User:Wakeup720/Style Guide

From Dustloop Wiki

The Manual of Style (MoS or MOS) is the style manual for all Dustloop articles. This primary page is supported by further Writing Character Pages and Writing System Explanations. If any contradiction arises, this page has precedence. Failing to follow this document is considered a violation of the user Policy. In the majority of situations no action will be taken against a user who fails to follow this guide because the Bureaucrat Team recognizes that mistakes happen, and not every user is confident and comfortable with editing wikis. With that made clear, the team does still reserve the right to remove user's edit access if that user makes egregious and intentional violations of this page.

Where Do I Start?

Once your account has been created and you've waited 24 hours, you can start editing most pages on Dustloop. This includes all character pages, where most of the work is done. If you have information that is new and/or useful, feel free to add it.

How do I Edit a Page?

On any page where you have permissions, you have several options. If you want to edit a section of a page, like a specific move, each section will have an "Edit" button that you can click on. If you want to edit the entire page, there is an "Edit" button in the top-right corner of the page.
If you are unsure how to make an edit, there are a couple of options for troubleshooting.
If you cannot find the text you want to edit, use Ctrl+F to find it.
If you don't know how to add a feature, find a page that uses the feature, edit that page, and look at the code that it uses. This can help you understand how to use it on the original page.
If you have further questions, join the Dustloop Discord and ask your question there. There is a large community of people who can help.

What If I'm Unsure About An Edit?

First, as long as you are not acting maliciously or deleting important information, don't be afraid to make edits. However, if you do want second opinions, you can ask in the Dustloop Discord, as well as game- or character-specific Discords, or trusted players.

What Happened to My Edit?

On the top-right of every page, right next to the "Edit" button, there is a "View History" button. This lets you see each change that has been made to a page, and compare version, which helps you see when changes were made. Many users also leave comments, which may help you understand why the changes were made. If you would like to discuss these changes with either the original editor or other people who work on the site, join the Dustloop Discord.


How Do I Write a Character Page?

Remember the Intended Audience

When writing guides, remember the intended audience is beginner and intermediate players --not experts.

  • Move explanations should not be very long if possible. Use bullet lists to list interesting properties, and paragraphs for deeper explanations.
  • Do not waste words describing what the attack looks like - that is what the image is for.
    • An exception is when the move is too visually complex for a small set of images to explain. In these cases, describing what a move looks like is acceptable.
  • Do not compare a move against older versions of the move unless there's a really good reason to do so.
    • Ex: Explaining that the older version of an attack was an overhead doesn't help the reader learn about THIS version of the game.

Writing Strengths and Weaknesses

Format

  • Each Strength/Weakness should follow the following format:
Bold Text: 1-3 sentence explanation. One for simpler pros/cons, two-three for more complex pros/cons.
  • For example:
Slugger:  Sol's close range options, such as 2P, +3 on block 2S, Volcanic Viper, and Wild Throw are scary tools. His frame traps and counter hit conversions are incredibly damaging in skilled hands and can usually score a knockdown to set up another favorable sequence.
Can't Approach:  Potemkin can not dash or airdash, limiting his options to simply walking forward. Hammerfall is not a suitable replacement for either of these, and as such neutral requires strong patience and decision-making.

Think of the bold text as a TL;DR and the explanation as explaining it, though it should still be brief.

  • If there's something that you feel like is absolutely imperative to be mentioned to any newer or inexperienced player about a character (i.e. difficulty barriers, defensive quirks), but does not exactly fit as a legitimate or objective Pro/Con; remember that you have the ~3 paragraphs worth of space in the character's Overview section above the Pros/Cons table to make that known, or the Strategy page to write it out in-depth.
  • Lastly, please refrain from using the Pros and Cons section as a battleground for balance. If you're unsure about a change or feel like something is not listed that is relevant to the character, ask around the Discord for our opinions on the subject or consult other experts on the game.

