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Haloless0320

How do I get my wad noticed?

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I was wondering how to get my wad noticed.Is there something I'm not doing right?Does it have to do with presentation?I'm just wondering...

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You pretty much have to wish that a few people who end up trying it really like it so that they keep spreading the word around until everyone else and their dogs have played it. Seriously, I'm pretty sure there are a bunch of "forgotten classics" both in the archives and other websites that no one knows about just because they were accidentally overlooked by everyone.

edit: Of course, being something that most people care about helps a lot. ;)

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I haven't loaded it onto the Archive yet.I only have it hosted through Rapidshare.But the weird thing is that I've gotten more feedback about Redstar(Which was very incomplete and riddled with bugs) than I have Atherius.I was just wondering if it's just been played and it was so bad that no one wanted to comment on it or if no one was interested in a wad that was made by a noob.
I mean It's nothing like Tormentor's wads or anything but I thought it would still be worth a play seeing that its a large improvement when compared to Redstar.
Not meaning to sound like I'm bitching,I'm just trying to get some hints from seasoned authors.

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Considering the fact that (unless I'm mistaken) you only hosted it on Rapidshare, I doubt anyone would see it.. I'm sure it would be noticed if you make a thread about it in big forums like Doomworld, Skulltag and ZDoom. Also add in a flashy title like "NEW GRAPHICS!! NEW SOUNDS!! AWESOME LEVELS!!" rather than "here's my wad guys". Ok maybe not that extreme but you get my point :P Also putting a link to the original thread where it appeared would really help, as at the moment nobody even knows which wad you're talking about unless they're a master at searching for stuff.

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http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/44053-atherius-project-sector-1-demo-release/

And the only things that are on this that aren't original doom stock are...
-Skulltag Textures
-A few Realm 667 Bestiary enemies
-Flashlight(beta)
-And the usual fog,colored lighting,etc.

I have to say that I feel like I'm very inspired by Ola Bjorling's Talosian Incident and Tormentor 667's Ultimate Torment and Torture wads.

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I find that the more "specialized" a wad is, the less people it tends to appeal to. Of course a truly great mapper can do something very unique while still appealing to the average doomer. But anyway, real nooby maps tend to show this quality directly. A huge room full of monsters can actually be a lot of fun, but it's not really a balanced mixture of gameplay elements. It's a fucking slaughter.

Also, being a small fish in a large pond, it can be hard to get decent wads noticed just because of the sheer volume of maps being turned out.

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True.I can promise that it's not just a slaughter wad.I'm still getting the hang of Decorate and ACS but there's a plot twist in there.I'd say exactly what it is but I don't want to give it away...let's just say the hunter becomes the hunted.

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Haloless0320: Have you finished Atherius? Where can i get it?

Would you like to join my team now (at this time it is only me and a consultant, i need mappers).

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I've played the demo. It is good, very good. You have some really neat ideas (such as the whole lava chasm section). But it is a little rough around the edges, quite a few glitches here and there. And try not to overuse ZDoom's special visual effects. Allthough i have no doubt that you are on top of all that. Keep it up! *AND FINISH IT*

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zap610 said:

Honestly, the best way to get your work noticed is to make it stand out somehow.

Or promote it like a press release from some multinational games company ;)

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Just make a really good one.

Also, try getting a computer that allows spaces after punctuation marks.

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@Cee-Jay:Thanks, I just firgured out the whole hexen format thing so I guess I did go a bit overboard with the special features.

I really don't look at the keyboard while I'm typing. So that might be the reason why I screw up my punctuation. That and I thought that MS word was just being anal when it pops up saying that there's supposed to be a space after punctuations. I'll try to improve.

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I don't look at the keys while I type either, but that doesn't prevent me from hitting the space bar :P

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Haloless0320 said:

I was wondering how to get my wad noticed.Is there something I'm not doing right?Does it have to do with presentation?I'm just wondering...


You either make one that is really good, or one that is so bad and stupid or such a let down that people won't shut up about it (DRE), and then you get it uploaded to /idgames preferably. (Though DRE was so epic it didn't even need /idgames to spread like a plague)

You can also make mediocre wads and get all fagboat when the /newstuff reviewer doesn't love on your wad. (preferably make this for (G)Zdoom too, as that will guarantee you'll get Graf Zahl as an ally)

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How do you get your WAD noticed? With drama of course. Just check out ZPack's review in /newstuff #320. Remiel was speaking poorly of something that people liked, so the controversy drew attention to it. I wouldn't have downloaded it if not for that wave of attention. Alternatively, you could get crunk about your project and hype to to anyone who will listen so everyone and their mama's knows about it, like Iceman did with Hokuto no Doom. By going on and on about something non-stop, people will tend to at least check it out so they can be justified in flaming out the author. Another technique is to make something craptastic and try to defend it with insults and flaming, like DarkExodus did with Nazi Auferstehung. Lastly, you can make something really original or impressive that a bunch of people remember, like Doom Marine's Deus Vult II. People will keep on commenting on how much fun it was, so others will be inclined to try it out. That's why I played DVII.

tl;dr version: You're best bet is to make something fun or memorable in some way. That doesn't mean it has to be like SCYTHE2 uber-amazing or anything. It just has to have a neat visual theme, an interesting fight, something unique that will catch people's interest so that the will make a nice comment about it and mention your WAD later on in another conversation.

