How to: Present a Game idea, WIP, Team Requests or Program Announcement and handle comments, flamers and moderators.
Some of these things are most likely common spread over all of us, forum dwellers, some are purely personal preference. However, seeing that many still fail to post their work in an attractive or inviting way, I thought this might as well be worth the try (and I was bored). This post is about what creates a good, fun place to stay. Most of it will be pretty obvious but hey, I've learned from recent experience that having it written down somewhere strengthens the just.
Posting
Titling is half the work. The first view of the page is another 25%. Now you need that last 25% to make perfect project posts. Here's how.
Game Idea
First of all, a game idea differs greatly from a story (which is also allowed on the GT-boards, but still). You could write a Tolkien-beating epic story, but a game has specific needs for the story. What a game idea is, is a short and powerful summary of gameplay, setting, story and atmosphere. Lets analyse a Game Idea post similar to the kind you see a lot on the Game Theory board:
Quote: "The evil king of the Northern lands assaulted the Southern Empire and the hero (the player) tries to stop the invasion. A long adventure awaits as the player goes and defeats the evil king."
What is wrong here?
* First of all, it says completely nothing about any game. This could be a book, a movie, a comic series or whatever, but it is not a game. There is no element of gameplay described at all - what genre is the game, who does the player represent. What motives are there?
* Second of all, even if the post were formatted to include genre and the like, why would this game stand out? Your game idea is posted to attract people who like the idea, I assume, not to post a random story as someone once stated. Why is this idea so much better than the other ideas around?
That's what's wrong. If we'd fix that, we'd have something along the lines of:
Quote: "In a fictional Dark Age world, the evil king of the Northern lands assaulted the Southern Empire and the hero (the player) tries to stop the invasion in a first person standard RPG-adventure (grind, level and farm) in the Southern lands. An important and rather unique feature of the game would be a gesture-based magic system, which would also allow for customisation. A long adventure awaits as the player goes and battles from his homelands to the castle of the evil king."
Much better. Now let's take a look at how it could be even better. What makes a Game Idea stand out? Media, details, basically any sign of careful working on an idea or a well worked-out idea. For the above RPG, you could for example add a description of the lands, add a sketch of a land map or the like. The more the better: Engulf the reader in your world, your idea.
Work In Progress
A thread on when a WIP is ready for posting: Here.
A WIP is a post notifying the community of a project in an advanced state. Advanced state means the project is in actual development, and has shown significant progress. Anything with less than these requirements is considered a Game Idea and should be in the Game Theory boards. For some, a WIP motivates to finish a project, for others, silence in their WIP thread means the end of their enthusiasm for a project.
So, let's start by saying what nót to do, basic WIP rules:
* Do not post without any sign of progress on the actual game. Game ideas go in the Game Theory board as described above.
* Do not post without media. All media goes, as long as it is relevant and usable. A paint-drawn 2D image of how the high-poly main character should look is a big no. Basically, even a very detailed list of characters counts, but the usual tendency is to have screenshots.
* Do not use anything that can be held against you. Don't lie, don't claim things that aren't true.
* Do not post WIP's for projectsthat you are not at least planning to finish and/or capable of finishing.
Next, let's look at what makes a WIP interesting.
* A well-described game idea. What are you making anyway? The editor looks cool, and it's programmed perfectly, but what does it create and for what game?
* Attractive presentation. Have a game-logo, website and the like. Take care of the layout of your post, make sure it all makes sense. Locate images on regular intervals and post code in the code brackets. Use the available options to make the post as readable and attractive as possible.
* Media. Images are good. Video is better. (Tech-)Demo is best.
* Clearness. Use the 'icon-setup' to indicate what is done, what is being done, what will be done and what would've been done but isn't being done. Make a list of everything that is needed and use icons to indicate any of those statusses per item. Don't forget to add an explanatory list of what each icon means.
* Updates. Keep people close to what is being done. Again, use screenshots or start a regular update interval (weekly or monthly). Do not overdo this - post only if something impressive comes up (unless using the regular update interval). In most cases, overdoing the updates is considered bumping and will result in people turning away from the thread.
* React. Good WIP's are distinguished by friendly and responsive posters. They take time to react to any comment they feel is necessary and take constructive critisism, even if harsh, happily.
A good WIP thus depends on what you've got to show. If you've got nothing, don't. Don't post your story with an image of Final Fantasy XII, we won't buy it. People around here know every spot on the web and every rip or theft will be found out. Work in Progresses are for projects that have already taken off and are in development - personally, I've found waiting with posting a WIP until you're at 50% of development or more seems the smartest thing to do - basic rule: Wait until you can blow us away!
