Help:Creating multi-format
From GamerWiki
Firstly, thanks for helping!
While it's slightly more complicated to add a game for multiple formats than it is to add a game only available on one format, it's a pretty painless process!
Firstly, a little bit of background. You'll be creating an individual page for every format. So, for example, there are individual pages for:
However, most of the text on these pages will be coming from a single "template" - for example Template:Games/Sonic Heroes. This means that items such as the story, gameplay description, and characters, which are common across all formats, only need to be edited once. Anything which is unique to each different version (such as online play, or programming credits) is entered seperately.
There are two further pages to be created: a formats listing, and a disambiguation page. We'll come to those later.
So, let's get started. Remember: don't be afraid to make mistakes, or to leave something that you don't know about blank. It can always be edited later!
Step 1: Check that your entry doesn't already exist!
Obvious, but necessary! Search for the name of your game using the search box on the left-hand side of the screen. If a listing for that game already exists, then feel free to edit that page but please do not create a new one.
Step 2: Add your game to the systems' games lists
Go to each system your game is on (from the List of Systems) and look at the games lists included on those pages. Is your game listed on each of these already? If not, edit the lists of games to include your game. Add the listing in place in alphabetical order. Use this format:
* [[Game name (Format)|Game name]]
So, for example, if we were adding Sonic Heroes to the Nintendo GameCube listing, we would add:
* [[Sonic Heroes (GameCube)|Sonic Heroes]]
The Format name must be in standard form, as found on the Formats page under the 'Titles' subheading. Please make sure that your capital letters are correct!
Even if your game is already listed, please check that the listing conforms to this format. In the early days of GamerWiki, many games lists were imported from elsewhere and are being reprocessed over time.
Note that over time more and more games are being added to these lists, and so the chances are that your game will already be listed.
Step 3: Copy the template to your clipboard
Go to Help:Template for Single-Format Games. From here, 'edit' the document and copy the GameInfoBox template to your clipboard - but please don't change anything. The GameInfoBox template is of the form:
{{GameInfobox|
gametitle=Game Name|
gamecover=coverpicture.jpg|
publisher=Publisher's name|
developer=Developer's name|
alternativetitle=[[Alternative title 1]] (Region)<br />[[Alternative title 2]] (Region)|
jpdate=date/monthintext/year|
nadate=date/monthintext/year|
eudate=date/monthintext/year|
audate=date/monthintext/year|
genre=Genre Name|
players=Number of players|
esrb=ESRB-rating|
pegi=PEGI-rating|
cero=CERO-rating|
platform=Platform Released on|
media=Media-Type (cartridge, cd, etc)|
online=Yes/No
}}
However, this template is evolving over time, so please make sure you copy the latest one from the Help:Template for Single-Format Games.
Step 4: Create your game pages
This is easy! Go back to one system whose games list you edited. Then simply click on the link to your game. The link will be red, indicating that no page currently exists.
Step 5: Check the title!
Because the page doesn't yet exist, you'll be presented with a text box. The title of the page will read "Editing Game name (Format)". Check this for spelling and check that the format is as desired. It can be quite tricky to resolve this otherwise! If there is a mistake, click back on your browser and edit the system's games list to correct it, and then click on the link again.
Step 6: Paste in the template
Paste the contents of your clipboard into the textbox.
Step 7: The GameInfoBox template
For ease of use, we've created a special template to format all of the basic game information. You can see this listed first. Edit each of the lines to reflect thegame you're listing - but do not change anything on any line before the equals sign (=). For now, do not worry about the cover image - that is covered in Help:game cover images and can be edited later.
Note that in the GameInfoBox template, the "Platform" should only contain the one you're editing for at that time. Please refer to the List of Systems to see the text you should use for each system in this box. So, when you're editing the GameCube version of a game, for example, you would only enter Nintendo GameCube into this field. We'll be adding in the other platforms later.
If you do not know some of the information required, either replace the default text with a question mark (?) or just do not edit it. Someone else can do that later!
