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Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Hunter on February 10, 2016, 12:38:15 am

Title: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hunter on February 10, 2016, 12:38:15 am
In what is probably one of the bigest announcements of recent years, the original founders of Parallax Software, Volition and Outrage have come back together and launched a new studio. They are setting up their first title to be 'OVERLOAD' - Which is pretty much DESCENT with a different name. If this takes off and works, FreeSpace may just have a future too. Their website hasn't officially launched yet, but you can take a sneek peak.

http://www.playoverload.com/


Password: overload

There is also a teaser-trailer up @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpf5ztwTRw

 :nod:


Another sticky topic from me - but I really didn't see this one coming - ANOTHER 6DOF game by some of the original Descent creators? Get involved and get backing people! Stat!  :p - Fineus
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: MikeRoz on February 10, 2016, 09:22:05 am
I'm going to keep clicking that Kickstarter link until it works.

EDIT: NVM, found it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2010925172/overload-the-ultimate-six-degree-of-freedom-shoote?ref=nav_search
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Bryan See on February 10, 2016, 10:18:04 am
I've checked out the Overload website today. Kinda reminds me of Sol: Contigency and Descent Underground.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on February 10, 2016, 02:35:05 pm
Looks a lot closer to what I was hoping Descent: Underground would turn out to be. Their ask is also refreshingly modest. Color me interested.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: jr2 on February 10, 2016, 03:09:37 pm
Aww, sweet.  <3
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hunter on February 10, 2016, 04:44:19 pm
Quote
I've checked out the Overload website today. Kinda reminds me of Sol: Contigency and Descent Underground.

It reminds me of Descent 1  :pimp:
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: MikeRoz on February 10, 2016, 06:02:29 pm
Their ask is also refreshingly modest.
I love that, while I am sure they have stretch goals for larger amounts in mind, they have not bothered posting them, and likely won't until and unless they are in reach. Like one project which had a $17m stretch goal and ended up with $23k short of their $250k goal.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Galemp on February 10, 2016, 06:37:17 pm
Urgh, I'm already backing Descent Underground. So one group has the IP and the other has the original developers. Why do they have to be going head-to-head like this, couldn't they have been staggered by a few years? :sigh:
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: BirdofPrey on February 10, 2016, 06:59:28 pm
As much as I loved Descent as a kid, do we REALLY need two new Descent style games at the same time?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: NGTM-1R on February 10, 2016, 07:38:51 pm
As much as I loved Descent as a kid, do we REALLY need two new Descent style games at the same time?

Yes.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: deathspeed on February 10, 2016, 08:16:46 pm
Three, if you count Sol Contingency. :)  That was the first of these that i started keeping an eye on.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: BirdofPrey on February 10, 2016, 08:21:04 pm
I thought that was killed off when Descent Underground was announced.

Regardless, I think it's problematic to have multiple games that do little to differentiate themselves from each other.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Phantom Hoover on February 10, 2016, 08:31:03 pm
Or to differentiate themselves from Descent. I didn't play Descent when I was a child. I have no nostalgic attachment to the series. The unadorned premise of "shoot stuff in corridors" is not very interesting in 2016 and they make no effort to go beyond that.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: deathspeed on February 10, 2016, 09:05:13 pm
I thought that was killed off when Descent Underground was announced.


Nah, they just had to drop "Descent" from the name and change the assets that referenced Descent.  It slowed them down, but hasn't stopped them. 

Oh, and I forgot about Sublevel Zero.  :)  So, yeah, 6DOF fans suddenly have a lot of new choices available or on the horizon. 
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: rubixcube on February 10, 2016, 11:41:08 pm
hyped! Just backed for 130$! I'm liking this more than Descent Underground, I hope it reaches its goal
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: headdie on February 11, 2016, 12:59:56 am
Guess Mike is back out of retirement lol.
And a decent type game actively lead by the original guys, count me as interested
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: BirdofPrey on February 11, 2016, 03:06:31 pm
It does look gorgeous, moreso than Underground, though that could be that, judging by the funding goals and what they've said, they are mostly done.
They're funding a beta product rather than the usual alpha or preproduction.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on February 11, 2016, 07:31:45 pm
Urgh, I'm already backing Descent Underground. So one group has the IP and the other has the original developers. Why do they have to be going head-to-head like this, couldn't they have been staggered by a few years? :sigh:

They seem to be emphasizing very different things, though: DU is all about the twitchy multiplayer and trying to make a competitive game, Overload is clearly focusing on the single player experience.

Given that those goals will tend to pull the game in different directions, I'm not sad that they're split.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Dragon on February 12, 2016, 04:55:57 am
This looks nice, but I don't think I like the fact that they're basing themselves off D1 and D2. Descent 3 (with expansion) was, IMO, the superior game. Granted, the earlier two were definitely addictive, but D3 had much more variety, both in level design and in objectives. Not to mention it actually had a story. Some of the missions were very atmospheric, too.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: The E on February 12, 2016, 05:28:41 am
This looks nice, but I don't think I like the fact that they're basing themselves off D1 and D2. Descent 3 (with expansion) was, IMO, the superior game. Granted, the earlier two were definitely addictive, but D3 had much more variety, both in level design and in objectives. Not to mention it actually had a story. Some of the missions were very atmospheric, too.

Hmm. I wonder what the KS page says about that.

Oh, yes, this:
Quote
Intense single-player action in 6-degrees-of-freedom
15 level campaign filled with explosive combat and exploration
Story by the writer of Freespace 2
Breath-taking graphics and spectacular sound, with a soundtrack by Dan Wentz & Allister Brimble

So I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that story and atmosphere are covered :P

Also, this is probably the most HLP-baity Kickstarter ever....
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: headdie on February 12, 2016, 06:49:16 am
Also, this is probably the most HLP-baity Kickstarter ever....

slight understatement I think lol
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on February 12, 2016, 06:56:02 am
Also, this is probably the most HLP-baity Kickstarter ever....

slight understatement I think lol
Chain quoting this for truth.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: jr2 on February 12, 2016, 12:20:35 pm
As much as I loved Descent as a kid, do we REALLY need two new Descent style games at the same time?

