Help:Mod Profiles
That means that this article contains information intended to advise or aid on the functions of the wiki, on how to use the wiki, or on general recommendations for users of the wiki.
This article discusses Mod Profile articles - articles which give information about an in-development or already-released mod for the Source or GoldSrc engine. Included is information on when a Mod Profile is acceptable, and tips on formatting a mod article.
Contents
Before creating a mod article
Please read the following information before you create an article about any upcoming or released mod.
The Valve Developer Community is a development wiki
The main function of the VDC wiki is to contain facts relevant to the developing community. While this may stretch to include listing renowned third-party projects and mods that the community may already consider participating in or playing, it is not intended to contain personal or official pages for mods. If you are looking for sites to house a mod page, you should consider posting it in on ModDB, or on GameBanana (formerly FPSBanana) or/and (if it's a single-player mod) on PlanetPhillip instead, because that's what those sites are for. You can also post a mod on Gamefront
Remember that your article is subject to the terms of the wiki:
The mod's tagline may contain subjective words such as "awesome", "amazing", "cool" or "fun", but please leave the description of the mod objective.
Proof of concept
Like any wiki, articles about things that do not exist, or only exists in the mind of a few people, are not allowed, and will thus be flagged for deletion for lacking what is called a "proof of concept". Please be aware that there are many millions of active Steam users (and that's just on Steam) and most of these have had some kind of idea for a mod, so just declaring that you want to make a mod, is simply not noteworthy enough. It lies on you to provide proof that a mod is actually physically under development, such as links to official sites or pages dedicated to the mod (such as ModDB pages), as well as screenshots of models and/or levels. Posting the mod's "awesome" or thought-out storyline, or just assuring readers by writing that the work on the mod is doing well, is not enough.
If an editor can not find any sites listing the mod, or get a hold of any screenshots for the mod, and can not tell whether the mod has ever existed, they should flag the article for deletion with the reason "Lacking proof of concept".
Simply stated, do not create a profile for a mod idea that you have, when you have literally nothing but the idea.
Checklist
Before writing a Mod Profile article, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you have proof of concept? (Can you (through links or screenshots) prove that the mod is more than an idea or a plan?)
- Is the mod widely known? (Has it been posted as news on other sites such as Planet Half-Life?)
- Are you prepared to accept that the mod article will be edited according to wiki rules and policies?
- Is it written as an acknowledgement of the mod, or a promotion for the mod? (Does it contain subjective wording, or unnecessary details?)
What a mod profile article is not
A mod article is not:
- The official website for your mod - You can add screenshots and update development information, but do not add dozens of screenshots or try to use the profile as a development blog. Likewise, the talk page is not a forum.
- Your official recruitment center - while a mod profile may let other interested developers know you are looking for more team members, you should not expect or attempt to recruit an entire team on this wiki. Of the countless mod ideas on the internet, only a small fraction are ever started and far less ever completed - experienced developers will be hesistant to attach themselves to a new mod. While you may list open positions for your mod, absolutely do not contact other users outside the mod profile to ask them to join your team, unless they have stated this is okay
- An advertisement - While you may include the mod's tagline and screenshots, use an objective summary of the gameplay, story, and goals of the mod. It's good to highlight the important and unique aspects of the mod, but do not use marketing language you would see on a game's box or in a magazine advertisement.
Dead mods
Articles are not removed from the wiki just because the mod has died. The mods are instead flagged as dead in these articles.
A mod can be flagged as dead if there's cause to believe that development has ceased without a final or a near-final release.
Reasons to label a mod as "dead":
- A quote from a project member stating the mod is no longer in development
- A lack of news or updates over a period of twelve months
- The mod's official website and/or entries at a modding site seem permanently gone
Please do not blank (remove all contents) of a dead mod's article, even if you are the author. The information can be retained for archival purposes (or as proof the article should be deleted if it does not meet inclusion criteria).
Deleting dead mods
If an article does not meet inclusion criteria, generally meaning it lacks proof of concept, and it has not been updated for over 1 year, the mod may be marked for deletion with the {{deletemod}} template. This will add a deletion message and automatically categorize the article accordingly. This situation can also arise for articles that used to have proof of concept, generally in the form of a link to an official website that no longer exists.
Formatting a mod article
If you have no idea on how to format the mod article, a good place to start is with the mod page template. Instructions on how to automatically insert this template into an empty page, can be found here. If you want to insert the template manually, it can be found here. (Please do not attempt to create mod pages through editing the two above pages directly.)
The beginning of a mod article should include a ModStatus template that is as complete as possible. (While the mod page template automatically inserts a basic version of the ModStatus template, you are strongly encouraged to expand it further.) Note that this template automatically categorizes the article, eliminating the need for manual basic categorization.
Should you choose to not use the mod page template, the following is a guideline for how to structure a mod article. You do not need to follow this structure exactly or include all of these sections, but it is fairly standardized.
- Start the article with a few sentences giving a very brief summary of what the mod is about
- Overview Section - a more thorough description of the mod - its setting, its gameplay, etc. This can be a few paragraphs long.
- Features Section - a bulleted list of significant or unique features. Don't add dozens of features to the list
- Media Section - a bulleted list of links to external media; for example, a trailer and a screenshot gallery
- Development history Section - a brief summary of the development of the mod, listing important milestones
- Release information Section - a bulleted list of version number releases and dates, example "Beta 2.1 - December 8, 2006"
- Team/Help Wanted Section - a list of the members of the mod's development team, and their roles in the team. You may also list open positions here.
- External links - a bulleted list of External links to relevant websites, such as the official website, and profile on a modding website.
Links to ModDB and GameBanana (formerly FPSBanana) entries has their own templates, called Moddb and Gamebanana respectively. These should be inserted into the External links section of the article, using the mod's ID number on that site as an argument. (For example {{moddb|12345}} will link to mod number 12345 on ModDB.) Examples of these templates are included in the mod page template.)
You may add a limited number of images to the article. Most mods will have an official logo or banner at the top of the article, and screenshots along the right side of the article. There may be more screenshots in a Gallery format at the bottom of the article. Screenshots may include development images, including character or weapon models, level designs, etc, as well as gameplay screenshots.
