Author Topic: AIW's Wiki Main Page  (Read 10714 times)

Offline Pumpkin

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AIW's Wiki Main Page
« on: August 15, 2016, 09:05:38 am »
Hello, there.

I spent some time creating an alternative version of the AIW's Wiki Main Page on my personal page, here.

It's not entirely finished (because many important topics need a serious revamp), however I think it's more newcomer-friendly than the actual front page. I designed it to put setup and objectives first, then more detailed info for players with at least one hour of play in (ships' and AI mechanisms), then detailed info about unit types (first the grand families, then the extended list of AI devices and nasties) for advanced players.

Tell me what you think of it. Is it clear? I would love to hear the voice of actual newcomers on that matter. I plan on adding a link from the main page, just atop of its table of content, labeled "alternate front page" or something. I'm not confident on replacing the front page right now (many basic AI mechanisms need to be filled, like waves, reinforcement and special forces), but I would like to know if you consider this proposal a serious candidate.

Thank you for your attention, folks.
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline Tolc

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2016, 03:28:45 pm »
I like it :)

Offline Dominus Arbitrationis

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2016, 03:44:21 pm »
As someone who doesn't play a lot of AI War (Mostly because I suck at it), it seems pretty good. I definitely prefer the focus not being on individual strategy, since it doesn't always work.

With my Arcen Server Administrator/Head of Wiki hat on, I'd say once you finish it up, post here, we'll review it, and if it is anything like the current draft, it can become the new front page, assuming no one has any objections to that.
Come help out at the Wiki!

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Offline Pumpkin

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2016, 08:10:36 am »
I like it :)
s someone who doesn't play a lot of AI War (Mostly because I suck at it), it seems pretty good.
Thanks!

In order to complete that page, I went from reorganization and polish to new content creation on which I would like to have some proofreading.
* Difficulty
* AI Homeworld
* AI Core World

Thanks in advance.
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline Yavaun

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2016, 12:24:46 pm »
Huh I guess this means I might return to visiting the wiki every now and then to read up on something. The old wiki wasn't much of a help for a "newcomer" like me (perhaps not anymore). I'll let you know if anything catches my eye!

If layout is a thing with this wiki / your access then might I suggest something? I mean the visual presentation is bland and vacuous but hopefully you can do something about it's structure.
There are only 2 wikis to any game I've ever played that I'd consider helpful. One reason is lack of information (most wikis don't go beyond in game tool-tips and I can already read them in game thank you) the other was structure and presentation. These 2 wikipage were:

Note how well-arranged the front page of that Terraria wiki is. All the information subcategories are grouped together and are visible/accessible right from the front page (Don't starve wiki is as much of a negative example here but I saved you the trouble and clicked through all the clutter). Secondly, (and this is were DS wiki shines too) is how individual object pages are organized. You click a category and get a table with original game sprites for quick visual search - just check the tools set for example. I'm not a fan of endlessly scrolling pages.
As for individual ship pages (for example fighter or ion cannon) I would suggest to put the stat tables below the text and, in all honesty, the brief introduction of each ship should contain more information than 1 or 2 lines from the in game tool-tip. I know this is a lot of work but it's not even worth reading these snippets right now. Since, I've already drifted into content I might as well point out that there are many NO-GOs. For example, when I read the "how to use [counter-spy]" part and it says "Don't." I wanna facepalm. I know not every ship is the most useful but a wiki should at least try to specify all (dis-)advantages before becoming editorial.

The terraria wiki not only achieves exactly that but also makes an exhaustive effort to list any distinctive behaviour items or enemies have when interacting with the rest of the game. Coming back to the counter-spy example, this would mean it's missing an explicit statement as to whether the counter-spy still insta kills ships that already got decloaked, ships that don't have a natural cloaking ability of their own but get cloaked by modular fortresses or starship cloakers, etc..
Actually, I wanna emphasize that this ^ is the most important kind of information next to overview of the game contents on the entire wiki. And it's missing.