On Writing Pros

  • Whereas Cons are more specific, Pros can be very open-ended and generalized. For example, having good defense in a game with generally bad defense is likely worth noting, even if other characters are also strong on defense.
  • Always make sure to specify what elements of a Pro make it valid. Saying Space Control for a character and following it up with "Using his good normals,  Ky can control space well" is very vague. Which of Ky's normals are good for space control? Listing specific examples like f.s and j.H are good ways to clear things up.
  • Don't get overly into minutia such as things like having 1 extra frame of jump startup, or having an overhead that is 2 frames faster than average. Are these really a key strength/weakness of the character?
  • Don't try to balance the number of Pros and Cons to be equal, they don't need to be. Developers don't purposefully make characters to be just plain bad (anymore), but also, what players end up discovering and valuing to be "good" in a game may vary greatly from their intent. As a result, some characters will inevitably have more strengths than weaknesses and vice versa. Trying to balance this by creating poorly-justified or outright fake Pros or Cons gives people an incorrect view of the character, which can hurt the learning process of newcomers.

On Writing Cons

  • Cons should be very specific to the issue that plagues the character. Always make sure that you specify the exact problem a character has when listing their weakness.
  • The absence of a good tool isn't the same thing as having a weakness, especially if the character is built to do something that does not need that tool, but lacking something "essential" would be a weakness.
    • Therefore lacking a DP in a game with bad defensive options is a negative, but not having a gap closer is not a defining weakness. A DP can be essential for getting characters away from your or demanding space, but not having a dedicated gap closer just means you need to use universal mechanics to get around, and your character may not even need a gap closer to perform well.
    • Make sure the absence of a dedicated tool is not covered somewhere else in the character's kit. In Guilty Gear, not having an invincible AA 6P button is not a weakness if they have other buttons that are reliable anti-airs like Testament 2S or Order-Sol's Gunblaze special move.
  • A character without any notable weaknesses is not necessarily a flawless character. It often means that their weaknesses are things that apply to the whole cast, or are not significant enough to be worth noting.
A note about Execution

High execution should only be a weakness if the character loses something significant from execution mistakes. Think through these examples:

What does the character lose by dropping a hard combo, and how integral is that to playing properly?

Example A) Sol

Sol drops a Sidewinder. The opponent techs out at the top of the screen.
Does he die for it? No.
Does he have to play neutral again? Yes
Is Sol's neutral good? Compared to the majority of the cast, No

So is solid execution a big deal? It's not the worst thing, but it forces him to go back to instances where he's inherently at a disadvantage. It's still important to consider.

Example B) Johnny

Johnny drops a Killer Joker FRC, or an Enkasu, or a Tk Ensenga.

Does he die for it? Possibly
Does he have to play neutral again? You betcha
Is Johnny's neutral good? It can be, but he eats shit for a single whiff/getting low profile'd

Is all of this important to playing the character? It's pretty important, yes. Probably comparable, if not worse than Sol.

Example C) Chipp

Chipp flubs a j.2K FDC/Instant Air Alpha/basic IAD string

Does he die for it? Very much so
Does he have to play neutral again? Can't play neutral if you're dead
Is Chipp's neutral good? Unless you're on point, you're gonna have to jump around and if you get touched, you're dead. His buttons are fantastic but most of them don't lead to a proper knockdown or any solid damage.

Is this vital to playing Chipp? Absolutely. A single drop spells death, meaning you either commit hard to the actual damage and make certain you have it, or you commit to small hits left and right, and you'd better not mess those up either.

Given these examples, Example A is not a con, Example B can be listed as a footnote to the table (by adding the |footnote= argument with an explanation), and Example C is a con and can be listed in the right column of the table.


