Descent 3

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Descent³
Developer(s)Outrage Entertainment
Publisher(s)Interplay Productions
EngineFusion Engine
Platform(s)PC (Windows, Linux), Mac OS
ReleaseMay 26, 1999
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

Descent³ is the third and final game in the line of Descent computer games, well known for the use of six degrees of freedom and true 3D rendering technology. There was a planned fourth game in the Descent series but was cancelled. (See Descent 4)

Descent³ constituted a major technical upgrade over its two predecessors, introducing many ground breaking graphical techniques like portal rendering, procedural texturing and advanced lighting and was probably the most graphically advanced game of its time. However, this was also very taxing for hardware at that time. Plans to create official and fan-made sequels to Descent³ were scrapped due to dissatisfactory sales[citation needed] and issues concerning ownership rights.[1][2]

Story

The storyline of Descent³ is shown through several cutscenes throughout the game, as well as in in-game mission briefings and debriefings.

Previously in Descent II, Material Defender 1032 had narrowly escaped the destruction of an alien planetoid he was investigating on orders of the Post Terran Mining Corporation (PTMC), a megacorporation. He was about to return to Earth to collect his reward, but without warning, a malfunction occurred in the ship he was flying.

In the opening movie, we see the (unconscious) Material Defender's ship drifting into the sun. At the very last moment, just as his ship begins to burn up due to excess heat, a salvage vessel saves the ship. The Material Defender is extracted from his ship, and it is disposed of in the sun.

As the Material Defender recovers, he learns that he was rescued by the Red Acropolis Research Team. The director of the faction tells him of strange things that were happening in the PTMC, as well as the fact that one of her acquaintances in the PTMC was killed by a robot. What made the Red Acropolis suspicious of the PTMC was when they denied that they had ever employed him, even though he had worked with them for years. The Red Acropolis had tried to notify the Collective Earth Defense, a large anti-terrorist and police group, of the PTMC's actions, but they took no action; they dared not mess with the PTMC.

The director also tells the Material Defender that while he was clearing the PTMC's mines of a computer virus, the PTMC were actually testing and modifying it. The virus, she said, was extremely advanced nanotechnology. She wants to stop the virus, and she wants the Material Defender for the job. After some persuasion and offers from her, he gives in. At this point, he is shown an animation. Apparently, the PTMC had sabotaged him.

Changes from Descent and Descent II

File:Descent3 L4.png
The player engages a Squid in the sewer tunnels of Seoul.

Source Code

Descent³ utilizes an indoor and outdoor engine in tandem, collectively called the Fusion Engine. The engine supports bump mapping (a revolutionary and eye-catching feature at the time) dynamic colored lighting, relatively complex environments, and weather effects. Unlike contemporary first-person shooters such as Unreal or Quake, Descent³ does not rely on brushes (three dimensional bodies forming the level walls, doors and so on), but on basic vertex/face modeling (where two-dimensional planes form the walls). It is said the original levels were mostly developed in 3D Studio Max [citation needed].

This engine allows seamless transition from mines out into open atmosphere and vice-versa.

Controls

Mouselook control was introduced in Descent³. Mouselook allowed the player to change the direction of the ship at a rate proportional to how fast the mouse is moved. Mouselook proved to be a significant advantage when compared to keyboard or keyboard/mouse users. The multiplayer aspect of the game included the option to disable "mouselook" control for all users, in order to level the playing field.

Gameplay

  • Because of the change in engine, the claustrophobic levels of the previous two games in the series were replaced by more open landscapes.
  • Objectives were made more diverse than the previous games. Instead of a single objective of destroying a reactor, there are other kinds of objectives that range from escorting a cargo ship to defending five reactors simultaneously. Objectives are now also categorized into two categories: primary objectives and secondary objectives.

Robots

Many robots in Descent³ are completely new or redesigned versions from the previous games in the series. In addition, the robots have an improved artificial intelligence over the robots in Descent and Descent II, capable of dodging weapon fire, leading, working in teams and calling for backup if outgunned or outnumbered.

Ships

There are now three ships to choose from:

  • The default ship, the Pyro-GL, is a versatile craft that has standard shields and can carry an acceptable amount of ordnance.
  • Available at Level 7, the Phoenix is an extremely agile ship that has weak shields and a small amount of ordnance as a drawback.
  • At Level 10, the Magnum-AHT becomes available. Although ponderous in fast-moving dogfights, it can carry the largest amount of ordnance out of the three ships, and also has the heaviest shields.

Once the game is completed, the player may choose any of the three ships to play through the game. In multiplayer, the player may choose any ship, even if he or she has not completed the game.

Planet Descent hosts custom ships that can be used in multiplayer games.

