DescentBB

I understand that many D3 designs decisions have been gameplay induced. Still I believe they could have done better.

I don't like that wonder metal story at all. That's \"scientific\" explanation from the first half of the last century.

Something like the scientists have found a way to utilize the dark energy in the universe, opening a virtually unexhaustible energy reservoir. Not this unspeakable wonder metal alloy nonsense. I know this doesn't sound nice, but this metal stuff could make me scream. This is an idea a teenager may come up with.

Diedel wrote:Something like the scientists have found a way to utilize the dark energy the universe, opening a virtually unexhaustible energy reservoir. Not this unspeakable wonder metal alloy nonsense. I know this doesn't sound nice, but this metal stuff could make me scream. This is an idea a teenager may come up with.

Nah. If your making up SF explanations, the most important thing is that you stay consistent. This version is no sillier than "Dark energy". No explanation will please everyone.

Kilarin,

the minor difference is that there is dark energy, or there very likely is dark energy, due to current physical models, and therefore you can halfway legitimately fantasize about finding a way to use it. That metal explanation doesn't make any sense at all if you know just a little bit about such stuff.

yes, current theory allows for dark energy. It doesn't allow for it being anything that could pump an enormous amount of power into a space ship, heck, actually, it's only something that seems to have an affect on a galactic scale.

Personally, I'd have gone for zero point energy. BUT, this has the same draw back as using dark energy for the story, why does the ship run OUT of energy? if you are drawing on the structure of the universe for power, then you don't need to pick up energy, and your ship should be constantly regenerating it's energy reserves.

A mini fusion reactor shouldn't run out of energy too and need recharging ...

Dark energy makes up for about 25% of the universes mass, theoretically and explains where all that 'missing' mass current theory requires is.

Anway, I would like some more up-to-date theory, not the magic crystal type one. Let's have some hair raising idea about the universe's energy, or just any hair raising energy sucking/generating idea, but please not another cryptonite/super alloy rip off. Even if the idea is crap, it must be convincing.

You guy do realize you're hotly debating fiction...
thanks for noticing the quote at the top of that post. Kilarin has the right idea, we need something renewable - not infinite - or we wouldnt have a game.

Why don't we just make the ship tap into the very energy that binds atoms together and its super weapon will be that it destroys the fabric of reality. It will also serve you toast with jam in a french maid's costume.

You want to shoot people or marvel at your ship?
I want to shoot people.

http://psion.sonicwave.biz/resination_movement.wmv

WARNING.
THIS IS AN UNTEXTURED LEVEL JUST TO TEST MOVEMENT.
THIS IS A VERY OLD MOVIE.
THIS IS NOT WHAT THE GAME LOOKS LIKE RIGHT NOW EXCEPT FOR THE MOVEMENT.

psionik wrote:http://psion.sonicwave.biz/resination_movement.wmv

WARNING.
THIS IS AN UNTEXTURED LEVEL JUST TO TEST MOVEMENT.
THIS IS A VERY OLD MOVIE.
THIS IS NOT WHAT THE GAME LOOKS LIKE RIGHT NOW EXCEPT FOR THE MOVEMENT.

Way to cool!

That looks great!

oh nice! thanks psionik!

psionik wrote: It will also serve you toast with jam in a french maid's costume.

WOOT!
I was hoping y'all would include this feature!
Thanks Jer!

The Movie looks sweet! The music I can do without.

Diedel wrote:

Sedwick wrote:

d3jake wrote:There was one level... don't remember it now, but when I went into a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE room that it had it felt like I was flying in molasses, not getting anywhere as fast as I should've been.

Like that "fuel station" Monsterball level, with the four massive cylinders containing the goals? Simple textures don't help much for edge tracing, either.

Sedwick,

actually the hostages were turned into food for the MD ...

Um, ok. Although I'm not quite sure how that relates to Fuel Depot being so massive or how movement through it feels slow. Unless those tanks are what they use to contain the ground-up hostages? I suppose with all those invaded mines, the attacked miners could fill a pretty big space. And piloting through liquified hostages would slow one down, but I'm sure they wouldn't have the consistency of molasses. I just wonder what refinement techniques they used to make the emulsion transparent...

Of course the hostages are turned into food when being picked up by the player, what do you think? Have you ever seen dead hostages flying from your ship when you got blown up? There's only crap floating around, and some powerups. See?

