tutorial.html

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[<a href="https://edastro.com/gecdev/new">Click here</a>] to go back to the POI submission form.
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<b>POI Submission Tutorial:</b>
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Welcome! Over the years since the GEC has come online, we’ve had some questions come up about what makes a good entry: so, now we’ve written a tutorial that’ll hopefully answer any questions you might have.
Before going into details too long though, here’s a short list.
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Rule number 0: if you aren’t sure about something, if you have any questions, ask us!
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<b>The most important parts of making a good entry are:</b>
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<li>Making people interested in visiting your POI, with a good summary
<li>Being factually correct
<li>Having a good main image that attracts their attention
<li>A good description with extra screenshots will make them even more interested
</ul>
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<b>What makes a good screenshot, and what should you avoid?</b>
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<li>Make sure that your POI is easily recognizable and is the focus of the image
<li>Only include a system map in the description if you do talk about the system’s layout
<li>Don’t include your ship in the shot, unless you use it for composition or scale
</ul>
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<b>As for the writing, and choosing a name:</b>
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<li>Don’t worry about it if you think you can’t write well enough, we can easily help with the text.
<li>If you feel like you can’t come up with a good name, we have some tips here for that, and you can always ask us too.
</ul>
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Remember that you can upload screenshots to the gallery too, so you can have more than what fits well in the description. Also, don’t host your images on Discord, as linking to it from the outside won’t work!
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Let’s talk about these in more detail then.

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<ul>
<li><b>What are the most important parts of making a good entry?</b>

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Always remember that you want to <b>make other people interested in visiting your POI</b>, and think about how you can do that. The summary should be concise and talk about the thing(s) that will make people want to visit the POI. Remember that this short text will be what people first see if they look at the EDAstro map, social media posts, third-party apps and so on. You’ll want to catch their attention.

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Just as important is <b>factual correctness</b>. Make sure that what you are writing is correct and that people have all the information they’ll need to experience your POI. For example, if you are talking about a body, be sure to include which one it is! (Unless it’s immediately obvious, like for example the only Earth-like world in the system.) Basically, make sure that people who visit your POI will find exactly what you were writing about, and won’t be misled by anything.
If you wish to write about rarity and records, this also means that you should check sources of data for that too. Is your find really that rare? If you’re uncertain, you can always ask us.

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Then comes the second important thing, the <b>main image</b>. This can often be even more important than the summary, because if people clicked a promising summary and then saw a bland picture next, they might not bother with the rest. So, make sure the main image is of good quality, that it shows off the main point of submission well. It’s better to avoid having your ship in the picture (so as not to distract from the POI), and a system map shot is most likely not good here either.

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Once you have the attention of your readers, they will move on to read the </b>description</b>. It’s a good idea to include more screenshots here. Avoid reusing the main image though (you’ve already shown them that!), and only add a system map shot if it’s relevant to the entry. For example, if you talk about the layout of the system, multiple bodies etc, then a system map is good. If you’re only focused on a single find, body etc, then the map is likely pointless.

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You can still add the system map to the gallery though, which brings us to another point: if you have screenshots which you like, but don’t really fit in the description, you can also add them to the gallery instead.

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<li><b>What are some guidelines for a good screenshot?</b>

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First, it’s important that the content which you are showcasing is easy to recognize and well visible. If the subject is tiny, or difficult to distinguish, then the picture is pointless. 
As for using your ship in the shot: often, it’s not a good idea, as it’s not what people are interested in. (Sorry!) However, if you wish to add a sense of scale to your image, then it can be a good tool for that. If you’re experimenting with the shot’s composition, it might also be a good idea to try putting your ship in there - just remember that you want to draw people’s eyes to the POI.

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For example, a bad screenshot would be one where your Mandalay covers more than half of the shot while the planet you’re supposed to be showing is a tiny speck in the background.


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<li><b>What should I do if I’m still not sure that my POI would be interesting?</b>

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The best thing to do then is simply to ask others. Feel free to contact us on the GEC Discord, or any other place of your choosing. You could also ask some friends, squadron mates, other people what they think, whether they’d be interested in seeing your would-be submission.

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<li><b>What if I’m not good at writing?</b>

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Don’t worry much about it, writing is something we can quickly help you with. We can’t take new screenshots for you from afar, but we can always help with the text.

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<li><b>What if I can’t come up with a good name for the entry?</b>

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That’s something we can help with as well, so again, feel free to ask. You’ve read the rules and guidelines, but if nothing comes to mind, there are some quick hints too: try looking at the sector name, see if anything comes to mind from that. After all, it’s handy if people can associate the in-game system name with the entry… unfortunately, the sector names are often not much help here. You can always turn to various mythologies for inspiration, or real life locations, and so on.
Another thing to keep in mind: if your entry is named after something that’s not commonly known, it’s a good idea to add an explanation of the name into the entry’s description.

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<li><b>Why hasn’t my GEC entry shown up on the EDAstro map yet?</b>

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First, check if your entry has a high enough score: ones that have a low score don’t show up when the map updates. If the number next to “Explorer Rating” is green, then your entry scored high enough; if it’s red, it didn’t. You can read about the details of how the score is calculated at <a href="https://edastro.com/gec/scoring">https://edastro.com/gec/scoring</a>, but as a rough rule of the thumb, you’ll need the majority of votes to be at least two stars.
Don’t forget that entry scores aren’t set in stone, they will change as more people cast their votes.

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If your entry has a green score but hasn’t shown up on the map yet, then you should wait until the next automatic update, it’ll show up then. On the off chance it doesn’t (this hasn’t happened yet), please contact us!

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[<a href="https://edastro.com/gecdev/new">Click here</a>] to go back to the POI submission form.

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