NAM's How To: Make an AWESOME Project Thread

Started by tSwitch, December 30, 2008, 11:56:59 am

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tSwitch

December 30, 2008, 11:56:59 am Last Edit: February 05, 2009, 10:47:11 am by NAMKCOR


Alright, a good project will be completely passed over if the thread is uninteresting, and could result in a truly AMAZING game being overlooked, simply due to lack of proper show.  Therefore I have provided several tips and tricks, as to how to make an absolutely AWESOME Project Thread.


Without Further ado:

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:rite: AWESOME Tip Number 1: THE HORIZONTAL RULE 




This is purely a formatting go-to.  It helps to separate sections of your post from each other, and let's just face it, it looks professional and it looks good.

It should be used at the end of project sections, Such as Features, Characters, Synopsis, etc... to show the end of an old subject and the start of a new one.

[hr]

here is the code for the horizontal rule.
Note: you do NOT need a closing tag.  i.e. no [/hr]

NOTE: The horizontal rule can be omitted in favor of much more appealing means of separation, such as images in place of text for section headings.  Use your imagination.




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:rite: AWESOME Tip Number 2: PARAGRAPH FORMATTING

Remember all that crap your english teacher taught you way back when in your early years of school?  All that crap about indents, and periods, and sentence structure, and introductory sentences and blah blah blah?  Well yeah, it all applies.  Better brush up!

A paragraph is a series of sentences that introduce, explain, and conclude ONE SINGLE SUBJECT.  You don't ramble on and on about one thing, then move on into another completely different subject, with no break between the paragraphs.  It's bad formatting, and it creates the dreaded WALL OF TEXT.

The wall of text is major project turnoff #1.  Nobody wants to see an endless sea of words with no clear start and end.  It's visually confusing, and generally results in tl;dr. 

For the non-savvy, tl;dr means 'too long; didn't read', which is exactly what we DON'T want.




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:rite: AWESOME Tip Number 3: GRAMMAR!

OMG ROFL WELL DIS GUI GOE 2 CSTL 2 FITE MONSTR AND KILL KING GET PRIZE\

IT'S GRAMMAR NAZI TIME!

Major Project Turnoff #2: WEBSPEAK/TEXTSPEAK
Make a conscious effort to use proper grammar and punctuation, as well as spelling, in your project thread.  It will make you look much more intelligent, and will make the project much more appealing.

Here are some commonly forgotten rules of grammar, for those who have forgotten:

Spoiler: ShowHide
to/too: too means also or as well, to is a preposition which represents movement or action.  THEY. ARE. NOT. INTERCHANGEABLE.

there/they're/their: there refers to a location, they're is a conjunction of they and are, their is a possessive adjective, like to and too, THEY. ARE. NOT. INTERCHANGEABLE.  they're does NOT represent possession.  You do NOT say "they're bike"  or "their cool people."  I see this so often it makes me want to scream.

its/it's: it's is a conjunction if it and is, its represents possession of whatever 'it' is.  IT'S DOES NOT REPRESENT POSSESSION.  THEY. ARE. NOT. INTERCHANGEABLE.

Run on Sentences: So I went to the beach to play with my dog then I found a shell and put it in my pocket before going back home and eating some eggs. This is a run on sentence.  A sentence is supposed to express a single thought.  Subject, verb, preticate.  The above sentence should have been split up, as follows.  "So, I went to the beach to play with my dog.  While I was there, I found a shell and put it in my pocket.  Afterwards, I went back home and ate some eggs."

Do -not- forget what a comma is, do not forget what a period is, and if you don't know already, learn what a semicolon is.

The fabled Apostraphe: whenever two words are conjoined, such as don't or can't, you must put an apostraphe ( ' ) wherever the omitted letters would be.  You must also use an apostraphe to represent possession when, and ONLY when, using a proper noun, such as Blizzard, or Street, not an improper noun such as he (his) or your (yours doesn't need an apostraphe FOR GOD'S SAKE). 