Flying through huge levels feels like slow motion because humans judge their speed by the speed of things passing by, and that speed is estimated by the speed their view angle changes. In a huge level, everything you can see is far away, so changes its view angle very slowly, which makes flying in there appear very slow.

Heh, I see what you mean, Diedel. I had noticed there were no hostages thrown from the exploding Pyro. I figured they were just incinerated in the blast. With the Star Trek transporter/food replicator theory, the pattern buffers would be incinerated, producing the same effect: lost hostages.

And yeah, I understand about the whole big room perspective thing. I actually created a cheapie 3D engine in QBASIC as a HS sophomore. Got a wireframe cube and pyramid to spin and slide around, and I implemented perspective to make its size change with distance from the viewer. Then in college my Graphics I course taught me how to use nested matrix transforms to handle all the movements, which I found fascinating. Oh, to be armed with such knowledge back when computer graphics was just starting out...

Just don't over-clutter the mines with junk that the ships get hung up on. Or, allow the ships to slide or bump so that they bounce around them when a collision is detected.

I agree with Valin on that.

Ever try reducing the drag a bit on the ship movement Psy? You can have some interesting fun when you toy with that a bit.

Hattrick wrote:

psionik wrote: It will also serve you toast with jam in a french maid's costume.

WOOT!
I was hoping y'all would include this feature!
Thanks Jer!

X3!!!!

The movie is encouraging.

[]V[]essenjah wrote:Just don't over-clutter the mines with junk that the ships get hung up on. Or, allow the ships to slide or bump so that they bounce around them when a collision is detected.

I agree with Valin on that.

Ever try reducing the drag a bit on the ship movement Psy? You can have some interesting fun when you toy with that a bit.

There will be nothing for the ships to hang on.

I reduced the drag on the ship, yeah, as I was tweaking the movement. I haven't felt that sick in a loooong time. In fact I am getting ill thinking about it.

I reduced the drag on the ship, yeah, as I was tweaking the movement. I haven't felt that sick in a loooong time. In fact I am getting ill thinking about it.

Awww..... come on.... your stomach couldn't handle that? I never had a problem with physics like that. Made it more fun.

Ohh.. that one.

That clip is pretty bland, but effective. Thanks Psi!

You guys need to learn to fly. duck around stuff.. don't try to fly through it.

Duper wrote:Ohh.. that one.

That clip is pretty bland, but effective. Thanks Psi!

You guys need to learn to fly. duck around stuff.. don't try to fly through it.

O man I hope you aren't trashing my flying, I might have to load D3 on my PC just to come spoon feed you your own words

Also... I warned you it was bland!!

Hattrick wrote:HAHA!!!!!!
Thats great!!! Diedel telling someone they have an attitude problem.

WOOOOOOOOOO!

Jer, quit bantering and get back to work bro!

BTW, whens the next time you'll be down this way? the mrs and I would like to have y'all over for some BBQ.

Hahah. I actually just finished up the shell for a mean little multiplayer level and I'm gonna take a break and enjoy my weekend.


All you had to say was BBQ my man. Next time I head to Bob's I will talk to the wife about heading down to your place after.

psionik wrote:

Duper wrote:Ohh.. that one.

That clip is pretty bland, but effective. Thanks Psi!

You guys need to learn to fly. duck around stuff.. don't try to fly through it.

O man I hope you aren't trashing my flying, I might have to load D3 on my PC just to come spoon feed you your own words

bring it on hoard scum.

Duper wrote:

psionik wrote:

Duper wrote:Ohh.. that one.

That clip is pretty bland, but effective. Thanks Psi!

You guys need to learn to fly. duck around stuff.. don't try to fly through it.

O man I hope you aren't trashing my flying, I might have to load D3 on my PC just to come spoon feed you your own words

bring it on hoard scum.

and yes you did say it was bland. I'll sit down now.

Been watching this thread for a while now. And not to fuel the fire, but I really think both parties are somewhat guilty here. It's starting to remind me of the Jerry Springer Show.


