Publisher Guidelines

Use USA, JPN, or Europe for their respective versions. For JU, use "JPN/USA". For JUE or W, use "Any". v1.0, PRG0, or other version identifiers should be added if necessary.

Game name

• Keep the game name informative.
• Instead of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4 - Turtles in time, just Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4 is enough.
• Long game names break the front page layout.
• However, don't resort to uncommon abbreviations.
• Use the previous precedent when possible. For example, use Super Mario Bros instead of Super Mario Bros. (without the period).
• Check the spelling. Don't just blindly take the submitter's spelling of the game name. (We have had "Links awakening" published a couple of times too often.)

Branch name

If this is the only movie for the game then field can be left blank. Standard categories are 100%, any%, and low%. Other commons categories include Warpless, Warps, and 2-Player. Do not add quotes, as those will be generated automatically.

ROM name

• Ensure the ROM name is correct.
• Go by the standard goodNES filenames. Use Super Mario Bros. (U).nes, not SMB.nes
• Add PRG info when multiple versions exist, such as Super Mario Bros. 3 (U) (PRG0).nes
• Either W or JUE is acceptable for region independent games, such as Golden Axe II (W).bin
• Add overdump or baddump information to the name, if applicable, with [o1] or [b1], but only if the movie does not sync on the good ROM dump. Note: Movies should not be published using these ROMs.

Use ListAllMovies as a reference of previous spelling & naming conventions.

• This is filled in by the submitter and automatically placed here.
• It should probably be left alone for first time authors. Otherwise, make sure it is the same information as a previous publication of the author.
• For author groups, use commas and ampersands (&) to separate names.

Select Player

• If the player exists on the player page, he or she will be in the drop down menu. If not, fill in his or her name in the full name menu, and nick in the short name menu.
• Again, for author groups, use commas and ampersands (&) to separate names.

Sometimes, the player already exists in the database, but the publication form does not recognize the similarity and offers to create a new player entry. Be sure to select manually the existing player from the "select player" selectbox in those cases. (Applies to Xipo among some others.)

• Name of movie file: This is what the input file will be named in the submission ZIP file.
• Ampersands (&), slashes (/), periods (.), and spaces cannot be part of the name.
• The author's name should be first. Use a standard abbreviation of a long author's name if it exists, such as cad for CtrlAltDestroy.
• Add v2, v3, or another appropriate version indicator if it is another submission by the same author.
• For multiple authors, use a comma (,) with no spaces to sparate their names: randil,cad-mickeymousecapade.fcm.
• Place a dash between author's name and the game name.
• The game name should be concise and consistent with the name in the AVI file.
• Use precedent when possible. For instance, it should be chipdale instead of chipndale
• Use common abbreviations, such as smb for Super Mario Bros.

Attaching a screenshot

• Be sure to add png (or jpg) to the filename when filling out the filename field. Such as smb_1023.png
• Pick a screenshot that represents the movie or the game well.
• It should be pleasant to look at. Avoid ugly and monotonous colours. Choose beautiful and clearly visible poses of the characters.
• Beauty in the image should be equally distributed ­― not localized in a corner or an edge.
• It should give an idea of the genre of the game and the movie to an audience who doesn't know the game.
• It should be interesting, preferably with action on the screen.
• If the movie is atypical to the game (a highly glitched movie for example), the screenshot should display something atypical happening, but without conflicting with the earlier guidelines.
• If the screenshot is a PNG file, it should be optimized.
• Use PNG over JPG, unless a PNG file would inevitably be more than 30 kB in size and a JPG would be half of that. Currently, JPGs are only allowed for N64 publications.

Adding a Bittorrent file

This site was born from of the need to provide good-quality multimedia files of TAS movies. We take quality very seriously, and strive to produce files that are both pleasant to watch and as small as possible. This is one of the guidelines we follow in the publications; the Encoder Guidelines tells more and is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to make AVI files to be published on this site.

• Our tracker is: http://bisqwit.iki.fi:6969/announce
• Make sure you check the private marker.
• The torrent filename should be the name of the AVI file, with ".torrent" appended. Example: amagon-tas-tailz.avi becomes amagon-tas-tailz.avi.torrent
• The file name of the AVI file must follow proper convention.
• Do not use uppercase characters or characters not allowed in AVI filenames.
• Add j if it is the Japanese version of the game or e if it is the European version.
• The movie name must be first. Keep it concise. See input filename for details.
• If it some form of speedrun (aiming for fastest time within the confines of a set of parameters) then add -tas after the filename. If it is a playaround or does not aim for time then use -playaround.
• Add v2, v3, or another appropriate version indicator if the publication obsoletes a previous movie by the same author, such as doubledragon3-tasv2-xipo.avi
• Add additional special info after this, if necessary. For example, if a single author controls 2 characters then it is 2p-alone such as doubledragon2-tas-2p-alone-adelikat.avi. Or a special route could be added, such as castlevania3j-tas-sypha-samhaingrim.avi.
• Add the author name last. Remember to remove spaces and uppercase letters.
• Abbreviate especially long nicks if there is an easy way to do so.
• If there are multiple authors, use a comma (,) with no spaces to separate their names. mickeymousecapade-tas-randil,cad.avi

• In most cases, this will be obvious. Check with a judges decision if need be.
• If it does not obsolete a movie, make sure it says "None".
• Note: Double/triple obsoletions are rare, but possible. Select 1 movie to obsolete and contact Bisqwit to add additional ones.
• Selecting a movie to obsolete will automatically fill in the Categories and Movie description.

Categories

• Select categories which represent the movie and help to recognize it.
• Do not select categories that are obvious for the game in question. For example, if the best ending in the game comes by default, do not select "best ending", or if taking damage would kill the character immediately, do not select "takes no damage".
• Select "manipulates luck" if the movie manipulates something that can't be manipulated in regular playing without knowing the future ― such as monster appearances, random bonuses, critical hits, and so on.
• Select "abuses programming errors" if the movie performs a trick the game creators didn't think about (this is not a clear rule ― use your best judgment).
• Select "Contains Speed/Entertainment tradeoffs" if the author aimed for fastest time but made a few deviations which knowingly cost time.
• Select 1 or more genres for the movie.

Movie description

• See discussion
• If the publication obsoletes a previous movie, make sure to link to it (such as [109M|previous] movie), mention the author and tell approximately how much the improvement is. Preferably, mention some notable improvements or link to the author's submission text if it is detailed.

• Make sure to seed the .avi after publication and make sure it is downloaded in its entirety by at least one person who does not leave the swarm immediately after receiving it.
  • Use the super seeding option if available in your client.
• If the publication was of multiple authors you need to bind the player entry on the players page with each of their forum accounts. Do this by clicking the "Edit" tab on the right hand side of the group's entry. Their names should automatically be on the top of the list. Click each other their names and the Add button. Then click save.
• If it is the author(s)' first publication, they will need to have their forum rank changed to "Player" on the Users/edit page (unless they were already a coder or a special rank).

PublisherGuidelines last edited by adelikat on 2008-01-05 19:56:45
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