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Wiki content structure

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jwarrend
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Joined: 08/03/2008

I'm using this thread to begin discussion of how content in the wiki could be organized. I think it makes sense to "zoom out" to the high level of what main content areas will be present, and then zoom in on each to explore what they could contain.

So, at the highest level, ie, what one first sees when entering the wiki, perhaps we'd have:

Game Design The centerpiece of the wiki: the distilled knowledge and wisdom about how to design good games, including definitions of game types, mechanics, and examples of great games.

Game Prototyping Methods and techniques for producing game prototypes: making boards, painting pawns, etc.

Game Publishing Taking your game to the next level: info on self publishing, how to approach publishers, and lists of publishing companies that are out there.

Game playtesting How to playtest, how to form a group, etc.

FAQ The most common questions, but mainly the answers will link to content in the other areas of the wiki.

Ok, there's some high level stuff. Are other major areas needed?

Zooming in on each, here are some ideas of what could be included. Please add more!

Game design

This area will have various articles about how to design good games. I think that all content should be objective, have an undercurrent of keeping an eye on player experience. ie, the article about "roll and move" should not bash bad roll and move games, but rather, should explain what kind of player experience commonly is created by such games. Some content areas could include:

-- "Scopes" of games (eg, party, beer and pretzels, wargame, etc)
-- Description of game mechanics (eg, roll and move)
-- Descriptions of common game problems (eg kingmaker, etc)
-- Exemplary games
-- Descriptions of kinds of player goals (eg, VP, race, etc)
-- Descriptions of game categories (eg set collection, area majority, etc)

Obviously, there will be some overlap between some of these. I'd also like to see entries cross-reference each other. So, entries about "kingmaker" should also link to mechanics that commonly give rise to this problem.

Game prototyping

-- How to make game boards
-- How to make cards
-- Where to order bits
-- Tools that every designer should have
-- Helpful software for designing

Game publication

-- Defining goals for your project (ie, why seek to publish?)
-- Self publication resources: printers, experiences of other self-publishers, trade shows, etc.
-- Licensing resources: how to seek publishers, how to pitch your game, how to increase chances of getting your game published, etc.

So there's some ideas to get the ball rolling. Feel free to add other content you think should be included, or ways of creating inter-relationships between these categories!

-Jeff

Brykovian
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Wiki content structure

Great start, Jeff ... this was exactly what I was thinking about on my drive in to the office this morning.

I think what you've listed for high-level areas is a good start ... I will try to read through the details that you have there for further comment later today.

In the meantime, I'd like to add a couple of other high-level sections (or at least discussion items) ...

  • Encyclopedia (or some other organized collection) of terms and phrases ... very much what SiskNY has started with production item terms in that one forum thread, but also what's been discussed in the "Topics in Game Design" forum -- there's so much good stuff in there that I think can be broken out into short encyclopedia-type entries (definition of "KingMaking", with examples, etc.).
  • Community ... a link to user-level pages (assuming we'll still allow individual users to have their own self-maintained pages and blogs) and community-driven items, such as the GDW, BGDF-driven collaborative projects (assuming something like that will happen again), BGDF-driven contests and challenges (assuming we have something on-going again), and event calendar items (such as the weekly chats).
  • Partners in Design ... something we really don't have quite yet, but once we kick into this next gear, it might be a good idea to collaborate with groups/events that would be mutually beneficial, such as Protospiel, Snoop's Pow-Wow, and any other designing and/or testing group. (Might also be a good place to link to ProtoParts.)

That's it from me for now ... I'll hope to comment on the details of Jeff's sections later today.

-Bryk

[/]
jwarrend
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Joined: 08/03/2008
Wiki content structure

I should clarify my post. All along, I've been envisioning the Wiki as a sort of "Game Design Encyclopedia", but it appears that the vision for the Wiki actually goes beyond this. I suggest that we restrict this thread to discussion about the "Design Encyclopedia" aspects of the wiki, and maybe have an even-higher level organization discussed in a separate thread. I can rename the thread if that would make it easier to keep organized.