You both have been providing fine works. So stay out of each others tracks and no one will get run over in the process.

psi, what level is that from the resination_movement.wmv? it looks really familiar to me. i think i have played a lot of d3-games in that one. if i recall right that one was a great level, released not so long ago but wasnt very popular to most players cause of lack of the md? well i could swear i have played a lot of fun games in that thing

DigiJo wrote:psi, what level is that from the resination_movement.wmv? it looks really familiar to me. i think i have played a lot of d3-games in that one. if i recall right that one was a great level, released not so long ago but wasnt very popular to most players cause of lack of the md? well i could swear i have played a lot of fun games in that thing

Resination, by Vander.
My favorite D3 level :]

Cool video!

Pay no attention to the naysayers. Many people throughout history are told they cannot do this or that, but they always prove them wrong. Thats how it is.

Yeah thats fine I can see where my friends are gently nudging me and so I will change gears to the professional PR guy approach to these posts. Unfortunately I cannot continue an informal relationship with the DBB because the spotlight is getting too large, I need to be more palatable and you are all correct, I honestly should just not reply to the bulk of it. Hell even the people causing issues basically recommend I don't reply, the way I see it. Lol.

I plan to get out some really cool videos soon so just hang in there, I make no time promises this time. I think at this point you all know we are here working on this, I will try to get the content out as often as I can. Also don't forget we are working towards a BETA here so lord knows when we actually have one here in a bit I will be having more than one beer that night.

I think that I\"ll try to find as many bug as I can and see if I can break it, as well as test it on my slower computer. the BETA that is. I wonder if it'll have MP support....

Anyway, we've survived this long with what you've given us, I think we can survive a bit longer without a ton of new information. we've switched into a \"hurry up and wait\" mode

With the new piece of the story you gave us, Psi (the thing with the geodrive) - I wonder if the background story at the homepage of uplinkstudios is actual anymore (syncinite crystal). Maybe the story has changed and no one had altered the homepage...

Maybe...

Cool Video!
Keep talking about the game...

psionik wrote:...

http://psion.sonicwave.biz/resination_movement.wmv

WARNING.
THIS IS AN UNTEXTURED LEVEL JUST TO TEST MOVEMENT.
THIS IS A VERY OLD MOVIE.
THIS IS NOT WHAT THE GAME LOOKS LIKE RIGHT NOW EXCEPT FOR THE MOVEMENT.

psi,

not bad at all actually SWEET! But who is the pilot? You need someone with grace "like me" to show the fluidity of movement

KB

That's psion playing. I can tell from the style.

Jer, how about releasing a video of movement without so much wall bumping. Seriously though, thanks for the update and can't wait for more!

I never hit any walls in that video!!

psionik wrote:I never hit any walls in that video!!

Then what were all the scrape marks from?

KB is volunteering for early CD playtesting, hehe.

Me too.

psionik wrote: Resination, by Vander.
My favorite D3 level :]

Where can i download this level? I can't find it

heh... I downloaded it from someone who already had it. =P

I agree, the dark energy/zero-point energy story would be cool, but psion's story isn't bad either.

I think the new ship is awesome... but it needs a little bit more of a back to it, in my opinion. That is, there isn't much behind the cockpit.

I actually don't like Descent... I think there are too many missiles that are too strong, i.e. one-hit kills in multiplayer, even though this flaw isn't as prevalent in D1/2 as it is in D3. That's one of the things I liked about that Half-Life mod idea, that there aren't going to be any over-powered missiles in multiplayer. I also don't like the idea that different ships can do different things than other ships (move faster, more firepower, etc.). To me, at least, that is cheap. So, I am glad that Core Decision only has one ship. Make all players equal. I like that. I wish some of the powerups from Descent IV would appear in Core Decision... but the ones I have in mind wouldn't make sense, since devices like afterburners and cloaking devices are supposed to come standard in CD. Oh, well...

I just googled around a bit; took a while indeed but eventually I found the level.

remember Neo, that Descent wasn't designed as a multiplayer only game. It's arsenal is geared toward killing bots. The Descent series is old game, before multiplayer was really big. So if things are a bit heavy, that's why.

I'd also like to point out (again!) that server admins/hosts have the ability to restrict any weapon or ship. And I have noticed that a lot of people don't mind \"boating\". And with full shields, there aren't that many missles that will kill you in one shot. Mega's, Frags, BS, and SM. and that's it. That's half. Megas and bs are the only ones that will give you one shot, one kill in all situations.

Though...... mortars and napalm do a pretty good job of killing you in a single hit.