Talk:The Ur-Quan Masters
![]() | The Ur-Quan Masters has been listed as one of the Video games good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. Review: December 24, 2020. (Reviewed version). |
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to this page and add the quality rating to that template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.![]() | A fact from The Ur-Quan Masters appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 16 January 2021 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
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GA Review
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Reviewing |
- This review is transcluded from Talk:The Ur-Quan Masters/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Jaguar (talk · contribs) 14:03, 23 December 2020 (UTC)
Will get to this soon. ♦ jaguar 14:03, 23 December 2020 (UTC)
- Lead
- I'd split the lead into two paragraphs to improve readability
- "based on the action-adventure science fiction game Star Control II" - de-link 'game'
- "It has been frequently mentioned among the best games of all time" - link List of video games considered the best
- "been downloaded nearly 2 million times" - two
- Gameplay
- While not a prerequisite, can you find an image of gameplay?
- "The Ur-Quan Masters is a re-make of Star Control II" - this isn't italicised
- Development
- "The sequel was ported to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console in 1994" - console is overlinking
- "By the early 2000s, the copyright in Star Control II reverted to Ford and Reiche" - copyright of or the rights to Star Control
- "Ford and Reiche still owned the copyrights in Star Control I and II" - again, would read better if it was rights to Star Control
- "Toys for Bob hired Chris Nelson as their first summer intern" - I didn't know what this was for a second. It would benefit from being linked
- "from the 3DO version of Star Control II as open-source" - this was already linked before and it didn't have a hyphen
- "The initial version was neither elegant nor fast, but Nelson had friends in the open source scene who could keep progressing with the project" - this sentence reads informally. 'Contacts' would be preferable, and who was saying that the initial version was neither elegant nor fast?
- Modifications
- "HD" has a disambig citation. Just de-link it
- Reception
- Low numbers should be written out in prose. "2 million" (two), "5 stars" (five)
- Magazines should be italicised (PC PowerPlay, RetroGamer and Pelit etc)
- "celebrating it as a timeless classic from the golden age of gaming" - this sounds like a quote
- "The game was also featured in Maximum PC's 2015 article about the 20 best free games" - clunky. Try The game was also featured in Maximum PC's 2015 "20 best free games" feature.
- References
- The references are inconsistently formatted. Some have inconsistent date formats and there four references in citation 12 - why not give them separate citations?
- There are also five unused harv citations
This will need a bit of work before it meets the GA criteria. There are some minor formatting issues in the prose which could easily be fixed, but some of the references need to be smoothed out and the remaining harv references should be used or removed. I'll leave this On hold until all above is clarified. Otherwise this is a good effort. ♦ jaguar 14:23, 23 December 2020 (UTC)
- Thanks for the feedback! I tried to fix most of the things that you mentioned, including numbers, reference dates, and other formatting issues. A few outstanding issues:
- I don't understand what you mean by unused citations. I count 36 citations and they are all used to support facts in the prose.
- For reference 12, I have been advised in the past to use reference WP:BUNDLING, to improve organization and readability. I think this is a place where bundling makes sense, as it takes multiple references to establish the facts in the prose, but you don't really want to separate it out into that many footnotes.
- There are tons of pics that are licensed to the public for non-commercial use. For some reason I've always had trouble with the uploading interface from my browser. There's some great images of the semi-notable HD mod too.
- Let me know about those last few things. Would also appreciate some help with the image part (and will ping the VG wikiproject). Shooterwalker (talk) 17:23, 23 December 2020 (UTC)
- No worries Shooterwalker. There are several "Harv warning: There is no link pointing to this citation" warnings in the references which means there are citation templates not pointing to anything in the article. This isn't your fault as you've used bundling which combines multiple citations into one footnote. Don't worry about the gameplay image, while it isn't a requirement for GA it would be nice to have one. With all the other minor issues out of the way this meets the GA criteria, so I'll be happy to promote this. Good work!
♦ jaguar 16:15, 24 December 2020 (UTC)
- That's great and hopefully someone else can help with the image. Merry Christmas and thanks for the review! Shooterwalker (talk) 17:52, 24 December 2020 (UTC)
- No worries Shooterwalker. There are several "Harv warning: There is no link pointing to this citation" warnings in the references which means there are citation templates not pointing to anything in the article. This isn't your fault as you've used bundling which combines multiple citations into one footnote. Don't worry about the gameplay image, while it isn't a requirement for GA it would be nice to have one. With all the other minor issues out of the way this meets the GA criteria, so I'll be happy to promote this. Good work!
- Thanks for the feedback! I tried to fix most of the things that you mentioned, including numbers, reference dates, and other formatting issues. A few outstanding issues:
Did you know nomination
- The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.
The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 21:27, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- ... that The Ur-Quan Masters is celebrated as one of the best free games, as an open source remake of Star Control II, a science fiction game widely considered one of the greatest games of all time? Source: "The Ur-Quan Masters has been included on several best games lists since its release." / "Journalists have listed Star Control among their best games of all time,[10] with Star Control II earning even more "best game" rankings through the 1990s,[11] 2000s,[12] and 2010s.[13]"
Improved to Good Article status by Shooterwalker (talk) and Jovanmilic97 (talk). Nominated by Shooterwalker (talk) at 19:04, 24 December 2020 (UTC).
