Descent 3

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Descent 3
Developer(s)	Outrage Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Interplay Productions
Engine	Fusion Engine
Version	1.4
Platform(s)	PC (Windows, Linux), Mac OS
Release date	June 11, 1999
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (PC-13)
Media	CD-ROM
System requirements	Minimum 200 MHz Pentium Processor 32 MB RAM 3D accelerator video card with 4 MB of texture RAM 4x CD-ROM drive 210 MB hard disk space DirectX 6 certified sound card DirectX 6.1 (for Windows operating systems only) Service Pack 3 or greater (for Windows NT)
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick, Gamepad

Descent 3 is the third and final game in the line of Descent computer games, well known for the use of six degrees of freedom and true 3D rendering technology.

Descent 3 constituted a major technical upgrade over its two predecessors, introducing many ground breaking graphical techniques like portal rendering, procedural texturing and advanced lighting and was probably the most graphically advanced game of its time. However, this was also very taxing for hardware at that time. Although previous attempts to create official and fan-made sequels to Descent 3 were scrapped due to unsatisfactory sales^{[citation needed]} and issues concerning ownership rights,^[1][2] Interplay has plans to create a sequel should they secure funding for it.^[3]

Descent 3 has an official expansion pack, titled Descent 3: Mercenary, although fans of the game have also made other modifications.

Contents 1 Story 2 Changes from Descent and Descent II 2.1 Engine 2.1.1 Engine Features 2.2 Controls 2.3 Gameplay 2.4 Robots 2.5 Ships 2.6 Weapons 2.7 Multiplayer 3 Descent 3: Mercenary 3.1 Descent 3: Mercenary Storyline 3.2 Additions to Descent 3 4 Unofficial Gameplay Modifications 4.1 Tools and Utilities 5 Descent 3 Releases 5.1 Descent 3 (1999) 5.2 Descent 3/Descent 3: Mercenary Release 5.3 Descent 3 GameTap Release 6 Future of the series 7 Notes and references 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Story

See also: Descent II#Storyline

The storyline of Descent 3 is shown through several cutscenes throughout the game, as well as in in-game mission briefings and debriefings.

Previously in Descent II, Material Defender 1032 had narrowly escaped the destruction of an alien planetoid he was investigating on orders of the Post Terran Mining Corporation (PTMC), a megacorporation. He was about to return to Earth to collect his reward, but without warning, a malfunction occurred with the prototype warp drive in the ship he was flying.

In the opening movie, we see the (unconscious) Material Defender's ship drifting into the sun. At the very last moment, just as his ship begins to burn up due to excess heat, a salvage vessel saves the ship. The Material Defender is extracted from his ship, and it is disposed of in the sun.

As the Material Defender recovers, he learns that he was rescued by the Red Acropolis Research Team. The director of the research team tells him of strange things that were happening in the PTMC, as well as the fact that one of her acquaintances in the PTMC was killed by a robot. What made the Red Acropolis suspicious of the PTMC was when they denied that they had ever employed him, even though he had worked with them for years. The Red Acropolis had tried to notify the Collective Earth Defense (CED), a large anti-terrorist and police group, of the PTMC's actions, but they took no action; they dared not mess with the PTMC.

The director also tells the Material Defender that while he was clearing the PTMC's mines of a computer virus, the PTMC were actually testing and modifying it. The virus, she said, was extremely advanced nanotechnology. She wants to stop the virus, and she wants the Material Defender for the job. After some persuasion and offers from her, he gives in. At this point, he is shown an animation which revealed that the PTMC had deliberately tried to kill him by disabling the warp drive on his ship.

[edit] Changes from Descent and Descent II

[edit] Engine

Descent 3 utilizes an indoor and outdoor engine in tandem, collectively called the Fusion Engine. The engine supports bump mapping (a revolutionary feature at the time of its release), dynamic colored lighting, relatively complex environments, and weather effects. Unlike contemporary first-person shooters such as Unreal or Quake, Descent 3 does not rely on brushes — three dimensional bodies forming the level walls, doors and so on — but on basic vertex/face modeling, (where two-dimensional planes form the walls).

[edit] Engine Features

The Descent 3 engine had a relatively broad feature set, and with some fairly unusual elements for a 1998 game.

