Homecoming Wiki talk:Main Discussion

A few thoughts about stuff I'm conflicted about

Okay, I freely admit that I'm really stumped about a couple of things, especially about how I want them to appear in the wiki.

First up would have to be the Villain Group articles. I just can't make up my mind how I want them presented. Right now, I'm torn between three options. From an outline view, here they are:

Overview
Minions
- Villain Class
- - Villain Name
- - Villain Name
- - ...
Lieutenants
- Villain Class
- - Villain Name
- - Villain Name
- - ...
...

A Villain Class is a subset of villains within a villain group. For example, the Circle of Thorns has several villain classes: guardians, demons, hordelings, mages, specters, possesseds, and probably several others I'm leaving out. The Council is another villain group with subclasses, such as Penumbrae, Penumbrae Elite, Vortex Cors, Equinoxes, Galaxies, etc.

However, this presents a problem. Where do you put enemies that have no subclass? For example, the Council Ascendants have no subclass. If this standard is adopted, then you'll have to either create a category just for one villain type or lump them all under an "Other" category. (Any other ideas?)

Also, some villain groups don't have subclasses. For example, the Clockwork aren't really neatly divisible like that. There aren't different classes of cogs, sprockets, and oscillators. Some really small villain groups such as The Infected just have five or so different villain types. How will they be formatted?

Consider this an open call for ideas. Either post a reply here or e-mail me at tonyv@pcfreepress.com with your comments.

--TonyV 16:11, 27 Jan 2006 (CST)

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Well, Tony already knows my views, but I'll repeat them here :D I am not a fan of "Other " or "Misc". My favorite format so far is to make a sublevel only if it's needed for that type of entry. I tried out a bunch of things when making the Coucil page, and things are going to be just as bad when it comes to Crey, Nemesis, Rikti, Freakshow, etc (oh, man, I just remembered Prisoners, lots of types there that are just some proper name!). A lot of small variations, and also singular types. Tsoo for example, lots of enforcers, yellow ink men, red ink men, but only one type of green ink men. And Lieuts and bosses usually are singular.

I don't think there's a simple way to work through it. The data set we're working with is just too messy :D I think there should be 2 formats, a simple one for the small groups with just singular types, and a more complex one for the messy groups (Council, Tsoo, Crey, etc).

--StarGeek 17:31, 27 Jan 2006 (CST)

So will the Freakshow entry be the "official" format now? I like. It'll work well the big nasty messy groups. But isn't it missing a minion category near the beginning? :D --StarGeek 22:37, 28 Jan 2006 (CST)

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Hi!

Just posted at the Freakshow section about this same issue...I tried the subclasses idea as well, but abandoned it when realized it wouldn t help with certain groups: many villain groups would simply have too subsections: it was hard to find a mob easily, so it was better to make something simpler than that, yet still complete.

As I mentioned in the Freakshow discussion, it is my theory that the game presents the mobs and factions as evolving entities. Clockwork, let's say:

-Gear (Underling): basic model

-Cog/Sprocket (minion): same model as Gear...even the same attacks!

-Oscilator (minion): Cog/Sprocket able to fly...same attacks than before.

-Knights (Lieutenants): Still same model than a cog, with one or another attack from the same powerset added.

-Bosses:

Duke: still very similar in apparence and powers to the cog/sprocket: more damaging attacks, but that´s all.

Prince: same attacks than a Duke, plus Pummel. Bigger model and leaves gears behind

...and that's all, folks! =) The "Charged Bolts + Charged Brawl + Something Else" model repeats itself from the start to the end. The madness follows a method. It's much easier than it looks! =)

And Prisoners, since Star mentioned them:

Minion: Rock + Knife / Pipe / Brawl

Lieutenant: Revolver. No melee attacks.

Boss: Shotgun or Submachinegun. No melee attacks.

And a whooping list of 31 named mobs, that´s true =P.

My theory: just follow the order of the game spawn in missions and things will solve by themselves! =)

--Yakovlev 23:23, 28 Jan 2006 (CST)

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I'm actually considering something else as well, maybe something along the lines as what I've done with the powersets articles I've been tweaking lately. Check out the Energy Melee article for reference.

What I did is to have them all listed in detail alphabetically. This would mix minions, lieutenants, bosses, giant monsters, archvillains, underlings, elite bosses... the whole shebang. See the Powers section of the Energy Melee article; it's all neat and alphabetical. Each would have a detailed entry in the list, including description, powers, classificaiton, and so on.

Then at the top of each villain group article, at the top of the page would be an index that could group and classify the enemies in a simple list, with links into the article to the alphabetized section.

I'll try to throw together an example today sometime to show what I'm talking about. It's probably a lot easier to show through demonstration than to describe.

--TonyV 08:52, 29 Jan 2006 (CST)

Picture Size

Hey Tony, what would be considered optimal picture size for uploading, both in dimensions and file size. I certainly don't want to overrun your web space. --StarGeek 13:21, 28 Jan 2006 (CST)

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Typically, I size character portraits to be 300x700. If that's too slim, I go for 350x700 or even 400x700. There are a few exceptions for oddly-shaped things, such as the picture of the Golden Roller, which is 450x450. Those are really weird cases, though. Character portraits I upload are stored in .jpg format (.pngs are just too durn big, even highly compressed). Typically these files are around 30k - 40k, give or take a little. The larger ones are maybe 50k or even 60k for a very few.

Iconic images, such as powers icons, inspirations icons, badges, etc. are in .png format at full size, because they're really small and the format allows transparency, which means I don't have to go in and format the background of all of them.

Maps are really big, but there aren't that many of them. (And I haven't uploaded them all yet.) The Skyway City map, for example, is 82k, and is 488x750, which is a cropped (to remove the border) full-sized copy.

So far, I'm still good on space. If the size of the wiki doubles, I'll start getting a little worried, but will still have enough room. If need be, I can make further arrangements to accommodate more images if need be, but I think I've still got some time left before I have to think about that. Worst-case scenario (or actually, best-case, since it means that the wiki will have become huge) is that I can bump up the account type to accomodate more information and images. I guess what it boils down to regarding adding images is don't go too wild spamming full-sized screenshots or anything, but don't hesitate to add cool pictures.

--TonyV 08:41, 29 Jan 2006 (CST)

Forums?

Quick question: Do you think that this type of discussion page is enough to have meaningful discourse on stuff, or should I set up a (some?) phpBB forums for it? --TonyV 08:53, 29 Jan 2006 (CST)