IFWiki:Title

(This is a page in progress. -- David Welbourn 23:56, 29 December 2006 (EST))

Determining the Title

These guidelines are from highest precedence to lowest:

Author's wishes first. Authors of games have final say over what the "real" or "true" title of their games are. If an author has made a public statement specifically addressing what the game should be called, please go with that.
- Example: Tookie's Song (Jessica Knoch). The author asked the IF community to change the title of her game from TOOKiE's SONG to Tookie's Song. See (Comp) Too late to change my title?, rgif post, November 2002.

The game written by William Crowther and Don Woods shall be known as Adventure. It's easier to just give it its own rule than try to explain why.

When multiple versions are released simultaneously by the same author, and the games are in different languages, go with the author's native or preferred language.
- Example 1: Prefer De Baron over The Baron.
- Example 2: Prefer Hello Sword - Il viaggio over Hello Sword - The journey.

This is the original version trumps translation rule: When multiple versions are released non-simultaneouly by the same author, and the games are in different languages, go with the earliest language version.
- Example 1: Prefer Olvido Mortal over Shattered Memory.
- Example 2: Prefer The Big Scoop over Pangnyheten.

This is the base name rule: When multiple versions are released non-simultaneously by the same author, and the game titles share a common base name (excluding appended clarifications), use the base name as the game's title.
- Example 1: Ninja (Paul Allen Panks). For IF Comp 2004, the game was called Ninja or Ninja v1.30. But Ninja II, entered in IF Comp 2005, was not a sequel, but the same game with an additional puzzle added. Document both versions of the game on the page for Ninja, using the games' common base name.
- Example 2: Moments Out of Time (L. Ross Raszewski). Even though a second version of the game was released as Moments Out of Time (Adventure Type), document both versions of the game on a page called Moments Out of Time, using the games' common base name.

When multiple versions are released by the same author, but not simultaneously, and they have different names, go with the latest name the author used. This continues the principle of author's wishes first.
- Example 1: Elephants and the Afterlife (David Fillmore). Release 1 of the game was titled The Elephant and the Afterlife, but release 2 was titled Elephants and the Afterlife. Go with the latest released title.
- Example 2: The Waterhouse Women (Jacqueline A. Lott). So far, there's only one version, which is called The Waterhouse Women. But according to AllThingsJacq.com - Interactive Fiction | Waterhouse, the completed game will just be called Waterhouse. So when the completed game is released, we should move the contents of the The Waterhouse Women page to Waterhouse and document both versions there.

When multiple versions of a game are released by different authors (usually as translations or ports), the preferred title is that which the original author used last.
- Example 1: A Bear's Night Out

Story file overrules additional materials. When the story file gives one version of the title, and additional files such as a readme.txt file or walkthrough suggest a different version of the name, go with what the story file used.

Pure text overrules text embedded in graphics. When the title card graphic within the game mismatches the text in the game, go with the text.
- Example 1: The Curse of DragonShrine (Mystery). The title card graphic suggests that 'Dragon' and 'Shrine' are two words, but text in the game says otherwise.
- Example 2: Gifts of Phallius 2: The Key to Eternity (GoblinBoy). The title card graphic drops the "The", but the text of the game includes it.

Banner or Version text overrules 'about' text or title screen text.
- Example: The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet (Graham Nelson as "Angela M. Horns"; 1996; Z-code). The title screen displays the title with every word capitalized (The Meteor, The Stone And A Long Glass Of Sherbet), but the banner itself does not case the title that way.

If the story file itself does not name the game, then it is permissible to determine the game title from other sources.
- (TODO)

If no title can be found for the game, then refer to it as "untitled". The page name for an untitled game should be of the form "untitled (story-file-name)", e.g.: untitled (onion2.gam).

TODO

When the determined title used mixed-case (both upper- and lower-case), use the capitalization style that the author used. Don't try to fix "incorrect" capitalization.
- Example 1: For Love Of Digby (David Whyld).
- Example 2: The Fox, The Dragon, and The Stale Loaf of Bread (David Welbourn).
TODO

TODO

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