The Comic Script section of Sardapedia consists of the scripts of the episodes of 8-Bit Theater. Creating an article is easy. The following is a guideline with which all comic scripts should follow. Absolutely do not, under any circumstances, take the entire comic and place it on a page. This is a breach of Fair Use, and will give you an instant ban.
Before Starting[]
Before you even start making a script the first thing that you should do is make a note to everyone else that you are creating the script so don't edit it. This is to avoid any possible edit conflicts where two people are creating the script at the same time and one is completely oblivious to the other. So as soon as you click the red link and open the edit window, type {{In Progress|<your username>}} and click Save Page so that King Steve will appear and will ward off other users from editing the page while you're doing it.
|
"I'll build a bridge!" |
| Jeppo is currently creating the script for this article which may take a while. Please do not edit this article while the script is in progress. Once the script is complete, remove this message.
You can help out by creating the redirects for this comic—one for the episode number and one for its title—if they have not yet been created. |
Now Click Edit this page on the top left and start compiling the episode proper. Don't forget to remove the template once you're finished with it!
Episodes Template[]
The first thing the article should have is the Episodes Template. Firstly copy the following code and paste it at the top of your new article:-
{{Episodes
|Episode=
|Title=
|Number=
|Image=
|Size=
|Caption=
|Date=
|Previous=
|Next=
|Link=
}}
- Episode: Type "Episode" followed by the number of the episode (for example Episode 050).
- Title: Input the title of the episode here. You can find this just above the comic on the website (for example Time To Say Good-bye (Almost)).
- Number: For this, just type the number of the episode. This is so that the Categories appear in chronological order (for example 050).
- Image: First upload an image containing a frame from the episode then type the name of the uploaded image here (for example Episode 50.png). You don't have to type Image: at the start as this is already embedded in the template. If you don't upload an image, just type {{No Image}} here.
- Size: Input the size width in pixels of the image. If your image is larger than 250 pixels across then just put 250px here (for example 162px). If you did not upload an image, leave this field blank.
- Caption: Type in an optional witty caption to go with your uploaded image. The funnier the better! (for example You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye!)
- Date: The date can be found on the address URL of the comic, in the form YYYY/MM/DD (see Link below). type this date in words here (for example: Sunday July 1st, 2001). The ordinal sign is optional.
- Previous: Type in the full title of the previous comic (including episode number). No need to link as that is already embedded in the template (for example Episode 049: What Else Would He Think About?). If this is the first episode in the comic series, omit this field entirely.
- Next: As with Previous, type the full title of the next comic (for example: Episode 051: Time To Say Good-DIIIIIIIE!). If the episode is the latest one, type Not yet written.
- Link: Place the link to the comic here (for example http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/07/01/episode-050-time-to-say-good-bye-almost/).
Note: Each free featured series in this wiki (Atomic Robo, How I Killed Your Master, etc.) will have their own abbreviated episode template. Be sure to check the appropriate one to use.
Introduction[]
The next stage is to write a short introduction on what happens in the comic. This should be in bold text and shouldn't be longer than one sentence (or two very short sentences). Try to be humorous as it adds some interest points to the script, but don't veer too much from the subject of the episode.
Cast Appearing[]
Here you should make a bullet point list of all the characters that appear in the comics. You can list them in any order, but we encourage you to place them in order of: main characters -> secondary characters -> extras. If a particular character appears in this comic for the first time, add (first appearance) next to their name in italics. Remember to list their full names (for example Black Mage Evilwizardington and not just Black Mage) and link them up to their articles if they have any.
For any video episodes, present and future, type the name of the actor next to their character name in brackets, and link them if they have an article.
Setting[]
Like Cast Appearing, make a bullet point list of the places that are shown in the comic in the order that they appear in the comic. Remember to link them up to their respective articles.
First Mention Of[]
If an item, thought cycle, job or whatever appears for the first time in this comic (and appears or made reference of multiple times later on) you should add them under this heading. Some examples are Hadoken, Armor of Invincibility, Chaos, Sword-Chucks, Light Warriors and so on. Again they should be linked to their respective articles. This only really applies to 8-Bit Theater comics, as there are not many episodes for the other comic series to warrant a First Mention Of section, although the How I Killed Your Master series is catching up.
Script[]
This is the main section of the article. This page will follow what you should do step-by step.
Step One: Create the table[]
A lot of the coding has been created into templates for easy use. Type the following:
{{Script}}
|}
{{Script}} starts the table off and contains all the table formatting for the widths and borders of the table. |} ends the table as usual.
