Planet Descent

Community => Mess Hall => Topic started by: Kaizerwolf on February 13, 2014, 08:47:39 AM

Title: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaizerwolf on February 13, 2014, 08:47:39 AM
Hey guys! This is awesome!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/273570/ (http://store.steampowered.com/app/273570/)

It's 50% off right now. I don't think I'll be buying it, as I'm still happy with Rebirth. But it's still really cool to see such an old classic on a modern game market!

Kw
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: PyroJockey on February 13, 2014, 10:52:47 AM
Sure I already own multiple legitimate copies of Descent (original DOS 3.5 floppy, Definitive Collection CD, Good Old Games download), but what the hell, I threw another $3.49 in the kitty for the Steam (DOSBox) version just to show there are still people who see value in it. Gifted one to my son too. After-all, you can never have too much Descent.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on February 13, 2014, 11:13:03 AM
I don't have money to waste on something I already own a couple times over, but I'm stalking the discussion boards and trying to help with issues.
So a different kind of support :P.

As well as making sure people know there are two sourceports, not just Rebirth.  I'm still a fan of D2X-XL.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Pumo on February 13, 2014, 12:00:31 PM
Quote from: Kaiaatzel on February 13, 2014, 11:13:03 AM
As well as making sure people know there are two sourceports, not just Rebirth.  I'm still a fan of D2X-XL.

Amen to that! ;D
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on February 13, 2014, 07:14:25 PM
If the Steam's D2 release uses the original 12-song Redbook CD instead of the Infinite Abyss version (that GOG used) I might buy it.  Since the Infinite Abyss CD doesn't have most of the music that was actually advertised for Descent 2 (no Haunted, and only one of the Skinny Puppy tracks, which is truncated instead of extended!) and it doesn't have Cold Reality as a gameplay track (unacceptable!). :P
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Matthew on February 13, 2014, 10:43:47 PM
I plan to buy it, if for no other reason than that we need to show Interplay that people are still interested in Descent, and the best way to do that is to buy it. Money talks! There's a surprising number of posts on Steam about it already, hopefully that holds some promise for Ye Olde Interplay and the future of Descent!
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: -<WillyP>- on February 14, 2014, 05:51:12 AM
My son says this is probably a 'Green Light', which according to him, is a game that was requested by Steam players to be on Steam.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on February 14, 2014, 06:21:29 AM
That's not exactly how Greenlight works...
It would have to have been Interplay who put it on Greenlight, and then convinced players to vote for it... possible, but not likely.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Matthew on February 14, 2014, 08:04:52 AM
This was not a Greenlight game.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 14, 2014, 10:08:41 AM
Yeah, if it was a Greenlight game, it would be quite obviously advertised as such, judging from how some of the other Greenlight games I've looked at have been presented.

EDIT: was poking around Interplay's website just now, and found they had an entry for Descent on Steam on their site, proving that this is exclusively done by them and everything. Might be their answer to compensate for the failure of D1-4-Wii (which was why I was on there in the first place, to see if they still had that listed. They do. ::)), which might be a good thing in a way, because it shows Interplay at least has SOME interest.

That said, though I'm quite happy with Rebirth, especially seeing it's superior graphically, I've very tempted to buy this just for the nostalgia of playing the game as I originally remember it.  ;D

I mean, all the additions and improvements are fun to try, but sometimes they do taint the original feel of the game, so it's nice sometimes to just play it "as-is." I especially feel strongly with this with original D1, as I have found it worked so well, it was hard to really improve upon it without making it a whole new game (as the developers quickly realized when working on D2, which, as it turns out, was initially conceived as simply a large expansion pack to D1 until they realized it'd just might as well be a game of its own).