Weapons

  • Most of the "classic" Descent weapons have been replaced with completely new weapons. Only a handful of primary and secondary weapons were redesigned and brought over into Descent³. A large number of these new weapons are either too underpowered or overpowered as compared to the weapons of Descent and Descent II. A list of weapons follows:

Primary Weapons

  1. The Laser Cannon is the standard energy weapon on all ships. It fires shard-like projectiles that do minimal damage. The difference between the Lasers in Descent³ and Descent and Descent II is that it cannot be upgraded. The Laser can be supplemented with a 'Quad Laser' powerup which doubles the player's cannons to four.
  2. The Super Laser is a more powerful version of the standard Lasers. Like the Laser, it cannot be upgraded and can also be supplemented by the Quad Laser.
  3. The Vauss Cannon combines the fire rate of the Vulcan Cannon in Descent and the strength of the Gauss Gun in Descent II with high-explosive bullets that, on impact, will cause the target to lose focus momentarily.
  4. The Mass Driver is a weapon that functions similarly to a sniper rifle; it fires extremely damaging bullets that travel at high velocity and is also equipped with telescopic sight. However, it takes a long time to reload.
  5. The Napalm Cannon is the equivalent of a flamethrower; it releases a short-ranged stream of napalm that ignites anything it hits.
  6. The Microwave Cannon is a medium-ranged weapon that fires off circular projectiles which momentarily distort the view of the target.
  7. The Plasma Cannon fires large, slow-flying, green colored plasma spheres in pairs, making it one of the most versatile and dangerous energy weapons in the entire game. However, as compared to the Plasma Cannon in Descent and Descent II, it has seemingly 'shrunk' in terms of projectile size. On the other hand, its energy consumption has decreased slightly, and it still does very high damage.
  8. The Fusion Cannon unleashes large purple, fist shaped blobs which can be charged up to increase damage by holding down the fire button. Also notable is that the ship will shudder and move involuntarily when charging, and excessive charging will damage the ship and cause disorientation.
  9. The EMD Launcher fires off blue triangular fast-flying projectiles at a fire rate equal to that of the Laser. These blue projectiles do little damage, but have a limited ability to home in on a target. This is offset by the fact that the EMD Launcher has exorbitant energy consumption. However, it can still be very deadly in the hands of a skilled pilot.
  10. There is also an Omega Cannon in Descent³, but even though this weapon has the same name as the Omega Cannon in Descent II, it functions very differently; the Omega Cannon in Descent³ fires very short-ranged beams of light that 'connect' with a target at point-blank range and literally transfers shield energy from the target to the player's ship.

Secondary Weapons

  1. Concussion Missiles are standard dumbfire rockets; they fly at medium speed and do little damage.
  2. Frag Missiles, on impact, release a huge burst of high-damage shrapnel projectiles that can bounce off walls multiple times before dissipating. Although being too close to a Frag missile can be deadly, a head-on impact with a Frag only does slightly more damage than Concussion missiles and is not usually fatal.
  3. Homing Missiles are less powerful than Concussion missiles, but are faster and will lock on to the nearest target with near-perfect efficiency. This does not mean that they cannot be evaded, however.
  4. Guided Missiles are similar to Homing missiles, but can be controlled by the pilot. Hitting the fire button while controlling a Guided missile will turn it into a slow-moving Homing missile that does medium damage.
  5. Napalm Rockets function similar to the Napalm Cannon. When a Napalm Rocket hits a target head-on, it will ignite the target for a long period of time. On the other hand, if it hits a wall, it releases a cluster of fiery blobs that, on contact, ignite anything they touch.
  6. Impact Mortars are bomb-like missiles that move at a rate proportional to the speed of the pilot's ship when they are fired. An Impact Mortar can bounce off walls, and will explode when it hits a target or after a few seconds with a huge blast radius. A direct hit by an Impact Mortar is almost always fatal. Conversely, if the target is within the blast radius of the Impact Mortar when it explodes, the target will take heavy damage and be repulsed from the centre of the explosion.
  7. Cyclone Missiles are large canister-like missiles. When a Cyclone missile is fired, it travels very slowly and locks on to the nearest target, but almost immediately it explodes into six medium-damage flechettes that travel at a faster speed and move towards the target in a circular fashion. Getting hit by a Cyclone does minimal damage, but getting hit by the flechettes can be deadly.
  8. Smart Missiles are medium-sized heavy missiles that release five homing spheres on impact with a wall. While a head-on impact with a Smart missile only does a bit more damage than Concussion missiles, getting hit by the plasma spheres is usually fatal.
  9. Mega Missiles are slow-moving megaton rockets with a weak homing ability and have an extremely huge blast radius. A single hit by it — or even being too close to a Mega when it explodes — is almost always fatal.
  10. Black Shark Missiles are experimental weapons that on explosion, create miniature black holes that suck everything from moving objects — including the pilot himself — to powerups into a singularity, whereupon it detonates after a few seconds and destroy almost everything caught in it.
  • A third category of weapons, known as countermeasures, were added. However, the difficulty of handling three weapon types at the same time meant that many players gave very little attention to this category of weapon. A list of countermeasures is as follows:
  1. The GunBoy is a mobile gun turret that fires weak Laser bolts on targets within its firing range. It explodes when it takes enough damage or after a period of time.
  2. The Bouncing Betty consists of a pack of four orange bomblets that can bounce off walls and explode when they hit a target, doing minor damage.
  3. The Proximity Mine is a stationary object that explodes when it is hit or shot down, doing minimal damage.
  4. Seeker Mines are a variation of Proximity Mines that do minor damage but have a homing ability and will travel towards the nearest target until they hit it, are shot down, or if the target is out of their homing range. They can be very deadly in large numbers.
  5. The Chaff is essentially a cloud of high-explosive shrapnel that attracts homing projectiles to it. It will dissipate after taking sufficient damage or after a short period of time.
  • The Flare has also been brought over from Descent II. Depending on the ship that the player is using, a Flare consimes approximately one-twentieth of energy, or is otherwise a no-energy weapon. A slow-moving energy projectile that illuminates its surroundings, the Flare will do at least one point of damage to an enemy, depending on the game's difficulty level.

