Starting a guide can be a tedious process at first, but by the time you've finished reading this guide, you'll be well on your way to starting and contributing to guides.
Getting Started
Differences from plain text guide writing
There are some important and fundamental differences between wiki content and traditional guide writing.
- Nobody "owns" the guides. All content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (or GFDL for short).
- There are no closing comments sections. Each guide is considered to be written by the community. Writings speaking for the community, or any other for that matter, are not welcome.
- There is no copyright section. The disclaimers link at the end of the page outlines the terms of the GFDL.
- No contacting section. That means no e-mail addresses or chat handles. Use talk pages, instead.
- No credits section. A list of contributors is recorded automatically by MediaWiki (click on the history tab to see).
- No attribution. All edits are automatically attributed (click on the history tab to see).
- You can use rich text formatting and some HTML. (bold, italic, underline, hyperlinks, etc.) using MediaWiki markup, or HTML if no MediaWiki equivalent exists.
- Tables are allowed, as long as you use wiki markup for them.
- Images that enhance the quality of a guide are allowed, and encouraged. We provide a place to upload images onto our servers.
Starting a guide
The first thing is to choose a game to write for. It's best to choose a game you like and have played through completely to be fully able to write about it. Think about how you will go about collecting information and how to organize information prior to creating pages for it. Here's a few tips for starting off:
- You will need some amount of motivation or ambition to work on your chosen game. If you meet another fan also interested in working on that game, that's great; this will distribute the workload.
- You don't have to immediately jump into writing the walkthrough (which is oftentimes the hardest part). If you want to concentrate on an item list or boss strategies to get used to wiki guide writing, that's fine.
- Changes go live the moment you hit save. You can write as much or as little at a time as you like.
Remember, if you're ever uncertain of how to lay out your page, you can use the Sandbox to test it. Bear in mind that it's a free-for-all workspace; if you come back later and your work is gone, check the history for the last edit beside your username. By editing this old revision you can get back what you were working on (however, any additional changes to the page will need to be merged in with your new content – you may want to just copy the necessary text and then load the current version of the page before editing).
- If necessary, confirm that the game in question is notable. While it is ideal to cover every game, a guide is only useful if there is or was a significant player base. Otherwise, you may expend too much effort into writing a guide that may never be seen.
Once you've decided on a game, you'll need to start it up and fill out an infobox. But first it needs a name.
Naming
Each game gets its own page, preferably the official name of the game. If there are multiple games with the same name that require different guides, the first release that was given the name should have its guide with that location. To help users find guides for other games with the same or similar names, disambiguation links should be added to the front page, with one blank line separating them from the end of the infobox. These links should either point to a series category which contains all the relevant guides using the {{series disambig}} template, or directly to each game using the {{game disambig}} template).
When naming a guide, attempt to use the official name given by the game developer or publisher. If no official name is available, all words except for internal closed-class words should be capitalized. For sub-pages within a guide, all pages should follow the in-game naming and capitalization. For sections not mentioned directly in the game, sentence case should be used.
Article disambiguation
If two games with the same title differ dramatically from one another, a disambiguation system will be used whereby the system of release and/or year of release are included in the title (abbreviated if appropriate). For example, the Super Punch-Out!! page has a link at the top to the SNES version, and the Batman page has a link to the Batman category. If the games have the same name and system but different publishers/developers, put that in parentheses.
If releases are the same game on all but one system, the most common game should occupy the main name with disambiguation only for the special title. For example:
- Spiderman The Movie II — Spiderman on all consoles.
- Spiderman The Movie II (NDS) — Spiderman on the Nintendo DS
When in doubt, bring candidates for disambiguation to the attention of other editors by posting in the staff lounge.
If the same game was released under multiple names, it is common practice to use the name most known globally. If there is a tie, it is up to the discretion of the guide's original writer to name the game guide (just make sure properly categorised redirects are present for the other names). See alternate titles for more information.
Creating the main page
Once you've decided on a page name, the easiest way to get started is to type the full name of the game you want to work on into the search box (at the top right of every page) and press "Go". If nobody has started a guide for your game, the resulting page will tell you so. Then, just click on the "create this page" link to begin editing your guide's first page.
Before any work is done on the guide, there must first be a main page. Setting up the main page for a new guide has been simplified with the use of the template buttons above the edit box. Simply click on the "Main game page" button to be given a basic layout, then just fill in the blanks. If you can, write a summary or introduction to the game (see other guides for examples of such). This should include a few lines about the history of the game and some spoiler-free teasers about the beginning of the plot. At all costs, avoid any spoilers on the main page. Note that the template buttons will only appear when editing a nonexistent page.
Unless an article is very short, it should start with a "lead" comprised of one or more introductory paragraphs. The lead should not be explicitly entitled ==Introduction==.
The subject of the article should be mentioned in bold text (not bold and italicised text as on Wikipedia) in the first sentence of the introduction.
Normally, the first paragraph clearly explains the subject so that the reader is prepared for the greater level of detail to follow. If further introductory material is needed before the first section, this can be covered in subsequent paragraphs.