Other Details

  • The first time a special move is mentioned on an overview page, it should be written as its full name, alongside its input, and with a hyperlink to the move section.
  • Move inputs (such as 6P or 236L) should be color coded with their corresponding button color (EG: green for GBVS medium, pink for GGXRD Light, etc.). This isn't set up for all games, but quite a few of them have this feature. This is done by using a template
    • If a move is more commonly referenced by another name (such as an abbreviation, its numpad input, or an alternate colloquial term), put that alternate way of referring to the move in parenthesis either immediately after the first use of the move name, or incorporate it into the move's description itself, or perhaps both. That makes it so from then on you can use that alternate way of referring to the move for the rest of the overview or other text without worry of confusion.
  • If a term is particularly obscure to the point that a beginner cannot comprehend it, add a tooltip explaining the term, or add a link to the glossary (for instance: F-Shiki, or Barrier Block)
  • If you need to reference another character who is not the character on the current page, make their name a hyperlink to said character's page or use the Character_Label function, such as with Missing Link  Potemkin.

Writing Moves

    • WIP

There is no real "defined" format to follow for specific move descriptions on Dustloop. The community at-large can decide how they like to format their information for the games they play, so this section contains tips for making descriptive and accurate move breakdowns.

Follow the Templates

Templates are pre-defined sets of text used to maintain a uniform look throughout pages on the wiki. You can recognize a template when it's enclosed in double {s such as {{MyTemplate}}. To learn more about templates, check out mediawiki's help page.

The move templates lovingly hand-crafted by our site engineers are the baseline for what individual moves should look like on a character page. They contain all the necessary information- move names, inputs, frame data, images and hitboxes, and a description box for writing detailed breakdowns of the particular move. Touching these templates to alter them in any way is a huge misdemeanor in the community, so don't do it.

Most users won't need to worry about them as they will already be in place. But just in case all the pages follow the same pattern:

  • When in doubt, look at other character pages, copy, and adapt for your own uses.
  • Each move uses css and mediawiki tables to lay out an attack with move name, images, captions, and truncated list of frame data.
  • Each character's page refers to their Data page that has all the data for that character, for example Answer's links and frame data are all on GGXRD-R2/Answer/Data. Sections on the data page are referenced by the character page, such as by {{#lst:GGXRD-R2/Answer/Data|5P}}
  • When creating AttackData templates for new games, remember that not ALL frame data should be included. For example, Template:AttackData-BBCP does not include P1, P2, or SMP values while Template:AttackData-GGACR does not have GB+, GB-, or TG values.

An example of an idea move template, with filled-out information and a strong description to explain the move, can be found at the bottom of this page.

Move Descriptions

Many newcomers who start playing a fighting game want to know how each of their options functions in a real game. As a result, our move descriptions are some of the most important writing material on the site. We don't want to mislead or misinform the playerbase of these games, and as such, there are a few recommendations to follow when writing them.

  • Always double-check your information. Try to avoid incorrect information about the move you're writing as much as possible. Talk with community members, gather information from multiple sources, and as always test the move in-game for yourself before making claims about their function.
  • Don't be too unbiased. It is important that newcomers get an idea of how each move functions when reading a character page, so avoid generic terms and descriptions (e.g. "powerful", "strong", "niche" "situational") if possible. As well, the quality of individual moves should always be called out. If a move is amazing, make sure you point out how good it is while explaining exactly why it is so good.
    • Understand "Bad" versus "Situational." Try to explain how and where niche moves can be used instead of outright declaring them as useless. For more information on this, consult this section from the Manual of Style.
  • Informational clarity is top priority. The foremost purpose of a move description should be explaining how it functions. While this sounds simple, information can often get lost in repetition of facts, attempts at humor, or poor writing in general. As a guideline, try to explain the purpose of a move within a single sentence before moving onto it in greater detail. This will help you stay on-track with communicating the benefits and drawbacks of each move in a character's movelist.
  • Edit your work! Always finish your writing period with a quick double-check of your work before submitting. Consider your writing from the perspective of an newcomer before submittal, so avoid using obscure community jargon. Fighting game terminology, such as DP Dragon Punch A move that has invulnerability during its startup, long recovery, and a rising motion., BnB A staple combo that is simple yet effective. or Fireball A projectile which usually travels slowly across the screen in a horizontal path above the ground. can be explained using the keyword function if necessary.
Before. Notice the amount of times that information is reused in this description. The move isn't that complex, so saying the same things over and over just confuses new players.
After. With the description trimmed down, the audience now knows this move is a good poke with jump-cancellable attributes, making it useful for both neutral and pressure.