Your only alternatives are over-hyping it and starting flamewars. Unless you think those are fun to participate in (heh, I do ;-] ), you just need to let your WAD speak for itself and hold its own. Chances are there's somebody who both loves your work and who will convey that to others to spread the word. You just need to do you best to make something fun for people to see when they eventually check out your work.

Wow, that post was longer than I expected to make it. I hope that helped. =)

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Give the wad it's own domain name (atherius.com), pay a well known celebrity to endorse it and/or mention it in your signature. Try to turn out a map that people will want to replay - do that consistently and in due course we'll be queuing to play your wads.

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GreyGhost said:

Give the wad it's own domain name (atherius.com), pay a well known celebrity to endorse it and/or mention it in your signature. Try to turn out a map that people will want to replay - do that consistently and in due course we'll be queuing to play your wads.


Now you are just being silly. If you have nothing serious and constructive to say, then don't.

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CeeJay, lighten up there. People can say silly or comical things here; more so harmless ones.

You must be CJ from Dawn of the Dead...

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Doom is an old game and people have been modding for it for many years now.So its really no surprise for me that some projects like yours doesn't get much attention.Doomers are harder to impress these days, but as long as you enjoy making maps its all fine.

I just downgrabbed the map, I'll take an look.

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Good luck Haloless.

You have enough potential to make wads that will get known on their own, without needin to resort to any of the other means mentioned by DD.

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GreyGhost said:

Give the wad it's own domain name (atherius.com), pay a well known celebrity to endorse it and/or mention it in your signature. Try to turn out a map that people will want to replay - do that consistently and in due course we'll be queuing to play your wads.

CeeJay said:

Now you are just being silly.

The first sentence in Greyghost's reply is indeed quite silly. However, the second one is very true and I just want to comment on this. Greyghost has a knack for saying both serious and ridiculous things with an equally straight face. ;-)

Anyway, once you establish your mapping ability with a great map, then when you release something else, people will have confidence that it will have a comparable level of quality and therefore assume it's worth there time to download regardless of what information they may or may not have about it. Surely you have one of those authors whose name you see as the author of something and you're like "OMG!!! This map is by [so-and-so]. Auto-5/5. I'm downloading it right now!" Again, you don't have to make something that incredible, just establish that your maps are fun to play and are of good quality.

[Edit]Oops. Fixed the grammar mistake mentioned in the next post. :3 Grammar is fun![/Edit]

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CeeJay said:

Now you are just being silly. If you have nothing serious and constructive to say, then don't.

I was only half-silly - as Death-Destiny has noted. No-one in their right mind would pay a celebrity to endorse their wad, they're hellish expensive and tend to lack sincerety. The dedicated website with it's own domain name is also over-the-top but achievable. Raising awareness of the wad through the signature field costs nothing and is a practice other forum users have adopted. So without further ado and with apologies in advance I present a potential signature advert for Altherius-

__________________
Coming soon to a download site near you - ALTHERIUS - the wad that will bring meaning and purpose to your life. With gameplay as addictive as crack cocaine and maps that will have you gasping out superlatives - Altherius is an experience you'll want to share with your grandchildren. As you would expect from a quality product Altherius only uses premium-grade pixels and decibels but still manages to be kind to the environment by using 100% recycled electrons. Altherius is carbon neutral, microwave-safe, bio-degradable, contains no small parts that may present a choking hazard and wasn't tested on animals at any stage of it's development. And that's not all! Every copy of Altherius comes with a money-back guarantee if it doesn't boost your libido by at least 200%! What are you waiting for - download the Altherius demo right now and start changing your life. You know you want to.

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kristus said:

You can also make mediocre wads and get all fagboat when the /newstuff reviewer doesn't love on your wad.

Heh. Were you by any chance remembering my Fierce Vigilant Retribution WAD for Doomsday/JHeretic?
It was featured in Newstuff #310 and the designated reviewer for that issue was extremely lazy.
He obviously wasn't a Heretic fan, and he didn't even know the debugging key to warp to the second level. So he only played the first level of my WAD and tossed it aside.
And he obviously doesn't like when the original monster sprites get replaced with new imported monster sprites. For some reason he sees such WADs as being pointless...

*sigh* Oh well. At least my ranting about that little review has paid off, because it contributed to rebuilding the Newstuff Review System from a tyranny into a democracy. ;)

And yeah, going back to the main topic... the best way to get noticed is to upload to the Newstuff /Incoming folder. Period.

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GreyGhost said:

Raising awareness of the wad through the signature field costs nothing and is a practice other forum users have adopted. So without further ado and with apologies in advance I present a potential signature advert for Altherius

I think you are joking here, but I'd like to point out that I would consider banning anyone who created a retardedly long signature pimping a wad.

Sigs, if people really insist on using them, should be very short, and contain maybe just a little text about the user, and perhaps a discreet and useful link or two. Their purpose is not to place a huge slab of off-topic shit in the midst of each thread every time you post.

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