The lead is automatically followed by the {{Continue Nav}} template, then a story or gameplay section, the {{ToC}} template and finally the categories. The {{infobox}} for the game should also be located in the introduction.
Further tips, hints and other suggestions
Writing guidelines
The primary purpose of StrategyWiki is to inform, not entertain. Guides should contain a minimum of "fluff" (also known as "drivel") and focus on being as detailed and descriptive as possible. Similarly, all guides must be objective and devoid of personal opinion. Different techniques and strategies may be suggested with the goal of determining the best technique or strategy.
When writing, always maintain a single focused "voice". Do not refer to yourself ("I", "me", etc.) in the guide.
Always give alternate options. Many solo guide writers often choose what they say is the best way to complete a certain objective, but another gamer might choose another route. If there are multiple ways to do something, writing them all out could be useful to the reader.
Spelling and grammar should be checked by contributors before an edit is saved. The newer versions of Mozilla Firefox automatically mark spelling mistakes in text boxes. You can also copy the text into Microsoft Word or another word processor and run a spell check. If proper nouns specific to a game are used, please ensure that they are correctly spelled and capitalized.
Crediting sources
If you find yourself in the situation that you need to credit information, do so in the edit summary. Because information (including cheat device patch codes) cannot be copyrighted or otherwise protected, you can take cheat codes or item stats from other guides as long as your wording and presentation of those details are sufficiently different.
Organize well
Keep paragraphs short. Their size will vary depending on screen resolution and font size, but as a general rule you should start a new paragraph whenever something major takes place or it just seems like a good time. For example, in an adventure game, using a paragraph for each major location or location change is probably a good idea. Whatever is most fitting and appropriate for the guide while not being redundant is welcome.
- Use {{sidebar}} for notes that accompany a page that aren't a necessary feature of it. Use the sidebar to indicate the location of ancillary information which will help those looking for those things, while not interrupting those only interested in the core subject of the page.
- Take notes on paper or in Notepad while playing the game, as it is a lot easier than playing back through whole portions of the game just to describe something you didn't before. You can, of course, refer to other guides to refresh your memory of the specifics, but remember not to copy directly from other guides.
- Don't bother using tabs or multiple spaces to align text. These don't appear in the final page or don't have the desired effect. If you want to lay something out in a specific way, use proper wiki formatting instead.
- Don't use more than a single blank line between sections. Any more than one will create obvious blank space in the saved page, which generally looks bad. This applies to the tops and bottoms of pages as well.
- Don't use ASCII artwork on StrategyWiki. Use images instead.
- Don't use any form of JIS (e.g. JIS encoding or Shift-JIS) for Japanese. Instead, use normal Unicode characters (e.g. ゼルダの伝説). Modern browsers support both, but Unicode works immediately, whereas JIS requires the user to first manually change the character encoding in order for the characters to display correctly.
Avoid spoilers
Revealing main plot points such as the identity of a main boss at a point in the walkthrough earlier than that at which it occurs in the game is generally considered bad form. However, in some cases plot points are revealed by the game box, manual, or introduction. These are not considered spoilers as it is highly likely the player knows of them. An example would be the death of a central character in Grand Theft Auto Advance – this is stated right on the back of the box.
Other considerations
Alternate titles
If a game is known under other names, redirect those names to the most common one and mention them there, e.g. "Grappler (known as Bad Bros in Japan) is a beat-'em-up for the Sega Genesis". To help people find it using that other name, include the game's categories on the redirect page. This will make it show up in those categories under both names. Redirecting common misspellings (e.g. Megaman instead of Mega Man) is also a good idea, but because these involve a misspelling, not an alternate title, they do not need categories.
Versions
If a particular version of the game has changes (such as more/fewer characters or remixed levels) this should be explained on the appropriate pages. If a feature with an identical name is different enough in particular versions that it cannot be covered on the same page, disambiguate it at the top something like this:
- For the Game Boy Advance stage see [[Game/Level 1 (GBA)]].
If the other version is significantly different enough that it should be covered separately, use a similar disambiguation on the cover page only and name the other guide with that system's common abbreviation.
Formatting
MediaWiki formatting is more involved than plain text, but much easier than HTML. See StrategyWiki:Guide/Wiki markup for more details.
Images
A picture is worth a thousand words. If you're trying to describe a route or puzzle solution that takes a lot of words to explain, it might be easier to draw it and refer to the map.
Image Formats
As a general rule, "When in doubt, use PNG". The most common formats are listed here.
- PNG has excellent lossless compression as well as multiple levels of transparency. Use PNG for images with transparency, smaller images and images with cleanly separated areas of color.
- GIF has good compression, but not as good as PNG in most cases. It only supports a small palette (216/256 colors), and dithers anything outside that palette. Use GIF for images containing a few, clearly separate solid colors, or animated images (QuickTime animations or movies are good alternatives).
- JPEG is good for pictures with thousands of colors, but its compression method corrupts simpler images with compression artifacts. Use JPEG for photos and complex images involving gradients, such as most current box artwork. Also, avoid saving your JPEG images with Microsoft Paint when possible, as it's been known to cause compatibility issues among certain clients.