• Colored dynamic lighting.
• Colored static lighting based on light mapping.
• Alpha map support for textures. (i.e. Textures with per texel variable transparency)
• Bump mapping on objects (requires a Matrox graphics card).
• Specular reflections. Visible in software rendering mode, specular effects are per polygon on objects, and per texel on level geometry.
• True mirror surfaces. The mirrored surface rendering system also allowed textures to be blended onto the mirror, allowing for more complex mirror shading effects. Mirrors with faint machining patterns, wear, or grime can be found throughout the game.
• Sprite particle system, with multiple buffer blending modes.
• Vector particle system. Vector Particles are rendered as textureless colored streaks that are always one pixel thick, irrespective of the distance to the viewer. This makes them substantially faster to render than sprite particles. Vector particle are used to great effect for rendering sparks, projectile tracers, shrapnel trails, stars, and rain.
• 3D motion blur for robots.
• Motion blur for stars in outdoor areas, and rain drops in weather effects.
• Seamless transition from indoor mines out into outdoor open atmospheres and vice-versa.
• True Physics modeling. The physics engine also provides for various force dynamics, such as "wind tunnels" which accelerate objects towards one end of the tunnel, and attractors which pull objects towards a central point.
• Objects can be lit on fire, and fire can be transferred from object to object via physical contact.
• Light coronas that bleed over edges of objects in the foreground.
• Glare from the Sun. Looking directly into the sun in some environments will result in a screen-wide glare.
• Polygon accurate collision detection.
• Cockpit made of 3D geometry that accepts lighting from the ship's current surrounding environment. The cockpit can also be retracted at any time allowing for a more minimalist HUD.
• Weather effects such as rain, lighting, and snow. Additionally, raindrops could visibly strike the canopy leaving little droplet marks. Unusual attention to detail is given to rain, as looking upwards or accelerating into rain will increase the frequency of droplet strikes on the canopy.
• Rendering multiple viewports simultaneously. In addition to the primary full screen display, two small side displayed can each be separately customized to show a rear facing view, a guided missile view, a view through the eyes of a guidebot, or a view from a remote camera that the player has placed. Likewise, some missiles are equipped with forward facing cameras, and when fired a small display will show the view from the missile.
• A 16-Bit color mode that could serve as a pseudo-32-Bit color mode. This special mode (available via software rendering) enabled 32 Bits of color data to be represented by using a 16-Bit color mode that allowed for real-time dithering to produce the intermediate shades of color that a traditional 16-Bit color mode could not render.
• A highly customizable artificial intelligence system to handle robot interaction with the player, power-ups, level geometry, and other robots. The A.I. handles a wide variety of behavioral attributes as well, such as taking cover, preferred fighting style, frustration, curiosity, fear, difficulty with spotting a player that is hiding in the darkness or fog, and the possibility that a robot will turn on a fellow robot after a friendly fire incident. Some robots will even collect and hoard player power-ups, carrying them back to a "nest", the location of which is decided by the robot. The A.I. system was also used to model sparse but occasional wild fauna in some levels.

[edit] Controls

Mouselook control was introduced in Descent 3. Mouselook allowed the player to change the direction of the ship at a rate proportional to how fast the mouse is moved. Mouselook proved to be a significant advantage when compared to keyboard or keyboard/mouse users. The multiplayer aspect of the game included the option to disable "mouselook" control for all users in order to level the playing field.

[edit] Gameplay

• Because of the change in engine, the claustrophobic levels of the previous two games in the series were replaced by more open landscapes.
• Objectives were made more diverse than the previous games. Instead of a single objective of destroying a reactor, there are other kinds of objectives that range from escorting a cargo ship to defending five reactors simultaneously. Objectives are now also categorized into two categories: primary objectives and secondary objectives.

[edit] Robots

Many robots in Descent 3 are completely new or redesigned versions from the previous games in the series. In addition, the robots have an improved artificial intelligence over the robots in Descent and Descent II, capable of dodging weapon fire, leading, working in teams and calling for backup if outgunned or outnumbered.

[edit] Ships

There are now three ships to choose from:

• The default ship, the Pyro-GL, is a versatile craft that has standard shields and can carry an acceptable amount of ordnance. In the first demo the main ship is still known as the Pyro-SE.
• Available from Level 7 of the main Descent 3 campaign, the Phoenix is an extremely agile ship that has weak shields and a small amount of ordnance as a drawback. During development the Phoenix was known as Starhawk Interceptor. This is evident from officially released concept art.
• At Level 10, the Magnum-AHT becomes available. Although ponderous in fast-moving dogfights, it can carry the largest amount of ordnance out of the three ships, and also has the heaviest shields. This has earned it the nickname "Tank" by some players.

