DescentBB

Word on the street is that High octane software is making a descent-like clone. I was in kali last night and a guy by the name of Superballz was discussing it. he stated that he had Bryan Aamot (of Brainware) and Matt Toschlog onboard to name a few.


I shot off an email to development@highoctanesoftware.com and received a reply that they were looking for more people that loved the game like we did.

so maybe there is something to this.. who knows?

word on the street?

silly canadians.

Can you get something to show us? Just a PR statement or something?

Please feel free to send more people also, we are looking for quite a few
more and we need people who loved the game as much as we did.


Thank You.


Zachary Briggs, Executive Producer
HighOctane Software

I'll be beta tester #2

When THQ dissolved Outrage after Alter Echo, some members were redistributed among THQ companies. Toschlog was not one of them. And given the positioning of the company in Michigan, I'd say it's quite possible it's true.

They need a website overhaul though.

I was about to edit my post to include the bit about Michigan but my UPS gave out. Fricken wiring in this house is driving me nuts.

Looks like this might be the Descent resurrection we all knew would happen. You know, the one where the name "Descent" dies. I'd love to see Interplay try to sue this company for ANYTHING.

Hrrmm at auto-responders ....

Duper, I got those also, then within minutes I got a response from a person.

I'd love to Beta test any such software

Same here!

well he did state the former CEO of Outrage.

I don't know if this is concrete or anything.. i'm just telling you what I've heard.

Official Word:

Matt Toschlog wrote:I'm not working with anyone on making a Descent clone. Some guy called
me up and asked me a bunch of questions about a project he's working on,
but I'm not helping in any way.

I was the one who spoke with Matt. He is doing consulting. He doesn't have a coding hand in it. We have been conversing with him about it because it originally came from his mind. He is offering us assistance; he is not helping in the aspect of development. When trying to share a vision in it's clearest it is best to go to the source of it, I.E. we contact Matt. If there is anything else I can assist with I will be more than happy to.

To answer the other question yes we are working on a clone.

Sincerely,
Zachary Briggs, Executive Producer
HighOctane Software

Keep coming back to the DBB and posting updates, pics, movies, etc and one thing, make it easy to do MOD's for.

Finally happy to see someone making a clone of the worlds best game.

Also, we will be launching and community for the new game. I just hope that the stir hasn't frightened anyone. The support from the player is extremely essential to the survival of the game, we feel that there needs to be a level of trust and communication between us and the supporting community.

Zach

Sweet... now for the big question: a clone of D1/2 or a clone of D3?

D1 and D2. Please keep in mind it is not part of the Descent series. It is a game of its own that will be Descent-like. It will be an XYZ-axis, action/deathmatch style game with mazes. Different storyline and similar gameplay.

Trichording? Fusion + Fusion bug?

What does that mean? We don't use the fusion engine.

Well, I was referring to overall gameplay style... D3's action was definitely missile-based, as opposed to D1/2's awesome dogfights and tunnel ratting.

Definately dogfight based. I'm an old adrenaline junkie.

Descent like is good. I think anything Descent like is a step in the right direction! (as opposed to "aint never gonna happen") Good luck with the project. I'm sure most people here would be happy to help (I think}

I nominate zbriggs as a DBB friend!

zbriggs wrote:D1 and D2.

So, technically, is it similar to the cube-based engine D1/D2 used, or is it more like the arbitrary vertex/face engine of D3?

When will your web site be updated with stuff?

It uses a 3D engine. The engine is very fast and behaves very much like the D1/D2 engines.

Given the circumstances I have all hands on the game. If anyone would like to help I would appreciate it.

zbriggs wrote:What does that mean? We don't use the fusion engine.

Fusion is a weapon in the Descent Series. You charge it up by holding down the fire button and then release blobs that do damage proportionate to how long you charge it. There is a bug where if you hit 2 ships that are next to each other, it kills them in one hit no matter what. Using this bug has become part of Descent strategy and it teaches people not to "bunch up". I think this is what he was referring to.

Triple chording is thrusting along the X, Y, and Z axes simultaneously which results in a velocity that is the vector addition of the X, Y, and Z components. You go the square root of 3 times as fast if you triple chord. This was originally a bug in Descent 1 but Descent wouldn't be Descent without it.

I personally never cared for the Fusion cannon. My old love was the Gauss Cannon and the Phoniex. Interesting to know that though.

Ahhh, man after my own heart Gauss and Pheonix with a side of Mercury Missle Add me to your list of wouldbe beta testers Zack. Stresstest at yahoo.com

chug chug chug boom.

that always rules.

Anyone who wants in on the beta testing of the remake needs to email development at highoctanesoftware.com. I HATE SPAMMERS!

Have a great day.

Zachary Briggs, Executive Producer
HighOctane Software

Ok, show me some pretty pictures of that engine actually working and I might be interested in developeing some 3D models.

However, will this team be internet based? Or will it be based around a particular residential area? The problem is that I can't move at the moment. I'm trying to help my folks out.

I use Milkshape 3D, Dogwaffle, and GIMP which are legal. Will this engine allow for animated weapons/ships and some nice partical effects?

This isn't a definite yes being that I am allready involved in a project of my own for Descent 3 and my Mom recently broke both of her ankles so I pretty much have to take care of her.

Also, how long would you need until you could use my help? I would also have to discuss this with my team. I would prefer to finish my current level set first. Anyway, just a few questions I figured I would ask.

zbriggs wrote:I personally never cared for the Fusion cannon. My old love was the Gauss Cannon and the Phoniex. Interesting to know that though.

Fusion is the ultimate Descent primary weapon, it and the mass driver get the most heavy use. Fusion is a very high skill weapon because it requires precicse timing to charge it fully and accurately predict the other pilots because the shots themselves are so slow, however a solid hit with fully charged Fusion is a one hit kill.

Nice to hear that there is new hope to our oppressed community! I just hope that you will add "eyecandy" to make it more like a D4 than a D1 because otherwise I cannot imagine how to sell a game like that. Oh erm: Do you want to sell it or will it be freeware or something. What about a publisher?

and the Mass Driver is fun for MD hoe's like myself, 3 rounds + 0 latency = opponent dead! =)

IMO the MD would be totally unsuited to a dogfighting environment. Part of the challenge of a dogfight is knowing how much to lead your opponent.

Depending on ping diff, you have to lead th MD also.

I'd beta test this for sure. d3alien at hotmail.com

Yes! Finally! Not only is it a Descent-like game but one that will mimic the best of the series (D1 and D2, but hopefully more D2 than D1. )

Thank you Mr. Briggs! You've got mail for a beta tester.

I just sent my e-mail off also. Now I'm going to post this up on our team's board, so I'm sure you'll be hearing from more of us.