Topic: Mark Morgan Song Names

[Alieo]

Got to thinking, since Mark Morgan's tracks, "Mark 2" is sometimes called, "The Well" because it first appeared on that level, and, "Mark 1" is often times called "Transmode Containment 2112" after the 2nd 'Descent 2: Vertigo' level because it first appeared on that level........ only, 'Descent 2: Vertigo' was released 11/15/1996, and 'Descent: Maximum' pre-dates this release on the PSX on 3/13/1996, and appeared in Descent: Maximum Level 13..... soooo, shouldn't it be named after the 13th level of Descent: Maximum instead?

And there's conflict on what the Descent: Maximum level names are; the internal names stored in the level files and the official level names seen in-game. So following this logic, Mark 1 should either be named after the stored Level 13 name of "Deep Freeze" or the official level name used in the Descent: Maximum PSX release called "Widorn".

[Scyphi]

That would overlook the fact that the Redbook songs were probably never written with a specific level in mind. Most likely, Parallax Software called up Mark Morgan (and the rest), asked if he could produce some songs for their game, and when he agreed, just stuffed it into the game's playlist and coded the game to play the songs per level in the order inputted--the fact the songs appear with those specific levels is more than likely a coincidence. None of the Redbook songs ever felt custom tailored for the levels they play in anyway, so I wouldn't really read that much into it.

As for the name "variants" syncing in with those levels, most likely that was done by fans attempting to give names to these songs before the formal names "Mark 1" and "Mark 2" were more widely known.

Personally, I would think the "Mark 1" and "Mark 2" song names would take precedent, regardless of what level they originally appeared on, since that's likely the names Mark Morgan himself likely assigned them. But that's my opinion on the matter.

As for Maximum's role in all of this, I think in the developers minds, Counterstrike and Vertigo both still take precedent over it, since Maximum is really only a PS version of Counterstrike pieced together after the fact to meet that port's needs and not much more. I would also imagine both Maximum and Vertigo were produced at roughly around the same time (especially seeing both borrow level design traits with each other) and likely overlapped enough that when they ultimately released to the public may not matter in this regard.

We also don't know when the music tracks themselves were originally produced. It's entirely possible both were produced with specifically Counterstrike in mind, but ultimately only one made it into the final game and instead whatever was leftover rolled over to Maximum and Vertigo instead.

It'd all be speculation on our part either way.

[Alieo]

That's a good take on it Scyphi. I'll probably rename those Mark 1 & 2 songs from their level namesakes in my personal folders just to keep it official... only, just to very, "Mark 2" is "The Well" from D2, right? Or is that Mark 1?

[Scyphi]

"The Well" would be "Mark 2," yes.

[Hunter]

I highly recommend checking out Mark Morgan's latest work on Wasteland 3.