Tower Defense Simulator Wiki:Manual of Style

Manual of Style

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The Manual of Style is the style manual for all Tower Defense Simulator Wiki articles. It describes the guidelines that should be followed when there is doubt or disagreement about which style to follow in articles. The style manual also gives useful information, and advice on article formatting and templates. This manual also assumes that you are using the Source Editor.

The Manual of Style was last revised on the Template:LastRevision.

Basic Principles

This style aims to provide consistency and standardization across all articles across the Tower Defense Simulator Wiki. This style also aims to resolve editorial conflicts based on grammar, vocabulary and spelling. This is not the general style to be used on a casual basis (like commenting); this is only meant for the main content articles of the Tower Defense Simulator Wiki (pages such as the Ranger, Autumn Falling and SWAT Van).

Style

Orthography

For the most part, American English is the preferred variation in English orthography. This applies to the spelling of words (center not centre) and grammar of sentences (burned not burnt). Vocabulary differences (such as autumn and fall) can be excused. For more examples, refer to this guide on Wikipedia.

There are some exceptions to this:

• grey not gray.
• pyjamas not pajamas.
• Double constants are preferred when used in British, Canadian or Australian English (for example, labelled not labeled).
• Formal official names of objects or standards. These include:
  • metre not meter (Le Système international d'unités).
  • aluminium not aluminum (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry).

Wikitext

If you are confused to the wikitext that actually makes up an article on the wiki, see this page.

Punctuation

• Avoid comma splices. That is, independent clauses should be separated by a semicolon, a terminal ending or a colon, but not by a comma:

  Correct: Stevenson's romances are entertaining; they are full of exciting adventures.

  Incorrect: Stevenson's romances are entertaining, they are full of exciting adventures.

• The Oxford Comma should ONLY be used when its exclusion may cause a discrepancy about the subject matter.

  Correct: France, England, Denmark and Spain.

  Incorrect: France, England, Denmark, and Spain.

  Correct: Blue torso and shorts, and red arms.

  Incorrect: Blue torso and shorts and red arms.

• Avoid using ampersand (&) within the main section of the article. Ampersand may be used within the infobox.
• Only use straight apostrophes (') not curled ones (’).

  Familiarize yourself with using apostrophes. A good example of knowing when to use apostrophes is its and it's.

• To simplify possessive apostrophes with names or words ending in s, s' is preferred over s's, unless it is quoted.

  Correct: James' Car.

  Incorrect: James's Car.

  Correct: Krampus' Revenge.

  Incorrect: Krampus's Revenge.

• Brackets/parentheses must require the correct terminal ending if they are at the end of a sentence.

  Correct: (This is correct.)

  Correct: This is correct (maybe).

  Incorrect: (This is incorrect).

  Incorrect: This is incorrect (maybe.)

• Generally, ellipses (...) should not be used.
  • They can be used when quoting something.
• Whenever a dash is needed to represent "to" for dates, an en dash (–) must be used (24 December 2019 – 26 January 2020).
  • The hyphen (-) and em dash (—) should not be used in this instance.
• In normal writing, exclamation marks (!) and question marks (?) are typically not favored as terminal endings.
• Whenever a name with a terminal ending ends a sentence (like Barrett 50 Cal.), do not repeat the terminal ending.

  Correct: The weapon is a Barrett 50 Cal.

  Incorrect: The weapon is a Barrett 50 Cal..

• A space must always succeed every comma.

  Correct: France, England, Denmark and Spain.

  Incorrect: France,England,Denmark and Spain.

• There should only be one space after a period (or full stop) at the end of a sentence.
• All quotes within the main article of the page should use the quotation mark ("), not the apostrophe ('). It should not be any other quotation mark symbol (such as ”).

  Quotes (such as the Commander's dialogue) should be a direct, word-for-word transcription of the original text. Under no circumstances should the original text be altered, even for grammatical errors. If there is a grammatical error, [sic] can be used to indicate this.

Numbers, Dates and Currencies

• All comparisons of numbers should be mathematically correct.

  Correct: The Commander decreases firerate from 1 to 0.9.

  Incorrect: The Commander increases firerate from 1 to 0.9.

