X-CulT is a site which runs on the contribution of the community. As a result, we need you to write articles. It doesn't matter if you are not a prolific author, as long as your article is legible we whole heartedly welcome your contributions to X-CulT. Some of you, however, may be a bit confused as to what X-CulT is, what we want from your article and what you should include. So, I have compiled this topic in order to help you. It's not the bible, and you don't have to follow the words written here to the letter, you can bend some of these rules (which are more like guidelines more than anything) and you can be creative in your articles (humour, satire, so long they are NOT insider jokes) and have fun. This is still CulT and we rule other sites because we do what others do not, swearing is acceptable, however keep it to a minimum and keep it tasteful.

-- FAQ

So, what is X-CulT? X-CulT is a sub-section of Sonic CulT dedicated to non-Sonic related video game prototype research. We accept all kinds of video game articles in our database, so long the game has either been published (is available at retail, e.g.; Super Mario series) or is a recognised and popular game (games which have NOT been published, such as freeware games, but have a cult following or a large fanbase, e.g; Cave Story ~Doukutsu Monogatari~).

What do we research? We research into changes video games undergo through the development cycle. For instance, if a game has odd glitches which aren't there in the final, there are enemies in the prototype which aren't there in the final, missing/changed levels, etc. If a prototype game has been dumped and is distributed on the internet we DO NOT host these files, however feel free to take screen caps of the prototype to show changes/glitches/etc. Some games do not have known and available prototypes on the internet, do not threat, for you can sometimes find images which portray things in games which may not appear in the final or have changed in the final.

-- YOUR ARTICLE

To write your article, you should look around X-CulT before you write it up. You'll notice that the normal standard for articles on X-CulT is the following:


You may also have:


You may be required to write up a fairly detailed paragraph to explain why changes have happened. And/or instructions to normally inaccessible levels/art/etc.


Sometimes you may not have images as evidence to show changes have happened and that you have videos or audio. Now, I know when people normally say "upload a video" they mean "upload it to YouTube", well in the gospel according to CulT, that's WRONG. Do NOT upload your videos to YouTube or anything like it. Simply compress (usually in WinRAR or WinZIP) the video and upload to a file hosting website (See: RapidShare, MegaUpload) and post the link here. If you only find the video on YouTube, then just post the link or take a few screen caps from that. DO NOT UPLOAD VIDEOS TO YOUTUBE JUST FOR X-CULT.
Same goes for audio or any files you want uploaded and are relevant to your article.

-- CONTENT

So what should be in your article? Other than the above, keep your article written in the 3rd person (No, "I" or "Me"), proof read what you've read. No external links, if there is media you require from an external site, just copy and paste it into your article. We don't give a shit about other's websites, even if you do.

Images should not stretch the CulT template. If your images are too big (which is common now-a-day with High Definition content becoming increasingly common), resize the image either in HTML or photoshop, GIMP or whatever your image editor preference is. If you DO resize in a photo editing suite STILL upload the original source file as it was before you shrunk it. Then use the image you've inserted to become a link to the original image, same with resized in HTML. For photo editing suites, you can have the option of adding the X-CulT thumbnail 'peel away' to alert users that there IS a bigger size version available: http://www.sonic-cult.org/imagebinx/thumb_peelaway.png

Code to use for linking:


Once again, you can check X-CulT articles to see this in motion. It's your decision to use the peel away, personally, I use it as it is an easy way to identify which images have larger sizes available.

-- RULES

And finally, before submitting an article, MAKE SURE IT HASN'T BEEN SUBMITTED BEFORE. Your articles may be edited or articles omitted by the choice of Sonic CulT and X-CulT editors.

To submit your articles, you MUST make a post in the X-CulT forum. This means you MUST have an CulT Forums account. This is to make you open to the X-CulT community to be able to scrutinise your work to enable accuracy in your articles. Do not take offence at people criticising your article, simply amend your article. You may argue the criticism, however you're best to back up your argument with evidence, do not digress into flamewars or sustained arguments with individuals, this is not only a FANTASTIC way to get banned, it's also undermines your whole article and it may not be submitted to X-CulT.

Your article may have a long delay before it's put onto the CulT main page, the people who run it are members of the community itself and are not gods, however you may please our egos by thinking of us in that light. We miss stuff, we forget stuff and we make mistakes and most of all, it takes time out of our own personal time to update the website.

-- UPDATES

Check back on this topic, for there may be amendments to this topic, however so far this is a very good list of guidelines to help you write your X-CulT articles. Hope to be reading your article soon.

Also, guys, when writing an article for X-CulT, it would be utterly fantastic, although not really unnecessary if you wrote a bit about the game. I've been adding "About this Game" sections here there and everywhere for games I know a bit about, however it's impossible for me to know things about every game. It's best if fans of the game wrote articles for these games, as it would save unreliable articles and bias.

Don't copy and paste shit from Wikipedia, either. Sources do NOT have to be identified, although if you're unsure about the legitimacy about information you know about the game, look it up before you add it to your page.

If you need to know how to lay out articles check:
http://www.x-cult.org/dispart.php?catid=20...d=2&artid=1
http://www.x-cult.org/dispart.php?catid=10...d=1&artid=1
http://www.x-cult.org/dispart.php?catid=16...d=1&artid=1

If you want to write a Introduction page for any of the games on X-CulT, just make a topic here (preferably with the title of the game you're writing for including platform) and write whatever you want about it. All submissions will be greatly apprechiated. You may write for any game, however if it's not on X-CulT, the information may not be added until prototype information about the game is added.