Yes.
Three, if you count Sol Contingency. :)  That was the first of these that i started keeping an eye on.



C:\Games\Descent>setup -upgrade
DOS/4GW Professional Protected Mode Run-Time Version 1.97
Copyright (c) Rational Systems, Inc. 1990-1994

DESCENT   Registered v1.5 Jan 5, 1996
Copyright (C) 1994, 1995 Parallax Software Corporation
DESCENT is a trademark of Interplay Productions, Inc.

Type 'DESCENT -help' for a list of command-line options.

Available memory
----------------
Conventional:         598 KB
Extended:          14,820 KB
Virtual:            1,564 KB

Do you want two new 6DOF shooters at the same time?  (Yes/No/All)  A


:rolleyes:  Duh.   ;)
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on February 12, 2016, 05:48:04 pm
This looks nice, but I don't think I like the fact that they're basing themselves off D1 and D2. Descent 3 (with expansion) was, IMO, the superior game. Granted, the earlier two were definitely addictive, but D3 had much more variety, both in level design and in objectives. Not to mention it actually had a story. Some of the missions were very atmospheric, too.

Gotta disagree with you here. The moment-to-moment gameplay and combat in D2 was much better than in D3, which often felt downright tedious. D3's level design had more gimmicks, but D2's level design snagged me a lot better. I replayed D1 and D2 many, many times. D3 singleplayer I only played once, and I never even finished Mercenaries.

For multiplayer, on the other hand, I much preferred D3.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Dragon on February 12, 2016, 06:04:42 pm
It is true that some levels (Expediator, I'm looking at you) could be a bit better designed. However, with that kind of staff lineup, I wouldn't worry about that. :) My issue is more with fundamental design philosophy (though I did like D3's somewhat more tactical combat mechanics better as well). Descent 1 and 2 were much more simplistic, "arcade-style" game, in which you do a lot of the same thing, with a steady difficulty curve (or in case of D1, a steady curve with a bunch of cliffs). It can be very addictive if done right, but in the end, it's a still lot of the same thing. Descent 3, however, used the more modern "mission-based" paradigm, even having a few puzzles along the way. That's what I liked about it, the sheer variety of mission objectives and environments it happened it. A mine's a mine, as far as D1 and D2 went. On the other hand, D3 had a city, a prison, a carrier, a space station, a Martian temple (I loved that one) and many more. The missions were less straightforward and much more varied.
So I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that story and atmosphere are covered :P
Story certainly could be, but atmosphere... I'm not so sure. Their website gives a different picture than the kickstarter page. Descent 2 also had a story, but the essence was still "fly in, blast the reactor, get out". It all depends on how exactly they're going to do it. If it's going to be D3-style, with mission gameplay directly related to the story, then it'll be fine. If, however, the story is going to be told between missions (in the end just varying the reason why you're going into the mine and blowing the reactor, if that), then it's going to be a lot less exciting.

"Explosive combat and exploration" doesn't really give an answer to that, all Descent games could be described in that way. At 15 missions, I'd lean towards D3-style (it seems a bit short for a D2-style campaign), but I'm still a bit concerned.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Cyborg17 on February 12, 2016, 07:21:54 pm
I enjoyed D1 singleplayer the most, honestly, my favorite levels being 4, 5, 7, 10, 18, and 21.

I didn't like D2 level design that much.  To me it felt too alien and a little too complex.  Without a guide bot (how I prefer to play, because I like to explore) I would have to retrace my steps too many times, and it wasn't enjoyable, especially in the ice levels.  Descent 1 was much easier to navigate, but still had a lot of side areas that could be explored if the player wanted to.

I enjoyed D3 level design a lot, but some of the gimics were not as enjoyable.  Expediator, I agree, was not well designed, and I'm pretty sure it was easy to break the recon interface if you hit the aft machen (sp) too early, so that you actually had no idea how close you were to finishing the level.  But I did like level 2, level 4 (except for the trains, which are tedious), 5, 6, 12, and despite the high difficulty, my favorite is 14. The music matched the atmosphere perfectly.  The last boss was weird.  I feel like after you're done fighting it, you feel like the only reason you won is because you have infinite lives.

All that being said, I love the way they are doing cube design in this game.  It seems like it would allow you to focus on what matters and to make things look the way you want them.  I don't know yet if I should support them with my current finances, though.  Maybe at the end if they need it.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Mongoose on February 12, 2016, 08:00:40 pm
I do think the original Descent doesn't get enough credit as a straight-up horror game at times.  Some of those robots were goddamn terrifying...in fact I'm not sure that I ever beat a straight playthrough of it in my far younger days without having to resort to cheats.  The Class 1 Driller, the Super Hulk, the Platform Robot, the *shudder* Fusion Hulk...these guys still give me nightmares.  Overall I did generally prefer D3's more mission-based gameplay, even if its execution was clunky at times, though the original probably has the best raw mechanics.

I was a bit ambivalent on this announcement at first glance, since I really support what Wingman and his team are doing with Descent: Underground, but then I stopped and realized that if the industry can pump out dozens of FPS titles every year, there's no reason that we can't have 3 or 4 different 6DOF titles in play.  Plus when you realize that the team is a who's who of our favorite developers, you can't help but go for it.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hunter on February 12, 2016, 08:44:29 pm
I agree that Descent 3 was the better game. It's variation in level design and objectives set it apart from D1/D2. The main complaint about D3 from most Descenters is not necessarily the levels or aesthetics, but the feel of the game.  It's twitchier and much more fast-paced.

The problem with building a D3 style game in 2016 is cost. I doubt a $300k, or even $600k kickstarter would be enough (as with Overload and DU) to build a game like that today.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: headdie on February 13, 2016, 06:45:58 am
I agree that Descent 3 was the better game. It's variation in level design and objectives set it apart from D1/D2. The main complaint about D3 from most Descenters is not necessarily the levels or aesthetics, but the feel of the game.  It's twitchier and much more fast-paced.

The problem with building a D3 style game in 2016 is cost. I doubt a $300k, or even $600k kickstarter would be enough (as with Overload and DU) to build a game like that today.