- @Shooterwalker: I'm not keen on the hook. It's a bit too complicated, and has a bit of a spammy feel. Could it be rewritten? Something like "...that [publication] named The Ur-Quan Masters, an open-source remake of Star Control II, as [whatever]?" might work. The article looks fine, though. Josh Milburn (talk) 15:53, 2 January 2021 (UTC)
- I can see how the tone feels a little too much like an advert, compared to how it's stated in the article. Let me try again:
- ALT: ... that several publications have named The Ur-Quan Masters one of the best free games, having adapted the 1992 science fiction game Star Control II into an open source remake?
- Truthfully I think it does add to the hook to know that Star Control II itself has been repeatedly listed as one of the best games ever -- that it's not just celebrated for being free. But having trouble phrasing that without sounding like puffery. Shooterwalker (talk) 14:50, 4 January 2021 (UTC)
- @Shooterwalker: Sorry I missed this response! I'm still not loving it, as it sounds like you're saying that the publications adapted Star Control II. I tried the following, but I'm still not keen on it because of the passive "has been described", so I've also added an alt 3 for you to modify. Josh Milburn (talk) 14:28, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
ALT2: ... that The Ur-Quan Masters , an open source remake of the 1992 game Star Control II, has been described as one of the best free PC games ever?
ALT3: ... that The Ur-Quan Masters , an open source remake of the 1992 game Star Control II, was described [by/in somone/something] as one of the best free PC games ever?
- Re-reading ALT1 it's a mess, and ALT2 is much better. Let's wrap it up:
- ALT2b: ... that The Ur-Quan Masters, an open source remake of the 1992 science fiction game Star Control II, has been widely described as one of the best free PC games ever?
- Just to give a little more info on what Star Control II was. Ideally we'd be able to mention that it's also one of the best games ever, but at least knowing the genre allows people to get a feel for what kind of game it is. Shooterwalker (talk) 17:51, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
- @Shooterwalker: Yes, we're moving in the right direction, but I worry it's still a bit weaselly. (Define widely; and who described it like that?) Could the view be attributed to one or more journalists or publications? Josh Milburn (talk) 10:33, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- I'd be OK with ALT2b without the widely. Josh Milburn (talk) 10:34, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- Maybe "widely" isn't the right word, but I'm looking for a word that sums up "a view attributed to several journalists and publications". Shooterwalker (talk) 15:10, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- "has been listed by video games journalists as one of the best free games multiple times"? Maybe we're approaching too wordy, but something like that could work? Josh Milburn (talk) 15:48, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- How about this? Shooterwalker (talk) 15:50, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- ALT3: ... that The Ur-Quan Masters, an open source remake of the 1992 science fiction game Star Control II, has been listed several times as one of the best free PC games ever?
- "has been listed by video games journalists as one of the best free games multiple times"? Maybe we're approaching too wordy, but something like that could work? Josh Milburn (talk) 15:48, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- Maybe "widely" isn't the right word, but I'm looking for a word that sums up "a view attributed to several journalists and publications". Shooterwalker (talk) 15:10, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- I'd be OK with ALT2b without the widely. Josh Milburn (talk) 10:34, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- @Shooterwalker: Yes, we're moving in the right direction, but I worry it's still a bit weaselly. (Define widely; and who described it like that?) Could the view be attributed to one or more journalists or publications? Josh Milburn (talk) 10:33, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
- Just to give a little more info on what Star Control II was. Ideally we'd be able to mention that it's also one of the best games ever, but at least knowing the genre allows people to get a feel for what kind of game it is. Shooterwalker (talk) 17:51, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Symbol_confirmed.svg/16px-Symbol_confirmed.svg.png)
Improvements?
What needs to be improved for this article to become an FA? Senn-00 (talk) 22:43, 10 October 2021 (UTC)
HD image
Anyone know who the alien in the bottom right of the HD image (File:Ur-Quan Masters HD.jpg) is? Senn-00 (talk) 23:50, 10 October 2021 (UTC)
I assume that robot-looking alien in the bottom right is not an alien in the game. I blacked it out manually using GIMP to avoid misinformation. There are four aliens (double check this) with battle displays that the image doesn't have: Chmmr, Slylandro, Syreen and VUX. The image is alphabetically ordered, so the editor who inserts another alien into the picture would have to move around the individual displays. I don't have the image-editing skills to do it. Senn-00 (talk) 19:25, 12 October 2021 (UTC)
GA review
Shooterwalker, your edit reversed my recent edits on the article. I would asusme that you copy-pasted your edit into another text editor while you were making your changes. I believe it is easier to revert your edits first, then make your improvements from there while preserving mine. Senn-00 (talk) 19:43, 12 October 2021 (UTC)
- By the way, the last edits I was intending to make were to include a citation for the HD release date (it's 2013; the SourceForge page only shows December 31, 2012, to count all of 2013) and to replace the HD image with only 19 races.