Just a suggestion,

Jeff

Brykovian
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Wiki content structure

Okay ... when you started by saying you wanted to "zoom out to the highest level", I took that to mean what type of content areas a user might find the ability to drill-down to on the main/home page. Obviously, the things you listed will be 90% of the important content of the site, I was just at that "highest level" and looking to flesh it out a bit.

Now that you've clarified, I'll restrict my discussion within this thread to the "designer's content" portion that you've layed out.

-Bryk

phpbbadmin
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Joined: 04/23/2013
Re: Wiki content structure

jwarrend wrote:
I'm using this thread to begin discussion of how content in the wiki could be organized. I think it makes sense to "zoom out" to the high level of what main content areas will be present, and then zoom in on each to explore what they could contain.

So, at the highest level, ie, what one first sees when entering the wiki, perhaps we'd have:

Game Design The centerpiece of the wiki: the distilled knowledge and wisdom about how to design good games, including definitions of game types, mechanics, and examples of great games.

Game Prototyping Methods and techniques for producing game prototypes: making boards, painting pawns, etc.

Game Publishing Taking your game to the next level: info on self publishing, how to approach publishers, and lists of publishing companies that are out there.

Game playtesting How to playtest, how to form a group, etc.

...

Great start Jeff. Almost what I already have here:

http://bgdf.com/bgdftiki/tiki-index.php?page=Start+Page

-Darke

Brykovian
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Wiki content structure

Working through the stuff in your original post, Jeff ... nice work, I think it looks like a fine direction to go.

I think the design/prototype/publish sections are nicely detailed ... I'm wondering if playtesting should be combined with prototyping into a "Prototyping & Playtesting" section, since they are somewhat related in the normal cycle and a separate playtesting section might be a little thin by itself.

I'd add info on finding and entering contests to the publishing area.

Finally, to go into a bit more detail on a FAQ ... this probably should be broken into some well-defined sections, such as a "Welcome Newcomer!" section to introduce the site to new people, a "Questions We Get All the Time" section to handle those quick-hitter questions that we don't want to have popping up on the forums often, and "Site Instructions" on how to use the various features on the site.

-Bryk

sedjtroll
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Wiki content structure

Brykovian wrote:
I'm wondering if playtesting should be combined with prototyping into a "Prototyping & Playtesting" section, since they are somewhat related in the normal cycle and a separate playtesting section might be a little thin by itself.

This shmin, there's no reason not to have a thin section. I think it'd be better to keep them seperate. It'll be great to have this new structure!

- Seth

phpbbadmin
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Joined: 04/23/2013
Wiki content structure

Folks,

I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have isolated the problem with my web account getting disabled. The bad news is it was the was DEFINITELY the wiki. ThereforeI had to take the wiki down again. It looks like a script error was causing an endless loop which was draining the server CPU and filling up an error log on my account. I will try and find the source of the problem tomorrow and get it back online. I will be able to pretty much tell instantly if it's working or not so that is good news. I will keep you all posted (no pun intended).

Stay hungry!
-Michael

Brykovian
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Wiki content structure

I've just updated the "start page" to reflect the content structure we've been discussing, including setting up a number of the central content pages that Jeff listed above.

I hope to spend the rest of my lunchtime today drilling in to each of the yet-to-be-created content pages and getting intial structure/content setup.

-Bryk

phpbbadmin
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Joined: 04/23/2013
Wiki content structure

Brykovian wrote:
I've just updated the "start page" to reflect the content structure we've been discussing, including setting up a number of the central content pages that Jeff listed above.

I hope to spend the rest of my lunchtime today drilling in to each of the yet-to-be-created content pages and getting intial structure/content setup.

-Bryk

Cool.... This is beginning to take shape.. I'm so excited!

-Michael

P.S. If any of you other fellows want to jump in feel free!

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