Sandbox/Rules and Guidelines

Welcome to The Cutting Room Floor wiki! TCRF is a website that aims to catalogue content in video games that is never seen during regular gameplay.

Acceptable Material
What We Cover:

What We Don't Cover:

Exceptions:

The following may be included, as they are relevant to the scope of the wiki.


 * 1) A glitch that has been fixed or introduced in a program/region revision.
 * 2) A glitch that grants the player access to unused or debug content.
 * 3) A code that grants the player access to unused or debug content.

The Use of Humor
DO:

Feel free to add a bit of wit to your articles.

DON'T:


 * Edit an article/image caption just to add jokes or witty commentary.
 * Overdo the humor. Too many jokes and too little information makes for a bad wiki.
 * Be offensive. Racism, sexism, homophobia, and vulgarity aren't welcome here. When in doubt, keep your mouth shut.

Alpha/Beta
Because of how frequently these terms are misused, we discourage their use on the wiki. Try "early", "prototype", or "unused" instead.

Placeholder Pages
The use of placeholder pages is discouraged. Don't create a page unless you have content to put on it.

Editorializing
Don't spew venom all over an article just because the game doesn't appeal to your personal tastes, and don't insult readers who might like the game.

Creating an Account
The first thing you'll need in order to create and edit pages is an account. You can make one by clicking "Log in / create account" at the top right of the page.

WARNING: Due to a recent flood of spambot accounts, our admins ban accounts with suspicious names. If your account name is your real name with a number attached (IE: GilesJohnson629), you may find yourself at risk. To avoid getting mistaken as a spambot, you might want to warn the admins by sending an email to [xkeeper at gmail.com] first.

User Pages
Every user has the ability to create a User Page. You can do this by clicking on your username as it appears on the top of the page and entering whatever code you like. Most people briefly introduce themselves and use the page for their own experimentation and To Do lists. (Example)

User Talk Pages
Every user also has a Talk page, which you can use to communicate with them. Once you navigate to someone's User Page, you can access their Talk page by clicking on the "Discussion" tab to the right of the "User Page" tab at the top of the screen. (Example)

Leaving a Comment
To leave a comment or ask a question on a user's Talk Page, try the following.

The four tildes ( ~ ) automatically append your signature and a timestamp to the comment, so the user will know who left it and when. It will look like this:

Layering Comments
Now, let's say someone has left you the following comment on your talk page:

You'd like to reply and say "No problem!" You can do that by adding a colon to the front of your response, so it appears below the comment.

Add more colons to keep layering your responses.

Finding Content
So you want to search the insides of a game to see if there is any content suitable for TCRF. That's great! Here are some helpful tools, guides, and tips.

Tools

 * 1)  Memory Watcher/Editor
 * 2) * This is normally included with most emulators, for old games. For recent games, try Cheat Engine. This thing will allow you to edit values in the game's memory, like your health and ammo, but it can be used for much more.
 * 3) Hex Editor
 * 4) * This will also allow you to change memory values in the game, but on the hardcoded stuff, not when the game is running. Though hex editors are mostly used to search for strings. Optionally, but strongly recommended for newer disc-based/PC games, one can use an extractor for finding files in common formats (i.e. Ogg Vorbis files, .PNGs, DirectX textures). An example of this type of program would be Game Extractor. Also optional is the use of fan-made editors or viewers for specific games. These can help look at resources directly from the game.

Guides
Here are a few helpful guides that will teach you on how to search for unused levels, hidden comments, debug modes, and more! Of course, not every game is quite the same, so the information here won't always apply to your hunt for content. Nonetheless, perhaps it will be of use!

Tips
• Always look for content inside "first time games". These are flagship projects created by a publisher or developer, and usually have a lot of content.

Example:
 * Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (First 3D game for Nintendo and Squaresoft)
 * Ocarina of Time (First Zelda game for the N64)
 * Super Mario 64 (N64 Launch Title)

• Write down everything you find. Later, you can go back and analyze what's good and what's not, and spot connections you may have missed.

