VGM Tutorial

How to use the Vice GM/calendar interface

To use the Vice GM or Calendar interface, first make sure you are logged into The Wrestling Game, and click on the red General Manager button just above the log out button. You'll be taken to this screen, where you can view upcoming shows:



Click on the show you wish to view, in this case, Tuesday Throwdown on October 28th.

This will bring up the show interface, where you can create and edit matches and segments. First, let's click on Match.

This brings up the Match interface, where you can name the match, select the participants, and select the title for which the match is going to be:



We do not ever select title matches as they are expensive, and the GM can change the champion manually, with Title information being edited into a match. If you select a match, confirm with the confirm button, and it will appear in the show interface with a green check mark and an "x" in a red circle. This is your last chance to delete the match. If you click the green check mark, the match is official and can not be undone.

BE VERY CAUTIOUS WITH THIS AND DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY CONFIRM THE WRONG MATCH!!!

Also in this vein is story lines: Do not book matches with people that are too mismatched or they will LOSE fans, and that is bad for the federation as well as the individuals.

Tag Matches function the exact same way as singles matches, except you choose 2 people per side.

After you have confirmed a match with the green check mark, it simply becomes a segment with a match already inserted in it. So now, let's click on the Segment link on the Show interface, just under Tag match.

That will bring you to the editor interface:




In this powerful interface, we can edit matches, add segments and the like. You'll notice a string of buttons at the bottom. These are a powerful tool for changing fonts, font colors, size, editing HTML directly, adding images and flash movies, and more. The text options are rather self explanatory, so I'll leave you to discover how to use them efficiently on your own. If you paste formatted text into the editor, it will retain its format. If you have any questions about the text options, feel free to ask me.

Let's look at the Image button, which is the little box with the tree in it. Click that and a new window will open that looks like this:




You'll notice there's nothing in the "Selezonia immagine" bar in that pic, but in your actual window will be pics of everything we need for the federation, from cards to dividers, to title belts and more. Clicking on the image will load it in the field at the bottom of the window as a preview. If you click insert, you'll get a pop up message advising you about descriptions. This is largely unimportant. Now that you've inserted an image, we'll see what happens when you need an image that isn't in the image pane already.

First, you could add the html for the image, which is a little complicated as you need to find exactly where the image goes in a huge mess of html code. Unless you're proficient in html, I strongly advise against this option. second, you can upload the image to the Image inserter tool by clicking on the last tab titled carica immagine. This brings up the upload interface:



Here you can upload any image you have saved to your computer, so if I forgot an image, you can download it and upload it here quickly and easily to add to the show.

Now that we've learned how to successfully add images, let's remember that images are great, except when we add too many. Generally, an image for each wrestler the first time they appear in a given segment and for the commentators at the beginning of your show will be plenty. Going overboard just distracts from the work we've done on the show.

Now we'll look at flash videos. Most video, if not all will be on YouTube. If the video has an imbed line at the bottom of the description (on the top right of the video page), copy this and then go to the editor. Click the little button that says "html", and the HTML editor interface will pop up.



This html editor looks empty now, but chances are you're opening it in the middle of editing a match or segment. It will have HTML code for everything that has been done up to that point. Find the place you want to add the video (search for the text or picture url right before the place the video is to be used) and paste the video outside all html tags. Html tags are the text in the arrow brackets <,>, and out side means it will come after an html tag with a slash (</strong>) and before one without a slash (<a href=...>), or after the last closed tag if that is where you need the video. After you insert the HTML, confirm the match or segment you are editing, then open it up and confirm it again, as there are often problems with certain html tags being parsed when they are only confirmed once.

HTML for color coding matches to look like TWG generated segments

colors are very important. Here is a list of the colors TWG uses, and the hex codes to generate them. To enter these in you can just open the HTML editor and paste the hex code for the color into the HTML editor, with the word(s) you want colored inside the tag.

<font color="#66ff00"></font> = light or weak or first level of wrestler damage

<font color="#006600"></font> = strong or ruthless or second level of wrestler damage (Also blocked attack lines)

<font color="#6666cc"></font> = Malice (Third level of wrestler damage)

<font color="#ffcc33"></font> = violent or excrucitating or 4th level of wrestler damage

<font color="#ff6600"></font> = powerful or agonizing or 5th level of wrestler damage

<font color="#ff0000"></font> = devastating or ripping or the 6th level of wrestler damage, as well as wrestler name in entrances and color of finisher and spot texts

<font color="#990066"></font> = MORTAL or DESTRUCTIVE (all purple texts, Mortal, MORTAL, HardCore, LEGENDARY, DESTRUCTIVE, though only MORTAL is used in fed matches by default)

