User:Blixibon/sandbox: Difference between revisions

From Valve Developer Community
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Remove rfc mockups)
No edit summary
Line 307: Line 307:


}}
}}
<br><hr><br>
= Note about the following sections =
<big>'''The following guidelines are ''not'' agreed upon by any degree of consensus.'''</big>
These are still just experiments in my sandbox page. I would ask for critique on these guidelines and/or ask for additional guidelines if they become part of a future proposition.
<br><hr><br>
= Help:What the VDC is not =
The Valve Developer Community (VDC) is a developer reference wiki intended for people working with Valve and Valve-adjacent tools or software. The scope of this idea has been taken to mean many things over the years, and it's been stretched or interpreted in controversial ways. This article attempts to summarize and clarify exactly what the VDC is not a wiki for.
Note that this is a set of guidelines written by the community, not a direct policy by Valve. It's here to provide a central definition for what fits on the VDC as a response to several incidents and arguments.
{{note|Articles which prompted each exclusion are listed by "Precedent" underneath the associated exclusion. Some of these articles have yet to be fixed or deleted for various reasons. These articles should be worked on or deleted if these guidelines come into use.}}
== The VDC is not Wikipedia ==
''{{note|Precedent: [[Special:Redirect/revision/391109|Visual Studio Code (revision 391109)]], [[Materialize]], some other industry tools. These articles have some merit, but many contain irrelevant information}}''
While the VDC may contain abstract information on subjects such as level design theory, the VDC is not a comprehensive source of information for anything related to the greater game development industry or practices which cannot be applied to Valve's engines. Articles dedicated to subjects with no direct relation to Valve should only be written ''about'' their relation to Valve. For example, articles dedicated to industry tools should be dedicated to how those tools can be used with Valve's engines, such as by listing tutorials or plugins.
== The VDC is not a general Valve wiki ==
''{{note|Precedent: [[HL2World]], [[Deadwater Gaming]], [[TopHATTwaffle]]}}''
The VDC is about Valve, but it is not about ''all things'' Valve. It is about modding and development in particular. The following should not have dedicated articles on the VDC:
* '''Non-modding fan websites''' - Fan websites which are not dedicated to modding are typically irrelevant to the VDC's objectives. The main exception to this is other Valve wikis, which may be used to provide in-world information on game-specific subjects documented by the VDC.
* '''Community figures''' - Information about individual people is typically not relevant to the development process, and articles should not be dedicated to them. However, people should still be attributed if they have relevance to another article, such as a community tool or code snippet. User and discussion pages are also fine.
== The VDC is not a platform for mods ==
''{{note|Precedent: Mods which don't fit into [[Help:Mod Profiles]].}}''
{{main|Help:Mod Profiles}}
The VDC documents many mods, but it is not dedicated to them. Mod pages are primarily created based on their notability and relevance to the development community, and they are not intended to be a mod's main page. Sites such as {{moddb}} or {{gamebanana}} are better-suited for general mod publishing.
Please see [[Help:Mod Profiles]] for guidelines on whether a mod fits on the VDC.
{{todo|Link to page explaining the standards for documenting mod features on regular VDC articles}}
== The VDC is not a modern website ==
{{todo|Phrase better?}}
''{{note|Precedent: [[Template:Message]], [[Template:Discussion page]].}}''
The VDC's editors are open to change or influence most of the framework and standards used by the VDC, but the VDC should not be changed simply to make it more "modern." Whether or not the wiki's appearance or functionality should be updated is, for the most part, up to Valve alone.
Some examples of what shouldn't be done:
* '''Enforcing new standards for talk pages''' - Talk pages on the VDC use the classic MediaWiki topic and signature system, which may be primitive, but is still part of how the VDC works and should not be challenged by regular editors. {{todo|Explain what it is that "newer" wikis use which the VDC shouldn't? Referring to specific templates may not age well}}

Revision as of 10:51, 22 July 2024

Note.pngNote:The ideas presented on this article are not developed proposals.

Navboxes

Split Third Party SDK Tools + Industry Tools navboxes

Other changes:

  • Sections are grouped by subject
  • Explicitly obsolete or deprecated tools are removed

Potential issues:

  • Normally, {{sdktools}} automatically inserts the pages it's placed onto into Category:Official Source Tools and Category:Third Party Tools. How would this "Industry tools" template differentiate between plugins and actual industry tools? Would it have a new parameter? May need to consider placing the plugins back on the Third Party Tools navbox, or maybe elsewhere.
Mod tools
Mapping
Editors
Compilers
Compiler frontends
Converters
005 Decompiler • BSPSource • MapFool • VMEX
Analyzers
Displacement tools
Other
AutoBSPpackingTool • Crafty • JERC • Map Obfuscator • TAR • TeamSpen's Hammer Addons • Vgroup • VMF Updater • WinBSPZip • LumpStich
Modeling
Compilers
Converters
Other
Materials
Converters
360g • FixVTF • no_vtf • PBR-2-Source • TGAtoDUDV • VTF Creator • VTEX (Source 2) • VTFVer
Other
Particles
Converters
Sound tools
VPK tools
Libraries
AVIKit • HLLib • VectorLib • VTFLib • VPKEdit
Other
Mapping
Software
Plugins
Modeling
Software
3Dcoat • 3DS Max • Blender • Cinema 4D • GMax • kHED • Lightwave • Maya • MilkShape 3D • Modo • Softimage Mod Tool • Zbrush
Plugins
Materials
Software
Plugins
Scripting
Software
Plugins
Programming
Software

Branch navbox

Old Engine
Orange Box branch Orange Box branch
Left 4 Dead engine branch Left 4 Dead engine branch
Third Party

Half-Life games navbox

GoldSrc GoldSrc

Half-Life Half-Life

Red x.png
This template (and its redirect) is Wikipedia icon Deprecated. Its use is not recommended and its functionality may be compromised.
You can help our editors by replacing or deleting this template on the Pages that use this template. Once no more pages use this template, it should be Marked for deletion.

