Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

Creation, discussion, and balancing of game content such as techs, buildings, ship parts.

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EricF
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#31 Post by EricF »

Okay, done.
It seems a little long, verbose, but I wanted it to be clear.
Let me know if I screwed anything up. :D

Simon Small
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#32 Post by Simon Small »

Is this thread still active? It seems a little old.

I think I can help by adding articles to the Pedia. I have my own copy of the source and have compiled it successfully. I have done some experiments with the Pedia and think that I have worked out how to add or change the text. Is there a guide anywhere so I can confirm what I know?

I thought I might start with the elements of the UI (screens and buttons, etc.) and create articles for each element as appropriate. There is some description in the Quick Start Guide, so I could copy that into the articles.

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Vezzra
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#33 Post by Vezzra »

Simon Small wrote: Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:20 pmI think I can help by adding articles to the Pedia.
Welcome to the project :D

Contributions to the pedia are always appreciated!
I have done some experiments with the Pedia and think that I have worked out how to add or change the text. Is there a guide anywhere so I can confirm what I know?
AFAIK we do not have any guides anywhere for that, sorry. But there should be people around who can answer questions if you have any.
There is some description in the Quick Start Guide, so I could copy that into the articles.
Please keep in mind that the Quick Start Guide is outdated. Of course many parts still apply, because not everything described there changed since it has been written, but you need to check before you copy something from the Quick Start Guide if it still applies to the current version.

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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#34 Post by Simon Small »

I have taken a while to create a few changes, mostly to make sure that I understood how the game works and how to create the text files. I hope what I post shortly is not too controversial, but this is a preliminary view of what I have done.

* The current Pedia does not seem to have a well structured top level so I have not attempted to manage that. I have focussed on how a user might use each screen and what the buttons and links, so I have created my own category called *Screens and buttons* with all my pages in that category. There is a little overlap with the *Interfaces* category, but perhaps someone can review this later.

* I have focussed initially on the opening menu, or the Main Menu, where users start a new game or load an existing one. There are a few pages that are brief as I have not figured out how they work. I have checked that these texts show correctly

* I wonder if it might be more logical to new users if the Pedia link on the main menu were called Help, and it directed to a page that explains the Pedia and how the main menu works. Something for the future, perhaps?

* How do I submit the changes? Would it be by attaching a zip file with the 'focs.txt' files and a differences patch to en.txt to a forum post?

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#35 Post by Geoff the Medio »

Simon Small wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:07 amThe current Pedia does not seem to have a well structured top level...
What do you mean by that? What "structure" do you want to have that's different from the existing list of category pages?
I have focussed on how a user might use each screen and what the buttons and links, so I have created my own category called *Screens and buttons* with all my pages in that category. There is a little overlap with the *Interfaces* category, but perhaps someone can review this later.
That sounds like it would completely overlap with the *Interface* category... What is the distinction?
I wonder if it might be more logical to new users if the Pedia link on the main menu were called Help, and it directed to a page that explains the Pedia and how the main menu works. Something for the future, perhaps?
Which "main menu" are you referring to? The intro splash screen?
How do I submit the changes? Would it be by attaching a zip file with the 'focs.txt' files and a differences patch to en.txt to a forum post?
Ideally you'd make a github account and use git to open a pull request. If you don't want to or can't use git on your local machine and deal with pushing the commits to the github server, you can use the web interface to create files and edit existing files, and create a pull request that way.

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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#36 Post by Simon Small »

[
Geoff the Medio wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:14 am
Simon Small wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:07 amThe current Pedia does not seem to have a well structured top level...
What do you mean by that? What "structure" do you want to have that's different from the existing list of category pages?
I refer to the list shown when clicking the Up chevrons on the Pedia panel. I wasn't sure how these categories had been defined, and whether a hierarchy was planned.
I have focussed on how a user might use each screen and what the buttons and links, so I have created my own category called *Screens and buttons* with all my pages in that category. There is a little overlap with the *Interfaces* category, but perhaps someone can review this later.
That sounds like it would completely overlap with the *Interface* category... What is the distinction?
Partially as a separation of what I have done, partially as a clearer category for the casual gamer? I did not want to overwrite what was already there. I am assuming that this separation is done by the value in 'Category' in the 'focs.txt' file, so could be easy to restructure.
I wonder if it might be more logical to new users if the Pedia link on the main menu were called Help, and it directed to a page that explains the Pedia and how the main menu works. Something for the future, perhaps?
Which "main menu" are you referring to? The intro splash screen?
Yes, the one titled "FreeOrion Main Menu"
How do I submit the changes? Would it be by attaching a zip file with the 'focs.txt' files and a differences patch to en.txt to a forum post?
Ideally you'd make a github account and use git to open a pull request. If you don't want to or can't use git on your local machine and deal with pushing the commits to the github server, you can use the web interface to create files and edit existing files, and create a pull request that way.
I'll try to do this