• Within the main section of the article, all numbers up to ten must generally be written out in text format, not the number (for example: one, two, three, ..., nine, 10 not 1, 2, 3, ..., 9, 10).
  • This does not apply to tables, update histories, infoboxes, dates and most statistics.
• All notation of currency comes before the number. In most cases, they use a template (for example: Coin 250 and Gem 2,500).

  Such templates can be found in the Text Templates category.

  Robux must not be shortened to R$. Additionally, it should use the Robux template (for example: Robux 300).

• In general, you should use the longhand date format in common writing (for example: the 1st of April 2020).

  When shortened in update histories or infoboxes, it should be DAY/MONTH/YEAR (for example: 29 October 2020).

  With very limited exceptions, numerical representation should not be used (for example: 29/09/2020).

• Numbers should be formatted with a comma as the thousands separator, for digit grouping, and a period (or full stop) as the decimal separator.

  Correct: 1,001.02

  Incorrect: 1000.02

  Incorrect: 1000,02

• 24-hour format is preferred over 12-hour format (16:00 not 4pm).
• All units of length are in studs. All units of speed are in studs/second. All units of time are either in seconds or minutes.
• All dates are in the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) time zone.

Writing and Formatting

• Profanity (including light profanity) may not be allowed in articles. Exceptions to light profanity include quotes and off-site links (such as to YouTube).

  Profanity that break the Rules will be punished accordingly.

  The use of light profanity (shit, hell, damn etc.) in articles, within reason, is not punishable.

• Contractions are generally avoided (for example, cannot instead of can't).
• Roblox is preferred over ROBLOX.
• The correct way to describe the time between a tower's attack is Firerate not Fire Rate.
  • As firerate is the time between shots, fast-firing towers have a low firerate while slow-firing towers have a high firerate.

    Correct: The Minigunner has a low firerate.

    Incorrect: The Minigunner has a high firerate.

  • When referring to melee towers, it is Swingrate not Swing Rate.
  • When referring to the time between a tower's unit spawn is Spawnrate not Spawn Rate.
• In cases where the names of items are inconsistent, like Time Scale also being referred to as Timescale and Time-scale, only one name should be used on the wiki.
  • Other names can be listed in the first sentence of the description, right after their name.

    '''Time Scale''', also referred to as '''Timescale''' and '''Time-scale''',
    

• If an enemy has an internal name different from its display name, the display name is the preferred way to name the page in most situations.
  • When there are two items of the same type with identical names, there are two options for how they are named: either their internal names are used instead or additional text is added at the end in parentheses to differentiate them.
    • Which one is done depends on the page. Generally, the more recognizable name is chosen.
  • Both names should be included in the first sentence of the page's description.

    '''Necromancer King''', internally referred to as '''Summoner2''',
    

• If a page has parentheses at the end of its name so that it does not share a name with an identically named item in-game, the parentheses should be hidden from the page title using {{DISPLAYTITLE}}
  • In most cases, it is preferred to not even include the parentheses when linking the pages. If they need to be differentiated, text should be added before or after the link, listing what it is or where it appears. One exception to this is disambiguation pages, which should not hide the parentheses.

    Correct: The Minigunner enemy is based on this tower.

    Incorrect: The Minigunner (Pizza Party) is based on this tower.

    Correct: The Operation I.C.E Event Frost Hero is one of the many Frost Heroes added to the game.

    Incorrect: The Frost Hero (Operation I.C.E) is one of the many Frost Heroes added to the game.

• Use italics for brand names/games outside of Tower Defense Simulator, excluding Roblox. For example: Call of Duty, Flood Escape 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

  Avoid shortening the names of brands or games. For example, Bloons Tower Defense 6 is preferred over BTD6.

  Former or previous names for an item can be written in italics, except when referring to the former name directly (where it must be Bolded).

