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Descent 3 Source Code

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Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#11

Post by kevin42 »

vsnf wrote: post #9

Now lets see if someone can dredge up the Tribes 2 source code and we'll have a perfect recreation of my summers in the computer labs.

I loved Tribes! I'd play that after coming home from working on Descent 3. We did some multiplayer at lunch at the office as well.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#12

Post by XorNot »

Ooh, time to take another crack at a level scripting language - AFAIK the original was ripped out right before release due to being too limited and replaced with just compiled C libraries.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#13

Post by zaptrem »

vsnf wrote: post #9

Now lets see if someone can dredge up the Tribes 2 source code and we'll have a perfect recreation of my summers in the computer labs.

Tribes 2 would make an awesome modern game for players used to big 32v32 base-centered combat FPSes.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#14

Post by jaegrqualm »

shermantanktop wrote: post #3

I loved loved loved this game. Never understood why this concept didn’t become a whole genre. No actual up, 360 degree freedom, enemies that were smart and could snipe you. Wasted many hours back then and very eager to try this out.

Not that you asked, but there's exactly one (popular) game that utilizes the same control scheme in modern times, Outer Wilds. Although it's not a shooter, it's quite a nice adventure game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/

There is, however, an outright continuation of the subgenre, in Overload.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#15

Post by [deleted] »

shermantanktop wrote: post #3

I loved loved loved this game. Never understood why this concept didn’t become a whole genre. No actual up, 360 degree freedom, enemies that were smart and could snipe you. Wasted many hours back then and very eager to try this out.

[deleted]

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#16

Post by kevin42 »

jaegrqualm wrote: post #14
shermantanktop wrote: post #3

I loved loved loved this game. Never understood why this concept didn’t become a whole genre. No actual up, 360 degree freedom, enemies that were smart and could snipe you. Wasted many hours back then and very eager to try this out.

Not that you asked, but there's exactly one (popular) game that utilizes the same control scheme in modern times, Outer Wilds. Although it's not a shooter, it's quite a nice adventure game. https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/ There is, however, an outright continuation of the subgenre, in Overload. https://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/

Overload was mostly the same people who built Descent (I helped a tiny bit). Those guys are really good.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#17

Post by readyplayernull »

I heard many people loved Descent and it looked great to me, it even seemed like a mix between X-Wing and Quake... but I couldn't play it for more than a few minutes, probably the first game in my long career as player that I dropped that quickly. There is something unnerving about it, it's like playing with magnets while wearing boxing gloves. Even watching gameplay videos I get the same sensation.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#18

Post by kevin42 »

XorNot wrote: post #12

Ooh, time to take another crack at a level scripting language - AFAIK the original was ripped out right before release due to being too limited and replaced with just compiled C libraries.

Yes. The original language was custom and turning into a nightmare. We talked about it over lunch one day and came up with the idea of building a c++ code generator so the level designers could do most of the work with the GUI we made, but the code could be edited by hand as well.

Fun fact, the editor was called DALLAS, which from what I remember stood for "Don't ask Luke for Levels And Scripts". Luke was the only designer who could make things work with the original language.

Personally, I'd love to rewrite it to use wasm.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#19

Post by winrid »

Nice! I sent this to the guy that helped me convert NetPanzer (20+yo code base) from SCons to Meson and he also took the time to setup GH actions etc. Hopefully you get some help!

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#20

Post by Analemma_ »

shermantanktop wrote: post #3

I loved loved loved this game. Never understood why this concept didn’t become a whole genre. No actual up, 360 degree freedom, enemies that were smart and could snipe you. Wasted many hours back then and very eager to try this out.

There's a weird effect where sometimes one game in a genre will become so iconic that nobody wants to try and make another one, possibly out of fear of seeming like they're ripping it off? It happened to Descent, and I feel like it happened to e.g. Myst as well - everyone was expecting the huge success of Myst to launch a whole genre, and then it just... didn't.
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