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Started by Paul Robinson
Tue, 06 Sep 1994 05:09
Suggested WAD Review Form
Author: Paul Robinson
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 1994 05:09
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 1994 05:09
410 lines
21123 bytes
21123 bytes
The following is a suggested format for use in reviewing PWADS. I think
the "fill in the blanks" format will be helpful.
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DOOM WAD Evaluation Form
1. Reviewer's Name: ____________________________________________________
E-Mail Address: ________________________________ Date: ___ __, 19__
2. Wad Name: ________ Archive Name: ________.___ Size (K): ____
3. Found at: [ ] infant2 [ ] uwp [ ] wuarchive [ ] Other
(If other, site name; for BBS give phone no.) _______________________
Directory Area: _____________________________________________________
4. Level of wad: E_ M_ Required Version of DOOM: [ ] Any [ ] ___.___
5. Classification of wad: [ ] Perfect [ ] Excellent
[ ] Good [ ] Fair [ ] Poor
[ ] Bad**
[ ] Showstopper** (Unusable, see below)
6. Features: [ ] 1Player [ ] 2 [ ] 3 [ ] 4 [ ] Coop [ ] DM [ ] Both
[ ] New Sounds [ ] New Graphics [ ] Weapons Change
[ ] New Music [ ] New Demo (Version ___.___)
7. Enemies: [ ] No enemies [ ] Trooper [ ] Sgt [ ] Lost Soul
[ ] Cacodemon [ ] Baron [ ] Multiple Barons
[ ] Spider [ ] Multiple [ ] Cyber [ ] Multiple
[ ] Hybrid Patched Enemies [ ] ____________________
8. Evaluation of wad: [ ] Above Average [ ] Average [ ] Below Avg**
9. Comments: __________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Defects and Rejection
10. If you checked 'Showstopper': Wad is [ ] Defective [ ] unplayable
Reason: [ ] No Weapons (& needs them) [ ] Weapons insufficient**
[ ] No ammo [ ] Ammo insufficient to play game**
[ ] Missing Keys* [ ] Keys out of order, cannot reach
[ ] Exit unreachable* [ ] Exit switch is missing*
[ ] No player 1 position
[ ] Medusa [ ] Game crashes
[ ] Game unwinnable**
[ ] Required to fight excessive number of Bosses**
[ ] ______________________________________________________
11. If the wad has defects, list them here:
[X] Ammo supplies are niggardly [X] Not enough health
(These boxes should be checked unless the wad is much better
stocked with supplies than is usual and common. This is a
recurring problem in almost every WAD.)
[ ] Pinkbug [ ] Misaligned Textures [ ] HOM [ ] Cannot Save
[ ] Important switches are hidden without indication
[ ] Wall improperly marked impassible* [ ] Too many puzzles
[ ] Should have more weapons** [ ] Excessive Backtracking**
For any comments marked *, confirm with DEU before marking.
12. List explanation for any comments marked **:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Form Rev 1.0 (3-Sep-1994)
---- Cut here: Delete this and all lines following ----
Instructions
This form provides a simple standardized method of explaining why you
approved and liked or did not like a particular WAD file. By
standardizing the comments, it makes it easier for other people to
decide whether or not to FTP or download a particular WAD.
This form should also give some idea to the people who create WADs to
consider the following all-too-common mistakes. Please, have a
third-party beta test your wad before releasing it. Its' embarassing
if someone legitimately comes back with a message declaring your wad
defective, and looks bad for you.
Instructions for completing this form.
If an area is a 'gray' area because you can't decide how to classify
something, leave that area blank.
1. Indicate your name and E-Mail address and today's date.
2. Indicate the name of the wad by the 8 character name which is
before the '.WAD' extension. If the archive holding that wad is
different, name the archive.
3. Indicate where you downloaded the file from. The most
common Internet sites ( infant2.sphs.indiana.edu, ftp.uwp.edu,
wuarchive.wustl.edu) are listed above. For other sites, list where it
was, including the directory path used to get to the file, e.g.
/pub/doom/wads/a-c .
4. Indicate what Episode and Mission the wad plays at. The program
SW' in SW.ZIP will scan a wad and return this information. If the wad
has more than one mission, you should separate the reviews from this
point into the separate missions, as there can be one mission in a
group that is okay and another that is so bad as to be 'showstoppingly
unplayable'. Also indicate if the level requires a particular version
of DOOM, for example, a wad that requires the insertion of patches into
the executable for version 1.2.
Note that this form deals with wads that have level data in them.
Wads that consist only of new graphics, sounds or music would probably
not be reviewed on this form.
5. What did you think of the wad? The list can be compared to a scale
from 5 to -1, with 5 being the best wad around (UAC_DEAD, according to
everyone who has seen it) and -1 being a wad that has serious defects
or is unplayable.
6. Features allow you to list anything special you noticed about the
wad.
7. Enemies allows you to warn people either (1) this is a deathmatch
wad with no enemies in it (meaning 1 player mode isn't going to be much
good), or that it has 12 cyberdemons in a small room and is thus
unplayable.