• All pronouns in the main body of text should be written in a gender neutral manner. There are exceptions when it comes to lore-related entries that have gender implied or confirmed:
  • If it is an exceptional trivial point, then a gendered point may be used.
    • When referencing a real person or other game, gendered pronouns may be used.
    • Do not assume the gender of a tower, enemy or otherwise. Final decision lies with the wiki staff if there are edit conflicts surrounding gender.
• Every time the name of the article is repeated, the name must be Bolded.
  • For a possessive apostrophe, the 's must be Bolded (for example, the Commander's Call to Arms ability).
  • In cases of pages which are a list of multiple objects in the same category, such as Charms or Currencies, they follow their own rules on bolding.
• All quotes in quotation marks should be written in italics.
• If a hyperlink to a page on this wiki or another site is available, then it can generally be repeated for every instance.
  • If you are hyperlinking to a specific section of a page (like the Halloween Season Pass of the Halloween 2020 Event page) then you should use the hash sign. In this example:

    [[Halloween 2020 Event#Halloween Season Pass|Halloween Season Pass]]
    

• When linking to the English Wikipedia, this hyperlink can be used:

  [[wp:page name|content]]
  

• When linking to another wiki on FANDOM, this hyperlink can be used:

  [[w:c:fandom name:page name|content]]
  

• Most pages require a __TOC__ between infoboxes or quotes, and the description.
  • In most cases, it is not necessary to include it as the table of contents will position itself there automatically.
• If the developer of an item is mentioned, it should be their most current name.
• All ability names should be written in italics (the Fallen King's Stomp and the Commander's Call to Arms).
  • Certain areas should not have them italicized. Such cases include the ability templates, upgrade descriptions, and infoboxes.
• Color elements should only be used when there is a precedent for it (like skins, gamemodes in infoboxes, show if something is true or false, or to visualize if a change is positive or negative).
  • The Color template has various preset values that should be used. If an item does not have a preset value, a hexadecimal value should be used. A full list of these values and information on how to use the template can be found in the template's documentation.
• Bullet point indentation should be used if there is a further point that can be stated about a previous bullet point.
  • This should not be excessively used to the point where the text is far from the left side of the page.
• The term "removed" should only be reserved for features, items or enemies that no longer appear in the game for the majority of people.
  • This term should not be confused with the term "unobtainable" or "event", as items labelled under such terms (like the Commando) can still be used by people who attained an achievement at a specific point of time.
  • Items only obtainable by a small number of players (such as the War Machine or Static Nametag) are considered "exclusive" content. However, not all exclusive content can have pages made on it, like the Yeehaw, due to requests from the game developers.
  • Items which were never officially released are considered "unreleased", not "removed". This includes features that do partially exist in the game, but were never fully implemented or officially released, like the Jeep and Perks, and also includes things which never made it into the main game and only existed in test places, such as the Void.
    • If an unreleased item is ever scrapped completely or removed from testing places, it is not considered removed on the wiki, as it was never properly added into the game in the first place.
  • Most items that have been made unattainable without commands (such as event enemies, the Ninja and Mark V), such items are counted as "removed". They may still exist in the actual game, though they go completely unused.
    • The only exception to this is content made obtainable through commands only, such as the Monster. Such content would be considered exclusive and admin commands are not a reason to qualify it as removed, due to admin commands always being its only method of usage.
• For items in-game with both a legacy and modern version, it is not necessary to include the legacy and modern prefixes if it is clear which version the page is referring to.
  • For example, it should be rather clear that if the Abnormal is mentioned in 2025 Fallen mode, it is the modern version, while the Abnormal in 2020 Fallen mode is the legacy version. Neither requires the prefix because of this.
  • In cases where both modern and legacy versions could appear, the legacy version should always start with legacy.
  • When referring to the modern iteration of something, it is sufficient to just include the name of the item in question, though adding modern at the start is also acceptable.
• If a tower uses something whose appearance is based on something, such as a weapon from another game or a show, avoid naming it after the item it was based on. Not every reader will understand the terms, as they do not originate from Tower Defense Simulator.
  • Exceptions can be made to items which can be considered to be rather well known, like Lightsabers.
  • When mentioning what something from the game was based on, such information should be listed in the trivia section of the page, not its description.

    Correct: The Heavy skin for the Minigunner wears a set of full body armor.

    Incorrect: The Heavy skin for the Minigunner wears the Power Armor.

    Correct: The Golden skin fires at enemies using a gatling gun.

    Incorrect: The Golden skin fires at enemies using a Brass Beast.

• In infoboxes, if the actual speed of an enemy is known, that value should be listed in parentheses. In cases where there is already text in parentheses (such as when the speed is used), the value should be listed first with a comma separating the rest.

