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Author Topic: Descent And FreeSpace?  (Read 2797 times)

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Descent And FreeSpace?
Hey guys,

I had a bizarre idea about the pre Terran Vasudan War.. The Material Defender from Descent 3 will somehow be stuck in space and time due to his warp core malfunction (when he is warping after the destruction of PTMC Shiva) and hence will have played havoc on subspace, space and time. He realizes that he is in the year 2320. GTA take him in and the missions/Campaign starts...

This is just a rough sketch of my idea, i'm no FREDder, Modeller, or graphics artist, therefore it is quite hard for me to express the ideas.

Also, there is a Pyro GX mod somewhere in the threads... I'll link it once i find it.

So, thats my idea.....
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Offline Goober5000

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
Sounds like a fun idea. :)

 

Offline HLD_Prophecy

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
It sure would be cool if somebody made a decent Descent crossover. (See what I did there? :D)

You could try learning FREDing - I'd say that it's easy except that I'd only say that because I've been doing it for a few years. :P If you think the learning curve is too steep or your talents lie elsewhere, you could pitch your idea to other FREDers and see if they'd like to help you make the project happen. You could be the story writer and campaign planner.

Also, you could definitely make something like this without the aid of a modeler - there's ready-made community ships galore out there, many of them custom built for the terran Vasudan war era, and many others which could reasonably fit that time period.

Don't give it up without trying, it's a cool idea!

 
Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
Thank you for the encouragement, @PVD_Hope and @Goober5000!

I shall try to read through the FRED documentation.

I do have a rough draft for a story though... to whom do i need to give it?

I found the Pyro GX mod also... i have attached it.

[attachment stolen by Russian hackers]
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Offline Torchwood

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
An interesting idea. Making a ship behave like the Descent Pyro is certainly possible. Designing indoor levels like those in Descent, unlikely, but who knows, some *ahem*Spoon*ahem*AndrewOfDoom have created intra-ship sections for the player to navigate.

I, for one, welcome our new full 3-D maneuvrable, trichording overlords.

 

Offline Mongoose

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
I tried a very (VERY) basic table mod using the Descent 3 ship models that had been converted to .pof ages ago, and it's completely possible to replicate the feel of a Descent ship, minus a few control quibbles.  It'd be perfectly feasible to construct a Descent-style indoor level by using a large "ship" with the tunnels modeled throughout it, and you can even do a reactor self-destruct if you so wish.  The main issue is that singleplayer would be nigh-impossible, since FreeSpace's AI has absolutely no idea how to cope with flying in enclosed spaces (or even wide-open spaces, really).  It would be perfectly feasible to do a multiplayer-focused mod, though.

 

Offline HLD_Prophecy

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
I would suggest forgoing indoor entirely and simply have Material Defender fight in outer space like the rest of the Terrans.

As for Descent-like flight mechanics - isn't sliding already built in to the engine? I thought a couple of Shivan craft could slide, and didn't Blue Planet take advantage of that? Should be possible to allow the player to slide.

 

Offline Firesteel

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
I really like the idea and even worked on something vaguely like what you're talking about as part of my undergraduate senior thesis.

You can turn sliding on with cheats though iirc it functions a little differently than Descent 1 and 2 (haven't played enough of 3 to know).

Indoor stuff is really difficult with those mechanics (at least in my experience with Unity) both to make the 3D movement meaningful and allow for proper player navigation (texturing, lighting, etc.). I'll echo the stuff about AI. That said there are source ports of Descent 1 and 2 out there that you might be able to take some inspiration from since those enemies were specifically designed for the M.C. Escher levels.
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Offline starlord

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
I wonder, has anyone modelled an expediator from D3?
« Last Edit: January 08, 2018, 02:39:52 pm by starlord »

 

Offline HLD_Prophecy

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
I wonder, has anyone modelled an expediator from D3?

Probably difficult, since our visual evidence of that ship is limited to cutscenes. Still, this is something I've always wanted to see.

 

Offline Selectah

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
The Expediator is just a submarine with some added whistles and bells. :)
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Offline starlord

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
Actually i always saw it as close to the raynor. Go figure.

Especially important though is that it's the only instance of capital ship in the descent universe, alongside space station shiva.

 

Offline rubixcube

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Re: Descent And FreeSpace?
Actually i always saw it as close to the raynor. Go figure.

Especially important though is that it's the only instance of capital ship in the descent universe, alongside space station shiva.
There was also the Beagle, though we never actually saw it.

Thing is, we have no idea how big expediator is.

Your best bet might be to ask Daniel Mcmillan (the ships modeler) if he still has a copy of the ship laying round somewhere.
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Offline Selectah

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There was even an Expediator POF back in the day. Horribly un-detailed, and w/ terrrible texturing, but I even remember using it in a campaign.
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