Hope this helps.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2016, 01:54:37 pm by Yavaun »

Offline Pumpkin

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2016, 05:20:51 pm »
Your point is interesting, Yavaun. Unfortunately, as the AIW's Wiki currently is, I do my best to improve it and the more rentable thing I can employ my (free) time on it is by reorganizing the general view of it: changing the main page, adding/revamping key pages like basic economical topics, making lists of unit types (guard posts, guardians, golems, minor factions, plots, etc) and making them more accessible.

The details you highlight, like the descriptions of specific units (fighter, counter spy, etc) are so time consuming that I can only put them lower in my list. Actually, if you're interested, I have a separated browser window with many tabs, one per crucial unit I want to deeply revamp. Here is that list:
* ARS
* AFacto
* ASC
* Core Fab
* Exp Fab
* Core Turret Controller (to be entirely created)
* Design Backup Server (to be entirely created)
* Data Center
* Co-Processor
* Super Terminal
* CSG
* Warp Gate

Also, while we're speaking of that... It's been a long time I have that lingering desire to remove all stat tables and nav-bar from all unit pages. I wish to have only lists of unit types (like the one about Guard Posts) with each link leading to only a strategy page (at least giving hull type, bonuses and abilities). Stat tables are often outdated, hard to maintain and are easily accessible from within the game (F1 key...) Also, the nav bar completely waste the "what links here" feature of the wiki, which would be so useful... And that nav bar would be completely useless with the presence of a clear front page leading to clear list pages, one per unit type, leading to strategy/details pages, one per unit.

I stop here or I'll continue rambling and raving about that.

TL;DR:
You're right.
I do my best.
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline Captain Jack

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2016, 06:47:54 pm »
Speaking as the other lapsed wiki contributor, that looks FANTASTIC Punpkin! Great work!  :)

Offline Pumpkin

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2016, 05:06:40 am »
Speaking as the other lapsed wiki contributor, that looks FANTASTIC Punpkin! Great work!  :)
Why thank you. Frankly, I wasn't expecting so positive comments. No criticism? There might be something wrong...
But I won't complain too loudly! :P I'm sincerely happy to see my work is appreciated. It motivates me a lot to continue.
Thank you all.

Two new pages, so new proofreading required.
* Mark
* Cap
EDIT: Oh, hey, another one!
* Wave
EDIT: Make it stooop!
* Eyes
EDIT: Aaarhglrg...
* AI Economical Units
* AI Devices
« Last Edit: August 17, 2016, 12:06:30 pm by Pumpkin »
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline Yavaun

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2016, 06:12:07 am »
Some positives here:

  • Cap page: "By default, a cap is galactic, (...) which means a planet can build 48 needler turrets on a planet and 48 other needler turrets on another planet."
  • AI Homeworld page: "Moreover, all guard posts on AI homeworlds are invulnerable while at least one Core Shield Generator network is still alive." Might confuse because "network" is not part of the link
  • If you get around to it please use more sprites and images. Especially the Mark page would profit from in game mark I to V images next to their discription.
  • As I pointed out above, these pages* might become more pleasant to read if you divide the text into subcategories along the lines of "General discription", "Notes", "Trivia"
  • Imo, the wave page should have a "See also" link category redirection to an article collecting all sources of AI attacks (dunno if there is such a page but there should be) including waves, threat, exo strike force, cpa, etc...
  • A subcategory with screenshots of all Interface parts that give you information about waves should be added to the wave page as well.

*I'll edit in a list of pages that appear suitable.
** screw that it's pretty much any page except the ones that are lists/navigation and the ones that already have a good use of subcategories like the AI Eyes page (well done!). Especially Mark, Cap and wave could use a better structure than "one paragraph per sentence".  :P
« Last Edit: August 18, 2016, 06:30:29 am by Yavaun »

Offline Pumpkin

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2016, 07:24:20 am »
As I pointed out above, these pages* might become more pleasant to read if you divide the text into subcategories along the lines of "General discription", "Notes", "Trivia"
(...)
Screw that it's pretty much any page except the ones that are lists/navigation and the ones that already have a good use of subcategories like the AI Eyes page (well done!). Especially Mark, Cap and wave could use a better structure than "one paragraph per sentence".  :P
I'm well aware of that problem, however I feel there would be so few things to say per subcategory that I prefer having one paragraph per idea (and sometimes one sentence is enough, so yes, one sentence per category).