In other news, Techpro found an article online today that was talking about twelve games that "really need" to make a comeback, for which Descent was one of. So was Freespace 2, but that's another story. Anyway, I thought of it because it mentioned Descent was on Steam too, but I didn't think anything of it at the time (silly me). I'd post a link, but I don't know where Techpro found it, and I don't feel up to go searching for it right now...besides, I have homework I ought to be doing.  ::)

Anyone else notice that the person playing the game in the video posted on Steam isn't doing that great a job at it? :P
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on February 14, 2014, 01:54:09 PM
But they certainly love their spreadfire.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 14, 2014, 06:29:52 PM
Out of curiosity, I sat down and went through all the reviews that have been given for Descent on the Steam site. I was very pleased to see that, not only was there a fair number of them, ALL of them BUT one was positive, and the one that was not was only negative, because he thought getting the game through GOG was the better deal. Were it not for that, it seemed clear his would be positive too. :D

Also interesting information; it seems the Steam release is still compatible with Rebirth (and like) mods. This is good, because this means its yet another avenue through which players can get a copy of the game if they don't already, enabling them to make use of such mods.

Also, something I wanted to ask; anyone know if this Steam version still supports custom missions? I mean, it is pretty much just the original game from 1995 tweaked to run on modern systems, so I can't imagine why it wouldn't, I'm just thinking of how one would get the game to do it. How it handles files might have changed in order to be able to run it through Steam.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on February 14, 2014, 06:41:46 PM
I doubt it.  Considering all the games released through steam (many were not developed for steam, were no longer supported by their developers by the time steam got around to releasing them, and were not open-source at the time either), I don't know how steam actually implements its copy-protection but it's clearly not through the source code.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Matthew on February 14, 2014, 08:34:56 PM
The steam version is just a dosbox installation of Descent. It's actually a direct copy of the GOG package, from what I can tell.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 15, 2014, 09:24:00 AM
So...yes then?

Aw, what the hey, it's three bucks, that's worth it.  ;D
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaizerwolf on February 15, 2014, 10:42:42 AM
What would be cool, if not totally unlikely, would be to add Steam Workshop support for Descent. I don't know for sure how custom missions would run on the DOS version of the game. Still, it would be cool to see missions added through the Workshop. It would take a lot out of Interplay though, and it seems likely that they don't have any real interest in doing so.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 16, 2014, 07:08:03 AM
I had been thinking something similar, and this could be a good chance to release some new missions for D1 on Interplay's part...kind of to promote it and sweeten the deal, so to speak. But yeah, it doesn't seem like that's their plan. However, in other news, I was poking around in the Steam forums for Descent and noticed that some people had observed that, when the game initially went up on Steam, it had D2 imagery up instead of D1. It was obviously quickly replaced, but many are taking it to mean that, if the operators have Steam already have such promotional imagery for D2 on hand, then D2 may soon be getting a Steam release too.  :D

No clue if D3 could follow suit too, but this doesn't surprise me. D3's probably more complicated in terms of who owns what, given it came out the same time its makers all started breaking apart, taking bits and pieces of the rights with them. Don't know how much of that Interplay actually owns (beyond the title) and if its enough for them to re-release the game. Guess we'll see.

Anyway, did go ahead and get the Steam release (now I legitimately own a copy of my own to use, and don't have to go "borrowing" Techpro's anymore), and it pretty much is just the original 1995 Descent game rigged on DOSbox with the only real tweak seeming to be to get it to run properly on modern systems. Confirmed this by going to hunt down the files after they downloaded to my laptop, and saw all of the same files I've been seeing for years, they're just now listed under the Steam file directory. All that really means is that, yes, all of the old practices for managing Descent (like adding custom missions) is pretty much the same.

Game runs well, but it's not exactly hard for the system to do so, of course. Initially had it being displayed a little funky because of my laptop's wonky screen size, but a quick tweak of the resolution in the config file sorted that into a more tolerable arrangement (still have black bars on the sides because its a normal-size game displayed on a widescreen, but they're not big and I can live with that). It's very "plug and play," and very nostalgic for me too. Haven't seen the game in such a pure and original state in many years now. Graphics actually aren't as bad as I remember them, but they are notably...poorer...than what many of use are used to with Rebirth, D2X-XL, and the like. My eyes started to get tired after awhile, and it was a little weird going from that back to normal hi-res operations on my computer afterwards, but seeing most of us all played (or in my case watched) the game in this format for hours at a time with no effort, I think it's just a case that I'm not used to it, and will eventually adjust.