Creating a Page

 * 1) Search the wiki to see if someone has already created a page for the game. You can use the search box on the left sidebar, or click here.
 * 2) If there are no results, you will see an option to "Create the page on this wiki!" (Example)
 * 3) Click the red link, and you will be brought to a screen where you can start building your new page. (Example)

Choosing a Good Title

 * 1) Use the proper name for the game. (IE: Twilight Princess)
 * 2) * However, if a game has a long title or subtitle, shorten it. (IE: "The Flintstones - The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy" can be shortened to "The Flintsones")
 * 3) * Conventional abbreviations are acceptable as well. (IE: Super Mario Bros. 3)
 * 4) If there are multiple version of the game, put the system at the end. (IE: Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis))
 * 5) Use the American name.
 * 6) * If the game was not released in the USA, use the Japanese name.
 * 7) * Only games that were never released anywhere but Europe should use the European name.

Creating Redirects
Let's say your game has alternate names. For example, Doubutsu no Mori was only released in Japan, but it's known to English fans as Animal Forest. Let's create a redirect, so people searching for Animal Forest won't overlook the fact that we have a page for the game under another name. All we have to do is add the following code to our page:

Creating a Bob
One of the first things you're going to want to add to your article is a bob. Bobs are added to articles about games in order to indicate their release dates, publishers, developers, and what sort of content can be found on the page. Bobs do not need to be appended to prototype pages.

The following formatting can be used to create a bob. Simply subtract the items that aren't relevant, change the information to match your game.

No Title Screen
If the game has no title screen, perhaps because it's a prototype, replace this:

| bobscreen= WindWakerTitle.PNG | screenwidth= 320px

With this:

|noscreen= yes

Arcade Games
If the game is an arcade title, replace this:

| system= Insert System Here

With this:

| arcadesys= [if system=Arcade]

Creating Subpages
If a game has a lot of content that would fall under a certain category (ie: unused items), you can create a separate subpage for the category so you don't clutter up the main page for the game.

Creating Sections
You are able to divide your content into sections.

Sub-Headers
These sections can be further divided by using sub-headers.

Basic Text Formatting
A guide to basic text formatting on the wiki.

Bold & Italics
To bold text, sandwich it between three apostrophes.

To italicize text, sandwich it between single apostrophes.

Links
To create a link, put square brackets around the URL.

To add a hyperlink to text, try the following.

Tables
To create a table, try this.

It will look like this:

Lists
To create a list, try this:


 * 1) Apples
 * 2) Oranges
 * 3) Kiwis

It will turn out like this:


 * 1) Apples
 * 2) Oranges
 * 3) Kiwis

Guidelines

 * 1) No JPEGs.
 * 2) *Please take your screenshots using PNG format. Don't try to convert JPEGs to PNGs.
 * 3) Optimize PNGs prior to uploading.
 * 4) *Large and/or high-color PNGs need to be optimized in order to reduce filesize.
 * 5) *PNGCRUSH and IrfanView (via the PNGOUT plugin) are both capable of this.
 * 6) Use descriptive filenames.
 * 7) *Please try to include all or at least part of the game's title. This helps prevent future filename conflicts, and makes it easier to identify orphaned files.
 * 8) * For example, SMB2-smiley.png is an acceptable filename; Smiley.png is not.
 * 9) Upload textures and graphics at their original resolution.
 * 10) Use the native resolution of tile- and sprite-based consoles.
 * 11) * Don't use Kega Fusion for Mega Drive/Genesis/Master System/Game Gear screenshots.
 * 12) Use the native resolution for 3D-based consoles.
 * 13) * Exceptions include times when a higher resolution substantially improves the image quality and does not introduce scaling artifacts. Keep it sane, though: the N64 does not need 1280&times;1024.
 * 14) Don't go above 1024&times;768 (or 1280&times;720 for widescreen-optimized games) for variable-resolution platforms (e.g. PCs).
 * 15) *Feel free to use a lower resolution if it still shows sufficient detail, or if higher resolutions introduce unwanted scaling artifacts.
 * 16) *Older games were often optimized for fairly low resolutions. For example, a game made in 1995 may not need anything higher than 640&times;480. Use good judgment and common sense.
 * 17) Don't crop out parts of screenshots.
 * 18) * However, Nintendo DS title screen shots should show both screens, unless one of the screens is completely blank.
 * 19) * Nintendo DS gameplay screenshots can be cropped if one of the screens does not contain relevant information. (For example, iitem/status screens.)
 * 20) Don't alter the screenshot.
 * 21) * This includes adjusting or adding contrast, brightness, filters, or watermarks.
 * 22) * Demonstrating something, such as a hidden message that utilizes extremely similar colors to the background. In this case, upload two copies of the image; one normal, and one with the changes.
 * 23) Only upload scans if they illustrate something that is unused, but still in the game.
 * 24) * If it's not still in the game, don't upload it. Scans should only be used to show how something that remains in the game's code and was intended to be used earlier in development.
 * 25) Take title screen shots with an emulator or in-game screenshot function at their native resolution.
 * 26) * Don't upload box art or watermarked images swiped from other websites!
 * 27) When taking screenshots, ensure you aren't using other visibly obvious hacks.
 * 28) * For example, when showcasing unused tiles in the overworld, don't reskin the player character.

