Descent II

For other uses, see Descent II (disambiguation).

Descent II
File:DescentII DOS.jpg
Developer(s)	Parallax Software
Publisher(s)	Interplay Productions
Engine	Portal Rendering System
Platform(s)	PC (Linux, Mac OS, Mac OS X, MS-DOS, RISC OS, Solaris, Windows), PlayStation, Windows CE, AmigaOS 4.0
Release	March 13, 1996
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Descent II is a 3D first-person shooter video game noted for popularizing the use of true 3D rendering technology and providing the player with six full degrees of freedom (often abbreviated "6DOF") to move and to look around.

Originally planned as an expansion (and not a sequel) to Descent, Descent II added more weapon types, vastly improved robot types and AI. It was followed by Descent 3.

The trademark for Descent was allowed to lapse by Interplay in 2002, but has been re-registered by them in 2008.

Storyline

After the player has destroyed all of the mines in the solar system in the original Descent, he stops in the Asteroid belt for refueling. Dravis then contacts him and has a new mission:

"If you've studied your standard mercenary agreement, you would notice that PTMC reserves the right to keep you on retainer for up to 72 hours, post-mission. If you choose to decline further service, we may consider you in default of your contract, and your fee may be suspended, pending litigation. Good luck Material Defender. Dravis out."

The player's ship is fitted with a prototype warp core and he is sent to clear out all of PTMC's deep space mines, the last of which seems to run all through a planetoid, which is revealed in the final cutscene to be a large spaceship.

After it breaks apart, the Material Defender radios in to alert Dravis to his return home, but his warp drive malfunctions and he ends up in an unknown location. The camera then fades to that location and the ship appears, drifting towards the camera while it zaps itself with bolts of electricity. "To be continued" is displayed in fiery letters, and the plotline continues in Descent 3.

Gameplay

Multiplayer

Like Doom, Descent offers excellent competitive multiplayer game play over a LAN. Descent is also touted as being one of the first games that allowed on-the-fly joining of multiplayer games, whereas in Doom it is presumed that all players have to be queued prior to initiating the match. With the advent of the Internet, IPX emulators such as Kali and Kahn, which actually combined better compression for IPX games with its own IRC network for users to meet in a standalone client, more and more people began to play Descent and Descent II over the Internet. Descent II was especially popular online due to its support for short packets and variable packet rate -- options which were crucial for smooth Internet play.

The Invitational Descent Ladder pitted the finest players in the most competitive environment available; 1 on 1 deathmatches. It should be noted that while the IDL accepted Descent 3 into its roster of games allowed to be played, it was not taken very seriously. It can be said that only the original Descent commonly known as d1 was taken seriously for competitors. The d1x project[1] developed by Sekmu, significantly improved gameplay.

Levels

Descent II focuses on systems beyond the solar system. The planets are Zeta Aquilae, Quartzon, Brimspark, Limefrost Spiral, Baloris Prime, and Omega. The Omega system is subdivided into the Puuma Sphere and Tycho Brahe, with the latter being the final level of the game. Each system consists of 4 regular levels and 1 secret level.

In response to complaints that Descent's levels were mostly dull and lacked creativity, Descent II's levels were designed with a theme in mind; as an example, Level 2 "Turnabout Bore" lives up to its name since the map resembles a figure-8. There is the inclusion of difficult puzzles such as hidden doors and laser-reflecting force fields; mostly to hide valuable powerups or hostages, but some are required to complete the level.

The secret levels are unique in that the player can travel back and forth between the regular levels (of the same system) via teleporters so long as the reactor of the secret level is not destroyed. However the player may not save nor open a game on the secret level, since it would take the fun out of getting through single-open doors and hitting switches correctly the first time.