Writing Updated Move Functions

Fighting games in the modern day are consistently updated with new balance patches that can radically change the functions of certain moves. When making writing changes based on balance patches, always include the details of the balance changes without explicitly drawing attention to them.

As an example, Ky's j.D was changed heavily in Guilty Gear: -STRIVE-'s Second Season (ver. 1.18) balance patch. The move gained new uses in Ky's pressure and combo game, making it much more useful than previous versions. However, calling attention to this change only serves to pollute the move description with unnecessary information and invites "move historiography". Contrast these two descriptions against each other.

Before. Do people really need to know that it was changed inbetween Season 1 and 2? We've also seen how much more useful j.D is just by reading this.
After. Clearer, more concise, and helps newcomers and veterans alike. Great!

Notice how better the bottom version reads? Without the fluff of the move's history getting in the way, the reader now knows how best to use this move, and suggestions to accommodate it into their gameplay. The audience reading these pages do not need to know the move's history or how it functioned in the past- they need to know how it functions right now, in the game they're currently playing.

Two final things to note: first, it can be worth discussing changes for moves between versions or games if the change is substantial enough to both the game and legacy. Moves that have had long-standing or vital properties and usage in a series, yet no longer carry them in a newer version such as invincibility or primary combo utility, are absolutely important to understand and are thus worth listing. Consider how impactful these changes are to each character -- if Sol lost his low-profile attributes on Night Raid Vortex in a newer version or a game, how would that affect his gameplan?

File:P4AU Update Move Change Example.png
Yu Narukami's 5D was well-known and popularized as his primary okizeme tool in Persona 4 Arena, but it was changed over the course of Ultimax's development to get rid of this utility, and thus fell far out of favor. However, to this day it's still often incorrectly referenced or attempted by some players, and using it improperly in Ultimax can get the Narukami player killed. Listing the changes in this scenario makes it easy for newcomers to understand how a move may now be far different from outdated community information.

Secondly, we do keep up-to-date patch notes for games that are still being updated, which can often be found on the main page of each respective game. If you see a page that needs updating, please consider taking the time to do so. Certain moves may require full rewrites depending on the scale of the buff or nerf, so if you're unsure of how to change a move, discuss it with members of the community first in our Discord. We love to talk.

Writing Combos

  • The combo section should not list ALL combos for a character. List enough for a person to learn the basics for standard situations (common starters, big punishes, corners, etc.)

Writing Strategy

The strategy section should explain the goals of the character, and how to achieve said goals.
A basic, yet thorough formatting of a strategy page would typically include:

  • General / Overarching Strategy, such as how they can be played or the win conditions they must achieve
  • Neutral
  • Offense
    • By extension, Okizeme details would fall under here as well
  • Defense
  • Tips and Tricks
    • This is valuable! Be sure to explain tips and tricks the character uses such as Yosuke's glide technique, Arakune's fast-fall, Slayer's BDC, or Kagura's easy drive attack inputs.
  • General or specific counterplay versus this character
    • Information on counterplay against your character is important to let a reader know what to look for in an opponent's habits or gameplan that may shut their character down, or for another player to know what to try to contest in the match-up. Fighting games are 2-player and directly interactive; this information is just as valuable as the above about on how to play your side of the game.

Tone

The primary goal is to transfer information to the reader - it's best to think of yourself as a technical writer rather than a story teller. If information can be conveyed while being entertaining then all the better, but do not sacrifice informational value simply to be entertaining. Please try to keep this wiki primarily a place for information rather than to write jokes and story synopses. One suggestion is to mix the two; incorporate useful information into the entertainment and not simply joke around.

The main offender of this tenet is adding joke captions for images; occasional joking is fine, but giving every image a joke is overkill. Try adding a little useful info, trivia, or even no caption at all.