You should type Blizzard's script, not He's script, and Your script not You're script or something similarly improper. 

ALSO: Any word that ends in an S (generally plural words) need the apostraphe at the END.  Such as if you were speaking of multiple Elephants.  You'd say the Elephants' stable, not the Elephant's stable, in this case.

Capital Letters: Capitals MUST be used for proper nouns, and the start of EVERY sentence.  They can also be used for added EMPHASIS.  But use them sparingly.  CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR A SKIPPED PROJECT.

U, R, O, and any other textspeak abbreviation: NO, JUST NO.


Small spelling errors such as teh and soem are fine, as long as they're fixed when they're found.  We all type too fast sometimes, and spell some things incorrectly.  Just don't tell me that I will "C a box uf treshur n tha cav" when I want to know that I will "See a box of treasure in the cave."




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:rite: AWESOME Tip Number 4: STORYTELLING!

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE!
When you tell a story, TELL the STORY!

It's hard to explain, and I can't teach good storytelling skill, so I'll show an example of a very BAD way to tell a simple story, a better way, and the best way, to tell this very simple story.

NOTE: disregard the shitty story, focus on how it is presented.

"You're this knight named Arshes and you have to go kill the king because he is evil but when you get to the castle in the evil land you fight three demons that are servants of the king and when he beats them he gets a magical sword of power then he uses it to kill the king."

Why this one is BAD:
-- Very poorly formatted
-- Horrible Run on sentence
-- reveals far too much of the story
-- and then and then and then and then and then
-- very flat (no motivations or descriptions)


BETTER: ShowHide

"Arshes, the knight, has been charged with killing the evil king of Auseurious, the dark nation bent on ruling the world.  Setting out on his journey, Arshes confronts the Three Demon Dukes of the dark king, and in killing them, secures a magical sword that he needs to defeat the evil king.  Venturing to the castle Auseurious, and killing the king, Arshes restores peace to the world."

Why this one is BETTER:
-- Better formatted
-- Good grammar
-- still tells too much of the story
-- better descriptions.
-- flow is odd due to switching from past tense to progressive tense


BEST: ShowHide

"Auseurious, the dark nation, ever focused on conquest, has spread far across the world; its dark shadow stretching from continent to continent, its rule nearly complete.  One knight, Arshes, has been charged with a task, to destroy the king of Auseurious, and bring an end to their tyrannical rule forever."

Why this one is BEST:
-- Well formatted
-- Good grammar
-- Introduces the story without revealing too much
-- Flow remains constant


Don't reveal the entire plot of your game in the project thread.  If you do, why would I bother playing it?
Also, don't just talk at me about the story, you should be telling it to me, SELLING it to me.  Make it sound interesting, make it sound deep, make it sound like a story, not a dictation. 

The story section should introduce basic aspects about the game, and perhaps explain bits of backstory, so that the player can understand things at first.  The story section should NOT be a blow by blow of every event that happens in the game.  Use good judgement.

NOTE: This tip also applies to character information.  ESPECIALLY if there is character development in the story, and DOUBLY so with Antagonists.  NEVER give the player everything up front.




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:rite: AWESOME Tip Number 5: SPOILERS!

Spoiler: ShowHide
NO NOT JUST FOR IMAGES


Major project turnoff #3: MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF SCROLLING.
Spoilers compress your topic, hiding multiple paragraphs and large images with a SINGLE LINE of text.  This makes it much easier to browse your topic, so that people can find points of interest much faster than if you neglected to spoiler sections.

[spoiler]TEXT[/spoiler]

In case you were unaware, this is the spoiler code.
replace TEXT with whatever you want to, the code does the rest.

Features:
Spoiler: ShowHide


  • FEATURE: explanation

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:rite: AWESOME Tip Number 6: IMAGES!

Screenshots, Title Screen, Character Art, Sprites, Userbars, Banners, etc...
Don't make your project thread bland and colorless, throw your best stuff up.

