The /newstuff Chronicles #299

Very nice work for a fifteen year old :)

Age has nothing to do with the quality of someone's mapping (or, in this case, 'sprite replacement skills'). Besides, crappy sprite replacements aren't impressive in the first place.

SP!

You should encurage the young blood or this game will die because nobody does something. Even if its only some sprite replacement.


BTW, for those who care, i made these reviews in German first and translated them later, have a look here: *click*

How come Doomguy's Pimp Ventures II: The More, The Merrier was not reviewed? Before Sigma was uploaded it was actually the best thing for that week, at least judging by the votes, and was actually playable.

Edit: oh well, there's always newstuff 300 for that and for Gamarra's Destiny and the other jokewads of this week, I guess :-)

How come that everybody but me seem to like these jokewads?
Whatever, i refuse to review them because people should start making "normal" maps again and not such serverspace wasters.

Bastet Furry said:

How come that everybody but me seem to like these jokewads?
Whatever, i refuse to review them because people should start making "normal" maps again and not such serverspace wasters.

Maybe it's just me, but if you're not reviewing those maps, why are you doing t/nc at all? I don't mean to belittle your effort, but it sure would be nice if you didn't cherry-pick what you do and don't want to review.

After all, the whole point of these reviews is that you play the crap so we don't have to.

My only complaint about Sigma is the fact that it's zipped up in it's own little folder. Other than that, it's quite brilliant. Well worth a play or two.

I dont cherry-pick, i will review a map that had been made bad because the mapper isnt better than that.
But i wont review deliberate attempts at bad mapping.
So, if its not reviewed by me then its a crappy jokewad that i honor by ignoring. Your choice to play it.
(And just in case someone asks, i playtest everything)

Bastet Furry said:

I dont cherry-pick, i will review a map that had been made bad because the mapper isnt better than that.
But i wont review deliberate attempts at bad mapping.
So, if its not reviewed by me then its a crappy jokewad that i honor by ignoring. Your choice to play it.
(And just in case someone asks, i playtest everything)

Not all jokewads are made "deliberately bad", some actually have quite complex mapping, tricks and even sounds/texturing/scripting. I don't see how you can put everything in the same pot.

I agree with Bastet on this one. There have been some genuinely funny joke WADs like that "How Not to Be Seen" one. But I have always found the "deliberately bad" joke WADs completely boring, annoying, unfunny and like Bastet, a complete waste of time that would have been better spent helping one of the many projects that would have been released years ago with more help from the community.

Bastet Furry said:

I dont cherry-pick, i will review a map that had been made bad because the mapper isnt better than that.
But i wont review deliberate attempts at bad mapping.
So, if its not reviewed by me then its a crappy jokewad that i honor by ignoring. Your choice to play it.
(And just in case someone asks, i playtest everything)

That *is* cherry-picking, though. :P And while doing so is perfectly fine if you're just playing for your own fun, I'm just not sure it's really appropriate for a t/nc reviewer.

Would it really be so difficult to write a line or two about a WAD? Especially if you already have played it, anyway...

Bastet Furry said:

I would love to see this used in some Sonic TC that is not so "doomy" like the one we have but more Sonic.

You mean like Sonic Robo Blast 2? http://www.srb2.org/

Small newstuff but better something than nothing @Furry why the sudden change in your reviews last time your reviews where ones that certaintly not encouraged people to keep mapping.

Screenshots are too dark imo.

I do think reviewers should review everything that week that was released, good or bad. Ebert and Roeper don't skip a movie because they know it sucks. Even if it is just "This map looks like crap from 1994 sucks don't play it blah", we understand, and at least all maps are accounted for.

JoelMurdoch said:

But I have always found the "deliberately bad" joke WADs completely boring, annoying, unfunny and like Bastet, a complete waste of time that would have been better spent helping one of the many projects that would have been released years ago with more help from the community.

I agree with this view. However, when I was reviewing for T/nC I was always in two minds about whether to ignore them completely, or to give the bare details and a one-line "review" that just said "Unfunny 'joke' wad" or "Deliberately bad map". While the latter approach draws some attention to them (and in the main article, rather than just the comment thread), it also reduces the chance of the comment thread being overrun with questions about why X wasn't reviewed, etc.

DooMAD said:

My only complaint about Sigma is the fact that it's zipped up in it's own little folder. Other than that, it's quite brilliant. Well worth a play or two.