Once the main campaign is completed, the player may choose any of the three ships to play through it. In multiplayer, the player may choose any ship, even if he or she has not completed the main campaign.

[edit] Weapons

See also: Descent (computer game)#Weapons and items and Descent II#Weapons and Items

• Most of the "classic" Descent weapons have been replaced with completely new weapons. Only a handful of primary and secondary weapons were redesigned and brought over into Descent 3. A large number of these new weapons are either too underpowered or overpowered^{[citation needed]} as compared to the weapons of Descent and Descent II.
• A third category of weapons, known as countermeasures, were added. However, the difficulty of handling three weapon types at the same time^{[citation needed]} meant that many players^[who?] gave very little attention to this category of weapon.
• The Flare has also been brought over from Descent II. Depending on the ship that the player is using, a Flare consumes approximately one-twentieth of energy, or is otherwise a no-energy weapon. A slow-moving energy projectile that illuminates its surroundings, the Flare will do at least one point of damage to an enemy, regardless of the game's difficulty level.

[edit] Multiplayer

Descent 3 also introduced several new types of multiplayer games, with a few more created by fans later.

• Descent 3 allows players to enter into "Observer Mode", allowing them to view the game rather than take part directly in it.
• The original modes of play from Descent and Descent II that were included are Anarchy, a game mode where players compete for a set number of kills within a given time limit, and Team Anarchy, which is a variation of the former.
• Descent 3 also adds Capture the Flag, in which players had to attempt to steal an enemy flag and take it back to their base while their team was still in possession of their own flag; Entropy, a game of strategy in which player teams attempted to take over enemy-controlled rooms by using "viruses"; Hoard, in which players attempted to collect the most "orbs"; and Monsterball, in which teams would attempt to move a ball into the correct goal to score a point.
• Players may also come together and take on certain singleplayer campaigns or missions in Descent 3 through Co-Op.

[edit] Descent 3: Mercenary

On December 10, 2000,^[4] Interplay released the official expansion pack for Descent 3, titled Descent 3: Mercenary. This expansion pack added a completely new campaign which detailed the events that occurred at the end of Descent II up to the first third of the singleplayer campaign of Descent 3, as well as several multiplayer levels and the Descent 3 Level Editor.

[edit] Descent 3: Mercenary Storyline

At the outset of the singleplayer Descent 3: Mercenary campaign, a short cutscene shows a solitary starship infiltrating and destroying the robot defences of a CED geothermal research lab on Mars. The relation of this cutscene to the actual Mercenary campaign itself has never been fully revealed.

The campaign starts with the player being a CED pilot tasked with a top-secret mission to destroy a PTMC-controlled Martian colony by causing a meltdown of its primary nuclear reactor. However, in an attempt to silence all voices pertaining to this operation, the CED did not extract him from the colony as stated in mission briefing, but terminated his contract and left him in there to die.

The player escaped being caught in the full blast of the meltdown by seeking refuge in the colony's reinforced waste disposal area. In the aftermath of the colony's destruction, Samuel Dravis, the man who ordered Material Defender 1032 to clear out the robots in the PTMC's deep-space mines, contacted the player and, in exchange for his service, was willing to let him walk away from the incident with no implications. The player is thus thrust into playing a pivotal role in the events which sparked off the main Descent 3 campaign.

[edit] Additions to Descent 3

• A new seven-level campaign was introduced into the game, which detailed the events near the end of Descent II to the first third of the main Descent 3 campaign (see above). The levels in this campaign are noted to be some of the largest ever made for Descent 3.^{[citation needed]}
• Descent 3: Mercenary introduced a fourth ship into the game, known as the Black Pyro. This ship has slightly weaker shields and a slower afterburner recharge than the Pyro-GL, but makes up for these drawbacks with slightly larger ordnance and the ability to dual-fire certain missiles. The singleplayer Mercenary campaign was scripted such that, unlike the main campaign, the player could not choose this ship — or any other ship — in the mission briefings at the start of every level, even if he has completed the campaign. This script does not affect multiplayer, however, and a player with Mercenary installed will be able to use the Black Pyro in any multiplayer level.
• Mercenary adds a small but diverse collection of multiplayer levels created by fans and by the official developers of the game. Some of the more notable levels include a singleplayer-compatible level which featured the player going against an army of black Pyro-GLs, as well as a level designed to replicate the former office of Outrage Entertainment.
• The Descent 3 Level Editor is bundled and installed with Descent 3: Mercenary. This package allows the player to create missions from scratch, complete with power-ups, robots and scripted events. It also includes tools to convert sounds and images for use in levels.