We dont know what other funding is involved
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: The E on February 13, 2016, 06:57:15 am
They said in their KS pitch that they've already gotten most of the important stuff (i.e. game mechanics, toolchain) built and running. The money they seek now is used to properly finish the game, i.e. build the art assets and polish it to a releasable state.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: CP5670 on February 14, 2016, 12:00:54 pm
This sounds great, especially with the focus on the singleplayer experience unlike Descent Underground. However, like all of these kickstarter projects I won't get excited about it until a fully finished product is available. Very few of these games get to that stage and actually match people's expectations.

Among the previous games, I definitely liked Descent 3's SP campaign the best, but today I play the game much less often than D2X-XL. D2's mod community made hundreds of great SP level packs for it, many of which are better than the original campaign, but D3 was largely neglected and there is very little SP content for it. I agree that this new game needs to be closer to D3 than the simple D1/D2 formula to meet today's standards. Maybe something like Retrovirus, which didn't really have puzzles where you could get stuck (unlike D3) but still had some variety and different goals in the levels.

Quote
I do think the original Descent doesn't get enough credit as a straight-up horror game at times.  Some of those robots were goddamn terrifying...in fact I'm not sure that I ever beat a straight playthrough of it in my far younger days without having to resort to cheats.  The Class 1 Driller, the Super Hulk, the Platform Robot, the *shudder* Fusion Hulk...these guys still give me nightmares.

The Class 1 Driller on higher difficulties is the worst one, and is much more fast and unpredictable than the others. They jump out at you when you least expect it and make that screaming sound, and a full hit will drop your shields by 100 or so. In fact, all of the Descent games had some of the best FPS AI I've ever seen, along with game mechanics that allow the AI to stand out. Even today I can't think of any game surpassing D3 in that respect.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hunter on February 14, 2016, 05:13:09 pm
Quote
but D3 was largely neglected and there is very little SP content for it

There are a few nice missions (most of which can be downloaded @ http://sectorgame.com/d3/ ) but the reason for this is mainly due to the fact that making levels for D3 is 3-4x more time consuming than D1/D2. There are a lot of projects that just never got finished, my own included. I recommend Reactor Gamma, Roth 513, Arillien Po, Army of Haloon. Ofcourse the biggest issue with D3 these days is compatibility - Without a source port the game is suffering.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Mongoose on February 14, 2016, 06:25:59 pm
Speaking of, I wonder if it'd be worth reaching out to Mike & Matt regarding who (if anyone) actually has the authority to release D3's source code.  It probably couldn't hurt.

But yeah, I remember Reactor Gamma and Arillien Po fondly, as well as that fun little Asteroids mod someone made.  I know there was a series of six related missions that had some goofy visual design but were reasonably fun.  There was also another loosely based on the Lunar Outpost from Peter Telep's original Descent novel, but I was never able to figure out my way through it.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: GhylTarvoke on February 14, 2016, 06:29:40 pm
Reactor Gamma, Arillien Po, and Windmine are all great. But my favorite user-made missions are Roth-513 and Alien Territory. Man, the atmosphere in those is intense.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: CP5670 on February 14, 2016, 07:12:05 pm
I've played all of those and Alien Territory is my favorite one too. The campaigns Army of Haloon and Mission at the Saturn are also good, with the former being the only one of decent length and including some great custom music. However, I felt that most of these didn't quite match the original D3/Mercenary campaigns in terms of overall polish and level design or variety, in contrast to the custom D2 campaigns out there.

Wasn't there talk about one of the D3 developers releasing the source at one point? It seems like nothing came of that.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hunter on February 14, 2016, 08:15:19 pm
I think someone did get their hands on the D3 source - I forget who. Someone named Becky?

It's too late now anyway. D3 is coming up on two decades old. With Undergroud and Overload coming we'll (hopefully) be able to mod with ease and continue the creations.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: deathspeed on February 14, 2016, 11:07:08 pm
Although I am excited about this, I never played the Descent games that much.  But this from the FAQ (http://playoverload.com/faqs/) just made me pee a little:

Quote from: Overload FAQ
What about FreeSpace?

Interesting that you asked – we’ve been asking ourselves the same question. Good game, FreeSpace.  It sure would be nice to see an awesome spiritual successor to FreeSpace.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: AdmiralRalwood on February 15, 2016, 12:27:32 pm
Quote from the AMA (https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/45xltb/we_are_matt_toschlog_and_mike_kulas_creators_of/) relevant to earlier discussion of D3 source code:
Quote from: Matt Toschlog
We may release the Descent 3 source code. Right now we want get a bunch of changes finished and release a version 1.5. Once that's done we can figure out what has to be done to release the source code. We'll have to remove anything that's owned by Interplay, and we'll want to clean up some other part of the code. So I guess the answer is: we'd like to, but don't hold your breath. We're all busy with other things and we do what we can.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Phantom Hoover on February 15, 2016, 12:41:52 pm
How much use, realistically, is the Descent 3 source code going to be these days? It's 16 years old; hardware and software standards have long passed it by.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Fineus on February 15, 2016, 12:53:39 pm
Sorry if this has been posted up elsewhere folks but wanted to spread the word - they're doing an AMA right now (7pm GMT)

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/45xltb/we_are_matt_toschlog_and_mike_kulas_creators_of/

Head over and check it out, they're coming back on a lot of questions and it's really giving some good insight in to how the project is shaping up.

Personally, I'm very hyped for this.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Mongoose on February 15, 2016, 01:54:02 pm
Quote from the AMA (https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/45xltb/we_are_matt_toschlog_and_mike_kulas_creators_of/) relevant to earlier discussion of D3 source code:
Quote from: Matt Toschlog
We may release the Descent 3 source code. Right now we want get a bunch of changes finished and release a version 1.5. Once that's done we can figure out what has to be done to release the source code. We'll have to remove anything that's owned by Interplay, and we'll want to clean up some other part of the code. So I guess the answer is: we'd like to, but don't hold your breath. We're all busy with other things and we do what we can.
Heh, Kevin Bentley's been promising that 1.5 patch for literally more than half a decade, but he actually posted in there about it too.  It'd be great to finally get that, but the source itself would be a far bigger prize.