8. General idea of how it rates to other WADs you've played.
9. Give any of your own reasons why someone should or should NOT
download and play this wad. Copy the last line as needed.
Errors and Omissions
Items 10, 11 and 12 are reasons you feel the wad is bad, or even so
showstoppingly bad as to be defective or unplayable.
10. Item 10 lists the general items that (in my opinion) classify a
wad as defective and/or unplayable. Note that some of these items
(exit switch missing) are a matter of opinion or taste; some people may
prefer a deathmatch WAD without an exit switch. But a non-deathmatch
wad without one is automatically defective.
Defective means the wad has errors making the wad useless or making it
effectively so. This includes wads that cannot be used because they
cause DOOM to crash, or are defective for plain technical reasons,
e.g. missing player 1 position, claim to be deathmatch but have no DM
spots, etc. I am considering the inclusion of wads which are single
player missions without an exit in the class of "defective" as opposed
to merely "unplayable", and it's up to the reviewer to decide if the
mistake is badly done. Any wad that is defective is also unplayable,
of course.
Unplayable means that there is a mistake in the creation of the mission
or in the way that the mission was designed. This includes missions
which consist of
- single player games without an exit;
- so many enemies in an area that the player cannot live through it;
- missing keys;
- insufficient weapons or ammo; or
- other conditions that make the game unacceptable.
The explanation of the items listed on the form is as follows:
No Weapons and/or Weapons Insufficient.
If there is any enemy in the game higher than a trooper, you
need better weapons than a handgun if you are going to defeat
them. The level of weapon you need depends upon the class of
enemy. For Anything below Baron EXCEPT trooper, (Cacodemon,
Demon, Lost Soul, Imp, Sergeant) you must have at least a
shotgun. For Baron you need at least a shotgun with no less
than 20 shells and a large area to move, chaingun, plasma rifle
or rocket launcher and sufficient ammo to kill each one. If
there are two Barons, you must have chaingun or rocket launcher.
For three or four (unless the objective is escape) you must have
rocket launcher and/or plasma cannon. For Spiderdemon, Rocket,
Plasma or BFG. For Cyber, Rocket or BFG. See also the comments
under Insufficient Ammo, below.
There are exceptions to this, of course. If the layout of the
mission is such that the enemy cannot hit you directly, a lower
level of weapon is acceptable. For example, there is at least
one mission where the Cyberdemon is stuck in a pit above his
waist, and the user is able to stand beyond blast range and
shoot at the Cyberdemon. In this case, a shotgun will work. In
most cases, being against a cyberdemon with insufficient weapons
means the mission is unplayable. If such a special case is
present, it should be indicated.
No Ammo, Ammo Insufficient.
For each enemy, there must be enough ammo to take them out if
the user is to obtain 100%. This means at least 1 shotgun shell
for each person or imp, 3 for each demon, 4 for each cacodemon
or lost soul, and 15 for each baron, plus 10% for lossage due to
missed shots. See also the comments under insufficient weapons.
For rockets, there should be 4 for each baron, 100 for a
cyberdemon (that's 20 boxes), and 80 for a spiderdemon. Or a
BFG and a full 300 cells for cyber or spider. Extra ammo must
be included to allow for missed shots.
There can be exceptions, but there should be a good reason for
them. A level with no ammo at all should almost automatically
be declared unplayable unless it's a "filler", e.g. an empty
mission used to pass from one mission to the next where a group
of missions doesn't have every mission included.
Missing Keys, or Keys out of order.
This automatically makes the wad unplayable unless the wad
cannot be used except in deathmatch mode. There is no excuse
for requiring a blue key to open a door in a mission that has no
blue key. I know that in deathmatch mode you get all three
keys; but requiring a key that isn't present is unacceptable.
One wad placed a yellow key (needed to get to the exit) inside
of the area requiring a blue key. No blue key appears in the
level. This means you can't ever exit the game without
cheating.
Exit Unreachable, or Exit Switch is Missing.
One wad (as indicated in the previous section) had an exit in an
area reachable by yellow key. The yellow key required the blue
key to get to it; there was no blue key. This constitutes an
unreachable exit. This means the wad is automatically
unplayable. Or if the exit is behind a wall that can't be
opened from the outside. Or if it's impossible to trigger the
conditions needed to exit.
Most people prefer that a deathwatch wad have an exit. Any non-
deathmatch wad without exit is automatically unplayable and
might be considered defective; any deathmatch wad without an
exit is a bad idea, and might be considered defective. (You
can't get final scores without an exit to tally them.)
No Player 1 position.
No excuse, unplayable and defective. DOOM will either keep
trying to "wipe" the screen to start the level and keep doing
this over and over, or crash or simply refuse to load the level.
Note that such a condition represents severely sloppy behavior.
Medusa
There is a mistake in the graphics selected such that the game
shows an odd pattern in some places and the game stops
responding to input except very slowly. This is referred to as
the 'Medusa' effect because the pattern is ugly and the game
'turns to stone'. This means the wad is defective, and is
caused by insiufficient testing.
Crashes Game
The game requires something like a missing texture, causes DOOM
to crash because it uses too many resources, or the game freezes
up requiring a reboot. If these are caused because of problems
with the wad, that means it is defective.
