Template:Did you know nominations/Serious Sam Advance

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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 Yoninah (talk) 20:38, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

Serious Sam Advance

  • ... that the video game Serious Sam Advance uses ray casting to simulate 3D computer graphics on the Game Boy Advance? Source: "Unfortunately, in game design the Serious Sam style [of Serious Sam Advance] isn't tailored very well for a raycasting engine on hardware [of the Game Boy Advance] that has a hard time keeping a smooth framerate in 3D engines.", Serious Sam (corresponds to ref #2)

Improved to Good Article status by IceWelder (talk). Self-nominated at 11:03, 29 October 2020 (UTC).

  • Just noting I’m starting this review, as I know it’s been waiting for some time! Innisfree987 (talk) 00:12, 15 November 2020 (UTC)
This subject is well outside my wheelhouse so an especially enlightening read and written well for a general audience. QPQ done; entry neutral, recent, long enough. One site pings Earwig but looks to be a reverse copyvio—I think someone copied from this entry for a school assignment (another kind of good article validation!) One small query I have is about the hook. Now that I’ve read the entry and sources I understand and find it definitely interesting, but I think in DYK format the current phrasing will be lost on any non-gaming readers. I would propose a trim:
With the idea of having just one likely unfamiliar term (ray casting) helping it be more intriguing than bewildering (I didn’t know what a Game Boy Advance was either so the hook was initially a bit like Greek to me.) If you don’t mind my making a suggestion for the entry, it might be worth adding a single sentence elaborating on what exactly ray casting is, as I think those who click through on this hook may be curious—I was!
What do you think, IceWelder? Innisfree987 (talk) 02:35, 15 November 2020 (UTC)
Innisfree987, thanks for the review! You're right that the hook is a bit techy, though I think mentioning the Game Boy Advance is crucial: The GBA was popularly known for being incapable of adequately rendering 3D graphics, so I thought it was interesting that the developers circumvented this. If I was to trim the hook, I would instead do something like this:
I realise that it is likely that a large portion of the Wikipedia readership wouldn't know this fact about the GBA, even if I could imagine a scenario where a reader would read the article just to find out "what the heck" the hook is talking about (which would indeed be very hooky). Here is also an alternative, less techy hook:
Suffice to say, I would prefer ALT0, ALT1a or (though lesser) ALT1b. Of course, which one is passed is ultimately up to you. Regards, IceWelder [] 08:47, 15 November 2020 (UTC)
Thanks for all these options! ALT1a works for me if it does for you, so I’ve ticked that. I’ll leave 1b and 2 unstruck as I think they could work too, if the promoter has any concern but I think 1a is legible and the reasons for it are good. Thanks IceWelder! Innisfree987 (talk) 16:01, 15 November 2020 (UTC)