  Correct: Very Fast (9)

  Correct: Slow (1.8, Rage Mode)

  Incorrect: 8 (Very Fast)

  Incorrect: Fast - 7.5

  Incorrect: Above Average (3.5) (Rage Mode)

  • There are multiple names for speeds that are used for specific speed value ranges. These are:
    • Immobile - Cannot move (0)
    • Extremely Slow - 0.01 to 0.99
    • Very Slow - 1 to 1.49
    • Slow - 1.5 to 1.99
    • Slightly Slow - 2 to 2.49
    • Below Average - 2.5 to 2.99
    • Average - 3 to 3.49
    • Above Average - 3.5 to 4.49
    • Slightly Fast - 4.5 to 5.99
    • Fast - 6 to 7.99
    • Very Fast - 8 to 9.99
    • Swift - 10 to 11.99
    • Extremely Swift - 12+
• For pages that refer to the state of the game during a specific period of time, changes made to the game after that time period should not be added in most cases.
  • For example, if an unobtainable item added in one update is later made obtainable in another, the update in which it was added should still list it as unreleased, as that is how it was back then.

Files

• For some images, it is preferred that a lot of them are a square image, where width and height are the same, like 500px by 500px.
  • Examples of such images include icons for towers, enemies, units, skincrates, maps (not view or top down images), modifiers, charms, emotes, toys or interactables, tower skin levels for galleries and tower weapons for galleries.
  • Decals taken from the game, such as various renders, narrator images or update log, or various images uploaded by the developers, such as promotional images, should, in most cases, use their original resolution and not be altered in any way.
  • Images like the top down and view images of maps do not need to be a square image.
• Avoid giving files joke names.
  • Joke names for files are fine if they are uploaded for personal use, such as profile pages or blogs.
• For pages which refer to a former state of the game, such as event and season pages, images used should represent how the item looked like at the time. For example, on the Halloween 2019 Event page, the Slasher image should be its appearance during the event.
• On event and season pages, the skins section should use the tower renders used in the season pass instead of their icons, if the season had ones. Otherwise, icons of the skin at the time when it was active should be used.
• It is preferred to replace existing files instead of uploading new ones. If an icon for the Default Minigunner already exists, do not upload a new one; instead, replace it.
  • This can be done by going onto the file's page and either pressing "Upload a new version of this file" or using the three dots in the top right corner and pressing "Replace".
  • This should not be done if you are uploading a file that is a new version of something. If the Abnormal received a new appearance, instead of replacing the image with its old appearance, upload a new image.

Grammar

• On is generally favored over off of.

  Correct: This tower is based on a real-life counterpart.

  Incorrect: This tower is based off of a real-life counterpart.

• Proper Nouns should always be capitalized. This may refer to anything in Tower Defense Simulator, such as the Ranger, SWAT Van, Autumn Falling, etc.
• When using et cetera, it is mostly fine to shorten it to etc. Do not repeat the terminal ending if etc. ends a sentence. For lists, etc., it counts as its own item, so it must be preceded with a comma.

  Correct: United States, Canada, Mexico, etc.

  Incorrect: United States, Canada, Mexico etc.

  Incorrect: United States, Canada, Mexico and etc.

• Most items and entities should have the article "the" before their name. There are some exceptions, like all Maps and some enemies, like Ducky D00M or Lord Sinister.

  Correct: The Fallen King can stomp.

  Incorrect: Fallen King can stomp.

• When referring to "the game" in general, this means the match that players normally play in.
  • Sometimes, this might refer to Tower Defense Simulator as a whole game.
• When referring to Tower Defense Simulator as a whole game, it should not be shortened to TDS.
  • There are exceptions to this, that being when the game itself refers to something using the shortened name, such as the fictional organization the towers work for, T.D.S. Organization.
• Enemies should be called as such, not zombies or mobs.
• The health that is taken away as an enemy reaches the end of the map should be referred to as "base health" to avoid confusion with the health of enemies.
• The gamemode that is chosen before a match starts (like Molten or Fallen modes) should be called the gamemode or mode, not difficulty.
• If an event has multiple difficulties that do not differ much from each other, other than making it harder, they are called difficulties, not modes. Only the map itself is a mode.

