Q&A session with High-Octane

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 2:09 pm

I'm sure you all were waiting for this, so I have set up a Question and Answer period with the High-Octane crew to be held on irc.gamesurge.net, channel #High-Octane

there will be two sessions. One on Monday (this labor day) at 3 PM EST. And a second on Thursday at 9 PM EST

Vlider · Post by **Vlider** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:54 am

I want a fishtank in my ship.

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:31 am

And how about a warp drive prototype that wont malfunction.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 9:39 am

I second the fishtank, while we are waiting for some switch puzzle we can look at the relaxing tropical fish swimming.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 9:42 am

So you are assuming salt-water? Those are much harder to upkeep. Can I just have a fresh water fish tank in my ship?

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:14 am

Sorry about not posting this on PD yet; I've been getting 500 server errors whenever I try to make a news post or update the POTD. I can't even create a new topic

. I did, however, revive an older thread about High Octane and post the news in there, so hopefully someone will find out.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 11:08 am

Yeah, I suppose we would keep it optional, you can have fresh or salt water if you want.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:35 pm

will it have a bunker with an unlimited supply of sandbags?

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:54 pm

Can we get a chatlog?

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:59 pm

DCrazy wrote:Can we get a chatlog?

It's gonna be huge, I will post a link to a raw log if you want.

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:00 pm

That would be good

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:08 pm

Ok, interview is over:

http://xamindar.radnimax.com/GameSurge- ... erview.log

Note, I haven't edited anything so there is a lot to weed through.

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:15 pm

By the way, looks like it will be a great game and still live up to our D1 desires. I look forward to playing it!

It looks like it wont come out until summer of 2006 though, quite a wait.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:35 pm

nice job xam

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:23 pm

Ack, just realized. Here is the same log "converted" for you windows users:
http://xamindar.radnimax.com/GameSurge- ... indows.log

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:38 pm

Sorry I missed the chat. Life got in the way.

Name sounds ok.
Release date sucks but thats part of life.
Multiplayer options rock.
Having only indoor levels to start kinda is bland after having D3.
1 multiplayer ship rocks.

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:14 pm

Cube based? Goog gad, I've gotta ask more about that on Thursday.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:32 pm

anyone wanna do a quick summary for those of us who have no attention spans?

ReadyMan · Post by **ReadyMan** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 11:52 pm

I'm actually disappointed in having only 1 ship.
It's all a matter of balancing. D3 was fine with 3 ships...I can name a dozen people who could dominate with any ship in most any circumstance (fi: tank battles in apparition...they could keep up with a phoenix, and the phoenix did quite well as long as they didnt give the tank a belly or a top view --making an md shot easy).
bleh.

if it has to be one ship tho, fine.

TheCops · Post by **TheCops** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:20 am

unless someone on the team has a trust fund i don't see how this game is getting off the ground... with the descent community? ahahhahahah. there is like 200 people left who gives a rats arse.
i'm not "a gamer" or anything, but they didn't answer my questions... at all.

like how far along are you? it's a simple question... no answer. it just seems like they let the cat out of the bag when they are in 'fantasy' mode. where is the evidence and why should my caulk be hard over this?

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:46 am

ReadyMan wrote:I'm actually disappointed in having only 1 ship.
It's all a matter of balancing. D3 was fine with 3 ships...I can name a dozen people who could dominate with any ship in most any circumstance (fi: tank battles in apparition...they could keep up with a phoenix, and the phoenix did quite well as long as they didnt give the tank a belly or a top view --making an md shot easy).
bleh.

if it has to be one ship tho, fine.

It sounds like "the guys" are gearing this game more toward what D1 was like with some perks.

In which case there was only 1 ship. Both D1 and D2 had only one ship. It was kinda interesting when D3 came out with its 3 +1 ships.

Vlider · Post by **Vlider** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 4:53 am

Well the good thing with 1 ship, that eliminates ship bitchin

Duper wrote:
ReadyMan wrote:I'm actually disappointed in having only 1 ship.
It's all a matter of balancing. D3 was fine with 3 ships...I can name a dozen people who could dominate with any ship in most any circumstance (fi: tank battles in apparition...they could keep up with a phoenix, and the phoenix did quite well as long as they didnt give the tank a belly or a top view --making an md shot easy).
bleh.

if it has to be one ship tho, fine.
It sounds like "the guys" are gearing this game more toward what D1 was like with some perks. In which case there was only 1 ship. Both D1 and D2 had only one ship. It was kinda interesting when D3 came out with its 3 +1 ships.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:14 am

No afterburner cooler either, the ships do start with a burner tho.

Work sucks, I'll try to stop by the chat if I am still awake tonight.

Sligar · Post by **Sligar** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:18 am

Did I read that right, that beta testing will begin in november? That's coming up pretty fast... if beta is in november, then I'm guessing release would be within 6 mos after that? Unless the beta is only for the engine and there's a lot of content to create afterwards or something.