Some of these planets have notable characteristics:

• Baloris Prime is mostly desert. According to the writers, this is because its axis of rotation is exactly perpendicular to its plane of orbit, causing a total lack of seasons on the planet's surface . System's name is pun on the word "bolaris"
• Tycho Brahe is actually a spaceship the size and shape of a planet, easily mistaken for one until its two hemispheres separate to reveal a mechanical interior.
• Brimspark is pun on the Otto von Bismarck
• Ahayweh Gate, the first level, is named for the phrase "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" from Dante's Divine Comedy.
• Gytowt Station— The first word of this level name could be read in a similar way to the phrase "Get out," perhaps referring to the proliferation of locked doors and walled-off paths in the level.
• Galacia Caverns— The fusion reactor in this level is located very close to the beginning, but the self-destruct sequence which starts when it is destroyed is extremely long compared to a normal self-destruct countdown.
• Chain Reaction— This, the final secret level in the entire game, has the distinction of being the only level with multiple fusion reactors. There is one immediately at the beginning of the secret level, and one in each of many alcoves within the level. After each additional reactor is destroyed, time is added onto the self-destruct sequence.

Robots

Planets come with a complementary set of "themed" robots, instead of recycling enemies like Doom. For example, Brimspark (a volcanic lava planet) bots fire yellow/orange blast or explosive weapons, while in Limefrost Spiral (an ice world) bots unleash blue/white bursts from their Spreadfire and Helix cannons.

There are other robots that appear regularly in the game regardless of which planet they are in. One interesting enemy is the Diamond Claw, which is similar to the green Medium Lifters with bloodied claws from the original Descent, but the Diamond Claws can also "short-circuit" and release homing plasmas when struck with any energy weapon (i.e. any laser but not Vulcan, Gauss, mines or missiles), presenting an additional challenge to the player.

Descent II made major improvements in AI, with robots being able to do hit-and-run attacks or roaming through the level, such as the ITD "Eagle Bot" and ITSC. Most infamous was the Bandit or Thief-Bot which was a fast-moving and hard-to-kill enemy that attempted to steal the player's weapons and equipment; the similar E-Bandit will drain the player's energy and shields.

Another notable addition to the game was the Guide-Bot, a companion robot the player could use to aid in navigation and other tasks. It shot flares which could slightly damage the player or enemies, and was immune to laser fire but could be killed by a large amount of missile or Gauss splash damage from either the player or enemy robots.

Bosses

Like Descent, some levels replace the reactor with a boss robot that must be destroyed to trigger the escape. Descent II places a boss on the fourth level of each system, giving a better thrill throughout the game. Like Descent, all bosses are capable of 'cloaked teleporting' and spawning robots when attacked.

Descent II bosses add a new feature: the ability to generate homing plasma pulses when hit by energy weapons (much like those released by a Smart Missile, but weaker).

The first two bosses are vulnerable to all weapons, while the next two bosses are particularly vulnerable to particle weapons (i.e. Vulcan and Gauss Cannons, and missiles) but invulnerable to energy weapons. The fifth boss can only be damaged by energy weapons, while the final boss can only be killed by hitting a glowing green spot on its back.

Their traits are listed as follow:

• Zeta Aquilae System: Nicknamed the "Red Fatty Boss", this boss carries three missile launchers on its underside, which are capable of firing 2 flash missiles and 1 homing missile spontaneously. In the game, the boss is only 'released' when the player reaches the centre of the boss room, unlocking a hidden room. The polygon model for this boss was later reused for the "Red Fatty Jr."/"Tiger" mini-boss (armed with Phoenix Cannon and Mercury Missiles) in Brimspark.
• Quartzon System: The "Water Boss" lays Smart Mines around its territory and fires multiple mercury missiles at intruders. The hunch here is the limited space in the room makes it difficult to evade the missiles. It also makes the strangest robot sounds of all robots in the game.
• Brimspark System: The "Fire Boss" has a Mega Missile launcher on one arm and an extra-rapid Phoenix Cannon on the other. Considered significantly more dangerous than earlier bosses, the open grounds makes avoiding its Mega Missiles a challenge (both the warhead itself and also its large blast radius).
• Limefrost Spiral System: The "Ice Boss" is possibly the next toughest boss in Descent II after the final boss and perhaps the most difficult to confront. It has an Omega Cannon on one arm and a homing flash missile system on the other. The homing flash missiles are not only incredibly tough to evade, but also has a large blast radius and has a more powerful effect than the usual ones; a single hit is able to keep the player under constant blindness.
• Baloris Prime System: The "Alien 1 Boss" fires Gauss Cannon and Mercury Missiles. Its appearance is considered by players to be the coolest in the game. This boss is not too challenging, except for the fact that it is only vulnerable to energy-based weapons (though Parallax included Earthshakers into 'energy weapons' also).
• Puuma Sphere / Tycho Brahe System: The "Alien 2 Boss" requires the most skill to defeat of all. It can fire multiple Earthshaker Missiles, whose damage is not only fatal but also disorients any navigation even if you did not receive a direct impact. It is designed in a way that it can be only damaged by hitting a spot on its back; this gained some infamy when a bug (subsequently fixed by a patch) made the boss completely invincible at higher difficulty levels. Tactics to combat the Alien 2 Boss include using the Smart or Earthshaker Missiles or the Phoenix cannon, all of which can bounce off of a wall to hit the boss from behind. A cloak powerup will also allow the player to sneak the boss and attack his behind.
• Descent 2:Vertigo Level 7: The "Vertigo Boss" has an omega cannon on one arm similar to the one the "Ice Boss" uses, and a 'Mega Smart Missile' (the type used by the first boss in the original Descent) on the other.
• Descent 2:Vertigo Level 20: The "Red Guard" has an Earthshaker missile launcher on 1 arm & a Mega missile launcher on the other. (Note: the missiles it launches are much more powerful than the player's, effectively making this boss the toughest one in the game.) It is the same as the "Alien 2 Boss" in that it makes the same sounds & is only able to take damage in its back side.

Saving

Saving and restoring can be done at any time, except in the secret levels as mentioned above; it stores the exact details of every object's location and data within the level, and a small snapshot of the player's view, all at the time of the save. Press alt+F2 to save.

Weapons and Items

Descent II carries all of the precedent's weapons, with 10 additional weapons as well. In addition, picking up the Ammo Rack powerup will double the amount of ordinance that can be picked up; for instance the amount of Vulcan ammo that can be carried is raised from 10000 to 20000 rounds. The new weapons are listed below:

Primary weapons

(also present in Descent)

• Laser - standard laser weapon. Four power levels (red, violet, blue, green), and extendable by Quad Laser
• Vulcan Cannon - machine gun, sprays bullets
• Spreadfire Cannon - Fires orbs of energy in a criss-cross pattern, alternating between horizontal and vertical
• Plasma Cannon - Rapidly fires bolts of green plasma
• Fusion Cannon - Draws powerful bolts of energy directly from the ship's reactor... Note that the Fusion is much weaker in Descent 2 than in Descent 1.

(present only in Descent II)

• Super Laser - extra upgrade levels five and six (yellow and white respectively) for the standard Lasers, although the first Super Laser pickup will instantly boost to level five regardless of current laser status.
• Gauss Cannon - fires explosive bursts of vulcan ammo, doing overall far more damage than the Vulcan Cannon with consistent firing. Although it uses more ammo per shot than the Vulcan, it fires at a lower rate, hence it has a much lower overall ammo consumption rate. The Gauss cannon's bursts also causes a small blast radius which can damage the player when fired at close range.
• Helix Cannon - fast-firing rotating spread, similar to Spreadfire Cannon but has a spread of five energy spheres and four rotations, also higher energy consumption.
• Phoenix Cannon - energy bolts that bounce off walls, allowing the player to hit enemies around corners; capable of destroying player if fired carelessly. Has the highest energy consumption of all primary weapons, but fires nearly as rapidly and moves even faster than the Plasma Cannon.
• Omega Cannon - rapid-fire homing bolts, like lightning, that temporarily blinds its targets; uses an energy bank that recharges from the main energy source, and has a very high energy consumption. Even though it flies to home on its targets, it is practically impossible to evade due to its incredible agility. The separate energy bank makes sustained fire impossible, hence it is best utilized against single targets. This weapon initially caused much controversy during online play due to a bug that caused the number of bolts fired to be directly proportional to the speed of the weapon user's computer. This caused the weapon to often be removed from the online arsenal by the host, until a patch fixing the problematic bug was released.

