, but documentation is available on the template's page, and some example games (such as Diablo II) make good use of it. Similarly, games with expansion packs will integrate the expansion pack's table of contents into the main game guide's, using the subtoc and subtoc2 templates. Their use is also beyond the scope of this guide, but Diablo II is also a good example for their use.

To get you started, here are some generic ToC layouts for various genres:

🇨🇴 Adventure 🇨🇴 RPG/Action-adventure 🇨🇴 Racing 🇨🇴 Fighting 🇨🇴
 * Characters
 * Commands
 * Game Overview
 * FAQs
 * Walkthrough
 * Items
 * Secrets
 * Characters
 * FAQs
 * Walkthrough
 * Sidequests
 * Enemies
 * Items
 * Weapons
 * Armor
 * Spells
 * Controls
 * Cars
 * Tracks
 * Cups
 * Controls
 * Moves
 * Tactics
 * Tips and Tricks

FAQ
A FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is a list of common questions players have asked (or might ask). These have gone out of style in the last few years, and gamers are now in the habit of looking for answers in the appropriate section. If the game is particularly complicated or has specific information that is constantly asked (e.g. which characters are in which version, or if the existence of a nude skin is a hoax) a FAQ might still be a good idea, but as a rule any FAQ entries that could be rewritten and placed on a subpage instead should be. Because the FAQ will be read by players at any stage in the game, use spoiler for spoilers of any sort.

Optional activities
Things that are not required for completion of the main storyline go on pages like these. Activities that are required at one point of the walkthrough but can be optionally done at other times as well should be covered in both places. If the game has a lot of sidequests you should of course split the page accordingly.

Move lists
As a rule, only fighting games and beat-'em-ups have these. Handle beat-'em-up move lists much the same way as controls pages. Fighting games, however, are handled differently. Move lists are typically found in games that have a series, such as Street Fighter II. Move lists are put in two places: To prevent the need to copy the information in two places, and update a list twice, we put the list in one place and transclude the list. Each character in each game gets a single list (e.g. Street Fighter Alpha 2/Ryu), and it is transcluded in the two locations listed above by typing:. The colon in the beginning is an instruction to include the contents of that page on the current page that you are editing.
 * 1) The game for which the list applies (e.g. Street Fighter Alpha 2).  This page includes front page information about a game, including an info box, and table of contents, as well as the complete move lists for the game in question.
 * 2) The character page for the series (e.g. Street Fighter Alpha/Characters/Ryu).  This page includes biographical and possibly technical information about the character in question, as well as all of the move lists that apply to this character in the particular series.

Achievement lists
Some games – most notably those on the Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade and Valve's Steam games – have achievements which you accrue as you play through the game. StrategyWiki has a standard page layout for achievements (which should typically be named "Game Name/Achievements"), which is detailed on the achievements project page.

Strategy
Mostly used for strategy/tactical/simulation/squad-based games, this page should provide general strategies. Mission-specific strategies should probably be covered on the page for that mission. It's also useful to spread a few handy reminders (e.g. "remember, Night Elves deal only half damage against Fell Orcs unlike the rest of their race") throughout the walkthrough.

Cheats/Codes
This section can have either title (as they are mostly synonymous). As a general guideline, if a game has only button-press and cheat device codes, call the page Codes; if the game has glitches and other sorts of non-cheat cheats call it Cheats. As a rule patch codes cannot be copyrighted, so taking them from other sites is OK as long as you describe the code's function in your own words.

Lists
Lists are very helpful, and should usually be kept separate from any other page so they can be easily accessed from anywhere via the Table of Contents. As a rule, pages with large amounts of statistics should be presented in tables. If the lists become extremely long consider splitting by type. As a general rule, use an identical layout for each entry or section, leaving parts blank that don't apply to that thing.

Non-English guides
At present, StrategyWiki only hosts English-language guides. If enough interest is shown in other languages, support for them can be added much like at Wikipedia. Note that this doesn't mean you can't write a guide for a game which isn't in English (although that might be hard) — it just means that currently, all guides have to be written in English.