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Style Guide
Aim for 3-6 lines in length in descriptions. Less than that can make the zone feel sparse and under-edited, while more than that means you're probably including too much detail and risking overwhelming folks. For rooms, remember that you can also add thematic items and props to a room if you want more detail outside of the room's desc-- instead of writing in a counter that circles the room, you can add the counter as a loaded decoration object which can be looked at and interacted with separately.
Avoid the use of color in look descriptions (what you see when you look at the object/mob/etc). You can use color in other places such as names, room descriptions, etc, but try not to go overboard with it. The predominant color should be neutral, with splashes of color for emphasis.
If you want to call out a command or extra description, put ##^W in front of it, then close the color with '^n' at the end of the highlighted word. We recommend upper-casing the word as well for commands, like: To continue, head ##^WNORTH^n. The ## will disappear for non-screenreaders, and will render as # for screenreaders, drawing their attention.
When writing exdescs, it's important to make them discoverable. Consider highlighting the keyword for the extra description in the room or object's description, or even giving explicit instructions on how to access the exdesc for books etc.
Use Shadowrun swear words instead of IRL swear words. Ex: Frag, drek, hoop, slitch, etc. They can be found mixed into the SR wiki's slang list.
When writing names, use lowercase a or an, and never put a period or extra spaces. This is because the item's name is referenced in other strings in the middle of a sentence, so it looks weird if Person gets A stupid turkey. and eats it versus Person gets a stupid turkey and eats it.
Good:
an Ares Predator II
a silver-plated ash tray
Bad:
An Ares Predator II!
A silver-plated ash tray
Try to avoid repeating yourself. Give each room a different name, try to vary the mobs and objects, and generally add variety. Try to avoid repeating yourself, unless you're doing it as a narrative device to really emphasize something. Even then, you want to do it very infrequently in your zone so that it's clear that it's intentional. If folks see a lot of repeated content, they'll think you copy-pasted, so try to avoid repeating yourself.