Style

  • Avoid passive voice
  • Avoid emotive language
  • Avoid complex sentence structure.
    • Sentences should ideally be approachable for readers of most levels of fluency. If you can say something in a simple way; do it.

Length

Readers don't have a long attention span so get to the point - this isn't a school book report and you're not trying to hit a word count. Having said that, it's a difficult balancing act between being thorough enough to fully explain something, but brief enough that readers don't get bored.

Look over what you've written and try to remove filler words or find a clearer way to phrase a sentance.

Other common pitfalls include:

  • Adding too many examples to the point that it is a full list rather than a few examples that illustrate the general rule
  • Going into details that would be considered trivia rather than help the player learn how or why an attack works the way it does

Creating Images

See Help:Creating Images

Editing Frame Data

See Help:Editing Frame Data

The Resource Dump

See a cool combo on Twitter, but don't know where to put it? Notice that a popular YouTuber just dropped an awesome guide for a character, but don't want to transplant all the information onto the overview page? Have your own theories about how a character can perform in a match, but don't want to drop it onto a main page just yet? Consider using the Resource Dump, which can be found on each character page.

This can be a great place to put down miscellaneous information for later or help consolidate a backlog of material for players of all skill levels. Consider uploading any good information you find to this location. Consider visiting | Kanji Tatsumi's Resource Dump for an idea of what can be put onto the page.

Examples

Below are examples of the current standards for character page entries. These are flexible, so consider it a recommendation and not a hard rule.

c.S

Damage GuardHow this attack can be guarded. Throws have their throw range listed instead.
High: High or air Faultless Defense
Low: Low or air FD
Mid: Any ground block or air FD
StartupHow many frames it takes for the move to become able to strike the opponent. Startup includes the frame on which the move becomes active. ActiveHow many frames for which the move has a hitbox where if the opponent touches it, they will take damage. Occurs after Startup. RecoveryHow many frames that the move must go through after its active frames end to automatically go back to a neutral state. On-BlockAlso known as Frame AdvantageThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This value is based on the first active frame. Invuln Level
16×3 [32] Mid 5 2,2,7 20 -10 4

c.S is one of Venom's most important normals. It allows him to launch opponents for combos, hit tricky anti-air angles, charge Stinger Aim and Carcass Raid, crank guard bar, bait bursts, and more.

An important thing to consider is that c.S has a short proximity range, and as such you will often need to use dash momentum or air dash momentum in order to ensure that you are within proximity range after your block string/combo starter. Because the proximity range is slightly larger than his throw range, and because this is his fastest normal without a downwards input, this is one of the best choices to OS A shorthand for "Option Select"A situation where you perform an input and the game will "select an option" automatically depending on what the other character did. with throw.

c.S > [2]8S is one of Venom's most important pressure resets thanks to the frame advantage of [2]8S combined with the flexibility of c.S. Every Venom player needs to become comfortable with buffering a charge during c.S for this reason. Similarly, the jump cancel allows you to mix up by going into IAS Instant Air Special
Conceptually includes Tiger KneePerforming a special as soon as possible after becoming airborne. Usually, but not always, involves an input trick.
For Example: 2369S for a j.236S input.
j.236S for a fast and rewarding overhead mixup.

Because this move starts the majority of Venom's combos and block strings, many players will attempt to burst it. Venom players should be prepared to read the opponent, jump cancel c.S and block their burst. Doing so is one of the best ways to make the opponent fear you, and Venom loves every bit of respect he can get out of the opponent.

  • 3rd hit launches, 28 untechable frames if opponent was standing.

Gatling Options: 6P,6K,f.S,2S,2H,5H,6H,5D,2D

Expected features

  • Image of the move
  • Frame Data and damage
  • Description of when the move is useful
  • Bullet point list of move properties (which are not already explained in the frame data bar or move description)
  • list of gatling options with link to gatling table on frame data page
  • Supplemental frame data such as invulnerability and untech time
  • hitbox tab
  • Different "versions" of moves (as applicable)