This one is very very simple: show off.

Use your BEST maps, show off your character art, make a banner for the top of the thread.
Make userbars with a few of the main characters. 
(They're all the rage ;) and if your game is interesting enough, people WILL support it)

People WILL judge your game by the art you put up, whether your story is badass or not.  So don't skimp out.  If your mapping is bland, or your art is dull, people will skip right over your project for the next one.

Now, don't add TOO many images, for obvious reasons. 
But in case you need them:

1.) Page will load too slow, and people will skip over it.
2.) You could give away too much
3.) You can easily break formatting with too many images.




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:rite: AWESOME Tip Number 7: WATCH THE SMILIES!

:evil: :^_^': :^_^': :haha: SO i MADE THIS GAME  :huh: SOMETHING ABOUT A GUY AND A THING  :huh: :) :<_<: :roll: :P :roll: :shy:

Major project turnoff #4: 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Nobody wants to see that.  It's unprofessional, and will make you look like an idiot.
That's all there is to say on this subject.

Spoiler: ShowHide
:negative:





Lastly: and this tip is for replying to posts in your project thread. 
BE COURTEOUS. 
Accept CRITICISM. 
Ignore FLAME.

Your thread might be amazing, but if you're an asshole who refuses to accept criticism, people will stop checking your thread.




I hope this guide helps some prospective new game makers along their path of righteousness.
:rite:


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G_G

I'll keep this in mind whenever I release my game's demo. Awesome tips NAM.
This is funny
Quote from: NAMKCOROMG ROFL WELL DIS GUI GOE 2 CSTL 2 FITE MONSTR AND KILL KING GET PRIZE\[/qutoe]

Starrodkirby86

Although most of this information is common sense, there are many users who apparently ignore these...and that inevitably gives me a facepalm. Though it's not so common here...Probably because there's barely any Projects here. :xD:

QuoteBE COURTEOUS.
Yes.
Quote
Accept CRITICISM.
Of course. Showing yourself off as some prissy jerk who can't accept criticism REALLY stinks up the Project Thread, as you mentioned before. -_-;

QuoteIgnore FLAME.

I wouldn't ignore it; instead I would think of a snazzy comeback and/or report the post. :P

What's osu!? It's a rhythm game. Thought I should have a signature with a working rank. ;P It's now clickable!
Still Aqua's biggest fan (Or am I?).




tSwitch

Quote from: Starrodkirby86 on December 30, 2008, 03:39:37 pm
QuoteIgnore FLAME.

I wouldn't ignore it; instead I would think of a snazzy comeback and/or report the post. :P


feeding trolls invites more trolling


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Vell

BUT EVEN THOSE BLUE SKINNED MAGGOTS NEED FOODZ! *raises sign saying: Trolls are alive, too: they just need to be changed*

but yeah, this is prertty helpful. I mean, it IS rather common sensical, however, the order in which to do it all made no little confuzion to me. or somethin. iunno. I dont think im cut out for the RMXP game-making sort of thing.

tSwitch

Quote from: UltaFlame on December 30, 2008, 06:57:32 pm
but yeah, this is prertty helpful. I mean, it IS rather common sensical, however, the order in which to do it all made no little confuzion to me. or somethin. iunno. I dont think im cut out for the RMXP game-making sort of thing.


it's not any particular order, it's just a series of tips, not a series of steps


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Fantasist

lol! Nice Namk! Though most of these are obvious, those who read it at least once will never even accidentally make mmistakes cause they'll remember the examples you've used. *powers up*
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Blizzard

*double power up*

Now that's more like something that should be stickied, rather than a project template. xD Great job on this, NAMK. :)
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tSwitch



FCF3a A+ C- D H- M P+ R T W- Z- Sf RLCT a cmn+++ d++ e++ f h+++ iw+++ j+ p sf+
Follow my project: MBlok | Find me on: tSwitch.us | Twitter | Tumblr