Megawad

From DoomWiki.org

A megawad is a PWAD that, according to the idgames archive definition, contains 15 or more levels.[1]

Overview[edit]

Megawads can encompass the efforts of a single person, or the joint efforts of an entire team; this is usually done with the help of the community through specialized projects that aim to smoothen the development process, as well as allowing level authors to sign up for the project. The whole process of creating a full megawad can be daunting and very time consuming, and can be a magnum opus, for some. Because of this, megawads are given considerable attention and are often the projects most looked after, with a significant amount of projects being Cacowards winners.

Episode replacement[edit]

An episode replacement (or simply episode) is a set of fan-made levels containing a similar amount of levels as an episode of the game the episode replacement was made for. Most episode replacements therefore include eight or nine levels, which is comparable to original Doom's episode structure of eight levels and a secret level.

History[edit]

While the ultimate origin of the word will probably never be determined, on October 3, 1994, Nathan Lineback compiled a full 27-map replacement for Doom called MEGAWAD [2]. In 1995 the term "mega-WAD" was used by Denis Möller of The Innocent Crew to describe the Memento Mori project. The following year, Yonatan Donner used the word "megawad" to describe his upcoming project, Hell Revealed. The word soon became commonly used within the Doom community.

SIGIL[edit]

In December 2018, John Romero announced his Ultimate Doom PWAD episode SIGIL as a "megawad", bringing renewed attention to the term, despite being technically incorrect according to the more common Doom community interpretation, which does not count a separate deathmatch arena within a level as being a separate level.

Noteworthy megawads and episodes[edit]

Doom[edit]

Megawads[edit]

Episode replacements[edit]

Doom II[edit]

Megawads[edit]

Episode replacements[edit]

See also[edit]