How much use, realistically, is the Descent 3 source code going to be these days? It's 16 years old; hardware and software standards have long passed it by.
One could have made a similar claim about the FS2 source (though its release was admittedly much sooner after the game's original ship date), but the answer would be pretty similar: modern hardware compatibility, expansion/removal of hard-coded engine limits, and as many new features as are possible.  D3's starting to get somewhat flaky on new hardware running Windows 10, and it's built on some truly ancient versions of DirectX and OpenGL, so there's definitely huge room for improvement there.  (Actually, from everything I've heard, D3 always looked its best in good ol' Glide.)  Hell, the same holds true for the first two Descent games, and there are multiple active projects available for each of those: D2 has two competing source ports that focus on different overall goals, and there's a fork of the main D1 project maintained by the competitive multi community that's focused on that aspect.  There's no reason that D3 shouldn't receive the same attention.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: CP5670 on February 15, 2016, 04:27:49 pm
It seems to work fine on OpenGL and Glide. I use OpenGL with it. The D3D mode has a lot of issues, but is the only one that supports 32-bit color properly and some features like bump mapping. I agree that the source needed to have come out a long time ago to get any big project like FS2 Open going, but it would still be useful for bug fixes and minor compatibility updates.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hunter on February 15, 2016, 05:35:08 pm
I already own a copy of the 1.5 patch, and it does indeed work much better. But the probelm I see with a source release is there just might not be enough interest after all these years. Who knows though, maybe in 5 years time we'll be playing a HD version of D3... ;)
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Ulala on February 17, 2016, 08:53:41 pm
I'm in for $25 but going to bump up my pledge after pay day if I can. Would love to get access to the beta. :D Looking forward to seeing this funded! Spread the word!

[edit] Increased to $120 after watching this stream on Volition's twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/dsvolition/v/52165322) [/edit]
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: MatthTheGeek on March 07, 2016, 07:50:46 am
Received access to the playable teaser. Streamed a bit of it earlier today for the IRC folks.


It plays nice, it sounds nice, it looks nice, it feels nice. Not necessarily in that order. I've upgraded my pledge from 35 to 90 bucks.

Really hope it goes through. There's 4 days left and 130k to go, sidekick (http://sidekick.epfl.ch/campaign/1692978427-overload---the-ultimate-six-degree-of-freedom-shooter) predicts 87% probability of success. Go donate peeps!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on March 07, 2016, 10:16:40 am
Playable teaser is now available for all:

http://playoverload.com/playable-teaser/

Go go go!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: RangerKarl on March 07, 2016, 02:13:50 pm
Can't up my pledge more, but I wish the team the best of luck. From the teaser it feels like they've already hit the high notes of Descent, so I'm really looking forward to the end product!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Mongoose on March 07, 2016, 07:33:05 pm
They got the teaser on Steam too, which can only help.  And man it is already rock-solid to play through.  Really hope this squeaks by.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: 0rph3u5 on March 10, 2016, 03:15:41 pm
Another reminder: The KS at 18 houres and Revival is streaming until the finish line @ https://www.twitch.tv/revivalproductions
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: AdmiralRalwood on March 10, 2016, 03:18:48 pm
Sidekick's success prediction has dropped to 30% and kicktraq's uppermost projection is $241,500. Things aren't looking good. :(
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: 0rph3u5 on March 10, 2016, 03:27:57 pm
Sidekick's success prediction has dropped to 30% and kicktraq's uppermost projection is $241,500. Things aren't looking good. :(

Considering the KS is already past $ 243,000, take that with a grain of salt ... fundraising has really picked up since the stream began
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: AdmiralRalwood on March 10, 2016, 03:51:27 pm
It should be noted that it hadn't passed that point when I made that post. :P
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Snarks on March 10, 2016, 04:00:59 pm
Does Kickstarter ever allow for an extension? I feel like this would be funded for sure if they just had another week. It's a shame a lot of their preview content got put up so late in the crowdfunding.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: 0rph3u5 on March 10, 2016, 04:05:04 pm
FYI Mike Kulas is giving away his Descent: Freespace jacket on the steam (but only if they make more money)

Does Kickstarter ever allow for an extension? I feel like this would be funded for sure if they just had another week. It's a shame a lot of their preview content got put up so late in the crowdfunding.

At least for me it is not an issue of time, but of payment options ... They allow only credit card payments :/
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Mongoose on March 10, 2016, 07:01:03 pm
Yeah, it's gonna come right down to the wire, but if we wind up not squeaking by, I think it's almost solely due to how late in the campaign all the goodies came out.  If they'd had the teaser ready right from the get-go and announced the VR support earlier, I think we could have been pushing $100k in that first day easy.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: 0rph3u5 on March 11, 2016, 01:17:44 am
8 hours to go and its at 273.040 of 300.000
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on March 11, 2016, 02:33:53 am
(https://media.giphy.com/media/DUuyU3KyYGLNS/giphy.gif)
(https://m.popkey.co/b26047/0JRxv.gif)
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: watsisname on March 11, 2016, 03:20:19 am
We're at the point now where goal will be reached if all backers raise by $5!  So close!  Raise pledges!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: BirdofPrey on March 11, 2016, 03:25:19 am
Yeah, it's gonna come right down to the wire, but if we wind up not squeaking by, I think it's almost solely due to how late in the campaign all the goodies came out.  If they'd had the teaser ready right from the get-go and announced the VR support earlier, I think we could have been pushing $100k in that first day easy.
Indeed.
First week momentum is one of the most important things.  They really should have had the demo ready to go before starting a kickstarter.  Despite the fact no money is taken if a kickstarter fails, a LOT of backers always seem to have a wait and see approach and won't actually back unless it looks like a project might, potentially, make it.
And, again, a large portion of the potential backer pool already donated to Descent underground and just doesn't want to fund another project just yet.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: 0rph3u5 on March 11, 2016, 06:15:47 am
3 hours to go, and less than 9000 USD unfunded

EDIT: below 5k to go
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: CKid on March 11, 2016, 06:58:25 am
2 hours and under 3K to go!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: 0rph3u5 on March 11, 2016, 07:03:58 am
Passed 1500 to go

BELOW 1000 TO GO
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: MikeRoz on March 11, 2016, 07:33:13 am
It made it!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: ChaosityZ on March 11, 2016, 08:50:02 am
Watching a Kickstarter fail is like watching your home team lose the superbowl.  It sucks, you feel sad inside, but life goes on.  I went to bed last night feeling like this.  But I woke up this morning to a miracle.  Wow!  I am very happy they made it.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on March 11, 2016, 08:53:05 am
Exactly how I felt waking up (early) this morning to check on things:

https://youtu.be/-1BPx5Wsm7k?t=84
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: The E on March 11, 2016, 09:49:56 am
(https://i.imgur.com/7drHiqr.gif)
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Zacam on March 11, 2016, 11:34:40 am
I'm so very stoked right now.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on March 11, 2016, 11:52:18 am
They crossed the 300K mark with 2 hours and 8 minutes to spare.

