DescentBB

(Sorry in advance if this has been asked, I tried searching the forums but couldn't find it.)

I really enjoyed the Descent series for multiplayer. I know Forsaken was hated by many but I still enjoyed that just because I like 360 degree type games.

It seems like there has been no other games in this genre since D3. Occasionally over the last few years I have done a quick search on the web to see if any new games of this type have been released, but come up with nothing except people asking the same question.

I've tried modifying all three Quake engines to allow 6 degrees of freedom but ran into problems for all of them. Hopefully Doom3 will allow this, but if not, I would love to know if there is currently a popular game like Descent being played or if D3 is the latest option.

i like lander (by psygosis).

it's kindof similar to descent, but you control a lander: a futuristic helicopter like craft. so the control method is way different.

the demo is a 10 meg download. i recommend you try it anyway. (it may need to be run win98 in compatability mode)

AFAIK D3 is it. There's talk on this BB about modifying the UT2k4 engine to have something like D4..

There was Aquanox 1 and 2, but it wasnt fully 360 degrees of freedom, but pretty close to it.

Modding the UT2k4 engine would probably be the best for a Descent mod.

*SIGH*

Still believe in fairies, Mobius?

fairies with AFTERBURNERS!


zoom

LegendLength in the DVD edition of UT2K4 there is a step by step instruction VTM to extend a class in UT2K4 to create a new vehicle. The Raptor just needs tweaking. It will be done one day. If you can mod please go for it. I don't need D4; just get me in the air in a 360 degree-6DOF Raptor. Oh, with an AFTERBUNER, thanks roid.

Will I be advanced to DBB Admiral when I do it?

Hehe.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will look into the Unreal engine when I get a chance.

It just baffles me that no one has made a game like this lately. 6 degrees of freedom seems like a logical extension to quake-style movement. With the hundreds of thousands of people who play CS & other games daily, you'd think there would be a good number of customers for this untapped niche market.

roid wrote:fairies with AFTERBURNERS!


zoom

Thats a good one Roid!

Logical extension, yes. Profitable extension, no. The thing is, Descent was way over the heads of most PC gamers. It's worse now that FPS games rule the day. However, as FPS games have started to introduce more vehicular combat (UT2K4's Raptor, Battlefield's airplanes, etc), the day will probably return when we'll have a full-on flight/arcade sim like Descent.

I can agree that movement is hard and the average FPS player would have trouble binding 6 keys instead of 4 (ignoring roll as well). And it can be uncomfortably disorienting travelling at strange angles instead of perpendicular to the ground.

But after playing Battlefield Vietnam lately, hardly a game goes by where 80% of the team is hanging around the chopper pad hoping to get into one. The choppers are hard to control but I think this makes it a fun challenge for people, not to mention the thrill of floating and flying.

This was the feeling I got when playing the original Descent; a whole new experience and challenge utilising the 6 degrees of freedom. So while I agree that it might not be profitable, I don't think that it is certainly the case.

After playing other games as well as Descent, I would not be opposed to the idea of a sci-fi combined-arms simulator similar to BF1942 in mechanics but with your 6DOF fighters as well. Despite all my efforts in other games, that is still what I seem to be best at piloting...