Disgaea Wiki:Style Guide for Map Pages

=Style Guide for Map Pages=

Thank you for your interest in creating new map/stage pages for the Disgaea Wiki! Please follow this style guide so all map pages maintain visual unity across the site. If you are editing an existing map page, these guidelines may also help you.

1. Read Disgaea Wiki:Manual of Style for an overview of site-wide formatting, and especially read the section titled Infobox templates and the disver variable. Make sure you know the correct 'disver' value for the game for which you are editing.

2. If creating a new page, first search this wiki to see if the name of the map is unique across all games. For example, 'Magnificent Gate' is not a map name in any game other than Disgaea: HOD (and its remakes). However, more than one game has 'Cave of Ordeals' maps, and these different maps have different data. If the name of the map is unique, create a new page that is named only, in this example, 'Magnificent Gate'. If the name of the map is not unique, put '_(Disgaea)' or '_(Disgaea_#)' after the map name.

3. In a new tab, open Template:DisgaeaMapInfobox. There are some notes on the page you should keep in mind when editing a (new) map. For new maps, copy everything under the template call and paste it as the first thing in the edit box for the new page. For updating existing maps, copy any necessary |cell= that do not exist in the current page. New cells do not have to be placed in the same vertical order as on the Template page, but it may help future editors to have the information in order.

While it is ok to delete '|cell='s that are not applicable for the game you are entering (ie, it's ok to delete |darkworld= when doing D:HOD maps), avoid deleting cells applicable to the current game, even if you don't have the information. If you are editing a D:HOD map, even if you don't know any of the Etna Mode information, leave the empty cell there; future editors will find this helpful.

4. When creating links to enemies, it will probably be helpful to open one of these in a new tab: If you are editing 'Magnificent Gate', you would need to create links for 'Ghost', 'Red Skull', and 'Hobbit'. Since those are the Tier names, you would not create a link directly to  Red Skull  or even  Red Skull . 'Red Skull' is considered a Tier of the 'Skull' class, and since you are in Disgaea:HOD, you would want to make a link be  Red Skull . But nobody can be expected to memorize entire charts of exact names, what Tier belongs to which Class. If you need to make the link for 'Hobbit', you can search on the 'Template:Disgaea_Classes' and see that 'Hobbit' is a Tier of 'Faery'. If you let your mouse hover over the link in 'Template:Disgaea_Classes', you can see at the bottom that there is no '_(Disgaea)' at the end of the link for 'Faery', Thus, your link can be written as  Hobbit .
 * Template:Disgaea_Classes
 * Template:Disgaea_2_Classes
 * Template:Disgaea_3_Classes
 * Template:Disgaea_4_Classes
 * Template:Disgaea_D2_Classes

In this way, you can utilize the Template:Disgaea_#_Classes page to help you create links to the correct Class page for the enemies (and any allies you may want to be linking to, as well).

5. Prevmap/Nextmap. If the Map page for the next stage in the game does not yet exist, leave |nextmap= blank, but either remember to come back and insert this information later, or go to the very first line of the page and input the   template (replace the 'Information needed' text with a note about what information is needed). Data in |prevmap= and |nextmap= should be done in link format, ie,  Blessed Court .

If the map you are currently editing is the last map in a chapter, format 'nextmap' in the following manner:
 * nextmap=Chapter #: ChapterName - first map in that chapter

When creating or editing the page for the first map in a chapter, it is not required to link to the previous chapter in |prevmap=.

6. Article text should start on the line immediately after closing the Template:DisgaeaMapInfobox, to avoid unsightly gaps on the page. The top section of page text should include the name of the map -- remember to  bold  it the first time it appears on the page -- and something stating which number of map it is (first, second, etc) in which Episode of which Game.

7. Possible sub-headings on the page are: Others may exist, depending on the game. You don't need to bold inside the double-equals. Don't put a given sub-heading if you have no text to go under it, just for the sake of having the heading. It may be that you only know the basic information about the map: name, number in episode, episode name.
 *  ==Story==  - If the stage features a cut-scene before it, give a brief summary. If no game Story occurs at the beginning of this map, this section is not needed.
 *  ==Typical Strategy==  - list potential difficulties in the stage, and strategies for overcoming them.
 *  ==Etna Mode==  - Give a summary of any available story, the mobs present, and any important Geo Symbols.
 *  ==Dark World==  - Similar to Strategy and Etna mode.

8. At the bottom of the page, make sure the correct bottom-insert Template is linked, and that the page is tagged with the correct Category. See the chart below :

9. Don't forget an edit summary! Even a few words now can be a big help to other editors later.

As an example, here is what the code for Magnificent Gate looks like, with truncated text to emphasize code layout:

The Magnificent Gate is the first proper map in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and the second map in the remakes' Etna Mode.

Typical Strategy
This map has very few enemies, (truncated).

Etna Mode Strategy
Unlike the original version, (truncated).

The Category was added using the 'Categories' box, and is not stored in the code here.

It is not advised to copy this chunk of text as a basis for creating new pages. DisgaeaMapInfobox may have cells pertinent to your game that are not listed here, or have received other updates between the posting of this article and the time you are editing. This is here solely for illustrative purposes.

We hope this Style Guide for Map Pages helps you in your quest to make this wiki more awesome. If you have any questions, please head to the Talk page and feel free to ask.