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:46 am

Something like that. You don't expect dev companies to tell you exactly what their development schedule is unless you're funding them or something, but they could well have the engine further advanced than anything else.

Skyalmian · Post by **Skyalmian** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:09 am

Mr. Perfect wrote:Cube based?

That irked many, me included, so I asked for specifics.

[09/06/2004 15:01] <[D3k]Skyalmian[]> Suncho said: "our engine is cube-based". It isn't <literally>, is it?
[09/06/2004 15:02] <{HighOct}Zach> OK.
[09/06/2004 15:02] <{HighOct}Zach> The engine uses a poly-mesh system that allows for extremely detailed shapes and structures.
[09/06/2004 15:03] <{HighOct}Zach> Most maps can be designed in 3D Studio
[09/06/2004 15:03] <{HighOct}Zach> Lightwave.
[09/06/2004 15:03] <{HighOct}Zach> Gmax
[09/06/2004 15:03] <{HighOct}Zach> Maya
[09/06/2004 15:03] <[D3k]Skyalmian[]> Thank you for clarifying that. Done.
[09/06/2004 15:03] <{HighOct}Zach> and we even have and export for Descent Mission Build.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:46 am

I really hope that building is only cube-based. I'd hate to have to light everything by hand again.

Not to mention that having a solid wall comprised of 12 or 14 rectangles where one would suffice is a waste.

And doors better not be sprites.

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 9:11 am

or client-side

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:44 am

I have a feeling you won't have to light things by hand DC

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:56 am

Just so long as it's not like building with DMB2. Sure, DMB2 was simple, but you got simple results.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:25 am

Well according to that log, one can build in DMB 2 and export it. But you can also build in Maya or 3DS or whatever.

And I hope that we can use Diedel's DLE-XP instead of Bryan Aamot's DMB2. But apparently Aamot is on the Core Decision team, so who knows?

Vlider · Post by **Vlider** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:29 am

i thought the session was on tuesday...?

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:47 am

tuesday? no no.. thusday...

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 2:48 pm

I read the log, and I'm impressed. I particularly like the concept of reduced motion capabilities in newbie levels/servers, that sounds like a good concept. This implies only bi-chording too, which is something the hot-shots won't like. In fact it's quite possible that newbies, used to the reduced motion could cream pros who aren't used to it!

All round, it sounds to me like the HO team are well advanced in the concept, and the concept seems good to me. And this from a firm D3 fan who isn't a fan of D1 *or* D2.

I'm very happy the gauntlet 1v1 mode is going to be P2P - that's a far superior solution to C/S 1v1 games. I've always maintained P2P is the only fair way to play 1v1 games.

Good Q&A session.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 3:14 pm

Mobius wrote:I read the log, and I'm impressed. I particularly like the concept of reduced motion capabilities in newbie levels/servers, that sounds like a good concept. This implies only bi-chording too, which is something the hot-shots won't like. In fact it's quite possible that newbies, used to the reduced motion could cream pros who aren't used to it!

The whole point of that is to segregate the pros from the newbies, while training to newbies to play with the pros. Sounds like a great idea.

Mobius also wrote:I'm very happy the gauntlet 1v1 mode is going to be P2P - that's a far superior solution to C/S 1v1 games. I've always maintained P2P is the only fair way to play 1v1 games.

Maybe not the only fair way if you're playing on a dedicated server, but P2P in anything but 1v1 is awfully unfair.

I hope their Client/Server solution is permissible ONLY.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:55 pm

for those of you that don't want to download a text file

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3548

"I hope their Client/Server solution is permissible ONLY."

ugh. that's just like quake.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:09 pm

Concur DCrazy, P2P is only good for 1v1 games - or for games where the players are ALL within close distance of each other. Having ANY player more than 50ms away from the other players makes P2P a living hell!

One thing which WOULD help multiplayer P2P games is a HUD option where we could add a person's ping time to you below theuir HUD NAMES, hovering above the ship.

That's at least tell you how far to lead the laggers!

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:16 pm

d1x had a ping meter that would put ping (and loss) next to the player's name in the score list. I found it quite useful.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:30 pm

Ferno, is the next session this Thursday or next? I think you said the 16th in the e-mail you sent me, but by the wording of your post, I get the impression that it's actually the 9th.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:46 pm

Ferno: so? If that's what it takes to eliminate some of the advantages and disadvantages to being either an HPB or LPB, so be it. Plus it can cut down on cheaters if all the client does is display what the server tells it to. If the server is keeping track of capacity, ship velocity/position and such I can't edit a tablefile to hack my speed, hit sphere, or weapon capacity.

Come to think of it, that would be pretty processor-intesive, wouldn't it? Maybe it could be an option integrated into the dedicated server, and it would show up in the server list a la Valve Anti-Cheat.