It has been noted that the fusion cannon is weaker in Descent II.

Secondary weapons

(also present in Descent)

• Concussion Missile - simple explosive rocket
• Homing Missile - Seeks targets
• Proximity Bomb - Pretty much an air mine
• Smart Missile - Upon detonation, sends globs of plasma after nearby enemies
• Mega Missile - High yield heat seeker. Powerful enough to kill a player in one hit.

(only present in Descent II)

• Flash Missile - low-powered missile that temporarily blinds/stuns its target. If used against players, a direct hit will turn his entire screen white, while near misses will cause a similar but lesser effect.
• Guided Missile - can be remotely guided by the player and hitting the firing button will turn it into regular homing missile; its damage is notable - roughly two times that of a homing missile. Particularly useful for scouting or sniping. When guided by the player, a small missile camera will show up on the player's HUD. If the player takes damage while guiding the missile, the missile will automatically change to autonomous homing mode.
• Smart Mine - similar to proximity bomb, but releases homing golden globules rather than a damaging explosion when triggered. These homing pulses are equally damaging as the Smart Missile weapon, making it extremely powerful. It can be used in a 'dive bombing' maneuver, where performed successfully it almost always results in an instant kill.
• Mercury Missile - equipped with an afterburner, it is the fastest of all missiles, however it does not home in on targets.
• Earthshaker Missile - excessively powerful non-homing warhead that gives a massive splash damage radius (similar to the Mega Missile). It also leaves an afterburner trail like the Mercury Missile, but it travels less quickly. Upon impact, it releases smaller homing fletchettes, a feature much similar to the Smart Missile, however the Earthshaker's bomblets travel faster and do much more damage. True to its name, the initial impact shakes the entire level and it is capable of disorienting all players in the mine, no matter the distance away from the explosion. It also causes any normal light sources within the level to flicker on and off, making navigation temporarily difficult. The Earthshaker is likely to destroy the player if used carelessly.

Flares:

• All Descent games have also given the player a Flare to fire into dark areas for illumination. In Descent, the Flare cost 1 energy per shot to fire and when energy was completely depleted from the player's ship, it was no longer available. In Descent II, the cost to fire a Flare was lowered to one energy unit per two shots, but it could still be fired (at a decreased rate) even if the player no longer had any energy. Finally, in Descent 3 the Flare costs one-third of a point of energy. Consistent throughout the series however, is the common use of the Flare as a weapon used to humiliate a near-dead opponent. Since a Flare could only cause one unit of damage even at the highest difficulty level, being killed by one is a humiliating experience.

Notable items

• Shield: The trademark electrified blue spheres give 27, 15, 12, 9 and 6 shield units at Trainee, Rookie, Hotshot, Ace, and Insane modes, respectively (in the original Descent, they gave 18 units on Trainee mode.)
• Energy/energy centers: The flashing yellow stars give the same delineations of energy for each difficulty level as the shield powerups. Energy centers are generally delineated with textures of yellow-and-gold squares and walls of yellow stars (although they do not have to in a level editor) and allow the player to power up to 100 energy; they do nothing if the player has more than 100 energy.
• Afterburner: Allows the Pyro-GX to jet at much faster speeds than normal; crucial for escaping enemy fire or getting to doors before they close and lock. Automatically refills when not full, using some energy in the process.
• Converter: Transfers energy into shield at the rate of 2 energy units per shield unit. Cannot be used when energy is below 100 (otherwise, energy centers could essentially be used as shield centers.)
• Cloaking device: For about 30 seconds, this purple sphere with a ring inside will make the player almost invisible from enemy fire, turning the Pyro-GX polygons into shadows.
• Headlight: Greatly improves lighting, at a constant drain of energy. The Guidebot will warn the player if the headlights have been on for a while.
• Extra life: Green sphere with a ship inside. Self-explanatory.
• Invulnerability: Cloudy blue sphere with silver wire around it. Self-explanatory; lasts about 30 seconds, although the invulnerability cheat ( ALMIGHTY ) makes it almost infinite.
• Ammo rack: Increases the maximum Gauss/Vulcan ammo available from 20000 to 40000, and similarly doubles the maximum amount of missiles and bombs of each type.