I agree with this too, on both counts. Didy really isn't helping by putting it in a subfolder like this, as depending on how you unzip it, you can easily end up wondering where the hell it is. Just a minor irritation though, so as long as you're not Dickie Driolent ("Trivial Irritations Make Him Violent"), it is no big deal. Note for anyone looking to speedrun this map: you can avoid waiting for the lift at the start by doing a map10/av25-style glide where the fence meets the cliff wall at the left-hand end.

Scuba Steve said:

I do think reviewers should review everything that week that was released, good or bad. Ebert and Roeper don't skip a movie because they know it sucks. Even if it is just "This map looks like crap from 1994 sucks don't play it blah", we understand, and at least all maps are accounted for.

Hear, hear!

@kristus:
How could i, as a fan of old 16bit videogaming miss this.... shame on me!

@dutch devil:
Because i firstly wrote them in my mother lingo, German.
Dont ask, as long as it rises the quality it should be fine ;)

Wow, /newstuff argument in record time.

I hope someone decent reviews #300.
Like any of the people who did october 2006's /newstuffs.

Even alex (and even deathz0r) used to GODDAMN SHITHOUSE review of the wad's :P

RandomMarine said:

Wow, /newstuff argument in record time.

/impressed

Didy, man, great detail and design on Sigma! Perfect level of detail for moi, hope to see more by you!

Dickie Driolent ("Trivial Irritations Make Him Violent"),

Thats got Viz written all over it!

I like the "ambient sounds" at the end of Sigma, i was noclipping for bastard ages looking for the red key, when i look in the wad with Wintex i find it's a volcanic vent! personally, even if i was playing properly and not noclipping i would have stayed away from the volcanic vent expecting it to have a damaging sector around it. The invincibility is an octopus too... heh.

I like also that sigma is a huge battle at the start, but the end is a puzzle with no fighting at all, its still a challenge, but for the brain rather than the killer instinct. Beats a cyberdemon in a big arena filled with plasma cells anyway

Official /newstuff Chronicles policy since 2004 is that jokewads are ideally ignored and reviewing them is up to the discretion of the reviewer.

I thought the end area of Sigma was quite stunning visually, if a little difficult to play through because of all the not-obvious-why blocking lines. Some really neat effects though.

Schneelocke said:

Hear, hear!

Hear, hear!

Bloodshedder said:

Official /newstuff Chronicles policy since 2004 is that jokewads are ideally ignored and reviewing them is up to the discretion of the reviewer.

[citation needed]

Come on you can't make a statement like that without backing it up with a link.

I could give a link, but it wouldn't be of any use to you, since it would be to a thread in the hidden /newstuff Chronicles forum.

However, I can attest to the fact that it is so, and has been for several years (ever since there started to be a steady dribble of these things). Though as I said a few posts above, I'm not sure it is the best way to ensure minimum exposure for them.

deathbringer said:

Thats got Viz written all over it!

Yes, it was from a one-off strip called "Clarence Coxes - He Puts Used Matches Back in the Boxes".

If anyone wants the original files for getsum (someone on the idgames database comments was unhappy about the modified txt), then they can be found at cd.textfiles.com (except that it seems to be down at the moment, hopefully not permanently). It also includes the missing deh file referred to in the txt.

RjY said:

[citation needed]

Come on you can't make a statement like that without backing it up with a link.

I don't think the guy who pretty much runs doomworld these days really needs to back something like that up with a link.

RjY said:

[citation needed]

Come on you can't make a statement like that without backing it up with a link.

Here you go.

Grazza said:

If anyone wants the original files for getsum (someone on the idgames database comments was unhappy about the modified txt), then they can be found at cd.textfiles.com (except that it seems to be down at the moment, hopefully not permanently). It also includes the missing deh file referred to in the txt.

Here's a working link:
http://files.chatnfiles.com/Cream%20of%20the%20Crop%205/DOOM/GETSUM.ZIP

Greetings
Funduke

I think this thread may have broken a record for fastest drama in a t/nc thread.

Anyway, Sigma was nice, certainly one of the best (if not the best) wads released so far this year. Also, getsum.wad is k, at least as far as 1994 wads go.

RjY said:

[citation needed]

Come on you can't make a statement like that without backing it up with a link.

Way to question the integrity of a guy who can ban you, champ.