Additional notes:
Use #switch parser function instead. Example 
{{#switch: {{language}}
| #default = English
| ja = 日本語
| zh-tw = 中文（台灣）
‎}} 
 •  Half-Life: Further Data Half-Life: Further Data  •

Half-Life: Uplink Half-Life: Uplink  • Half-Life: Opposing Force Half-Life: Opposing Force  • Half-Life: Blue Shift Half-Life: Blue Shift  • Half-Life: Decay Half-Life: Decay

Red x.png
This template (and its redirect) is Wikipedia icon Deprecated. Its use is not recommended and its functionality may be compromised.
You can help our editors by replacing or deleting this template on the Pages that use this template. Once no more pages use this template, it should be Marked for deletion.

Additional notes:
Use #switch parser function instead. Example 
{{#switch: {{language}}
| #default = English
| ja = 日本語
| zh-tw = 中文（台灣）
‎}} 
 •
Deathmatch Classic Deathmatch Classic
Source Source

Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2

Red x.png
This template (and its redirect) is Wikipedia icon Deprecated. Its use is not recommended and its functionality may be compromised.
You can help our editors by replacing or deleting this template on the Pages that use this template. Once no more pages use this template, it should be Marked for deletion.

Additional notes:
Use #switch parser function instead. Example 
{{#switch: {{language}}
| #default = English
| ja = 日本語
| zh-tw = 中文（台灣）
‎}} 
 •

Half-Life 2: Episode One Half-Life 2: Episode One  • Half-Life 2: Episode Two Half-Life 2: Episode Two  • Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Half-Life 2: Lost Coast  • Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Half-Life 2: Deathmatch  • Half-Life: Source Half-Life: Source  •

Half-Life Deathmatch: Source Half-Life Deathmatch: Source
Source 2 Source 2
Other Engines
Third-party: Codename: Gordon Codename: Gordon (Adobe Flash) • FreeHL (FTE)



Note about the following sections

The following guidelines are not agreed upon by any degree of consensus.

These are still just experiments in my sandbox page. I would ask for critique on these guidelines and/or ask for additional guidelines if they become part of a future proposition.



Help:What the VDC is not

The Valve Developer Community (VDC) is a developer reference wiki intended for people working with Valve and Valve-adjacent tools or software. The scope of this idea has been taken to mean many things over the years, and it's been stretched or interpreted in controversial ways. This article attempts to summarize and clarify exactly what the VDC is not a wiki for.

Note that this is a set of guidelines written by the community, not a direct policy by Valve. It's here to provide a central definition for what fits on the VDC as a response to several incidents and arguments.

Note.pngNote:Articles which prompted each exclusion are listed by "Precedent" underneath the associated exclusion. Some of these articles have yet to be fixed or deleted for various reasons. These articles should be worked on or deleted if these guidelines come into use.

The VDC is not Wikipedia

Note.pngNote:Precedent: Visual Studio Code (revision 391109), Materialize, some other industry tools. These articles have some merit, but many contain irrelevant information

While the VDC may contain abstract information on subjects such as level design theory, the VDC is not a comprehensive source of information for anything related to the greater game development industry or practices which cannot be applied to Valve's engines. Articles dedicated to subjects with no direct relation to Valve should only be written about their relation to Valve. For example, articles dedicated to industry tools should be dedicated to how those tools can be used with Valve's engines, such as by listing tutorials or plugins.

The VDC is not a general Valve wiki

The VDC is about Valve, but it is not about all things Valve. It is about modding and development in particular. The following should not have dedicated articles on the VDC:

  • Non-modding fan websites - Fan websites which are not dedicated to modding are typically irrelevant to the VDC's objectives. The main exception to this is other Valve wikis, which may be used to provide in-world information on game-specific subjects documented by the VDC.
  • Community figures - Information about individual people is typically not relevant to the development process, and articles should not be dedicated to them. However, people should still be attributed if they have relevance to another article, such as a community tool or code snippet. User and discussion pages are also fine.

The VDC is not a platform for mods

Note.pngNote:Precedent: Mods which don't fit into Help:Mod Profiles.
Main article:  Help:Mod Profiles

The VDC documents many mods, but it is not dedicated to them. Mod pages are primarily created based on their notability and relevance to the development community, and they are not intended to be a mod's main page. Sites such as ModDB ModDB or ModDB GameBanana are better-suited for general mod publishing.

Please see Help:Mod Profiles for guidelines on whether a mod fits on the VDC.

Todo: Link to page explaining the standards for documenting mod features on regular VDC articles

The VDC is not a modern website

Todo: Phrase better?

The VDC's editors are open to change or influence most of the framework and standards used by the VDC, but the VDC should not be changed simply to make it more "modern." Whether or not the wiki's appearance or functionality should be updated is, for the most part, up to Valve alone.

Some examples of what shouldn't be done:

  • Enforcing new standards for talk pages - Talk pages on the VDC use the classic MediaWiki topic and signature system, which may be primitive, but is still part of how the VDC works and should not be challenged by regular editors.
    Todo: Explain what it is that "newer" wikis use which the VDC shouldn't? Referring to specific templates may not age well
Retrieved from "https://developer.valvesoftware.com/w/index.php?title=User:Blixibon/sandbox&oldid=438785"