I was also, mostly out of curiosity, looking throughout the game to see if there was anything notably different about playing it in its original form than from playing it in, say, Rebirth. Turns out there might actually be, minor of course, but to me still worth noting. Like the secret doors, I noticed the secret doors hide much better in original D1's more pixelly rendering than in clearer Rebirth. This explains a few things for me, because I had been long looking at the textures for D1's secret doors and been wondering why they had always seems to stand out more than the secret doors in its successor games. Now I know why; they didn't stand out so much in the original version of the game. So the secrets actually seem a bit more secret, and in my playthrough of the game, I'll probably end up missing more than I normally would in Rebirth.

The poorer rendering also makes it harder to snipe distant targets, which has its upsides and its downsides. It depends really on how you spin it. Some can see it as adding challenge to the game, others could see it as a hindrance. Unsure as of yet how much this might affect one's gameplay...probably not a lot once you adjust, but I'm throwing it out there for consideration anyway.

Robot behavior also seems ever so slightly different...bots that seemed more docile are a little more aggressive, and those that seemed more aggressive are now a little more docile, and so forth. Again, nothing major, and I doubt it'll affect one's experience any. Probably will have to do some comparisons in order to be really sure, though.

But yeah, just some things I've noticed.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: VANGUARD on February 16, 2014, 07:58:31 PM
Is there a way to get Descent to run on a Linux Mint (KDE) system? I don't have Windows or an Apple.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Pumo on February 16, 2014, 09:40:32 PM
Maybe you can run Rebirth or XL on it? Both programs has Linux versions. :)
The installation is a bit tricky (as every installation on Linux) but you can give it a try.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Viper1999 on February 17, 2014, 12:43:49 AM
Quote from: Kaizerwolf on February 15, 2014, 10:42:42 AM
What would be cool, if not totally unlikely, would be to add Steam Workshop support for Descent. I don't know for sure how custom missions would run on the DOS version of the game. Still, it would be cool to see missions added through the Workshop. It would take a lot out of Interplay though, and it seems likely that they don't have any real interest in doing so.

Would be even more cool if they added Steam Trading Cards to it.   :)
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: VANGUARD on February 17, 2014, 03:59:18 AM
Do I need to buy the software or is this like a freeware? I still kind of miss Descent. i think I had some of my favorite games on the iMac, but I rarely used it and later sold it for $$$.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 17, 2014, 09:49:43 AM
You do have to pay money to get it off of Steam, but until the end of today, it's still being offered at fifty percent off and is only three bucks. And even without the sale, its then only six bucks, so it's not like its terribly expensive.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: tueidj on February 17, 2014, 10:31:20 PM
It seems most people (including the ones responsible for putting together the GOG.com and Steam releases) aren't aware the original PC version of Descent can run in 640x480 via a command line option, which is a massive improvement over the default 320x200. Of course the engine ports (d2x-xl and rebirth) can do a lot better, but maybe people wouldn't be complaining so much about the dated graphics if it was enabled "out of the box".
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: TechPro on February 18, 2014, 10:12:17 AM
Quote from: Vanguard on February 16, 2014, 07:58:31 PM
Is there a way to get Descent to run on a Linux Mint (KDE) system? I don't have Windows or an Apple.

A couple of the Linux repos (Debian and Ubuntu) have D1X-Rebirth and D2X-Rebirth.  Cheers!

Quote from: tueidj on February 17, 2014, 10:31:20 PM
It seems most people (including the ones responsible for putting together the GOG.com and Steam releases) aren't aware the original PC version of Descent can run in 640x480 via a command line option, which is a massive improvement over the default 320x200. Of course the engine ports (d2x-xl and rebirth) can do a lot better, but maybe people wouldn't be complaining so much about the dated graphics if it was enabled "out of the box".
Yes, now if only I could remember the command line option...
Oh well, in the Community Guides (on Steam, for Descent) there is a post with some simple steps to get D1X-Reburth to run your Steam hosted Descent. ... If you want to.