Uploading Images

 * 1) Click "Upload file" under the Toolbox heading on the left sidebar. (Or click here.)
 * 2) Choose a filename and write a description of what you're uploading in the summary box.
 * 3) Choose an appropriate tag that describes what the image is, and what platform the game is for. The following categories are available (replace system with the proper name of the platform, e.g. PlayStation):

Note that you can use multiple tags, if necessary (for example, the cactus is both a wiki image and an N64 graphic rip).

Once you've uploaded a file, it will appear on its own page. This page will display information such as the file name, the date it was uploaded on, who uploaded it, and which articles link to it. Now you can add it to your article using the following code.

Formatting Images
But let's say the image we want to use is too big, or isn't aligned the way we want it to be. We can modify it using the following example:

Now our image looks like this.



Also, perhaps we want to compare two different screenshots. We can learn how to accomplish that by using code that looks like this.

Now our screenshots are nicely aligned.

Guidelines

 * 1) Make sure the video is necessary.
 * 2) * Videos should never act as a replacement for a well-written article.
 * 3) * Only use a video if a screenshot wouldn't suffice.
 * 4) Provide a text summary of what is in the video.
 * 5) * Remember to indicate what the viewer should be watching for.
 * 6) Upload an audio file if the video simply documents an unused sound effect or music track.
 * 7) If you come across a dead video link, replace or remove it.
 * 8) Ensure that the primary focus of the video is the information in question.

Uploading Video
At this time, there is no way to upload video directly to the wiki, so you're going to need to put it on YouTube. Let's say we want to add this video to our article. If the video URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzAAGoevlc0, the code is going to look like this.

Formatting Video
Of course, perhaps we want to change the size or alignment of our video. Here's a simple example:

And here are a variety of parameters you can use to modify your video even further.

Size:

Alignment:

Height & Width:


 * Note: Add 25 to compensate for the size of the selection bar

Uploading Audio
Sound File Name



Citing Sources
If you obtained your information from elsewhere on the web, or from someone you wish to credit, you can do it by using the following template.

It will appear like this:

Tags
You can attach the following tags to articles in order to alert readers about things that need to be done.

Article Talk Pages
Every article has a Talk page, where you can discuss the content of the page, bring up concerns, or ask questions. You can find the talk page by navigating to the article in question and clicking on the "Discussion" tab to the right of the "Page" tab at the top of the screen. (Example)

Leaving a Comment
To leave a comment or ask a question on an article's Talk Page, try the following.

The four tildes ( ~ ) automatically append your signature and a timestamp to the comment, so the user will know who left it and when. It will look like this:

Layering Comments
Now, let's say someone has asked the following question on the article's talk page.

Let's reply to their question by adding a colon to the front of our response, so it appears below the comment.

Now, the original person might want to respond to our response. All they need to do is add another colon before their comment, and the discussion can continue on ad infinitum.

Adding Categories
Articles on the wiki are categorized according to the series they belong to. If you create a new article on a game that belongs to a series already covered on the wiki, be sure to add the following code to the bottom of the page so it gets included. In this case, let's assume we're writing an article on a Zelda title.

You'll get something that looks like this: