FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

A lot of mods don't seem to have description.txt and/or screenshot.png in their root folder. These files are used by mod managers, both ingame and external, to show concise information to the user.

Where?

Screenshots and descriptions in modpacks aren't as important, but would be nice.
Not all mods need a screenshot, ofc.

Description

The first sentence of description.txt should be less than 100 characters.
It should be enough to describe the mod. Further information can be put into other sentences.




If you want to put versions or licenses, put them at the end. I don't recommend it though, that info should probably be in the readme.md/txt. Don't include the entire text of a license.

Screenshot

Screenshot should be 3:2 with a minimum size of 300x200px.

Exactly what mod managers?

I don't know about that...

I'm posting this mainly because of http://rubenwardy.com/mtmods4android/

But it's also used by minetest-bower, mtpm and the mod tab in the main menu.

OK, THX for the explanation!

=D

Sounds great. i was also thinking of making a topic about this. Glad to see you have already done it

There should also be a mod.conf file. This file contains the name of the mod. If the mod has this file the engine reads this instead of the folder name. This means that people do not need to rename folders such as mymod-master --> mymod.

This should be like this

mod.conf

+10

Great idea Don!

About your Article:
Pretty good, and contains everything someone want to know.
But what's the meaning of PSA and OFC?
I tried to search for it, but I was not successful. (PSA OFC = office???)

About the screenshot.png:
The screenshot format 3:2 is very uncommon. Also the screenshot inside Minetest is displayed so small that you are not able to see something useful here. (except you only show a single node there)

About description.txt:
In the description.txt you are only able to select a whole line. Not a single word sentence or link. Also its not possible to copy it to clipboard and paste it in the browser. As long as Minetest does not provide something real there Ill not add a real descriptions to my mods.

PSA = public service announcement
Ofc = of course

I did not decide the format, apparently it was to use horizontal space. The description is for a description, not to contain a help file or excessive links in my opinion.

The description is similar to that on Linux package managers, it's just meant to be a one liner describing the basic purpose of the mod.

At least, As far as I can tell.

Well, the description should be something short, simple and understandable, explaining what does the mode, something like that:

Benrob0329 Mod:
[code = "Description"]
This mod adds benrob mobs to the Minetest Game, they are peaceful and give you a laughing cat avatar if you give him a CC-BY-C0 License document.
Created by: benrob0329[/code]

Maybe something like that?

(Benrob0329s everywhere!)

addi wrote:About your Article:
Pretty good, and contains everything someone want to know.
But what's the meaning of PSA and OFC?
I tried to search for it, but I was not successful. (PSA OFC = office???)

found waht is PSA: Prostate-specific antigen

public service announcement

And what do we learn from this story?
Avoid unclear/uncommon abbreviations in a international community. ;-)

It really doesn't matter that much, focus on the content of this article and correcting your mods rather than the title

I don't put pics or descriptions in my mods.... I guess I should.