Blooncyclopedia:Screenshot guidelines

This article describes Blooncyclopedia's guidelines for what screenshots are needed and how to take them.

What screenshots are needed

In general, screenshots should be used to showcase unique and distinct elements of the subject. Each screenshot should serve a distinct purpose to avoid crowding galleries with redundant screenshots. For example, for Quincy in BTD6, there should be screenshots of:

• His attacks (both with normal arrows and exploding arrows)
• Him using his abilities
• His models at levels 1-2, 3-6, 7-9, 10-19, and 20
• His Trophy Store cosmetics in action

We do not need screenshots of:

• His portraits and ability icons (we have raw images of those already)
• The same models and animations on different backgrounds
• Him with different buffs

Specific cases

Bloons TD maps

Besides the infobox image, a map should only have extra screenshots if it has notable elements that can't be depicted with a single image, such as background objects that appear when clicked on or objects that can be interacted with. Maps in BTD6 that don't change, such as Monkey Meadow, should only have screenshots for their seasonal reskins, and most maps in prior games really only need the infobox images.

Bloons levels

Every level in the Bloons series should have a screenshot of it for its infobox. The screenshot should be of the default state of the level prior to the player taking any actions.

Bloons Supermonkey levels

Every level in the Bloons Supermonkey series should have a screenshot of it for its infobox. The screenshot should be of a recognizable formation or setpiece within the level. Supermonkey should be as far out of the way as possible and have the least distracting upgrade/powerup loadout possible. Try to avoid popping any of the Bloons in the formation you want to take a screenshot of.

Resolution

• Screenshots for games that use a fixed resolution (e.g. all Flash games, PC games that run on Flash like BTD5 Deluxe, and console games) should be taken at their native resolution. (Note that on PCs, you may need to change your DPI settings to display the game at the correct resolution.)
• For games with variable resolutions (e.g. most mobile and PC games), any resolution is allowed, but higher resolutions (around 1080p) are preferred.

Composing

• No overlays. Hide your FPS counters and system controls.
• All cosmetics should be disabled, unless the screenshot is specifically to show a cosmetic, in which case it should be the only cosmetic enabled.
• If your screenshot is being used to show a specific thing, such as a character animation, it should be cropped to focus on the subject. (The base screenshot you are cropping from should still follow the resolution guidelines described above.)
• Besides cropping, screenshots should not be edited. This includes, but is not limited to:
  • Rotating, flipping, scaling, or distorting
  • Changing brightness or saturation
  • Adding text, arrows, lines, circles, etc
  • Blurring
  • AI upscaling
• In cases where the background isn't required to be something specific (i.e. screenshots of towers the Bloons TD series), the background used is up to you, as long as it has a good contrast with the primary subject of the screenshot and it isn't too noisy or distracting. For example, you shouldn't be taking screenshots of an Ice Monkey on a snowy map.