DescentBB

Sirius wrote:There is no reason you need a HOTAS controller such as the X45/52 to play a game like this. Throttle is a pointless waste of time in pretty much any Descent-type game.

Flight sims? Mechwarrior? Then yes it has a point (and some swear by them) - but not here.

OK that's pretty onesided - and pointless

This forum is and especially this post is populated by the diehard fans of a doomed game. Descent is history. If this new game was the future, a real publisher would have snatched it up and released it by now. Reality proves the point.

I have one word for you: Vaporware.

What makes you think a publisher hasn't? Just because it says TBA doesn't mean there is no publisher. It means just that, To Be Announced.

I thought I remember hearing that they had a publisher a while back. Not 100% certain but I think they do, unless they bugged out on them.


BTW, I'm not impressed by the X45. Matter of fact, I'm not impressed with Saitek in general from personal experience. They don't know how to make hat switches, software, and their sticks tend to lose calibration. I don't think the X45 has a hat switch, which some may be fine with, but for others, we can't slide without a decent stick. And yes, I agree that the throttle is utterly useless. I've tried useing a throttle in D3 and hated it. Unless the game will have a throttle system like Hellbender, but then we probably couldn't trichord half as well. But, hey, the stick probably has a pretty blue light!


Seriously though, I will be very dissapointed if they don't support the Logitech 3D Pro, G15 Keyboard, and the traditional Microsoft sticks.

fliptw wrote:

Top Wop wrote:No Steam-like system whatsoever unless there is an option to have a PHYSICAL copy on disk. IF a company goes belly up, thats it, no more game for you.

I have a copy of the sin episodes 1 on disk. my hard disk.

And if the hard drive crashes? Do you have a cd with which you can install on another hard drive?

[]V[]essenjah wrote:I thought I remember hearing that they had a publisher a while back. Not 100% certain but I think they do, unless they bugged out on them.


BTW, I'm not impressed by the X45. Matter of fact, I'm not impressed with Saitek in general from personal experience. They don't know how to make hat switches, software, and their sticks tend to lose calibration. I don't think the X45 has a hat switch, which some may be fine with, but for others, we can't slide without a decent stick. And yes, I agree that the throttle is utterly useless. I've tried useing a throttle in D3 and hated it. Unless the game will have a throttle system like Hellbender, but then we probably couldn't trichord half as well. But, hey, the stick probably has a pretty blue light!


Seriously though, I will be very dissapointed if they don't support the Logitech 3D Pro, G15 Keyboard, and the traditional Microsoft sticks.

The stick does have a hat. It has 3 of them, all 8-way. And the throttle can be customized to behave however you like. From what I have seen of the software for programming them it is pretty well point and click. You know you don't actually have to load the Saitek software also.

Most games recommend a controller but support a wide range. Most likely they are using directx to access the controllers like 9/10s of the rest of the games out there, so it will support any joystick not just the one. I doubt they are writting a driver for that stick. Nobody says you have to use that stick.

Top Wop wrote:

fliptw wrote:

Top Wop wrote:No Steam-like system whatsoever unless there is an option to have a PHYSICAL copy on disk. IF a company goes belly up, thats it, no more game for you.

I have a copy of the sin episodes 1 on disk. my hard disk.

And if the hard drive crashes? Do you have a cd with which you can install on another hard drive?

yep.
you can make backups.

Hmmm... the stick I had was terrible. That's all I know. The buttons were very well placed but the hat switch cut up my fingers and was a pain to use. This is where Logitech has them beat out in my book. Nice, concave, rubberized hat switch that is nice and comfy on the thumb. Also, my stick didn't come with any drivers at all. The instructions just told me to plug it in and calibrate it. Well, I did but it always lost calibration.


BTW, why wouldn't you be able to just make a backup on a disk?

I would rather just have everything I own in general in data format that I can store on external USB drives and have a few backup CD's around just in case. I find it a common problem that my disks get scratched or ruined. My boss said he could have bought two full sized trucks with all the CD's that he has found ruined.

Oh, uh, BTW. If you're having troubles with your hat switch, don't use it. The only things that my hat does are AT#2, Flare, Primary and Secondary autoselect. And I've had my stick about six months and haven't had a single problem with it. (It's a ST290 Pro BTW, $20 at Wally World, )

[]V[]essenjah wrote:Hmmm... the stick I had was terrible. That's all I know. The buttons were very well placed but the hat switch cut up my fingers and was a pain to use. This is where Logitech has them beat out in my book. Nice, concave, rubberized hat switch that is nice and comfy on the thumb. Also, my stick didn't come with any drivers at all. The instructions just told me to plug it in and calibrate it. Well, I did but it always lost calibration.

Yes but was the stick you are refering to the X45 or X52? Because they didn't list any old saitek they just said those two were recommended.

Lobber wrote:This forum is and especially this post is populated by the diehard fans of a doomed game. Descent is history. If this new game was the future, a real publisher would have snatched it up and released it by now. Reality proves the point.

I have one word for you: Vaporware.