Team Requests
Team Requests are a special form of Work in Progresses. You can only post Team Request if you've adhered to the rules of the WIP forums and have any progress. Again, keep to the above rules, except for the progress one. The difference between a Team Request and a Work in Progress is that in a Team Request, the poster need assistance in a project. However, the poster himself will need to be capable of showing progress. Let's analyse a team request:
Quote: "I'm XYZ and I'm creating a Dark-Age RPG. I need someone to code the engine and some artists to create the media for the game. I promise all teammembers a percentage of the sales profit!!!"
There's nothing good about this Team Request, first of all, it does not adhere to the WIP rules (no progress, no detailed game idea, nothing), but it has some specific Team Request errors.
First of all, in this example XYZ is doing nothing - he fails to explain his part in the creation of the game. Producer or 'the man with the plan' isn't good enough, you need to be either an artist or coder to work on a game. Second of all, the chance of any profit at all is near zero - do not promise what you can't give. Be realistic and realize most idea's here never earn anyone a penny.
Finally, the post is very unspecific. What do you need? Textures? Models? 2D artwork (buttons ect.)? Menu code? Engine code? What task does everyone get?
Logo.
Quote: "I'm XYZ and I'm creating a Dark-Age RPG. Game Idea Here. I personally have created a basic engine Icon-list progress or features here. Also, I created all of the 2D artwork (screenshots go here), but my modelling, however, is terrible, and I need some artists to create the media (textures and models) for the game. Besides crediting, I can promise nothing, but might the day ever come that the game yields any profit, ofcourse I'd share."
Much better. Again, the more detailed, the more specific, the better. For Team Requests, I can only advice you to contact a mod in advance. Explain what you want, what you need and let them tell you what they advice. Having a mod at your side is always a good sign.
Finally, make sure you can run and lead a team, and cap the team at a max of what you think you can handle. I can tell that having a team is hard work - keeping everyone happy and synchronized will require extensive planning and organisation, instant messenging or the like will always help. Keep the team small and efficient.
A last tip, thoroughly scan any new offer - test them if needed. Give them a test and be patient. Do not rush when accepting help - especially on long-term projects. You might never know if someone better comes along.
Program Announcements
First, check the following:
* The game starts well on different systems and is as bugfree as possible.
* The game is complete or at showable state.
* You've created a zip-file or installer which contains all required files.
* You can handle critics.
Your game is done. Perfect. You've done it - it's there. Now, time to present it.
First of all, is it commercial or freeware? Depending on that, you might need a demo version and change the tone of your post. A commercial game will need to really 'sell' the game with the presentation.
Ideally, the layout would resemble something like:
Quote: "
[Logo]
The logo of the game.
[Introduction]
Short summary or introduction of setting, story, atmosphere, genre and the like (i.e. price).
[News]
Updates, patches, whatever? Goes here.
[Features]
What makes the game special? List it as clearly as possible.
[Media]
Screenshots, Video, Music, whatever.
[Relevant Links]
Where to buy, website, forums, ect."
What you'll need most is media - us downloaders stay away from what we can't see in advance. Again, the more detailed, the better.
Why do you need to be able to handle critics? Simple: Because you're going to get some anyway. No game is perfect and there'll always be people who are going to dislike things. As with the WIP's, be honest, fair and understanding. Don't attack constructive criticism.
TGC Netiquette
Reacting to a Game Idea, WIP, Team Request or Program Announcement
Reacting is an art in itself. How do you react well?
The keywords here are honesty, argumentation and constructivism. Honesty means that basically, as long as adhered by the AUP (the license agreement) you can be fair about everything. Argumentation means that you need to be able to explain why you feel a certain way. Constructivism means that the goal of your reaction is to help others.
Compare this example:
Quote: "Lol? This sucks."
To:
Quote: "I think this Pong-game sucks. Why? Because the bats don't collide with the ball, the game stutters and crashes at random. I think that you should a least fix that before doing a Program Announcement."
Remember - those posters are human and deserve all due respect. Being harsh is different from being impolite. Compare the last example to the following one:
Quote: "I hope you'll get banned for this piece'a rubble"
No matter how argumented you're being, the main incentive should be to help, not to get people down.
Ideally, a response would look like this:
[Statement][Arguments][Conclusion]
Or in an example:
Quote: "This game needs some work. The gameplay is extremely choppy and the game reacts slowly. There are a lot of visible glitches and the like and really, the game doesn't do a lot except for walking around (choppy). You should work a bit on that, really."