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Oberlus
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#37 Post by Oberlus »

I suggest putting Pedia info for Main Menu (the one titled "FreeOrion Main Menu" :lol: ) and for Galaxy Setup within **Game Guides** -> *Interfaces*

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#38 Post by Geoff the Medio »

Simon Small wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:09 pm
Geoff the Medio wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:14 am
Simon Small wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:07 amThe current Pedia does not seem to have a well structured top level...
What do you mean by that? What "structure" do you want to have that's different from the existing list of category pages?
I refer to the list shown when clicking the Up chevrons on the Pedia panel. I wasn't sure how these categories had been defined, and whether a hierarchy was planned.
You didn't answer the question: what do you want...?

Simon Small
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#39 Post by Simon Small »

Re: Pedia structure / hierarchy

I have not been playing FreeOrion for very long, and have not really got very far in the games I have tried. I did try to find help in the Pedia but struggled. I don't think that it is important for now, but I don't understand the current category list; probably because I don't know too much about the game or that there are articles missing. I do think that I can add articles, but don't know enough to know how finding articles could be made easier (or where to put them).

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Oberlus
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#40 Post by Oberlus »

Simon Small wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 3:15 pm Re: Pedia structure / hierarchy

I have not been playing FreeOrion for very long, and have not really got very far in the games I have tried. I did try to find help in the Pedia but struggled. I don't think that it is important for now, but I don't understand the current category list; probably because I don't know too much about the game or that there are articles missing. I do think that I can add articles, but don't know enough to know how finding articles could be made easier (or where to put them).
There is a box in the top to search for keywords. That helps.

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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#41 Post by Simon Small »

I have added a Pull Request for the changes I made to the Pedia articles - I hope that I have done this correctly.

I have cloned the freeorion repository to my local machine, built the code and made the changes in a local branch. I forked the freeorion repository then pushed my changes to that repository. I created a pull request from my forked repository. If I have missed something, please let me know and I'll do this correctly next time round.

Thanks

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#42 Post by Geoff the Medio »

The pull request seems to have been submitted correctly on github.

I question how necessary all the text you've added is, though. Separate articles for each button is excessive; if really needed they can be in a single article. Explaining how to resize a window by dragging the corner, or that a file needs to exist to be loaded, seem silly.

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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#43 Post by Simon Small »

Points noted... I was not sure about the following:

RE: Single articles. I tried to do this, see Save Game, Load Game and Continue for instance. I have linked all three 'focs.txt' files to the same explanatory text, but I could not get a named link in the menu article unless they were separate articles. Load and Save are also options in the In-Game menu, so might be linked to there. Is this something that is possible to do in another way?

RE: Panels. I have not done this yet, but some panel sizes are set in the options so I planned to add these later. There are also some common and some independent properties for panels, such as the close button, that I could explain later. As panels are quite fundamental to how the Interface behaves, I have tended to add information when there is a choice rather than leave it out.

These articles could be the first ones that a new user sees, so that is another reason why I added so much text.

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#44 Post by Geoff the Medio »

Simon Small wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:02 amThese articles could be the first ones that a new user sees, so that is another reason why I added so much text.
I don't think the proposed solution (lots of text) is necessarily the right one for the situation (first article a user sees).

Most of the text you've added is unnecessary, at least as a pedia article, and I don't expect many people will get any use from the added information. At most, what a button on the main menu does can be explained with a tooltip. That one can drag a window around or close it by clicking the X at the top right, or that save file names can fail to work if you save to a removed USB drive, can be assumed prior knowledge by most / all users about how a windowed interface and filesystem works.

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Re: Explaining Game Concepts in FO (submit entries here)

#45 Post by LienRag »

Geoff the Medio wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:16 am Explaining how to resize a window by dragging the corner, or that a file needs to exist to be loaded, seem silly.
Maybe FreeOrion has exceptional users, but so many obvious things may completely go unnoticed to some people that such basic explanations are usually useful as long as they don't completely clutter the Help page.

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