Picking up the Converter, Headlight, Quad Laser, Ammo Rack, Afterburner, or any energy-consuming weapon when the player already has one of those items gives the same amount of energy as an energy powerup for the difficulty level chosen.

Audiovisuals

D2X

D2X

Both Descent and Descent II use a software renderer. Descent II however was also able to take advantage of the widening selection of 3D graphics accelerator video cards. Graphics were still 8-bit, but due to the additional CD memory available, instead of using a single palette set during gameplay, each of the six four-level sets had its own 256-color set, and there were effectively six texture sets, each of which had basically the same textures but optimized them specifically for those colors and textures most used in the four-level set. Furthermore, multiple resolutions were supported, and the game was ported to the Macintosh. After its release a patch was issued to add support for early 3D accelerators running the S3 ViRGE chipset. A patch (also from Parallax) added 3Dfx Voodoo support further down the line, and the Macintosh version could use RAVE-compatible 3D acceleration as well.

The original Descent uses indexed 8-bit color in DOS's display mode 13h, using 320 × 200 resolution. The Macintosh and later PC versions allow higher resolutions, such as 640 × 480. Descent II allows the resolution maximum to be stretched to 800 × 600, or 1280 × 1024 with the -superhires option. Fan-made patches for Windows XP, which are even more popular for Descent II than its predecessor, will often stretch the maximum resolution to 1600 × 1200 and also take advantage of the newest Radeon and GeForce video cards.

Like Descent, Descent II operates on the premise of interconnected cubes. Sides of cubes can be attached to other cubes, or display up to two texture maps. Cubes can be deformed so long as they remain convex. To create effects like doors and see-through grating, walls could be placed at the connected sides of two cubes. Descent introduced an elaborate static lighting scheme as well as simple dynamic lighting, another advancement compared to Doom. The environment could be lit with flares, lights could flicker. Newly added for Descent II is that the environment can be darkened by shooting out the lights.

Most of the 8-bit, 11 kHz sounds from the original Descent are remastered in 22 kHz, with the 11 kHz option available for systems with less memory and/or slower processors. The door sounds are mostly changed; numerous new weapon and robot sounds are added. There are several new MIDI and redbook CD tracks (described below.) Numerous full-motion videos, available in both 320 × 200 or 640 × 480 for different processor speeds, are introduced, showing the escapes from levels and major events between missions.

Descent II Releases

Descent II (1996)

Originally planned as an expansion (and not a sequel) to Descent, Descent II added more weapon types, different enemy types, different mines, laser-reflecting force field walls, and transporter areas. In response to complaints that Descent's levels were mostly dull and lacked creativity, Descent II's levels were designed with a theme in mind; as an example, Level 2 "Turnabout Bore" lives up to its name since the map resembles a figure-8. There is the inclusion of difficult puzzles; most to hide valuable powerups but some are required to complete the level. A notable addition was the Guide-Bot, a companion robot the player could use to aid in navigation and other tasks. Another major improvement was the enemy robot AI with some robots not only being able to dodge fire but also do hit-and-run attacks or roam through the level. Most infamous was the Bandit or Thief-Bot which was a fast-moving and hard-to-kill enemy that attempted to steal the player's weapons and equipment; the similar E-Bandit will drain the player's energy and shields.

Graphics were still 8-bit, but multiple resolutions were supported, and it was ported to the Macintosh. After its release a patch was issued to add support for early 3D accelerators running the S3 ViRGE chipset. A patch (also from Parallax) added 3Dfx Voodoo support further down the line. The soundtrack was composed by range of musicians, from Type O Negative to Mark Walk and Skinny Puppy's Nivek Ogre. An expansion pack featured remixes of some tracks from the original score.