Even after 16 years, they still know how to stick to a tight schedule. Truly remarkable.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Ulala on March 11, 2016, 03:10:49 pm
Woo! Woke up to a pleasant surprise. Really looking forward to this!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Yoshimitsu on August 24, 2016, 12:31:39 pm
A few weeks ago they released their first demo to backers of $90 and up. It's largely similar to the public teaser from the Kickstarter campaign but with more content and new weapons/enemies.

As a fan of Descent 1/2 (who also enjoys Descent 3) I love what they've shown so far and I'm thoroughly excited to play the finished game next year!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Bryan See on August 24, 2016, 09:22:51 pm
And what of Sol Contingency? Should it be distinguished from Overload, and by extension, Descent: Underground?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: jr2 on August 25, 2016, 06:59:15 am
:wtf: I dunno, should WCS be distinguished FS Blue, and by extension, Blueplanet?  :confused:
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Yoshimitsu on August 25, 2016, 11:05:21 am
Overload, Sol Contingency, and Descent: Underground are three separate 6dof games. It might be like comparing Halo, Call of Duty, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. from the FPS genre.

Overload is made by the creators of Descent and so far it is very much a continuation of Descent 1/2 style gameplay and atmosphere. It is cube based and runs in the Unity engine. It's going to be singleplayer only with a separate multiplayer expansion created after the singleplayer game is released.

Sol Contingency started as a mod to recreate Descent in UE3. The team consists of 4 core members who work on it in their spare time. They were issued a Cease and Desist order by Interplay after 2 years of development and rather than give up they removed any Descent-related IP and continued development. Sol Contingency feels like a perfect hybrid of Descent 1/2's claustrophobic world and spatial tactics combined with the speed and brutality of Unreal Tournament 3. They have released a small but fun (completely free) multiplayer game that they call the Proving Grounds. Currently they are porting their game to UE4 and working on a singleplayer campaign.

Descent: Underground is being created by A small studio mostly made up of ex-Star Citizen developers. They licensed the Descent brand from Interplay but don't have the rights to any of the original assets or design. They are aiming to have a singleplayer campaign but so far their early access game is multiplayer only. This is unfortunately the least Descent-like of the three with 9 different ships, an overabundance of game modes, and a basic lack of understanding of core mechanics that made Descent 1/2 fun. It features tiny, spindly ships in huge environments and feels like a Micromachines playset.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: CP5670 on August 26, 2016, 04:47:02 pm
I'll have to try out Proving Grounds. The Overload teaser was amazing and I'm definitely looking forward to the full release of that.

It's better for these types of games to be singleplayer-focused, as most multiplayer indie games tend to die after a few months due to a lack of players. For example, nobody plays Retrovirus or Strike Vector online anymore, but the former has a great SP campaign while the latter is MP-only and is not worth playing anymore.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Bryan See on August 27, 2016, 09:30:23 am
I tried Proving Grounds, but yet to try out the Overload teaser. SolC tends to move away from the cube-like geometry seen in Overload and Descent: Underground, as well as the earlier Descent games except Descent 3, which I'm trying to emulate it with this project.

Singleplayer-focused means keeping up the way modern singleplayer games does.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Zacam on September 04, 2016, 07:38:36 pm
So, Revival is here with Overload at PAX Prime and they are giving out Steam Keys for Overload.

Anybody interested? If so, I can swing by for a pickup on Monday (I already have a few that were already asked for ahead of time), but I don't want to just pick up a stack and have them be unused.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: AdmiralRalwood on September 04, 2016, 07:55:56 pm
So, Revival is here with Overload at PAX Prime and they are giving out Steam Keys for Overload.

Anybody interested? If so, I can swing by for a pickup on Monday (I already have a few that were already asked for ahead of time), but I don't want to just pick up a stack and have them be unused.
Ooooh, ooooh, me, me, me!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: DahBlount on September 04, 2016, 09:01:33 pm
So, Revival is here with Overload at PAX Prime and they are giving out Steam Keys for Overload.

Anybody interested? If so, I can swing by for a pickup on Monday (I already have a few that were already asked for ahead of time), but I don't want to just pick up a stack and have them be unused.
I'd love one.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: LaineyBugsDaddy on September 04, 2016, 10:30:27 pm
Me too, if it wouldn't be too much trouble. Sounds like it could be a very fun game.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: The E on September 05, 2016, 02:53:45 am
So, Revival is here with Overload at PAX Prime and they are giving out Steam Keys for Overload.

Anybody interested? If so, I can swing by for a pickup on Monday (I already have a few that were already asked for ahead of time), but I don't want to just pick up a stack and have them be unused.

yes please
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: jr2 on September 05, 2016, 06:59:50 am
So, Revival is here with Overload at PAX Prime and they are giving out Steam Keys for Overload.

Anybody interested? If so, I can swing by for a pickup on Monday (I already have a few that were already asked for ahead of time), but I don't want to just pick up a stack and have them be unused.
Ooooh, ooooh, me, me, me!

I could definitely give some away to say, three or four friends if there's that many to go around (ofc everyone else go first!).  I've already got mine through Kickstarter.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Bryan See on September 06, 2016, 10:36:08 am
I tried Overload, and to what all of you were saying before, it's much akin to that of the original Descent. And what of voices?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Zacam on September 07, 2016, 06:03:38 am
Okay, well, the downside is, I only managed to score two and one is already pre-claimed, so I have one to give away. They did a limited printing of these and ended up with a lot more attention than I think they expected to actually get, especially given that they only got a tiny booth in Indie land.

