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.

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

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.

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.

Achievements and trophies
Many games have "achievements" and/or "trophies" which are earned by completing particular tasks. StrategyWiki has a standard page layout for achievements which is detailed on the achievements project page. Achievements and trophies that can be earned by completing particular story objectives should be noted in the walkthrough using Achievement.

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.

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.

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.

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.