Descent II Soundtrack - Original Version:

• Track 2 (Vi 1): Title by Brian Luzietti
• Track 3: Crawl by Brian Luzietti
• Track 4 (Vi 2): Glut by Ogre of Skinny Puppy & Mark Walk
• Track 5 (Vi 3): Gunner Down by Brian Luzietti
• Track 6: Cold Reality by Larry Peacock & Brad Cross & Leslie Spitzer
• Track 7: Ratzez by Ogre of Skinny Puppy & Mark Walk
• Track 8: Crush by Brian Luzietti
• Track 9 (Vi 4): Untitled by Mark Morgan
• Track 10: Haunted (Instrumental Remix) by Type O Negative - Original version available on their album "October Rust", published by Roadrunner Records
• Track 11: Are You Descent? by Ron Valdez
• Track 12 (Vi 5): Techno Industry by Johann Langlie
• Track 13: Robot Jungle by Johann Langlie

(Vi #) indicates which track number is on S3 ViRGE Descent II Promo Disc.

While the first Descent had been released as shareware with 7 levels, Descent II was released as a shorter 3 level demo. Another truncated version of Descent II was "Destination Quartzon" which featured the first 8 levels and was bundled with the Logitech Wingman Extreme joystick or with the S3 ViRGE chipset that also included the promotional game Terminal Velocity.

Descent Mission Builder 2 (1996)

An authorized, commercial Descent and Descent II level editor from Brainware. It gives users the tools necessary to design, create and implement levels for the commercial versions of Descent and Descent II. It is also capable of converting Descent levels into Descent II levels. DLE-XP, which is maintained by the creator of D2X-XL, is a modernized and enhanced version of DMB2.

Descent II: The Vertigo Series (1996)

An add-on for Descent II containing twenty additional levels (and three secret levels), plus the officially licensed Descent Mission Builder 2. Remixed versions of some music tracks from the original Descent II were also included on the CD in Redbook CD-audio format, an interesting addition to what is a simple level pack. It was lauded for its creative level design and the introduction of many exotic robots and two new bosses (briefing sessions had them in motion in contrast to static images in Descent II), though some levels also borrowed robots from Descent. "Flickering" lights were also a new feature to visual effects.

Descent II: The Infinite Abyss (1997)

A 2-CD special release of Descent II. The first disc contains Descent II with the latest patch applied (providing support for 3dfx and Rendition video cards), while the second disc is the original "Vertigo Series" add-on (with remixed versions of original music tracks from the first CD in Redbook CD-audio format).

Descent Maximum (PlayStation)

Descent Maximum is the PlayStation counterpart of Descent II on the PlayStation. Unlike the first PlayStation Descent which was considered mostly a direct port, Descent Maximum was designed to better accommodate the console and contained 30 entirely new levels. These maps had similar themes to those in Descent II, but were generally smaller than their PC cousins.

Descent II (GameTap) (2007)

In 2007, Descent II made its debut on Time Warner's GameTap broadband game service, the full version of Descent II can be downloaded and played on Windows XP using GameTap.

Descent novels

The Descent series also spawned a trilogy of novels written by Peter Telep and sold at several major booksellers. The titles are Descent, Descent: Stealing Thunder, and Descent: Equinox. The novels did not follow the games to the word, but expanded on the basic premise, and were very well received.

Source code

Main article: Descent third-party development

The Descent II source code, like that of Descent before it, has been released to the general public. There have been numerous third-party efforts to update and improve the game; some are still active, while others are not.

See also

• Descent (video game) — the prequel to this game
• Descent 3 - the sequel to this game
• Interplay Entertainment
• Parallax Software

External links

General Sites

• Descent Mission Builder official site
• The Descent Bulletin Boards - DescentBB.net and DescentBB.com
• Moon's Descendarium - THE Single Player Guide to Descent 1-3

Online Gaming Groups

• Wildcards
• Descent Rangers

Source Code

• Descent II and Descent: FreeSpace source code

Game Archive and Review Sites

• Descent II at MobyGames
• Descent II at GameSpot

Open Source Projects

• The D1X project
• The D2X project
• The D2X-XL project
• The DXX-Rebirth project