Spiral Knights - List o' stuff

List o' stuff

13 replies [Last post]

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 11:21

nunix

Legacy Username

* Front page needs some work. 'Exploration' should probably be renamed 'The Clockworks'. I'm not sure 'Billing FAQ' actually needs to be under 'Getting Started', nor the TOS. Community Standards is fine, as it's supposed to be a plain-english thing anyway. In general the whole 'Getting Started' block needs to be reorganised; that's a section that someone might go through, once, and then will want to go to specific information pages in the future. As it is now, it takes up a lot of real estate on the page, not balanced by anything else.

* Need images and definitions for each of the gate totem icons. Totem information should probably be also in a general "gate" or "dungeon" article and not in "gate creation"

* Need a section dedicated to the current arcade layout. Which gates are active, which are dormant, the totems. Keeping the dormants updated with mineral totals would be crazy, but maybe those should be updated once a day or so.

I'm pretty sure I had some other thoughts but I'll have to wait til the 1st to remember what they were. ;p

So.. is this an official wiki, or just a sanctioned playspace? If it is official it is in pretty bad shape; there are way too many missing images and "we don't know how this works" comments. Wikis like this are best used as easy-to-keep-updated game documentation/manuals, which also serve as handy advertising to show off different aspects of a game. Should try and get this sorted before the 4th launch.

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 15:31

Equinox

Game Master

It's mostly volunteer player

It's mostly volunteer player edited. If you're interested in the to do list, you can find it at http://wiki.spiralknights.com/User:Equinox/to_do (mentioned in the looking for something to do sticky at the top of the forum). I'll be working on the main page this week.

The basic totem images can be added to the gate page. They were included on the gate construction article for a bit, but the mechanic for it changed recently and no player testing of how it has worked has happened in a conclusive way.

I don't think it's realistic to copy the arcade on the wiki. That's really something players should go in game to look at.

Due to the amount of changes with the constant updates during the preview, the wiki actually has done quite well and the volunteer editors have worked very hard to do some very good things. You may feel free to jump in and contribute edits.

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 18:04

nunix

Legacy Username

I get that it's volunteer

I get that it's volunteer edited, but it's at wiki.spiralknights.com, which gives it an official sheen. It seems bad company policy to not have the armor and weapon images available.

I'm just noting stuff I'd like to see as I only played on Saturday and Sunday, and simply don't know enough yet to contribute anything.

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 18:50

Equinox

Game Master

Another Three Rings game has

Another Three Rings game has a volunteer edited "official" wiki that does just fine. YPPedia covers Puzzle Pirates. Rome simply wasn't built in a day, so the same is true for a wiki. Since you have only played on two days and have not read many of the threads in the forum, I will also tell you that it was only recently that artwork was completed for many of the items.

It would probably help even more if you were to at least browse some of the threads here in the wiki forum, so that you can see what's already being worked on and things that have already been noted on to do lists. Otherwise your lists may simply be repeating what's already been listed when your time could be better spent.

If you want to suggest that the wiki not be volunteer, you can feel free to go suggest it in the forum labeled suggestions. However, in my experience, Three Rings generally enjoys having players discovering and "puzzling" out things themselves though.

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 19:11

Shoebox

I would prefer it if

I would prefer it if equipment model images were uploaded from outside the game, so we could get better angles.
The current pictures just aren't good enough.

It's probably a big job, but since the items in game are supposed to be both practical or desirable as costumes, I would prefer some higher quality images without clipping from the interface.

Everything else is fine to me.

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 19:19

Saphykun

No me no me no me

I like being able to help out on the Wiki. I feel like I'm contributing to something big, especially since I'm just a normal player. Isn't that what the Wiki is about, though? Any player can update the Wiki, just like anyone in the world can update a normal Wikipedia.

And noooooooooo to saying which gates are active and which gates are dormant. They change every two days at most. Sometimes they change every day!

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 20:26

nunix

Legacy Username

I thought the gates changed

I thought the gates changed every eight days?

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 20:37

ajericho

Legacy Username

It's more like a gate

It's more like a gate conveyor belt.

If you look at the gates available, you'll notice on one side they're complete and active, and on the other side they're dormant and under construction. As gates on the inactive side get enough minerals and become active, they shift over the entire row of gates, thus dumping the active gate on the end, and adding a new dormant gate on the other end.

Hence, gates will change every day, or more often, depending on how quickly people are depositing minerals.

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 13:56

nunix

Legacy Username

I'm almost positive that when

I'm almost positive that when I first logged in for the preview event, all of the arcade gates were operational. Will have to check on Friday, because I'm also pretty sure I got the "eight days" number from the mineral-gate-explanation NPC there in the Arcade.

Anyway, here is a very poorly-formatted attempt at a new front page. Got rid of the TOC (no place for that on a front page), use the space to the left of the image (which I like!) to set up some small tables with useful links. I don't remember my wiki markup, so it doesn't look as I'd like; should have each table its own separate, floating entity, not all bound together like that. Damned if I know how to do it, though. The tables aren't 100%, either, just some sketched out ideas for things that might be there.

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 14:02

Saphykun

One gate remains operational

One gate remains operational for about eight days maximum, but they shift positions every 1-2 days. And every 1-2 days, one gate gets shifted out, and the next gate on the right opens and becomes operational. If you're going to document which gates are active and which are not, you're going to have to update the Wiki almost everyday, when you can use that time and energy to do something else (like finding the missing images!).

I don't understand why you think that the Terms and Conditions have no place on the front page. That's important for players too. Why do you want to make it (slightly more) difficult for players to find rules? Isn't that bad company policy?

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 14:19

#10

nunix

Legacy Username

No one reads them. It's like

No one reads them. It's like a EULA. You might reference them if you get banned, or you think someone is cheating, but that's it. It's all legalese and no one cares. However, like I said, that plain English page is a good thing. It's not going to change anyone's behaviour, but it's stating up front "play nice", and also plays into the "knight" archetype that the characters fill. Link the TOC off the plain English page, or put it in the sidebar.

Re: updating every day: assuming the game gets any kind of player base, there is a 100% certainty that at least one person will have no problem doing that. Probably several. HOWEVER, if they really do cycle that quickly, then I guess there's actually no reason to have that page, so, I withdraw that. ;D I thought they persisted a lot longer.

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 14:28

#11

Dogrock

You should really read them

You should really read them before you get a ban. Or at the very least Section 6 (the don't do this section).

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 15:56

#12

Equinox

Game Master

I'll be doing the main page

As mentioned on the to do list link I have referred to, I'll be doing the main page design; no need to spend time on it.

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 17:53

#13

Pauling

For some fancy wiki

For some fancy wiki formatting code, see the lovely Support Portal:
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Support_Portal

As much as the Terms and Conditions might not be read, I think that including them on the front page makes a lot of sense. As for any company that has the ability to ban customers without a refund, OOO has an obligation to make the rules as accessible as possible. No digging, no uncertainty- everything should be up front.

If anything is filler, I'd say it was the World/Clockworks sections, which could be merged into one box with no loss to layout or clarity... although the linked pages help for introducing people to the ambience of the game, that needs to be balanced against frequent visitors who need reference info on game mechanics to be readily accessible.

Sample pages that deserve links includes Monsters, Gate Construction, Status Effects, etc.

Lastly, while I also like the front page graphic, it's really very large, and might force the screen to scroll inconveniently sideways (especially on smaller monitors). Could we rework this to use a smaller image? Perhaps it could even become a rotating image for featured articles or (as the communiy grows) fan art?

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