Version 27 (modified by Nescio, 6 years ago) ( diff )

Be precise; classes

This guide provides some ground rules to write user-facing texts for 0 A.D.

Capitalization

Use title case for:

  • Button captions
  • Entity names (including generic names of phases, structures or units)
  • Key names
  • Proper names

Never use full capitalization.

For example:

Good Bad
Click the Citizen Soldier iconClick the CITIZEN SOLDIER icon
Hold Shift and click Hold shift and click

Cursor vs Mouse

Mind the difference between the cursor (virtual) and the mouse (physical).

English Orthography

Use US English spelling.

For example:

US UK
analyze analyse
armor armour
artifactartefact
defense defence
finalizefinalise
gray grey
plow plough
travelertraveller

Dynastic factions

singular: plural: adjective:
founder of dynastymembers of dynastybelonging to dynasty
Achaemenes Achaemenids Achaemenid
Maurya Mauryas Mauryan
Ptolemy Ptolemies Ptolemaic
Seleucus Seleucids Seleucid

Terminology

In texts that the user needs to understands, such as menu entries, help tooltips, and similar, you must be consistent with the vocabulary that you use.

An object should always be referred to using the same word everywhere in the game, and an action should always be referred to using the same verb. For example, if there is a unit type called ‘female citizen’, always refer to it as such, do not also use alternative forms such as ‘females’, ‘women’, and so on. Even in the same paragraph or sentence, you should use the same term.

Always be precise. E.g., if a technology multiplies the melee attack damage of cavalry by 1.2, the tooltip should be "cavalry +20% melee attack damage", not "melee cavalry +20% attack damage".

Furthermore, there should be a bijection between descriptions and classes. E.g. if a technology affects the Citizen class, write "Citizens"; if it affects the Soldier class, write "Soldiers"; if it affects only units that have both the Citizen and the Soldier class, write "Citizen Soldiers"; however, if it affects the "CitizenSoldier" class instead, then write "Citizen-Soldiers".

For specific words that you should use or avoid in 0 A.D. gameplay texts, see the tables below:

Actions

Good Bad
Build (structures)
Collect (treasures)
Construct (ships, siege weapons)Build, produce, train
Gather (resources) Collect, get
Research (technologies)
Train (human units) Build, construct, recruit, produce

GUI

GoodBad
Icon Portrait

Stats

GoodBad
HealthHitpoints, HP

Structures

Good Bad
Structure Building
Blacksmith Armoury
Civic CenterCivic Centre, Civil Center, Civil Centre
Dock Harbour, Pier, Port, Quay, Shipyard, Wharf
Farmstead Farmhouse, Granary, Mill
Fortress Castle, Citadel, Fort, Stronghold
House Dwelling, Home, Shack
Storehouse Drop Site, Mining Camp, Storage Pit

Units

Good Bad
Cavalry Champion Champion Cavalry
Cavalry Citizen Soldier Cavalry Citizen-Soldier, Citizen-Cavalry, Citizen-Cavalry Unit
Cavalry Unit Cavalry Soldier
Champion
Champion Cavalry Spearman
Champion Spearman
Citizen (cavalry or infantry, female or male)Worker
Citizen Soldier (cavalry or infantry) Citizen-Soldier
Female Citizen Female, Female Worker, Woman
Infantry Champion
Infantry Citizen
Infantry Citizen Soldier Infantry Citizen-Soldier
Infantry Unit
Melee Cavalry Unit Cavalry Melee Soldier
Melee Infantry Unit
Ranged Cavalry Unit Cavalry Ranged Soldier
Ranged Infantry Citizen Soldier
Ranged Infantry Unit
Ranged Unit Skirmisher
Siege Weapon

Unicode

We have a somewhat complete Unicode support, do not limit yourself to ASCII and learn how to use Unicode input in your system.

For example:

GoodBad
...

However, Atlas does not support Unicode, so English strings of map files (e.g. anything under binaries/data/mods/public/maps/) should not contain Unicode characters for the time being. But you should avoid using combinations of ASCII characters to try and reproduce Unicode characters as well. Be creative, try to rephrase the content in question so that Unicode characters are not necessary.

Note: See TracWiki for help on using the wiki.