Game Unwinnable, or Required to fight too many bosses
This is a judgement call. I have my own set of rules on certain
conditions that I consider a game to be "unwinnable". If you
have to get through any of the following to continue the game at
some point, I consider the mission "unplayable":
- More than one Cyberdemon or Spiderdemon, Cyber and Spider
together. This is the 'too many bosses' item from above.
Often this is combined with extremely niggardly levels of
ammo and/or weapons, often in a tight space to boot. I refer
to this as the '52 Cyberdemons in a bathroom on -respawn
against a fist' syndrome.
- Cyber or Spider without rockets or BFG. There are exceptions
if the enemy's line of fire is blocked by something such that
he can't fire at you but you can hit him, but usually we find
that the player has been left with niggardly amounts of
weaponry and ammo.
- More than 2 Barons without rockets or higher.
- Single Baron without at least shotgun with 20 shells.
- More than 4 Barons together. I like to refer to this one as
the 'royalty' syndrome. I'd personally like to declare 4 or
more as unplayable, but ID Software put that in mission 2-9;
I still think it's a bad idea.
- Total enemy count such that all of them shooting at the player
at once will kill him before he can respond.
- Total enemy count to be killed exceeds his ammo capacity at
maximum load of ammo and weapons available, sometimes even if counting
ammo dropped by killed enemies.
There may be an exception to this item. Some people will
design a set of missions such that they include a weapon or
ammo in one mission that carries over into a subsequent or
sequel mission. I think that a mission should be allowed
to be run as a standalone mission, but some people like to
create "continuing missions".
- Small area with large enemy, e.g. a 500 x 500 room with a
Spiderdemon in the opening frame of the game.
11. General Defects
Defects listed here are errors that were noticed; they may or may
not make the game unplayable.
- Ammo supplies are niggardly, and Not enough health
These items are prechecked because almost every wad out there
except for the original wads from ID Software tend to figure
ammo this way: (1) how much does the user need to fight in
the game figuring no misses; (2) reduce that by 10%. This
isn't just skimping, this is cutting to the bone and beyond.
It is far too common and is unneccessary.
The way people 'lard' their games full of enemies and badly
skimp on health and ammo to the point of niggardliness, you
would think they get a commission for each enemy and a fine
for each weapons clip.
Unless there is no trouble getting sufficient ammo AND HEALTH
to fight properly, these boxes should be left checked.
- Pinkbug, Misaligned Textures and HOM
These are usually caused because the creator of the wad did
something wrong.
Pinkbug - A transparent texture is on a non-transparent area,
or a texture is being displayed in an area larger than the
size of the texture.
Misaligned Textures - A texture is displayed such that it
doesn't match the area near it. Note that this practice is
*acceptable* when the purpose is to indicate the location of
an otherwise hidden door or switch.
HOM - Hall of Mirrors. An area is missing a texture so that
when you look at it, there is nothing there, so the game will
try to compensate by copying something else and pastes the
other image in, causing a "shimmer" effect.
Cannot Save - Wad creators should avoid making missions that
are so large that there is not enough save buffer space to
allow DOOM to save the game. This is a problem with DOOM on
some of the larger wads in earlier releases, so is not quite
a "showstopping" problem as other conditions, although it is
a problem with some wads.
Important switches are hidden without indication - Ladies
and Gentlemen, we are not playing Wolfenstein 3d Here; people
should not have to touch every wall to find the switches for
certain features.
Wall improperly marked impassible - Some rooms are mismarked
with impassible walls or are set up wrong because a door was
not openable from one side or the other. If the room is not
critical to playing the game, it's just a minor problem which
will not prevent the mission from being completed rather than
a "showstopping" one that makes the game unplayable.
Should have more weapons - In some cases the episode should
have added a weapon such as the chaingun, rather than relying
on a less powerful weapon.
Too many puzzles - In some cases I've had to use DEU to take
a wad and disassemble it to figure out how to get somewhere
because the puzzles put in the mission required that I use a
"Rube Goldberg" method of solving the problem, e.g. open a
switch, then run around an area and step on something to rise
up an elevator, to reach a switch, then throw that switch to
lower an elevator to reach a floor, cross a line in the floor
to open a door, and then... And if you miss on step 18 of a
20-step procedure, the "window of opportunity" closes and you
have to start all over again from the original step 1 and go
through the whole thing all over again.
Excessive Backtracking - A game should "flow" from where it
starts; if I have to go somewhere, get something, go back
across the map the equivalent of a half a mile, get something
there, then come back to the first place, this can get to be
annoying. In fact, a well-designed mission would not even
require me to backtrack at all. There can be an exception
if the exit is where the entrance is and is made accessible
as a result of doing something that opens access to the exit
trigger or switch.
----------------------------------
Please feel free to use this form in writing reviews of WADs
or in changing it to meed your needs. Your suggestions on improvements
of this form are welcomed, please write to:
E-Mail: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
X.400: S=DARCOS; A=MCI; C=US; DD.UN=0005066432
Form Version 1.0 of September 3, 1994
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