I went and tried to apply your suggestion for the Cap page. Here are the old version and the new version. I only changed first-words-bold by subcategory names. Is it really better? The subcategories really feel empty to me.

If you get around to it please use more sprites and images. Especially the Mark page would profit from in game mark I to V images next to their discription.
That's a good advice. However, I only use game's sprites, and I don't naturally see where I can use them. For instance, I tried hard to find something for the AI Plot list, especially for the shark ones; I used a Raid Starship and the Warbird sprites, but I'm not found of it.

Imo, the wave page should have a "See also" link category redirection to an article collecting all sources of AI attacks (dunno if there is such a page but there should be) including waves, threat, exo strike force, cpa, etc...
Look here. My front-page proposal has a subcategory "AI Mechanisms" which has a sub-subcategory "Offense", listing Wave, Cross Planet Attack, Exogalactic Strikeforce, Threat and Reprisal. I sure can make a dedicated page with these five items, but I doubt it would be a very interesting page. At best, I can add "There are the means the AI has to attack Humans", but I believe "AI Mechanisms/Offense" speaks by itself.

EDIT: Oh, but maybe you meant a backlink from the pages? Yes, okay, I'll do that. A "see also" subcategory should do the trick, indeed.

A subcategory with screenshots of all Interface parts that give you information about waves should be added to the wave page as well.
Yep. Screenshots might be interesting. However I'm afraid it would be much time consuming to make and cut and upload and place these screenshots (that's why I use game's sprites) and I'm already pouring much time into reorganization and missing content creation. But if you're motivated enough for that kind of job, I'm sure you'll do nicely. You seem to have a precise idea of what kind of screenshots and where to put them, so go ahead. I'll be more than happy to have some help.

Anyway, thanks a lot for those useful, constructive critics.
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline Pumpkin

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2016, 10:23:51 am »
There. Screenshots. Happy?

Boy did that took me some times! Gha, I won't do that again any time soon.
Anyway, the result isn't terribad, I think.

Anyway, what's new?
* Special Forces
* Planet Mark
That's all? Well, also many tweaks here and there.
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline Kez

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #11 on: August 19, 2016, 06:30:26 am »
Hi Pumpkin,

 I am a new player (a few weeks only) and just created an account to say that I really like your work on the wiki. It's far better than before and it would have save me a lot of time when I began to read everything I can found on the game.

Thanks

Offline Pumpkin

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #12 on: August 20, 2016, 03:01:14 am »
Hi Pumpkin,

 I am a new player (a few weeks only) and just created an account to say that I really like your work on the wiki. It's far better than before and it would have save me a lot of time when I began to read everything I can found on the game.

Thanks
First post for me? That's a honor!
Welcome on the forum. I'm happy my work proves useful. Don't hesitate to regularly check the wiki as I'll add more content or even comment or ask for specific topics.

Speaking of which, new content here:
Intel
Threat

I have no faith, right now, to revamp that huge Reinforcement page. So much useful data embedded in a so convoluted article... Bah, tomorrow...
« Last Edit: August 20, 2016, 04:13:41 am by Pumpkin »
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline Pumpkin

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #13 on: August 21, 2016, 04:03:16 am »
Today was Cloaking day!

...aaand Unlock day too?
« Last Edit: August 21, 2016, 06:33:01 pm by Pumpkin »
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Offline Steelpoint

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Re: AIW's Wiki Main Page
« Reply #14 on: August 22, 2016, 12:39:03 pm »
Wanted to say that any work on a wiki is a good deed.

From personal experience, making pages for a wiki for a video game can be a long and tiring ordeal, but it benefits a lot of people.

So good work and good luck.

 

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