[edit] Unofficial Gameplay Modifications

Although the official source code for Descent 3 has not been released, several programmers have created new game variants and modifications apart from the official ones. Some notable examples follow.

• A user-made mod, titled Pyromania, is an attempt to bring the gameplay of Descent and Descent II into Descent 3 by replacing most of the weapons in Descent 3 with several weapons from Descent and Descent II and with newer, more evenly-balanced weapons. Pyromania also introduces seven ships into the game, one of which is the Pyro-GX, the original ship from the first two games in the series.

• InstaReap is a multiplayer mode in which all players only have Flares and a modified Mass Driver as their weapons. Getting hit by the modified Mass Driver results in an instant kill.

• The Black Pyro Justice is a modification which allows the player to use the Black Pyro in the main Descent 3 campaign and multiplayer, regardless of whether he or she has Descent 3: Mercenary installed.

• The WindMine series is a collection of six colossal singleplayer levels made by Ron Lester. These levels offer new robots and textures, as well as a modified Homing Missile in one of the levels and a modified Proximity Mine in another. Consistent throughout all six levels, however, is the replacement of the Black Shark Missile with the Earthshaker missile of Descent II.

[edit] Tools and Utilities

In addition, a number of fan-made tools and utilities are available. Here are some notable examples.

• An unofficial game tracker page is set up at d3.descent.cx that allows players to record the IP Address of the multiplayer game they wished to play, then enter that IP Address in Descent 3 to join that particular game.

• Vortex is a chat client specifically made for Descent 3 that also includes an up-to-the-minute list of multiplayer games, as well as several other features that allows players to enter multiplayer games with ease.

[edit] Descent 3 Releases

[edit] Descent 3 (1999)

Descent 3 natively supports the Direct3D, Glide and OpenGL rendering APIs and has a completely rebuilt engine, capable of rendering outdoor environments with an automatic level-of-detail terrain system. The higher resolution and renderer change makes the textures appear flatter, however, and thus the game seems less ominous and spooky^{[citation needed]}, rather being more colorful and brighter than its predecessors. Although reviewers^[5] praised and lauded it, gamers failed to take note, perhaps because of the high system requirements at the time, with the lack of timed and themed advertising. Instead of advertising, the creators opted to spend $50,000 on a LAN that benefited only current Descent players. Many people^[who?] also point out that the most common control scheme at the time - mouse+keyboard - was disabled by default in multiplayer modes, in order to appease joystick users. The gameplay style also differed significantly from its predecessors, with 6-Degree of Freedom movements much more difficult to accomplish, and the inclusion of several badly balanced and overly powerful weapons^{[citation needed]}. The end result was that Descent 3 was not as successful as the developers had hoped.

[edit] Descent 3/Descent 3: Mercenary Release

With the publication of Descent 3: Mercenary, Interplay Productions also began to sell a special jewel case that has Descent 3 and Descent 3: Mercenary bundled together.

[edit] Descent 3 GameTap Release

Sometime in 2006, Descent 3 and its expansion pack, Descent 3 Mercenary, was made available for download and play through Time Warner's GameTap broadband game service, however all multiplayer function has been removed.^[6]

[edit] Future of the series

The trademark for Descent was allowed to lapse by Interplay in 2002.^[7] As of 2007, the only viable possibility for a game close enough to be considered a sequel to Descent 3 is Core Decision.^[8]

On November 13, 2007, GameSpot reported that Interplay has announced that it will restart its in-house development studio by using the money it received from selling the Fallout IP to Bethesda Softworks and has plans to develop a Descent sequel among other classic Interplay IPs if it can secure funding for the project.^[3] The focus of Interplay on a sequel to Descent may also be implied by the fact that Interplay added a background image to their website on March 13, 2008, featuring trademarks of some of the games developed and published by it, one of it being the Descent shield orb.^[9]

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] See also

• Descent — The first game in the series.
• Descent II — The previous game in the series.
• Descent 4 — The would-be official, but cancelled, sequel to Descent 3.
• Descent: FreeSpace — The Great War
• Parallax Software
• Interplay Entertainment

[edit] External links

• Descent 3 Official site
• The Descent Bulletin Boards, DescentBB.net and DescentBB.com
• PlanetDescent
• The Official Descent 3 FAQ
• The Descent Network
• Pyromania Official site
• Vortex Official Site
• KoolBear.com, one of the oldest Descent sites still around.
• Moon's Descendarium - The single-player guide to Descent 1-3