  Correct: It can spawn with Bloated in Failed Gateway on the Hard difficulty.

  Incorrect: It can spawn with Bloated in Failed Gateway on the Hard mode.

• Articles should be written in third person (with second person used in the Strategy section of pages).
  • Articles should be written in the present tense, except those with pages that refer to removed or discontinued things.

    In any case, the Strategy section of pages should be written in the present tense and must refer to the state of the game at the time. For example, the Carrier page should not refer to the Ranger but rather the Outlaw.

• "Pierce" is the number of enemies a projectile, like the Archer's arrow, can go through, while "Max Hits" is the maximum number of enemies a tower can hit in one attack.
  • "Max Hits" is the preferred term as it avoids potential confusion about pierce, including the final enemy hit or not.

Interactive Maps

• Interactive maps should be named after the map it showcases. In cases of it being a different version, it is preferred that the interactive map is named with the version number added at the end.

  Correct: Map:Wrecked Battlefield

  Incorrect: Map:Battlefield that has been destroyed in a war

  Incorrect: Map:Wrecked

  Correct: Map:HarborV4

  Incorrect: Map:Harbor's fourth version

  Incorrect: Map:Harbor4

• Progress tracking should not be enabled on any map, as they do not serve much purpose on them.
• If multiple trackers are placed close to each other, it is preferred that marker grouping is disabled.
• There are multiple basic marker categories that should be the same across every interactive map they are used on.
  • Entrance markers mark the entrances of the map. This marker type should always be called "Entrances", regardless of the number of entrances a map has.
    • Background color: #2BFF00 (Color)
    • Icon: "🏃"
  • Exits markers mark the exits of the map. This marker type should always be called "Exits", regardless of the number of exits a map has.
    • Background color: #FF0000 (Color)
    • Icon: "🏃"
  • Trivia markers mark various spots of interest on the map, with the pointed out spots generally also being in the page's trivia section.
    • Background color: #0002FA (Color)
    • Icon: "📷"
  • Plot Spaces markers mark plots that can be removed on Defend the Center maps, granting additional ground space.
    • Background color: #068701 (Color)
    • Icon: " " (Space)
  • Cliff Spaces markers mark plots that can be removed on Defend the Center maps, granting additional cliff space.
    • Background color: #808080 (Color)
    • Icon: "⛰"
  • Multiple maps, mostly event ones, have their own markers used to indicate things that appear only in them. None of them is listed here. An example of such map is The Great Finale.

Article structure and titles

This section describes how articles should be structured and section titles formatted. This is highly specific depending on the page. If a header is not listed under general headers, it should be removed.

General Headers

Titles

Titles (and infobox titles) are normally written in title case (Trick or Threat Town), not sentence case (Trick or threat town) or proper case (Trick Or Threat Town). Only the first letter of a major word should be capitalized, unless specifically spelled otherwise in-game (such as the UFO).

Tabs

Tabs are a template added at the top of a page as a way to easily link subpages of an article. Various pages for specific parts of the game, like enemies, modes or towers use their own templates to create tabs. For instructions on how to use them, check the documentation on the template pages. There should be nothing above the tabs. For example:

{{Tabs}}
{{for|[[Minigunner]]}}

Not:

{{for|[[Minigunner]]}}
{{Tabs}}

There are a few guidelines on when pages can receive a certain subpage. These are:

• History subpages for towers, wave structure subpages for modes and reward subpages for modes should only be made if there are at least two different versions of them. Otherwise, they should not have them.
• Gallery pages for units should only be made if they have more skins than just the default or they have multiple Levels with varying appearances.

Infoboxes

The type of infobox depends on the page you are editing. All values should correspond to a value in the infobox. Additionally, an infobox can use <tabber> if there are multiple images that can be applied to an infobox. For example, for a maps page:

{{MapInfobox
|image1 = <tabber>
|-|Icon = [[File:Filename.png]]
|-|View = [[File:Filename.png]]
</tabber>
}}

The title in the infobox must generally be the same as the title of the page, except for articles with brackets. A title can also be colored if it is a skincrate, golden version of a unit/tower or major bosses.