Step 8: getting ready for template text
After the GameInfoBox template, enter the following:
{{Games/Game Name}}
So, for example, when creating a Page for Sonic Heroes on the GameCube, after the GameInfoBox, we would enter:
{{Games/Sonic Heroes}}
Step 9: Wash, Rinse, Repeat (if required)
Carry out steps 3 to 8 for each format your game is available for.
Step 10: Creating the template for the main body of text
Now we're going to create the template that will fill in the main body of your article. Firstly, go to Help:Template for Single-Format Games. From here, 'edit' the document and copy everything apart from the GameInfoBox template to your clipboard - but please don't change anything.
Now, go to one of the pages you've already created, and click on the red link there marked Template:Games/Gamenamenospaces, where Gamenamenospaces is the same as you used in Step 8 above.
Step 11: Filling in the main body of text
You should now be presented with a screen telling you that that article has no text. Well, dur! Click on the edit button, and paste in the formatting that we copied in Step 10. Now fill this out, making sure that you do not include any information that is system-specific, or more specifically not applicable to all systems. Don't submit it just yet ...
Step 12: This is a multi-format game!
Within the editing box, just before the external links subtitle, type:
==Formats==
{{GameFormats/Game Name}}
So, for Sonic Heroes, we'd type:
==Formats==
{{GameFormats/Sonic Heroes}}
Step 13: The moment of truth!
Now you can submit! You'll then be able to view the template text.
Step 16: Disambiguation
Now, we want to create a disambiguation page. This is pretty easy! In the URL or address bar of your browser, go to:
http://www.gamerwiki.com/index.php/Game_name
That is, replace any spaces in your game name with underscores. So, for Sonic Heroes, we would go to:
http://www.gamerwiki.com/index.php/Sonic_Heroes
Edit that page to read:
Game Name is available on the following formats:
{{GameFormats/Game Name}}
{{disambig}}
Submit that, and you should see the list of formats. The {{disambig}} will insert a statement indicating that the page you have created is a GamerWiki:Disambiguation page and also includes it in the appropriate category listing.
If the game is part of a series, then you can also add the series bar to this template:
Game Name is available on the following formats:
{{GameFormats/Game Name}}
{{GameSeries|seriesname=Name of Series}}
{{disambig}}
Step 15: Formatting formats
We'll create a new template in much the same way as we did before. No need to type in a URL this time, however - just click on the link to Template:GameFormats/Game Name that exists on any of the game pages.
Edit the page that has no content yet, and type:
* [[Game name (Format)|Long format]]
With a line for each format the game is available on. For Sonic Heroes, we would enter:
* [[Sonic Heroes (GameCube)|Nintendo GameCube]] * [[Sonic Heroes (PlayStation 2)|Sony PlayStation 2]] * [[Sonic Heroes (Xbox)|Microsoft Xbox]] * [[Sonic Heroes (PC)|Personal Computer]]
Submit this, and go back to one of your game pages - you should see this text entered there.
Step 16: Disambiguation
Now, we want to create a disambiguation page. This is pretty easy! In the URL or address bar of your browser, go to:
http://www.gamerwiki.com/index.php/Game_name
That is, replace any spaces in your game name with underscores. So, for Sonic Heroes, we would go to:
http://www.gamerwiki.com/index.php/Sonic_Heroes
Edit that page to read:
Game Name is available on the following formats:
{{GameFormats/Game Name}}
{{disambig}}
Submit that, and you should see the list of formats. The {{disambig}} will insert a statement indicating that the page you have created is a Disambiguation page and also includes it in the appropriate category listing.
If the game is part of a series, then you can also add the series bar to this template:
Game Name is available on the following formats:
{{GameFormats/Game Name}}
{{GameSeries|seriesname=Name of Series}}
{{disambig}}
Step 17: Finishing Everything Off
Now you can go back to add any game-specific information to each page you've created. Simply enter new text before or after the link to the main body template on the format pages.
If you want to edit the text in the template, then you can click on the template itself when editing any format-specific page - see the links under the main text box, or just click on "edit" next to any heading.
And that's it! Thanks!