NOTE: A lot of people are deriding the choice of getting Descent through Steam.  These people are forgetting about those people who do not own Descent, for whom getting it through Steam is quick and very easy (earier than GOG, IMHO) to get the necessary licensed files.  After that, the user can choose however they wish to play it.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: tueidj on February 18, 2014, 01:00:07 PM
The option is "-640x480", iirc it is listed along with all the other command line options if you put "-?" or "-help".
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 19, 2014, 07:32:20 AM
Quote from: TechPro on February 18, 2014, 10:12:17 AM
NOTE: A lot of people are deriding the choice of getting Descent through Steam.  These people are forgetting about those people who do not own Descent, for whom getting it through Steam is quick and very easy (earier than GOG, IMHO) to get the necessary licensed files.  After that, the user can choose however they wish to play it.

This is a large part of why I bought it myself (that and I was feeling very, very, nostalgic), so I would possess my own legal copy of the game. And it is something every one will have to do at some point if they wish to play Descent. Remember, Rebirth and like mods are just that; mods. Additionally programming to tack onto the preexisting game, but not the actual game itself. It's quite useless to you without the game. So get the game; where you get it doesn't really matter so long as it's legal and convenient for you. Furthermore, remember that buying the game shows support in Descent, and the more support we all show for it, the more we show the world that we're still very much interested in Descent and 6DoF games like it.  :D
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Sapphirus on February 19, 2014, 12:54:43 PM
Descent 2 now available on Steam!
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: tueidj on February 19, 2014, 02:27:53 PM
Quote from: Scyphi on February 19, 2014, 07:32:20 AM
Furthermore, remember that buying the game shows support in Descent, and the more support we all show for it, the more we show the world that we're still very much interested in Descent and 6DoF games like it.  :D
Unfortunately though, the money is going to Interplay who are basically just royalty collectors. They don't have any developers themselves, any new games they bring out are produced by tiny indy devs who they don't treat very well...
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaizerwolf on February 19, 2014, 06:10:53 PM
Quote from: Sapphire Wolf on February 19, 2014, 12:54:43 PM
Descent 2 now available on Steam!

Yes! And from what I can tell, from one demo at least, it seems to have the redbook music with it. Good stuff!

Ahh it made me so nostalgic to see the original intro sequence for Descent 2. ;D
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: tueidj on February 19, 2014, 06:39:22 PM
So $6.99 for Descent 1 then $9.99 for Descent 2 (compared to $9.99 for both from gog.com)... interplay's greed strikes again.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: TechPro on February 19, 2014, 07:05:24 PM
Eh, not a big deal (IMO).

Anyway, here is the procedure to upgrade your Steam installed Descent to use D1X-Rebirth (copied from this page (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=226941176)):
You're now ready to enjoy Descent with all the modern conveniences you would expect!

Extra!  Once you've done this, you don't actually have to run Steam in order to run your Descent!  Just make a shortcut to the "launch descent.bat" file and use that to start your Descent!
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: PyroJockey on February 23, 2014, 04:02:53 PM
Quote from: tueidj on February 19, 2014, 06:39:22 PM
So $6.99 for Descent 1 then $9.99 for Descent 2 (compared to $9.99 for both from gog.com)... interplay's greed strikes again.
Yes, those diabolical fiends at Interplay are just rolling in the profits.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: tueidj on February 23, 2014, 08:29:54 PM
Quote from: PyroJockey on February 23, 2014, 04:02:53 PM
Yes, those diabolical fiends at Interplay are just rolling in the profits.
Considering that they virtually employ no staff/have no ongoing development costs and have jacked up all their prices on gog.com from $6.99 to $9.99, and are now reselling the exact same software as two separate products on a different retail platform, yes pretty much all their income would be direct profit.
The only "new" game they somehow managed to license and publish in recent years was "Death and the Fly" which was not only an abysmal game, but also waaay overpriced at $20. The developer of the game actually spoke out about how poorly interplay handled it, saying he would never have charged that much for it and doing so effectively killed what little chance of success the game had.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 24, 2014, 07:32:12 AM
So it sounds like Interplay really hasn't learned from past mistakes.  ::) So what else is new?

