Thread:PetersCorporal/@comment-25132460-20150204205058/@comment-10907352-20150204220617

The basic stats are fine: You have cases with good names, the victims, original murder weapons, the killers, information about the suspects, the killer's profile and the crime scenes.

But there are some issues:


 * Navigation: One important thing when you're going through the cases of a fanmade game is the navigation. You can improve the pages by adding links to the previous and next case. There isn't any need to have templates, just saying "Previous case" and "Next case" with two links to those pages will make it enough. Otherwise, people who read your cases will have to go back and forth to the page of "Veldiwood Hills" to see which is the next case.


 * Plot: The main structure of the cases are complete, but you need to write out a plot for your cases. It's fine if you don't want to write the whole dialogues, you don't need to! Just adding a section called "Case plot" or "Case background", etcetera, and writing some paragraphs about the development of your case will make it more interesting to read. That way, readers will know what happens while interrogating the suspects, what their personalities are like, what happens to the main characters, and so on. It's also fine if you don't want to write long plots! The basic things you must have are: 1, the start of the case (how did the player and the partner get to the crime scene, in which conditions the body was found, and some clues that were spotted on the crime scene) 2, development (what happens while investigating, some of the suspects, some of the clues, some important things about suspects who reappear in the game) 3, sentence (who the killer was, their motives, their condemn) 4, aftermath (this one is optional and it includes some things that happened in the Additional Investigation that you consider important). You can write paragraphs 1 and 2 in around three lines if you don't like writing much, but pargraph 3 must be well explained. After all, the purpose of this game is catching those crazy killers!


 * Steps: Maybe they don't seem so important, but they are. A case reader is more or less orientated about what happens in the case when they read the steps. For example, they can find out about the crime scenes, how did you find some suspects, where was the murder weapon, why you talk to certain suspects, some interesting clues you find during the investigation, etcetera.

With these three simple things, believe me, you're case pages will look more attractive, eye-catching and even cooler! People will pay more attention to the case if they don't see just some short texts. With a navigation, they'll go through your cases and follow the thread of your story. Besides, your cases will get more visits as they will be easier to find. With a plot, people will understand better what happens in the case. And this plot has a complement which is the steps. In the steps you follow the instructions as in the real game and the case gets more interesting.

An extra tip: This isn't necessary but it helps a bit to make a page look better. If you want to, you can add at least one image to your case page. It doesn't have to be a killer's profile if you don't want to make them. For example, in your case "Murder In The Colosseum!" you can post a picture of the real colosseum in Rome. This will be useful for:


 * When people see your case page, it'll be more eye-catching and you have a higher probability of them keeping reading.


 * If you make a good case and it gets to one of the most visited, when people take a look at the list of fanmade cases, your case will be there and they will see an image that might catch their attention and make them get interested about what your case is like. Not just that, if you don't have an image, they'll just see the first words of the article and they might think it's a case under construction or incomplete.


 * If you make a REALLY good case and it gets to the wiki featured case, it will appear in the main page of the wiki and the image will be there to make it more interesting as well.

Just one last thing, remember to add your cases to the category "All Fanmade Cases". This will make your case appear in the list of fanmade cases and you'll be able to notice if your case gets much visits or a few. Also, you will benefit from the second point of having an image. :D

Hope this helps, MysteryJones!