The Guide to Transcript Writing

Layout guide/Transcript
	Destinypedia doesn't currently have a walkthrough for this level; could you write one?

Transcripts are fairly easy (and fun!) to write. Below are some guidelines on proper formatting, as well as examples.

This page will serve as a general guide on how to write a game level transcript. In Destiny, these would be Story Missions, Strikes, and Raids.

Guidelines

First off, it's important to specify when the actions in the transcript are happening. Are they part of the cutscene or gameplay? Since most game levels begin with a cutscene, it needs to be specified. On wikis, it's done like this:

'''{Cutscene}'''

This will produce: {Cutscene}
When the cutscene ends and gameplay begins, simply follow the same format:

'''{Gameplay}'''

{Gameplay}

Since many of Destiny's levels begin with a loading screen, insert {Loading screen} at the beginning of the level transcript. On Destinypedia, it may also be necessary to insert {Mission ends} within a transcript, such as if the mission is followed by a cutscene.

Once cutscenes, gameplay, and the beginning and end of missions are sorted, the next step is is writing out the dialogue. First things first, character names should be bolded, with a colon (:) to the right of the character name. Each line of dialogue should also begin with an asterisk (*). If the character is speaking for the first time during the level, a link should be provided to the character's respective article. Second, for the dialogue, be sure to listen to each line more than once to ensure accuracy, or find a walkthrough that has subtitles. Finally, when writing the dialogue out, be sure to put it in quotation marks.

Example

Holly Tanaka: "Is that it?"
Olympia Vale: "Where are we?"

Next, player actions (pressing a button, walking towards something, etc.), enemy actions, and the rest of important non-dialogue actions should be written out in italic text, in order between each line of dialogue.

Example

A garbled, noisy transmission plays.

Ghost: "They managed to restore an information hub here, down in the tunnels below. We should check it out."

The Guardian heads into a nearby building and finds a terminal.

Ghost: "A map of the entire area."

Lastly, any on screen text, such as chapter names, taglines, dates, and etc., should be written out in bold text in the order they appear.

Format

Summary/Brief Introduction

A brief introduction of the level with a plot summary. Shouldn't be detailed. Please note that the section header is not required.

Objectives

Should contain all of the minor objectives found in the level as listed in-game.

Transcript

A transcript is a detailed written summary of a given film, video, game level, or audio track. Transcripts are to include descriptions of the events depicted in the transcribed work, lines of dialog spoken by the characters, as well as other potential information of interest.

Transcripts should include YouTube links to game cutscenes or other relevant videos embedded in such format: [http://Youtube-link {Cutscene}]. Additionally, it is preferable to include the names of the music tracks that are played in given scenes, with a link to the Halopedia article of the track in question.

A transcript's sole purpose is to describe what is happening in a scene and indicate which character is speaking at a given time. With this in mind, when specifying which character a given line belongs to (in bold) one does not need to use the full name or title of the character; instead, character names should be rendered as simply as possible and in a way which is most appropriate in the context. Focus on the relevant part of the name or title and discard any perfunctory detail. While these labels are to remain consistent across a given transcript for the sake of clarity, more detailed titles and names may in some cases be rendered in the italicized event description portion of the transcript based on the editor's discretion.

Trivia

Redundant trivia should be avoided. Glitches, Misc Information, and References subsections should be added here.

Gallery

The gallery section should contain images relevant to the level.

<gallery>
...
...
</gallery>

References

<references/>

Examples

Check out these examples of some well-written transcripts.