Personally, though, releasing Descent on Steam is a good move on their part, so I'm not going to question it, and the price is reasonable to me, and I daresay Interplay probably needs the funding wherever they can get it.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: -<WillyP>- on February 24, 2014, 09:13:39 AM
Interplay needs to die a horrible but speedy death. Then their assets, including the rights to the Descent franchise, can be sold off at auction to the highest bidder, who undoubtedly would release the D3 source code to the Descent community immediately, and also make an awesome Descent 4.

Or not.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 24, 2014, 09:32:31 AM
That is assuming Interplay even has the source code to D3. As I believe I suggested before, D3 is where the franchise rights gets VERY complicated on who owns exactly what. It's entirely possible that Interplay does not own enough rights to D3 to possess or release the D3 source code in any shape or form, and I suspect this is true, because hasn't anyone else noticed that on Interplay's site they promote the dickens out of D1 and D2, but almost NOTHING about D3? Like they don't have the permission to?

But yeah, Interplay might just be better off dying off, and judging from the sound of a lot of the business choices they've been making lately, this might be sooner than they think.

Unfortunately, my fear with that is that it'll send Descent into another "dark ages" of obscurity again.  :-\

Actually, on second thought, maybe another company needs to come along and buy up Interplay. That would put the rights to Descent in THAT company's control, and maybe they'll be smart enough to exploit the potential there (it's what I'd do if I owned a video game company...which will probably never happen, but it's the thought that counts, right?). But that's all still high hopes.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on February 24, 2014, 02:08:43 PM
Yeah, Interplay thinks it's still the nineties, and they think they're still big...
Delusional is what they are.

Hopefully, when they do go under for good Sol Contingency will play some role in making sure people don't forget about Descent.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: PyroJockey on February 24, 2014, 02:22:18 PM
Quote from: tueidj on February 23, 2014, 08:29:54 PM
Considering that they virtually employ no staff/have no ongoing development costs and have jacked up all their prices on gog.com from $6.99 to $9.99, and are now reselling the exact same software as two separate products on a different retail platform, yes pretty much all their income would be direct profit.


(http://oi40.tinypic.com/2m7exkx.jpg)

In 1994 I tried the shareware version of Descent and loved it, so I bought the retail version for $39.95 plus $4.50 for shipping. That's $44.45 in 1995 dollars and it was worth every penny. That would be over $68 today, so how do you figure they are jacking up the price? $10 today would be equal to about $6.50 in 1995, so they reduced the price by about %90. Is this game really worth less that $10 to you?. If so, don't buy it. That's how supply and demand works. As for making a profit, that's what a company is supposed to do. It's not evil. As for them raising the price from $6.99 to $9.99, probably due to the AHCA.

BTW, I still have the original box and 3.5" floppies.  ;D
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: tueidj on February 24, 2014, 05:00:23 PM
So something that was brand new 20 years ago is still worth the same amount today? Great, gonna go sell my car (that I bought 5 years ago for $8,000) for its original value of $29,990... adjusted for inflation of course, so I'll probably get over $40k for it!

This is a situation where the seller is just slapping whatever price they feel like on their product and people are refusing to pay it - that's not how supply and demand works at all. Just go look at the many forum threads on Steam where people are recommending buying from GoG instead of being ripped off by paying 70% more for the exact same products.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Teh poke man on February 24, 2014, 05:33:07 PM
Wow, such pessimism, guess no one here reads the Rebirth forums  :-\

Descent was put on steam thanks to the efforts of Interplay co-founder Rebecca Heineman. She put got the gog versions up temporarily (for funding and/or testing the market) while her company (Olde Skuul) works on updating them with better graphics, SteamWorks suite, and proper multiplayer. When complete, this will be an "update" for those who already own them on Steam. She plans to get all 3 Descents up then move on to the Freespace games. Source is what she told Blarget (http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/frm/index.php/topic,1838.msg19880.html#msg19880) and me personally through chat. This all sounds too good to be true, and it may as well be. She was the freakin' co-founder of Interplay, and she worked on the development of D1+2, so she's got that going for her. She also sounded very honest and open about everything in chat, so I choose to believe. But there is something you can do to help...

Show your support! Stop boycotting and start buying! ;D
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on February 24, 2014, 06:01:54 PM
...which, last I checked, not that long ago either, really wasn't THAT many, at least not for D1. Seemed to me that more people were spending their time pointing everybody to Rebirth so to cope with the dated graphics than to GOG, but then again I didn't read EVERY post that had EVER been posted about the game at the time, so...