Quotes

This must succeed the infobox. Quotes should be in the QuoteContainer template so that they can be styled properly. They must be a direct quote with no grammatical or stylistic corrections. As a result, quotes do not need to follow stylistic rules laid out here. If there is a grammatical error in a quote, it may be denoted with "^[sic]". Additionally, make sure there is no gap between the infobox and the quotebox. For example:

{{Infobox
|image1=
}}
{{QuoteContainer|
{{QuoteBox|Text|Name}}
}}

Not:

{{Infobox
|image1=
}}

{{QuoteContainer|
{{QuoteBox|Text|Name}}
}}

Description

This is where the summation of the main article takes place. It does not need to be excessively long. Almost all articles need to have a sufficient description.

For tower pages, the tower appearance does not need to be described.

Appearance

This only applies to units, nametags, interactables and enemies pages. This is where the description of the aesthetic appearance of the object is given.

Design & Path

This only applies to maps. This is where the description of the aesthetic appearance of the map and the path taken by enemies and units is described.

Upgrades, Stats Table & Skins

This only applies to towers. This is where the relevant information for the respective headers goes. Follow the precedent already laid out.

Strategy

This is where any tips for the relevant article should go. It should not be a detailed account of how to successfully use a tower to your knowledge on every single edge case in the game.

Gallery

This is where any images or videos relevant to the article should go. For towers, a separate gallery page should be made, with the contents of this section being moved to the Other section. Galleries should use the Gallery template, with headers being made through the GalleryHeader template. The sections for galleries should be made in this order:

• Previous Variants (Enemies)
• Animations (Enemies)
• Corpse Variants (Enemies)
• Previous Icons (Nametags)
• Map Icons (Maps)
• View (Maps)
• Top Down (Maps)
• Thumbnails
• Icons
• Promotional Images
• Promotional Videos
• Trailers
• Cutscenes
• Development Images
• Concept Art
• Renders
• Stickers
• Gamepasses
• Badges
• Miscellaneous

For articles that include information on legacy and modern versions of something, the categories in galleries should be split into two separate sections, all with "(Legacy)" or "(Modern)" at the end. The Modern section should be prioritized over the Legacy section in placement.

Trivia

This is where any information not relevant to the other pages should go. Any information here must be noteworthy. This includes any superlatives and should not include mundane comparisons or information.

Note that trivia relating to a specific skin of a tower must not go in the main article trivia, but rather the gallery trivia for that tower. Some information relating to the Default skin of the tower can go in the main article's trivia (such as references).

In general, for superlative records (such as the enemy with the highest amount of health), only the first and second records need to be mentioned. Any records below the second should not be noted. On a limited basis, some historical records can be mentioned.

Update History

This is where any updated revisions to the article in question should go. It must follow the standard date formatting (see Numbers, Dates and Currencies).

Each date listed should have the version number next to it, but only if the change or bug can be tied to an existing update. If the change happened when there was no change made to the game, no version number should be listed.

Notes

If there are references on the page, then a notes section should be placed below the Update History section using <references/>.

Succession Tables

Succession tables should be placed under the last section of the page, but above the navbox. There should be two spaces between the last section and the succession tables.

Navbox

The relevant navbox should be placed at the bottom of the page. There must be three spaces between the main content of the article and the navbox.

Under the navbox, there should be page categories and magic words like {{DISPLAYTITLE}}. They should not be located anywhere else on the page in most cases. The only exception to this is categories applied through templates; these can be applied in any part of the page.

Other Headers

Multiple pages will use their own headers, which are not used anywhere else. Their purpose and location will vary per page.

Other

• Pages should not be made on unreleased, cut or exclusive content without permission from the wiki staff, as not all of it can be put on the wiki.
• Categorization pages and certain other pages (such as Towers and Splash Damage) follow different rules in terms of article structure. You must follow the structure already set out by the page in question.
• Use redirects as sparingly as possible. An example of a necessary redirect is Outlaw.

  Redirects should only be created if there is a sufficient number of people searching for an article that is the same as another article.

• All pages must have at least one relevant category. Avoid creating categories with a few items in them or irrelevant categories.
• If you plan to insert an image on a page but have yet to acquire an image appropriate to the context, it is imperative that you fill in the location for a future image with a placeholder image. The name of the file which contain placeholder image is File:Place.png.
  • Make sure to spell the name of the file exactly as displayed here; capitalization and spacing matter.