Umm, have you read one word I said Lobber? I have SEEN the material they are working on. I don't mean the stuff that psionk posted on the High Octane BB, but behind the scenes stuff. I have seen the level editor IN ACTION in a private demo via zbriggs himself. Don't be stupid. These guys have been busting their asses to get this game released, and quite frankly I take offense to you calling Core Decision vaporware. The folks working on this game are GOOD people and do not deserve to be insulted like that.

You do know the definition of the word "setback" right? Oh, they DO already have a publisher, I'm just not at liberty to reveal the NAME of said publisher since that would void my NDA with Zach. Read my lips: This game IS going to happen. These people didn't spend two years (or more!) of their lives to release a dud.

Oh, name one game that has actually made the original stated release date. Go right ahead, I'll be waiting.

Sirius wrote:There is no reason you need a HOTAS controller such as the X45/52 to play a game like this. Throttle is a pointless waste of time in pretty much any Descent-type game.

Flight sims? Mechwarrior? Then yes it has a point (and some swear by them) - but not here.

Recommended Controllers: Keyboard & Mouse, SaitekX45 /X52

Bolded for emphasis. You can use any controller you want, they just recommend that particular combo.

Here we go again.

Must the same agreement keep coming up? This thread is starting to look like the CD forum with the same half wit agreements. Every thing that MD said true to the last. Not to brag but I to have heard and seen martial never released to the public. So I can tell you for a fact this game is coming along. Not to mention how times did Zack post his e-mail and phone for those who had doubts.

It seems bizare to be screaming vaporware when the product has only been slightly delayed. We aren't talking duke nukem forever here folks. I work in software, and products get delayed, thats a fact of life. We would need many more failures to show a pattern leading to vaporware.

Show a bit of support for the CD team folks. Give them the benefit of the doubt until evidence proves they do not deserve it.

What makes me chuckle is that when I wrote that I doubt CD would be released as announced, Zach Briggs insisted on keeping the announced data 100%. I think he is smarter now ...

Diedel wrote:What makes me chuckle is that when I wrote that I doubt CD would be released as announced, Zach Briggs insisted on keeping the announced data 100%. I think he is smarter now ...

I think you need to cut him some slack things were on target until his publisher unexpectly changed a bunch of things.

um.. lets see you doubters how long it takes to develop a game from scratch with a handful of people and long it''l take you. It takes a complete crew years to do this working on it 24/7. You guys Know this. These guy in CD DO have secret identities.

Go back to playing BF42 a while.

LOL

My plan has worked perfectly muwahahahaaa

MD-2389 wrote:I have also been privy to see how the level editor will work, and I can honestly say that it will put all the level editors for descent to SHAME! If you've EVER used a 3D modelling program at all, you will have no trouble at all making levels.

Not that hard to do. Not that I have the programming skills. Just saying, your comparing it too crappy technology made what? 7-8 years ago? Just thought I might point that out. But I know what your talking about. The editor they are using is probably very easy to use indeed.

There ain't anything wrong with DLE-XP, just the engine it's written for.

The same people running high octane are running uplink studios. High Octane currently exists for other purposes. Unfortunately, there is another company called High Octane that is also a male pornography company, and we did not want adolescents trying to go to the High Octane Software website and finding something they don't need to see. There are also other reasons, which will not be listed here.

And regarding the joystick, its totally customizable. You can use whatever you have plugged in as long as it is recognized as a gaming or mouse/keyboard device.

And a note on the progress: The engine is really smooth right now. I just ran it in a AMD 2800+ system, 1 gig RAM, with a 9600 Pro AGP card, and I got 20FPS in most areas. A 9600 pro doesn't even meet the requirements officially, since it doesn't support shader 3.0.

HighOctane_Jared wrote:And a note on the progress

Thanks for the update!

Sorry to hear about the "other" high octane web sight.

Yeah thanks for the info update. Keep 'em coming.

I trust this game will be released for review to all the major gaming mags prior to official release date?
Taking time to get the game right will be a BIG plus to the reviewers as all to many games are rushed with the intent of \"patching\" them after release.

woodchip wrote:I trust this game will be released for review to all the major gaming mags prior to official release date?
Taking time to get the game right will be a BIG plus to the reviewers as all to many games are rushed with the intent of "patching" them after release.

Agreed. One of the things that really killed D3 off, was poor advertising. Not to mention, many great movies don't gain the hype they NEED to become popular. Just look at Serenity. Great film, really bad advertising. Jokes were taken out of context to the point of not even being funny at all, flashy posters and graphics that made it look like just another annoying, flashy, overrated sci-fi B-grader. The commercials made those unaware of Firefly wince at the thought of, "Please, not another B-grade Star War's-like film with terrible acting."

As for D3, the only thing I remember seeing for the game, was a brief advertisement, talking about the first LAN tournament long before the game hit shelves. Other than that, no one really even payed attention to it.