Try to end up on a positive note. If you hate an entire game except for how the trees look, don't forget to mention those beautiful trees in the last line of your post!
Compare the last example to:
Quote: "This game needs some work. The gameplay is extremely choppy and the game reacts slowly. There are a lot of visible glitches and the like and really, the game doesn't do a lot except for walking around (choppy). You should work a bit on that, really. On another subject, I really liked how you did the trees, they look great!"
The message is the same, but the sound of the message is so much more positive and constructive. Ofcourse, there will always be projects that have nothing positive to say about them. For those cases, below you'll find the paragraph 'When to flame'.
Team Request
If you're interested in working on a project, be as specific and honest as you can about your skills. On good projects, you'll probably be tested or asked to do some basic stuff first. If you're just allowed into the team for no particular reason, you've got reason enough to believe the project will fail. No well-planned project will randomly allow people to join.
When to flame
Ofcourse, you ARE allowed to "flame" under very specific conditions:
1. The poster repeatedly breaks the rules.
2. You feel that the post does not adhere to the rules.
3. You have the right or experience to claim your flame.
Remember, even when flaming your goal should be to point out errors, not to destroy all hope. Good flamers say what they say to help out someone by pointing him/her out that their dreams are not within their grasp yet.
Language
English. English and English only. Try to write as clean as possible, avoid grammar or spelling mistakes. Copy it to Word or another place you can spell- and/or grammarcheck your text - nothing says 'n00b' more than br33z3r or bad English. Write out the words, avoid SMS-abbrevations as 'sum' (instead of some) and the like. Also, avoid double interpunction. We understand a single '!' just as well as a '!!!', as where '!!!' just seems childish. I guess the only exception is '...'. Also, watch your capitalisation and avoid symbols where possible.
Compare:
Quote: "i'm workin on a uniqe game + i really need sum help!!! if u cud help, wouldnt it be great to be in the credits?!"
To:
Quote: "I'm working on an unique game and I really need some help! If you could help, wouldn't it be great to be in the credits?"
Says it all.
Offended
There'll be times that you feel offended or something. There's a great button named "Report" (the button with the angry emoticon in the lower left of a post). Use this to report offending posts to moderators. Remember, acting mature and in a polite way will solve more than going into flame wars. Also, make sure you don't report things that comply to the AUP unless you feel someone has really gone too far inside the borders of the AUP. Personal comments mean nothing on these forums as most of us have never met.
Thy shalt use TGC forums as stated below
* Thou shalt not rip.
* Thou shalt not swear.
* Thou shalt not boast thyself.
* Thou shalt not post fake, unrepresentative or unusable content.
* Thou shalt not speak of future riches.
* Thou shalt not present thyself as a CEO of a large company.
* Thou shalt not present an incomplete WIP, as stated by the rules in the WIP forum.
* Thou shalt not create a fake or uncomplying team-request.
* Thou shalt not be impressed, overwhelmed or intimidated by flamers, and shalt take lesson from the errors made.
* Thou shalt be honest about the state, future and creation of the game.
* Thou shalt take fair critic well, and shalt reply to these in a fair, mannered way.
* Thou shalt write English in the best way thou are capable of.
* Thou shalt be honest, open-minded and friendly.
* Thou shalt thank any fair criticaster or commenter and reply.
* Thou hast the right to remain silent.
* Thou shalt remain silent if not interested in a project.
* Thou shalt not give unargumented critics, or try to break ones spirits.
* Thou shalt not whine for screenshots, unless justified.
* Thou shalt not comment on content thou hast not seen.
* Thou shalt listen to the moderators publically.
* Thou hast the right to question any moderator through mail, and receive reply within a reasonable timeframe.
Remember the following:
* If you're being flamed, there's a reason for that. Looks what went wrong and fix it.
* A little kindness can go a long way.
* Mods are people. They can get angry, but they try and keep the forums as clean as possible - they should be your friends. If not, try and talk to the mod in question.
Closing Words
Two of the most important terms on the TGC forums are experience and constructive critisism. You're free to say whatever you want, as long as it's within the AUP, relevant and you've got the experence to claim what you say. Lastly, always read the stickies or rules on each board. And remember: flaming if you've never created any proof of anything won't help you - it'll only anger them. Don't forget, besides a place for like-minded, this is a place of fun, dreams, hopes and talent. Enjoy your stay, and make sure you don't ruin it for others.
I hope this post will be of any help to any one. If it only helps a single person with doing whatever he wants, it was worth the while.