<font color="#ff9900"></font> = Trademark/Signature text blocks his oppoent by his neck
to make him whirl and then complete the manoeuvre with a face slam on the ring floor

<font color="#0000ff"></font> = dodged attacks and Ring Announcer


ALL CREDIT FOR THIS TUTORIAL GOES TO MALICE

I have not added an HTML section screenshot because I don't want any of you to go poking around in that. I will say that again - STAY AWAY FROM THE HTML BUTTON. A couple of seasons back a fed had all their shows take money from their wrestlers after someone tried to cheat the game using the HTML editor. I'm not saying you will try to cheat but let's face it the HTML code of TWG is unstable and there is no telling what might happen if we start doing direct HTML editing.

The add video button is next to the emoticons button. I would advice against adding videos(or pictures for that matter) that you are not certain have no connection to WWE or any company affiliated with them - one such video and we will all be looking for a new fed.

now here is an screenshot that Malice didn't provide:


This is what you will see first when you enter the GM section - each of the three buttons on the left has been explained in the tutorial above. What I want to point out here is that in the place of the "Show must consist..." line there will be a Confirm Show button once all 10 match slots are filled and all matches are confirmed. DO NOT PRESS THAT BUTTON UNLESS I HAVE SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTED YOU TO DO SO OR IT IS 23:55 SERVER TIME ON THE NIGHT THE SHOW AIRS. IT CONFIRMS THE SHOW AND NO FURTHER WORK IS POSSIBLE ON THAT SHOW ONCE IT IS CONFIRMED. This is very important so PLEASE remember it.

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This is what a booked show look like. Now you will notice that the Confirm show button is not displayed. The reason is that there are two unconfirmed matches on the card. Matches can only be edited(that includes adding commentary) once they are confirmed. However once they ARE confirmed they can no longer be changed - you will be stuck with what you have confirmed. To avoid unpleasant surprises unless you are sure you want the match you are confirming to be on the show or if you are not certain who you have booked in a given match slot DO NOT CONFIRM THE MATCH.

The other thing you may notice is the order column. While match order has no effect on the show as far as sales and popularity gains are concerned it is preferable to keep the lower carder matches towards the beginning of the card unless there is a specific reason to do otherwise(for example in order to make a RP segment work). The only two segments on OUR shows that have a fixed position are the closing and in a lesser degree the opening (in rare occasions the opening segment can be preceded by a match... I use this for "DARK MATCHES" - matches that I had not had the time to add comm to while I managed to do so for most of the others on the show). There are in fact two order columns - one that only shows a segments position and another one that is used to alter that position. Most of the time you will have no reason to use these - I prefer to arrange the shows myself.

Tag matches have two numbers before their name to indicate they occupy two match slots on the show.

The last part of that image that I need to explain is the "Action" column. Segments have three buttons in there - preview, edit and remove. Matches have two SETS. First they have confirm and remove (last two matches in this example). Once a match is confirmed the buttons change to preview and edit.

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This is what a match looks like in the editor. In this pic you have also a comm example. As you can see it follows the rules for RP. It is separated from the main body of the match by dots that will later be colored white. The commentator's name is in bold and his entire section of speech is in his assigned color - in this case brown.

I have two philosophies on commentary.
If the match has sufficient high impact moves you make the comm about that. Just imagine you are watching the match on TV and try to think what your reaction would be to those moves. Then channel that through the commentator's gimmick. DO NOT try to comment on every big move - on average 5-9 blocks of speech per commentator in a match is sufficient so I suggest you pay attention to the slider bar on the side when you add comm.
If the match lacks big moves or in any other way fits the description of boring try to make the comm about - the background of the match(have the opps face off before and with what results or comment on a RP from earlier in the show where they interacted); some kind of interaction between the commentators; simply comment on the development of the show in general until that point (only works with matches that are late in the show).

I would advice you to look through our old shows and find the ones I managed to add comm to. Read through them and get a feel on how I implemented the tactics mentioned above.
One last thing. The commentators.
Chris - generally the face comm. He has a preference towards technically adept wrestlers, which also means he will be very critical of anyone that claims to be a technician and doesn't back it up.
Edward - classic heel comm. Loves blood and violent tactics and is vocal about it. Make it a point to have him praise a wrestler that hits a high impact move (anything above Mortal for direct damage or the two top - ripping and Destructive - for submissions). He would be well utilized in situations where one of the wrestlers uses a weapon, draws blood or causes injury(in the last case Chris can be use just as well).

This is all I can think of as guidance for the moment. If you have any specific questions PM me in the game(I check the forum a lot less regularly).