I'll have to think of some fair way to give the key away. I was thinking about some sort of Descent-themed artwork contest, but I don't know if that would be possible for all the potential participants.

If this seems like it would be a good deal though, sound off and I'll draft up some actual "Rules" for it.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Bryan See on September 07, 2016, 11:27:01 am
Yeah. What of the story of Overload? Should it be much more similar to Descent? I do not wish to spoil it.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Zacam on September 08, 2016, 09:57:16 pm
The story is: Bots are trying to kill you, survive as best you can. OR see who can score the highest frags when Multi rolls out.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on September 10, 2016, 02:00:34 am
I'll have to think of some fair way to give the key away. I was thinking about some sort of Descent-themed artwork contest, but I don't know if that would be possible for all the potential participants.

If this seems like it would be a good deal though, sound off and I'll draft up some actual "Rules" for it.

How about something with the theme "FreeSpace Meets Descent"? :nervous:
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Bryan See on September 10, 2016, 03:24:59 am
Considering this idea, yes. In the form of my next game after Shattered Stars/Sol Contingency.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: FlamingCobra on January 22, 2017, 12:30:38 pm
I'm sorry to drag up an old topic like this, but has anyone gotten Descent 3 to successfully run on a modern machine? My machine runs it but the colors are all ****ed up. Shadows and dark places all appear as a sickening shade of dark green.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: AdmiralRalwood on January 22, 2017, 01:53:47 pm
I'm sorry to drag up an old topic like this, but has anyone gotten Descent 3 to successfully run on a modern machine?
Never had a problem with the GOG version.

My machine runs it but the colors are all ****ed up. Shadows and dark places all appear as a sickening shade of dark green.
I think you can find some improved rendering plugins for D3 out there, somewhere... it's been a while since I've installed it, though.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Dovahkiin2132 on January 22, 2017, 05:49:14 pm
For a second there i thought we'd see something like FS :'(
Imma go cry in a corner now
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: deathspeed on January 22, 2017, 06:13:52 pm
For a second there i thought we'd see something like FS :'(
Imma go cry in a corner now

Maybe this (http://playoverload.com/forums/topic/a-new-freesapce/) will restore some of your hope.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: jr2 on January 23, 2017, 12:49:51 pm
I'm sorry to drag up an old topic like this, but has anyone gotten Descent 3 to successfully run on a modern machine? My machine runs it but the colors are all ****ed up. Shadows and dark places all appear as a sickening shade of dark green.

http://www.descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16700

Bookmark the forum, it's basically HLP to Descent (or maybe VBB still alive or Sectorgame or something).   Speaking of Sectorgame..  here's their Descent subforum:

http://www.sectorgame.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=18
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on January 25, 2017, 07:03:22 am
Have you tried installing nGlide (http://www.zeus-software.com/downloads/nglide), then running Descent 3? I've been able to get a disc install of D3 (patched to the NOCD version) with Mercenary and Pyromania running this way on a PC that ran Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.

The GOG releases of most games that support 3dfx Glide all come with an older version of nGlide, which is why the GOG release of D3 runs fine.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Bryan See on January 26, 2017, 12:00:42 pm
I've never played Descent 3 since 1999, but I'm thinking about recent 6DOF games, both of which are powered by the Unreal Engine. Descent Underground and Sol Contingency.

And what of D2X-XL?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Dovahkiin2132 on January 27, 2017, 03:39:21 pm
For a second there i thought we'd see something like FS :'(
Imma go cry in a corner now

Maybe this (http://playoverload.com/forums/topic/a-new-freesapce/) will restore some of your hope.

Thank you,i didn't know FreeSpace was this well known.
Who knows,maybe we will see a successor to the series one day
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: MikeRoz on February 05, 2017, 03:38:52 pm
Revival is already saying that they won't make their March release date. Clearly they've bitten off more than they can chew. Who is going to take them to task for this never-ending feature creep and misuse of backer funds?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Bryan See on February 16, 2017, 10:11:19 am
Revival is already saying that they won't make their March release date. Clearly they've bitten off more than they can chew. Who is going to take them to task for this never-ending feature creep and misuse of backer funds?
Players. Be transparent and hold themselves accountable. That's all.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: MikeRoz on March 13, 2017, 08:25:28 pm
And now they're hitting up unwary Steam users for more money: http://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/

NO mention of the missed deadline to warn unwary customers about what they're getting into. And apparently all they are doing is repackaging the free demo and selling it to people! http://steamcommunity.com/id/sponticore/recommended/448850/

So basically, all they've done all this time is iterate on the demo that got us to back in the first place, so that they can then SELL that demo and make even more money!

I'm demanding a refund on April 1st if this game isn't out in March as promised. I refuse to be a part of this ridiculous campaign to divest unwary gamers of their cash.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Mongoose on March 13, 2017, 10:24:42 pm
...if this isn't sarcasm, then you're being ridiculously misleading.  The demo is just that: a snapshot of content produced up to this point, and presumably won't be touched other than bugfixing.  Early Access is where actual new content will be pushed and iterated on, i.e. exactly how Early Access is meant to work, and obviously you then own the full game when it's complete.  The store page is pretty clear about what's coming in the future, and both Luke and Mike (http://playoverload.com/forums/topic/difference-between-teaser-2-0-and-early-release/) have commented on the distinction between the two in the forums.