Step Two: Add the Script[]
The next step is to add the actual talking to the script. Let's say that in this particular episode Fighter and Black Mage are having their usual conversation. You can use the {{Fighter|<whatever fighter says>}} and {{Black Mage|<whatever Black Mage says>}} templates whenever they say something. Column breaks (|-) are already embedded in the vast majority, if not all, of the script templates. A list of all the currently created Script Templates can be found in Category:Script Templates
For example:
{{Script}}
{{Fighter|I like swords.}}
{{Black Mage|Shut up.}}
{{Fighter|But I really do! They are so shiny.}}
{{Black Mage|That's it! Take this.}}
{{Fighter|That tickled.}}
{{Black Mage|Aw, hell. Why does stabbing '''never''' work?}}
|}
Will make this:
| Fighter | I like swords. |
| Black Mage | Shut up. |
| Fighter | But I really do! They are so shiny. |
| Black Mage | That's it! Take this. |
| Fighter | That tickled. |
| Black Mage | Aw, hell. Why does stabbing never work? |
Step 3: Adding Narratives[]
Of course some scripts will make no sense whatsoever without knowing what the characters are actually doing. This is where the Narrative template comes in. What this does is tell the reader what the characters do in-between lines. To use type {{Narrative|<What happens>}}.
Let's add a Narrative to the above script so that the reader knows what tickled Fighter.
{{Script}}
{{Fighter|I like swords.}}
{{Black Mage|Shut up.}}
{{Fighter|But I really do! They are so shiny.}}
{{Black Mage|That's it! Take this.}}
{{Narrative|Black Mage tries stabbing Fighter with his dagger.}}
{{Fighter|That tickled.}}
{{Black Mage|Aw, hell. Why does stabbing '''never''' work?}}
|}
| Fighter | I like swords. |
| Black Mage | Shut up. |
| Fighter | But I really do! They are so shiny. |
| Black Mage | That's it! Take this. |
| Black Mage tries stabbing Fighter with his dagger. | |
| Fighter | That tickled. |
| Black Mage | Aw, hell. Why does stabbing never work? |
Use the Narrative template liberally. There is no point talking about what a character or object is doing without first mentioning that they are there in the first place. Mention everything that goes on, no matter how small or insignificant to the plot they may be. Another recommendation is to write the Narrative as you write the script. It is easy to miss important points if you write the Script first and leave the Narratives until the end.
Step 4: What about characters that don't have a script template?[]
We don't have a script template for everyone. Typically, characters that appear in at least five comics will have a script template. For those that don't, you can use the Generic template. Thankfully, this is fairly straightforward. A typical code is as follows:-
{{Generic|<Name>|<Whatever (s)he says>|background=<background color>|border=<a border for the background>|text background=<if the speaker has a different colored speech bubble>|text border=<border for the text box if text background was used>}}
A comprehensive list of colors (and their hexadecimal number) can be found at Wikipedia:List of colors. Note that if you are making bgcolor a dark color, use the following instead:-
{{Generic|<font color = white><Name></font>|<Whatever (s)he says>|background=<background color>|border=<a border for the background>|text background=<if the speaker has a different colored speech bubble>|text border=<border for the text box if text background was used>}}
Just remember that when using this multiple times, be consistent with your colors!
For Warbot in Accounting and the earlier How I Killed Your Master comics, we don't use any colors at all for scripts. Well, Zack and Matt don't use colors in their comics, so why should we? This makes the Generic template even simpler:-
{{Generic|<Name>|<Whatever (s)he says>}}
This also means we don't have preset script templates for Warbot, and we don't use them for the earlier pages of HIKYM, so give up looking for that X-017 template, because you ain't gonna find it! (not that you would need an X-017 template anyway...)
That just about covers the basics of Script Making. Have a look at how some of the actual scripts are coded and if you have any further questions, don't hesitate to contact other members.
Categorization[]
All Script Templates should be categorized. For 8 Bit Theater scripts, you should type at the bottom of the article [[Category:Comic Scripts 1-100]] if the episode number is between 1-100, [[Category:Comic Scripts 101-200]] if the episode number is between 101-200 and so on. For scripts from other series, it is [[Category:<series name> Comic Scripts]]. The How I Killed Your Master categorization is slightly different as the series is split up into Chapters. They go like [[Category:HIKYM Chapter One Comic Scripts]].
You should also add the appearances of the main characters as categories as well. For example if Red Mage has appeared, type [[Category:Red Mage Statscowski Appearances]]. This can be done anywhere, but it is considered "good markup" to put them either at the bottom of the page or next to their respective characters under Cast Appearing.
One Last Thing[]
After creating the article there is one more thing you should do: Create the redirects! The first redirect you should make is the episode number (for example Episode 050) and the second redirect you should make is the title (for example Time To Say Good-bye (Almost)). To create a Redirect input #REDIRECT [[<What you're redirecting to>]] on the redirect page and that's it.
Finally don't hesitate to ask other members if you have any doubts on how to create Comic Scripts.