As I've been going through my collection of chat logs and screenshots to fill in mission dialogue with {{NPC Text (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Template:NPC_Text)}}, {{divbox (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Template:Divbox)}}, text colors (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Category:Text_Color_Templates), and other text, it occurred to me that this could likely be the last time anyone edits this content. Yet, to the best that I can tell, there are no guidelines on the wiki (either in the Article Guidelines (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Paragon_Wiki:Article_Guidelines) or directly in the templates) that explain exactly what standard formatting the dialogue should have. This has led to there being quite a bit of variation, while containing largely the same information, in the presentation of the dialogue that various editors have used.
(Side note: There was a discussion (http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,3345.0.html) in 2010 about how to format mission information in such a way that it mimics the in-game presentation overall. There were some interesting ideas being demonstrated, but they didn't deal specifically with dialogue and the whole idea appears to have been dropped completely. I have no idea if there was any discussion on the old Paragon Forums.)
What I'm specifically referring to are the guidelines for bolds, italics, quotes, capitalizations, indents, line breaks, and titles used for NPC text. I've tried to be as consistent as I can over the years to use formatting that is descriptive and accurate, though not necessarily in-step with what other editors chose to use.
For example, the Silver Mantis Strike Force (http://paragonwiki.com/w/index.php?title=Silver_Mantis_Strike_Force) has a section of NPC text at the end when you fight Colonel Duray. The previous version of the text looked like this:
Spawned ambush: "I won't let you end this, Task Force Name!"
"I won't let my dream die to the likes of you!"
"All I've built in flames, and for what?"
"You stupid punks don't even know ANYTHING!"
75% Health: "You Project: Destiny puppets are all alike."
"Villains dancing to Recluse's tune."
50% Health: "You think you've got me down?"
"Ha!"
"You ain't got nothing!"
25% Health: "I've been through worse! I won't let you win!"
Upon defeat: "All that we've done..."
"It can't end like this!"
Defeats a player: "The only thing worse than heroes is villains. Losers."
My current version looks like this:
Spawned Ambush:
Colonel Duray: I won't let you end this, Strike Force Name!
Colonel Duray: I won't let my dream die to the likes of you!
First Blood:
Colonel Duray: All I've built in flames, and for what?
Colonel Duray: You stupid punks don't even know ANYTHING!
75% Health:
Colonel Duray: You Project: Destiny puppets are all alike.
Colonel Duray: Villains dancing to Recluse's tune.
50% Health:
Colonel Duray: You think you've got me down?
Colonel Duray: Ha!
Colonel Duray: You ain't got nothing!
25% Health:
Colonel Duray: I've been through worse! I won't let you win!
Upon Defeat:
Colonel Duray: All that we've done...
Colonel Duray: It can't end like this!
Upon Player Defeat:
Colonel Duray: The only thing worse than heroes is villains. Losers.
As you can see, several elements of the formatting are different between the two examples, not that either one has the best possible solution. (Check this version (http://paragonwiki.com/w/index.php?title=The_Pilgrim&oldid=222427) of The Pilgrim's article for even more variations.)
After mulling it over, here are my guideline suggestions for standard formatting of each element.
Bold
- Each section within the text shall be bold
- NPC names, if used, shall be bold
Italics and Quotes
- All dialogue spoken by an NPC shall be italicized
- Text that is displayed but not spoken, such as an alarm message, shall not be italicized
- Quotation marks shall not be used for italicized text because they are redundant
Capitalization
- Each section within the text shall be capitalized
- The title of the text box shall be capitalized (e.g., Random Dialogue)
Indents and Line Breaks
- Section headers shall be left-justified
- If there is only one line of text per section, it shall be shown in-line with the section header
- If any section has more than one line of text, all text shall be indented on the line following the section header
Names and Titles
- If only one NPC is speaking, the name shall only be included in the title and not in the text
- If more than one NPC is speaking, each line of text shall name the NPC who is speaking it
- An actual NPC name shall be used rather than a "generic" or "random" mob name (acknowledging that the name may change upon repeating the mission)
- If more than one NPC is speaking, the title may be related to the content (e.g., "Negotiation Dialogue" or "Patrol Dialogue") or be generalized by enemy group (e.g., "Hellion Dialogue") rather than listing the individual NPC names
- Dialogue shall always be spelled "dialogue"
Colors
- In the {{NPC Text}} template, the "hero" type shall be used for allies, the "villain" type shall be used for enemies, and all others (such as hostages or mixed ally/enemy) shall use the default color
Sections and Groups
- The following section headers shall be used for combat-oriented NPCs (acknowledging that there may be special individual exceptions, and that not all of these sections may be needed):
- Before Combat
- Combat Start
- First Blood
- 75% Health
- 50% Health
- 25% Health
- Upon Defeat
- Upon Player Defeat
- The following section headers shall be used for hostage or captive NPCs (acknowledging that this may sometimes be incorporated with combat text):
- Upon Rescue/Capture
- If Lost/Captured
- When Found/Recaptured
- Upon Defeat
- At Objective/Exit
- If more than one NPC group is speaking related dialogue, the < hr /> tag shall be used to separate them within the same text box rather than making separate boxes
- Dialogue shall be sorted logically, in order to correct instances, for example, where one NPC gives an answer before another NPC asks the question
(I think that's everything. *whew*)
The result of these guidelines on the previous Colonel Duray dialogue would be thus:
Spawned Ambush:
I won't let you end this, Strike Force Name!
I won't let my dream die to the likes of you!
First Blood:
All I've built in flames, and for what?
You stupid punks don't even know ANYTHING!
75% Health:
You Project: Destiny puppets are all alike.
Villains dancing to Recluse's tune.
50% Health:
You think you've got me down?
Ha!
You ain't got nothing!
25% Health:
I've been through worse! I won't let you win!
Upon Defeat:
All that we've done...
It can't end like this!
Upon Player Defeat:
The only thing worse than heroes is villains. Losers.
The biggest question to all of this is probably "Why start getting this detailed now when nothing's been done about it before?" Allow me to quote Felderburg in response:
2. Now that the game is "over," the wiki should theoretically be able to be Completed. I think it'd be really cool if it was - the entire wiki, every page, without errors or red links. Well, not just cool - it would make some vaguely OCD parts of me quite happy. At the very least, I can do everything possible to get it in such a state that all that has to be done is add missing bits of minor dialogue, and then someone with those records can add that in.
I totally agree that it would be really cool to make Paragon Wiki one of the most complete game wikis, especially for a game that's not being played any more. And it's things like this, the minutia of how consistently small bits of text are formatted, that can add up to how our efforts will be viewed by future visitors.
Thoughts?