Literally every gaming project in Kickstarter history has missed its initial projected release date.  It'd be far more of a shock if they'd managed to hit it.  If you can't accept that, then don't back games.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: deathspeed on March 13, 2017, 11:08:22 pm
I was trying to determine whether this was sarcasm, or if he was getting this mixed up with star citizen.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Mongoose on March 13, 2017, 11:29:33 pm
Honestly at this point I'm sick of puzzling out Poe's Law so I just assume the worst. :p
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: General Battuta on March 13, 2017, 11:30:02 pm

Thank you for letting us know, but why did death pee? :confused:
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: MikeRoz on March 14, 2017, 10:23:52 am
...if this isn't sarcasm, then you're being ridiculously misleading.  The demo is just that: a snapshot of content produced up to this point, and presumably won't be touched other than bugfixing.  Early Access is where actual new content will be pushed and iterated on, i.e. exactly how Early Access is meant to work, and obviously you then own the full game when it's complete.  The store page is pretty clear about what's coming in the future, and both Luke and Mike (http://playoverload.com/forums/topic/difference-between-teaser-2-0-and-early-release/) have commented on the distinction between the two in the forums.

Literally every gaming project in Kickstarter history has missed its initial projected release date.  It'd be far more of a shock if they'd managed to hit it.  If you can't accept that, then don't back games.
If some awesome new update is coming, why didn't they wait for that to start selling the game? Right now they're selling a rehash of the demo.

Missing the deadline on its own was just a cause for concern - maybe there were unforeseeable issues, or maybe it's a symptom of a deeper problem of feature creep or unrealistic goals. But on its own it's not cause for demanding a refund.

I backed the Kickstarter with the expectation that the game would arrive if the goal of $300,000 was met. The goal was met. There was nothing in there about needing to sell the demo for $25 and hoping enough suckers pick it up or we're all out of luck. We were pitched a game, not a perpetual crowd funding/early access campaign. This development undermines my confidence in their ability to deliver, and they have modified the destination - the product I purchased - from a single delivery to a continuous campaign of partial releases and expansions. I thought requesting a refund was what you're supposed to do in this situation?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Mongoose on March 14, 2017, 06:14:53 pm
Because they wanted to have a platform in place first to push the new content towards?  Getting software properly vetted and ready to go on the public Steam storefront takes time and effort, and you obviously want all your ducks in a row before you start regularly pushing significant new content to it.  There's also the fact that Revival had the updated demo ready to go, and so they'd want to have a place for people who are enthusiastic about the demo to go and purchase what will be the eventual finished product.  They'd be losing out on customers otherwise.

Whatever your opinions on early access are in general, it makes a lot of sense for a project like Overload.  One of the issues the devs have mentioned about limiting test builds to Kickstarter backers is that the vast majority aren't actively playing them (guilty as charged), so they're not getting much in the way of usable feedback.  Opening the test builds up to more public consumption allows for a much larger playerbase.  It's also nice in that they don't have to rely on putting out a bunch of disparate test builds anymore (seriously, I have 3 or 4 Overload versions in my Steam library at this point) and can push everything to the early access version.  (Apparently the main focus of the initial updates will be the game's endless survival mode, which was just a little bonus thing from the initial preview but got a ton of good reaction.  I'm assuming they're starting with that because it enables testing on pretty much all the gameplay fundamentals and balance in a relatively compact setting.)  So you get a bunch of new testers to aid the rest of development, plus you get some additional funding while enabling customers to pre-purchase the game and get an early feel for it.

And I get the impression that you don't have much experience with crowdfunding, or at the very least have unreasonably high expectations for it.  Gaming or otherwise, I've backed over a dozen projects, the majority of which have already delivered the product or are set to do so at some point this year, and not one of them hit their original projected release date.  Hell, I've never so much as heard of a gaming-related project that hit its initial date.  Delays happen, new obstacles appear, devs come up with new content that they didn't originally plan on adding.  It's pretty much SOP for this sort of thing.  Nothing at all suggests that Revival wouldn't be able to complete the game even without the additional early access funding, but a little extra income never hurt, and more importantly it gets them a much wider base of testers.  This isn't some sort of SC bull**** where a company is selling JPEGs in lieu of actually developing what was promised.  I simply don't see how you have any sort of realistic justification to seek out a refund here.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Phantom Hoover on March 14, 2017, 06:52:45 pm
This is a completely insane overreaction to them missing one deadline. For all that Star Citizen has made a joke of it as an excuse, projects miss deadlines all the ****ing time.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Ulala on March 23, 2017, 10:56:17 pm
They're not selling a "demo" for $25, though demos are of course included included; they're selling the game when it is finished. That's what Early Access is. For all the reasons Mongoose already pointed out, EA makes sense for Overload, and your "concern" is unwarranted. This isn't Star Citizen, man.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: MikeRoz on July 29, 2017, 09:52:46 am
Release has been pushed yet again, to Q1 2018.

No mention of this delay either on the Steam store, where they continue to SELL a DEMO version of the game.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hades on July 29, 2017, 10:22:53 am
You're just a Poe bot aren't you?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: The E on July 29, 2017, 10:50:21 am
Release has been pushed yet again, to Q1 2018.

No mention of this delay either on the Steam store, where they continue to SELL a DEMO version of the game.

Except it is mentioned in the steam forums and the description on the store page mentions an expected release date of "early 2018".

Edit: Mike, I know that part of your persona here is pretending to be incredibly stupid and/or delusional. But whereas your theories about multithreaded processing are amusing, your ranting here (based as it is on you apparently not actually doing any research into what Kickstarter projects are like, or what the Overload folks are actually doing) is just baffling. If this is another attempt to troll, as your multithreading bull**** was or is, please cut it out. If this is you genuinely not understanding how Kickstarter and early access games are made, and what can be expected when buying into either, I recommend you reread the thread for the explanations other people have posted (and which you seem to have ignored).
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: RangerKarl on August 02, 2017, 06:50:54 am
Beta backers, 0.6 is out, and brings TrackIR support. Those of us without VR kits can now do 6DOF head pan-and-scan as well now.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on April 23, 2018, 06:35:12 pm
Release date trailer!


Trailer itself is honestly a bit meh, but I'm excited for the game.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hunter on May 31, 2018, 01:26:50 pm
Overload just went live on Steam, grab your copy now  :cool:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/

GOG version soon..