- SVG is a vector graphic image. Currently most browsers don't fully support the SVG format, which gives your computer commands to draw the picture rather than a bit for bit stream of each pixel used. These images are fantastic for scalability, as shrunken down or blown up they retain their original quality. The MediaWiki software is able to upload SVG images, which are then converted to PNG and displayed as such. Vector images are more complex to create, and it's unlikely you'll find any when searching, but eventually this format may replace all other ones on the Internet.
- BMP is lossless but has no compression. Never use BMPs, use an alternate format instead.
Of course, there are many other image formats out there, but StrategyWiki generally only welcomes the first three mentioned above. When in doubt, consult a sysop or other knowledgeable individual.
Image Maps
- For more details on this topic, see StrategyWiki:Guide/Image maps.
Image maps are welcome on StrategyWiki. They can be inserted as follows:
<imagemap> Image:Foo.jpg|200px|Picture of a foo. poly 131 45 213 41 210 110 127 109 [[Display]] poly 104 126 105 171 269 162 267 124 [[Keyboard]] rect 15 95 94 176 [[Foo type A]] # A comment, this line is ignored circle 57 57 20 [[Foo type B]] desc bottom-left </imagemap>
Standard image map notation is used. You can use visual editors such as Mapedit to assist with drawing the shapes.
See The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Maps/Overworld for a good example of an image map, and see the extension's documentation for further information.
Syntax description
The contents of an <imagemap> tag consists of blank lines, comments (starting with #) and logical lines. The first logical line specifies the image to be displayed. This must be in the same format as an ordinary MediaWiki image link, except without the enclosing [[ and ]].
Further lines are split into tokens, separated by whitespace. The function of each line is determined by the first token in the line. All coordinates are according to the full-size image, not the visible image.
- desc
- Specifies the location of the image description link. May be either top-right, bottom-right, bottom-left, top-left, or none. This puts a blue "i" icon in the specified corner, linking to the image description page. The default is bottom-right. To hide the description link, set it to none.
- rect
- A rectangle. The parameters are the coordinates of the top-left and bottom-right corners, followed by a title to link to in square brackets.
- circle
- A circle. The first two parameters are the coordinates of the center, the third is the radius. The coordinates are followed by a link in square brackets.
- poly
- A polygon. The coordinates of the vertices are given, followed by a link in square brackets. Polygons must be defined before any other form!
- default
- This gives the default link, where no other regions are specified.
All coordinates are specified relative to the source image. The image can be scaled using thumbnail syntax, in which case the image map coordinates will be automatically scaled as well.
All links are given in either the form [[Page title]] or [[Page title|description]]. In the latter case, the part after the pipe "|" becomes the title attribute of the link – in most browsers, it will pop up as a tooltip when the user hovers over it. If no explicit link description is given, the page title will be used.
Areas which overlap give precedence to the first link listed.
Attribution
Like the rest of the site, do not use attribution on your image; this information instead goes in the edit summary when uploading the image.
FAQ
Can I use others' info?
Yes, but always rewrite anything you use unless the source allows you to quote them (but a rewrite is still best). It's considered good form to credit the source, but by no means is it mandatory. Regardless of statements to the contrary, authors have no rights whatsoever to the information they are conveying, they only own their specific wording and presentation of that idea.
What is "drivel"?
"Drivel" is defined as unnecessary information or the wrong case. Saying "this character sucks" or "I usually go with the girl" is drivel. Because guides don't have fixed authors, using first-person wording is a bad idea. You could instead try wordings like "some players recommend" or "it is recommended". Similarly, while you might think a particular character or feature is bad or good others might not; instead, try to give good reasons why that particular thing isn't good (e.g. "his attack is good, but he has too little health to survive long against bosses").
What about history pages?
No. MediaWiki keeps an automated history list, so you can enter things like "spellchecked" or "rewrote incorrect controls list" in the edit summary to easily keep a history list. As a general rule, use the talk page of the appropriate page for everything else. Such pages may not be part of the main guide nor may they be linked from them, but including one on the appropriate talk page is a useful way to find others interested in working on the game. Describing your role (e.g. "working on the food items list") will help others know what you're mainly working on.
Starting your guide
The main page of a game acts as a sort of "cover", serving as an introduction to the game. As a rule there won't be actual guide content on this page, but things like the storyline or description of acronyms/abbreviations to be used in the sub-pages might be a good idea.
If the cover doesn't already exist, use the "Main game page" preload button to populate it with all the needed templates. You can then edit the page and fill in the details. There should be a brief introduction describing the game (much like the start of a Wikipedia article). In fact, it is recommended that you copy the appropriate sections from the Wikipedia article if it exists, making sure to put the link to the article or its history page in the edit summary.
Helping others find your guide
To help other people find your new guide, you should place its main page in several categories. We already have categories set up for systems and genres. To add a page to a category, simply put the following into your page:
[[Category:Category name]]
Replace Category name with the category name you would like to use. To put your page into more than one category, just duplicate that line and change the name. Check out other guides to see the categories they use. Generally, the game should be in categories relating to its platforms, single/multiplayer support, publisher/developer, series, release dates… basically, the categories will be mostly the same as the information in the {{infobox}}. More information on categorization is available here.