Read before posting in Work in Progress

[Godlord]

_FIRST OFF: If you are not willing to take the time to read this ENTIRE thread, including the replies, then you are not to make a topic in this board.

IF YOU DO NOT READ THIS AND FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES IN THIS THREAD, YOUR TOPIC WILL BE DELETED WITHIN 24 HOURS!

I don't care if you're a Moderator, Veteran, or New Member.

~Admiral Refuge_

Note:

Don't forget to check the rules for posting in the WIP Board in Section 4 of [http://www.touchofde…ic,12941.0.html](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,12941.0.html)

**The Rules of the ~~Game~~ Board**

Introduction

This topic will provide you some rules and information about the board and instead of posting the usual plain and bland topic, it will help you in posting a more successful W.I.P.-topic, which will stay away from the moderators and administrators.

Before posting a W.I.P.

It is recommend to get the hang of the Eclipse engine first before even considering posting a W.I.P., try practising mapping, learn how to work with Eclipse and so on. This should be done before even making a game. This work in progress board is not for showing off your practice, there are other boards where you can ask for reviews, criticism, etc. Practising should be done at least a month before even considering a game.

**Addendum 8/23/09 by Admiral Refuge:** Please be aware (in compliance with the [http://www.touchofde…ic,12941.0.html](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,12941.0.html) topic, section "Board Rules", subsection "Work in Progress.") that your game must be made with the Eclipse Engine, if you wish to post it here, or you must get permission from an Administrator.

Your Game.

After the practising you might consider starting a game. For this you should plan, draw sketches, work out things and the like. A game should be well-planned, well-defined and well-structured before it is even created.

You can also draw art, compose music, write stories, etc. as content for in your game. The planning is required for this, so you know what to actually make for your game. I also recommend drawing the maps out on paper or something so you know how your world should be shaped.

After all the planning and perhaps content creation you can actually start working on the game. You will be translating your plans into a game. You will be making the maps, testing out things and perhaps you'll be writing scripts or altering the source to get some nifty and original features in your game.

When should you post your W.I.P.?

It should be done after some planning has been, some sketches have been made and such things. You'll need some stuff for your audience to show, if you have barely anything done then don't post. Your audience likes to see how your game progresses and they'll be expecting more when you have a lot of content already to provide such as screenshots, stories, sketches, maps, features, etc. This will be very important for you game because a well-structured W.I.P.-thread will amaze people and they will remember to play your game once it gets released.

Tips and tricks.

Write your topic in formal and proper English. Some people hate to read a text without capitals, punctuation or anything. If English isn't your native language then ask somebody to review it and correct the spelling and grammar mistakes for you.

Also use paragraphs. It's really annoying to read a wall of text and most users will not do this. Use a subject for each paragraph, talk about features in one and about a story in another.

Save your screenshots as PNG or JPEG and use spoiler-tags. Do never ever use BMP or TGA to save your screenshots, they are too huge for the internet. I recommend you to use PNG because of the size and the high quality. You can also use JPEG, although not for pixel art because the quality is lower than PNG or BMP. Spoilers-tags are useful because they can hide your screenshots and the topic will not load too slow for most users in that case.

Bring your users more content every few weeks at least. Give them some updates, some new content to have their eyes on. They'll like it if you do that and they'll be looking forward to your game and its progress.

Don't spam your W.I.P. in the shoutbox, this is really annoying and if users want to see it then they'll read your thread. Just have patience. This also means you shouldn't bump your topic every hour.

Fin.

I hope you gained a lot of information from this topic and that you will use these tips and tricks for your W.I.P.-thread.

Regards,

Godlord.

[DEANtheBOSS]

WOO! RULES!