Multiplayer

Descent³ also introduced several new types of multiplayer games, with a few more created by fans later.

  • Descent³ allows players to enter into "Observer Mode", allowing them to view the game rather than take part directly in it.
  • The original modes of play from Descent and Descent II that were included are Anarchy, a game mode where players compete for a set number of kills within a given time limit, and Team Anarchy, which is a variation of the former.
  • Descent³ also adds Capture the Flag, in which players had to attempt to steal an enemy flag and take it back to their base while their team was still in possession of their own flag; Entropy, a game of strategy in which player teams attempted to take over enemy-controlled rooms by using "viruses"; Hoard, in which players attempted to collect the most "orbs"; and Monsterball, in which teams would attempt to move a ball into the correct goal to score a point.
  • Player-made modes include Instareap, Assault, and Guardian.

Expansions

Gameplay Modifications

File:D3 Merc Box Art.jpg
Descent 3: Mercenary box art

Although the official source code for Descent³ has not been released, several programmers have created new game variants apart from the official ones. Some notable examples follow.

  • Descent³ has an official expansion pack, titled Descent³: Mercenary. It adds a new campaign with seven complex levels, a new ship, three more multiplayer game modes and a number of fan-made levels.
  • A user-made mod, titled Pyromania, is an attempt to bring the gameplay of Descent and Descent II into Descent³ by replacing most of the weapons in Descent³ with several weapons from Descent and Descent II and with newer, more evenly-balanced weapons. Pyromania also introduces seven ships into the game, one of which is the Pyro-GX, the original ship from the first two games in the series.
  • Olympia Gold is a multiplayer racing mod for Descent³, created by the now-defunct Orbital Design Studios. It adds several ships and levels specifically designed for multiplayer racing.
  • The WindMine series is a collection of six colossal singleplayer levels made by Ron Lester. These levels offer new robots and textures, as well as a modified Homing Missile in one of the levels and a modified Proximity Mine in another. Consistent throughout all six levels, however, is the replacement of the Black Shark Missile with the Earthshaker.

Tools and Utilities

In addition, a number of fan-made tools and utilities are available. Here are some notable examples.

  • An unofficial game tracker page is set up at d3.descent.cx that allows players to record the IP Address of the multiplayer game they wished to play, then enter that IP Address in Descent³ to join that particular game.
  • Vortex is a chat client specifically made for Descent³ that also includes an up-to-the-minute list of multiplayer games, as well as several other features that allows players to enter multiplayer games with ease.

Descent³ Releases

Descent³ (1999)

Descent³ natively supports the Direct3D, Glide and OpenGL rendering APIs and has a completely rebuilt engine, capable of rendering outdoor environments with an automatic level-of-detail terrain system. The higher resolution and renderer change makes the textures appear flatter, however, and thus the game seems less ominous and spooky, rather being more colourful and brighter than its predecessors. Although reviewers praised and lauded it, gamers failed to take note, perhaps because of the high system requirements at the time, with the lack of timed and themed advertising. Instead of advertising, the creators opted to spend $50,000 on a LAN that benifited only current Descent players. Many people also point out that the most common control scheme at the time - mouse+keyboard - was disabled by default in multiplayer modes, in order to appease joystick users. The gameplay style also differed significantly from its predecessors, with 6-Degree of Freedom movements much more difficult to accomplish, and the inclusion of several badly balanced and overly powerful weapons. Ending up, Descent³ was not as successful as the developers were hoping for.

Descent³/Descent³: Mercenary Release

With the publication of Descent³: Mercenary, Interplay Productions also began to sell a special jewel case that has Descent³ and Descent³: Mercenary bundled together.

Descent³ GameTap Release

Sometime in 2006, Descent³ and its expansion pack, Descent³ Mercenary, was made available for download and play through Time Warner's GameTap broadband game service.[3]

Future of the series

The trademark for Descent was allowed to lapse by Interplay in 2002,[4] giving possibilities for the creation of games based on Descent, or perhaps even a sequel to Descent³. As of 2007, the only viable possibility for a game close enough to be considered a sequel to Descent³ is Core Decision.[5]

Notes and references

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  1. ^ ""Descent IV: Invasion" FAQ". Retrieved 2007-01-07.
  2. ^ "Descent IV: Canceled!". Retrieved 2007-01-07.
  3. ^ "GameTap's Descent³ Page".
  4. ^ "Descent game trademark at the United States Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Application and Registration Retrieval system". Retrieved 2007-01-07.
  5. ^ "Core Decision at Uplink Studios". Retrieved 2007-02-19.

See also

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