Heya. I am sorry I didn't notice this post sooner, I have new hours at work and they are kicking my butt.
For those who do not know me, I am the Creative Director for Uplink Studios. The game content, sound, music, and play mechanics are all under my supervision (in fact I am personally making around 80% of it right now), and the game IS progressing albiet slowly at the moment. We have had a number of setbacks. One of them is NOT losing our publisher. We have publishing, in fact our publisher defined this as a AAA title. The move from the other site was prompted by many things, one of which was that I personally felt the PR for the project got off on the wrong foot by setting a lot of expectations that weren't real and so we decided to kind of reset the meter at this point. The existing content and writeups are partially outdated and I will get some fresh content for you guys ASAP (maybe over the weekend here) but its very difficult for me to juggle everything. Uplink is currently down to only a few active workers and we are all working on our own time at this point. Progress continues, steadily in fact, and we will NOT cut corners to get this game out. We may make changes to the overall design in order to accomodate the level of funding we currently have, but the goal remains to create a game with the same essence of balanced, competition grade gameplay as was found in Descent 1. I will put together a new PR package that we will launch on the uplink site and this time rather than opening the floodgates to the community we are taking a more silent approach so as to not mislead people and stay more in control of the real information. Much has been posted about CD that is now outdated, especially since my taking the creative director position, and we need to erase the old stale stuff and get the whole thing up to date as far as what the game is actually going to be like and what we are trying to accomplish with our first title. We will try our best to reestablish our web presence in a more professional and reassuring manner for those who worry about the status of the game. We realize that we are taking your baby and trying to evolve it into something new, and we have a huge respect for the existing descent community. We would really like to just turn out a solid game that gives you that same exhilaration you felt from the Descent series. Our focus is on fun gameplay rooted in the traditions of the original Descent. We are not going to copy it, I am going to distill its essence and use it to guide the creation of this new project. You can look forward to Core Decision being released at some point without fail, because even if we lost all our funding and publishing we would not give up production until it was done. I am not involved with this project because I want to make video games, I am involved with it because I feel the community is owed a new installation of our favorite game. Since it's currently impossible to make Descent 4, we will give you Core Decision, and hopefully it will fill in the gap and give this community something new to revel in. That is our goal. To not let the genre die and to breathe new life into it as well, rather than just attempting to keep it breathing. There will be something for everyone - joystickers, mousers, d3 players, and d1/2 players. More to come after I deal with getting chewed out for releasing all this internal info, it's worth it for me to let you all know the real story behind our progress, I feel we owe you all that.

p.s. I checked with zach before hitting submit and I didn't get chewed out :]

That sounds great! Thanks for dropping by an filling us in.

Nice to hear, pity I\"ll have to work over summer (for real this time) to upgrade my compy enough to be able to play CD reasonably.

Need.


use.


more.


paragraphs.





But good to hear.

So will Core Decision require a SM3.0 card for the final version?

That is a much more sound approach than the first one. I agree wholeheartedly that you should control information until the game is ready to be released. Richard Rouse the Third would agree with me (Game Design - Theory and Practice ©2005 ISBN 1-55622-912-7)

Do not create a sequel, create a new game, and that is what you are doing. I am going to teach myself C++ and other languages, because I also want to create games that are fun. Remember, \"is it fun?\" is the first, last and most important question that must be answered, all else is technicalities.

Some content as promised!

A 1280x1024 desktop image of one of our bots and a picture of one of our missiles, the Cryo Missile. The desktop is linked because its a huge image.

http://psion.sonicwave.biz/wraith_desktop_1280x1024.jpg

http://psion.sonicwave.biz/cryomissile.jpg

WOW!

Awwww man, I can't wait!

Way too cool!

Bah. what a hack.
That's a pic of my \"dish\" receiver! Just turned upside down. Boooo!

Shaaaaame on you Psion!

Very good images.
Thanks!

Nice detail on the texturing. Maybe for once a game that doesn't have sucky textures.

Duper wrote:Bah. what a hack.
That's a pic of my "dish" receiver! Just turned upside down. Boooo!

Shaaaaame on you Psion!

I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!

I really like what you are doing. Your models have a quite unique graphical style...

It'd look awesome with material properties, a bump map and some light casting from the glow.

But since I can't seem to see that, I have to presume this is a sample render from a modelling program or something. Fairly sure the game engine itself has at least most of the above.

It has a bump map its just not applied, I was trying to get some stuff out in a hurry to keep my word on content delivery. As for casting light that's called Luminosity and I am still working on getting it working for me under the CD Engine. I think I am missing a texture property or something as it's done kinda differently in this engine but it's really not something I am pushing the coders heavily for right now. On the other hand I AM pushing them to finish the alpha module so we can start testing with people, which is going very well btw. Development has ramped up a lot over the past couple weeks due to some VERY strong additions to the team. I am happy to welcome Sundar and Tom to the team, our new coders :]


-edit---------------------------------------------
Pandora THANK YOU for the compliment - little did you know you helped me prove myself to my superiors I am counting on that unique style to make this game what it should be, a proper NEW edition to the 360 shooter arena.

I hope the mines will look like real rock,
not just concrete and metal.

BTW, a unique style would be good textures from
different rocks and stones, nothing artificial -
something I never found until now in a game...

Good to hear that everything is fine and that you
are happy with your (new) coders!!!

Keep us informed until the new homepage will show
more content!