What this is REALLY about, actually, is that people are just cheapskates by nature, and always looking for the cheapest price they can possibly get through whatever means possible, and some are just more adamant they do that than others. Why do you think piracy is such a big problem? So many people are much more willing to break the law and get it for cheap or less than have to pay actual price for it. Same sort of thing applies here, just, thankfully, all legal.

But hey, tueidj, if you don't want the game that badly, no one said you had to buy it.

And actually this all does apply to the principles of supply and demand, from all points. What determines a price for a product depends entirely on the supply and the demand of it. Since its an online product, the supply part gets a bit complicated, but the demand is very much there (just look at the Steam forums ;)), enough that a little price jacking is probably understandable on Interplay's part (and I daresay they probably need it). Jack the price up too high though, and people won't buy it. Leave it too low, though, and you aren't going to make a profit out of it.

What Interplay has done here is leave it rather low so to appeal to would-be buyers (I would estimate the game is actually worth more closer 10 to 20 dollars today), but high enough they can actually get a profit out of it, and actually make it worth their while to sell at all.

And people DO seem to be buying it. And another bonus, Steam is going to seem more credible and better known to the average person than GOG. That's just simple fact right there. AND, with the Steam version, you can play both games in their original state straight out of the box on modern systems, something I know for a fact you canNOT do with the GOG versions (thus FORCING you to rely on things like Rebirth, whether you actually want it or not, if you can find it, which many of these returning players DON'T).

And, another thought that I had, isn't Interplay the one who's licensing both Steam AND GOG to sell these games? So if Interplay was to go under (again) what do you think will happen to that licensing? Most likely, the games will no longer to be available to buy through those venues, and THEN where will the fanbase be at? So, since we already KNOW Interplay's struggling, and even though we know it's pretty much their own fault for it, can you really blame them for charging the game at a little higher price, a price that really ISN'T all that much higher in the long run? If Interplay really WAS jacking up the price out of pure greed, they'd be charging the 10-20 bucks the games more likely worth than a couple bucks higher than GOG like they actually are.

K, in light of Teh Poke Man's post that was made while I was writing all of that, forget all of that and just look at that post there, because that is really, really, great news. That just seriously made my day, no joke.  ;D

They're actually going to try and get D3 on there as well? Ha! And here I was thinking it wasn't going to happen! Well, it might not still, but there's hope. And when it comes to the Descent franchise, any speck of hope is like manna from heaven!

So I'm gonna look at this as a gift horse, and I'm NOT going to look it in the mouth, thank you very much.  ::)

Question: any word on them trying to get the expansion packs out as well? Y'know, like the Vertigo Series and Mercenary? Namely Mercenary? (sorry Vertigo fans, but Merc's more important to me, TBH.  ::))

Well, whatever, you've already got my support. Got D1 already, and I wasn't going to get D2 too for reasons I won't go into detail right now, but in light of this new information, that changes right now.  :D

Maybe I'm being too optimistic right now, but frankly, I don't care at the moment.  :P

Word of advice to Ms. Heineman, though; now you've got it on Steam, do you REALLY need to keep the GOG versions up? That right there would eliminate most of the split in sales.  ;)
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Teh poke man on February 24, 2014, 06:38:37 PM
Quote from: Scyphi on February 24, 2014, 06:01:54 PM
Question: any word on them trying to get the expansion packs out as well? Y'know, like the Vertigo Series and Mercenary?
Mercinary is included in the gog version, and the BP relatively important to multiplayer, so I figure that's a given. I was wondering about Vertigo myself, I assumed it was to be included with the update but I'll check with her.

Quote from: Scyphi on February 24, 2014, 06:01:54 PM
Word of advice to Ms. Heineman, though; now you've got it on Steam, do you REALLY need to keep the GOG versions up? That right there would eliminate most of the split in sales.  ;)
Sadly she doesn't have actual control of the game on Steam. From what I gathered she persuaded the guys at Interplay to put it up, who are the ones behind the gog copy-paste. That said, what would you suggest until the update is done? Every time we mention Rebirth she goes on about "licenses," so apparently that's not an option.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: PyroJockey on February 24, 2014, 07:14:01 PM
Quote from: Teh poke man on February 24, 2014, 05:33:07 PM
But there is something you can do to help...