A live stream will be happening also @ https://www.twitch.tv/revivalproductions
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Snarks on June 03, 2018, 07:30:29 am
Been playing it on Insane. It's challenging but feels fair. Heard there's a hidden difficulty level as well, which is where I expect  :banghead: to start occurring.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Grizzly on June 03, 2018, 09:41:55 am
As somebody who hasn't played Descent but has an obvious affection for Freespace, is it worth getting this or should i invest in Descent instead?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Hunter on June 03, 2018, 10:47:45 am
Get Overload. If you enjoy it, you can always go back and try Descent later :)
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: CKid on June 03, 2018, 02:07:10 pm
Oh boy, Just waiting for my GOG key to arrive. Sure has been a long time coming.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: rubixcube on June 04, 2018, 07:11:24 am
As somebody who hasn't played Descent but has an obvious affection for Freespace, is it worth getting this or should i invest in Descent instead?

Have you given the Overload playable teaser a try? That should tell you whether or not the game is for you
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Grizzly on June 04, 2018, 04:49:53 pm
As somebody who hasn't played Descent but has an obvious affection for Freespace, is it worth getting this or should i invest in Descent instead?

Have you given the Overload playable teaser a try? That should tell you whether or not the game is for you

Aah. No, I haven't, thanks for the tip :)
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Phantom Hoover on June 04, 2018, 05:57:38 pm
It’s definitely worth it, yes.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on June 05, 2018, 07:17:28 pm
Been playing the snot out of this. They nailed it, really excellent.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: rubixcube on June 15, 2018, 01:55:11 am
Quick SP review for full game

The good:
The meh:
Spoiler:
Gabriel Kantor is something of a mix of Samuel Dravis and Aken Bosch. In fact, his ultimate fate is similar to what Jason Scott had in mind for Bosch in FS2.
The bad:

Just started the multiplayer and I got my backside handed to me, but I think I'll persist.

Really hope they add campaign co-op at some point, though I remember Mike saying the required AI changes would be substantial.

As a Descent fan, I give this a solid 8.5/10. Would be curious to know what someone new to the genre would give it.

Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Cyborg17 on July 01, 2018, 05:29:37 am
Playing through now and really enjoying this.  Wish I had sprung for a video card, though.  Integrated just barely runs it, and I'm not getting the full experience.  :sigh:  Still enjoying it a whole lot though.  The difficulty is just right.  Defeating hard bots and rooms feels like an achievement.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: CP5670 on September 01, 2018, 12:48:44 pm
I've been playing this and am halfway through the SP campaign. They got the gameplay spot on and the movement and combat feel very fluid. :yes: As someone said earlier, the game is hard but fair, and rewards player skill much more than a typical FPS. The graphics look quite nice especially for an indie game, and the game still runs more smoothly than many big-budget releases that look worse. I especially like that shiny gold look in the energy centers. I would have liked a bit more variety in the level styling and objectives though, and most of the enemies tend to look and sound pretty similar, as opposed to the very distinctive robots in all the Descent games. There are a few exceptions like the one with the circular saws. The game is generally much closer to Descent 1/2 than 3, which is both good and bad. The weapons are clearly based on the Descent ones. The Cyclone is pretty good when you first get it but some others like the Impulse and Driller really need the upgrades to be useful. Still, it's an excellent game overall. I still have yet to play it online as well.

I got the Steam version even though I prefer GOG and their lack of DRM. The Steam one is the only way to get the soundtrack, which is outstanding and fits the game very well. I recognize snippets of the D1 music in a few places. :D I still need to try out the level editor as well. I made a lot of levels for Descent 1 and 2 back in the day.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on February 05, 2019, 02:05:14 pm
Anyone else tried the DLC yet?

First level was a bit brutal considering I only had starter weapons. Second level was mostly fine until I got to the reactor room, then it's a huge difficulty spike.

Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Snarks on March 07, 2019, 10:55:36 am
Got this email from Mike and Matt:

Quote
Hello Overload backers!

For some time, we've wanted to provide an update on Revival and Overload.  Some of us got busy and we kept waiting for the Xbox version to be done (which it finally is).  Here's the status.

We founded Revival and built a team to make Overload, not really planning to create a lasting company that would build more games.  We wanted to have fun creating a spiritual successor to Descent, and we're very happy with the results.

We would have liked to do more with Overload -- more DLC drops (we will do another community DLC pack), new features, maybe a sequel.  Those things look very unlikely now.  We're gratified by Overload's strong user reviews and we love the community that has formed around the game. Nonetheless, sales have been disappointing and can't justify much additional work on the project.  (We know that people have questions about the long-term plan for multiplayer.  We're still figuring that out, but be assured we won't abandon our MP fans.  Whatever we do, there will be a way to play Overload multiplayer.)

We're still spending time on Overload, but most of us have moved on.  Roughly half the full-time team members are now working at Volition.  (Props to Chelsea and Ed who leveraged their Overload experience into Associate Producer positions!)  Luke is back to working full-steam at Radian Games. (Check out Scorcher, coming any day now!)  Matt is working on ideas for a new (game-related) project. Mike had planned on loafing for several months and then deciding what to do, but suddenly and unexpectedly found himself rejoining Volition as General Manager.

We are proud of Overload and have many fond memories.  The Kickstarter, which was as all-consuming as many had warned, was very satisfying in the end.  We both enjoyed being (slightly rusty) programmers for the first time in years, and it meant a lot to be part of such a talented team.  We were gratified by the community of both newcomers and Descent fans still committed a game we created over 20 years ago.  And it's particularly meaningful to see team members who got a career boost out of their work on Overload.

Maybe we'll do it again in another 20 years.

Thanks for everything,

 - Mike & Matt

It's a rough industry. I wish everyone on the Overload team best of luck on their future endeavors, and I thank them for getting together to provide us a spiritual sequel to a decades old series!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Sushi on March 07, 2019, 04:42:58 pm
Yeah that was a bittersweet message to read. I'm expecting Big Things from Volition now, they'd better not waste that talent!
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Scourge of Ages on March 09, 2019, 02:48:45 am
Hey everybody, I have 1 extra Steam key for Overload, if anybody here wanted to try it but hasn't bought it yet. Post here and PM me if you want it.
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Venicius on March 09, 2019, 10:39:06 am
May I have it?
Title: Re: Mike Kulas & Matt Toschlog working on a new Descent-inspired title
Post by: Scourge of Ages on March 09, 2019, 03:29:47 pm
May I have it?


On the way!