Show your support! Stop boycotting and start buying! ;D

I'm already on board. As I said previously...

Quote from: PyroJockey on February 13, 2014, 10:52:47 AM
Sure I already own multiple legitimate copies of Descent (original DOS 3.5 floppy, Definitive Collection CD, Good Old Games download), but what the hell, I threw another $3.49 in the kitty for the Steam (DOSBox) version just to show there are still people who see value in it. Gifted one to my son too. After-all, you can never have too much Descent.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: tueidj on February 24, 2014, 07:41:24 PM
Yeah right. Interplay also said they were going to release Descent for the wii with updated graphics, internet based multiplayer and extra levels... four years ago.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on February 24, 2014, 08:15:23 PM
I'll buy the steam versions if/when the update comes.  If it does that's really good news.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Eagle131 on February 28, 2014, 07:35:20 AM
Seeing Descent on Steam made me want to fire up D1, 2, and 3 again.  I've been playing through the Descent games non stop since I saw it!

Quote from: Scyphi on February 14, 2014, 10:08:41 AM
Anyone else notice that the person playing the game in the video posted on Steam isn't doing that great a job at it? :P

^That's exactly what I thought when I watched the game play videos!
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Teh poke man on April 15, 2014, 11:38:04 AM
D3 was just added. GOG D3+Mercenary v1.4, but also includes a Glide wrapper. Curious...
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on April 16, 2014, 06:03:04 AM
Quote
D3 was just added.

*day is made*

I really didn't think it was going to happen, so I'm glad to be proven wrong.  :D
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Viper1999 on April 16, 2014, 08:13:03 AM
Quote from: Teh poke man on April 15, 2014, 11:38:04 AM
D3 was just added. GOG D3+Mercenary v1.4, but also includes a Glide wrapper. Curious...

Sweet! Used to play this one when i was a kid! ;D
Good to see something from my childhood coming back to me.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on April 17, 2014, 11:21:12 AM
Downloaded and played on through to most of the third level of D3. Pretty much is the same D3 as always, but in comparing it to the original installation of D3 I already had on my laptop, it does seem to have a few minor rendering fixes that enable it to run better and more efficiently on my more modern Windows 7. Less flickering when jumping from gameplay to map and back, doesn't mess with my desktop's default Aero themes, slightly increased rendering performance...stuff like that. Of course, by default, the game seem to run on pretty low graphical settings, but a quick go-through the options menu fixes that. I can run the game totally maxed out on its rendering capabilities without issue, and it looks very nice.  8) Can't quite do that with the original non-Steam installation.

At first I thought it was also showing the D3 cinematics in either additional widescreen or with added details, because it seemed to me there was suddenly more to see in them than I remembered there being in the past, but after comparing them with the original's installation, I saw I was just imagining it.  ::)

Only quirk I've found is that, for some reason, the little loading graphics (like what you see when a level is loading) aren't being displayed. The text and everything else is there, but the actual graphic is missing, not getting rendered, which is...odd. Never seen it do that before, at least that I can recall. Not a big deal though, because the game loads so quickly on this system that you could blink and miss that loading screen altogether because it done and loaded everything already. Which is nice for speed issues, but also a downfall as you don't really get much chance to enjoy the loading screens for said levels, which I had always thought was a nice touch, aesthetically speaking.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: TechPro on April 23, 2014, 11:01:47 AM
Hmmm... Got some ideas on that...
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on April 24, 2014, 04:18:08 AM
I remember when it took ten minutes to load the first mission...
Yeah I think there's a reason so many games have followed Descent 3's example when it came to loading screens.
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on April 24, 2014, 05:58:37 AM
If you're going to be waiting awhile for it to load, might as well give you something to look at, right?
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Kaiaatzl on April 24, 2014, 02:15:45 PM
Our game did it first! :D
I think...
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on April 24, 2014, 05:16:11 PM
Oh man...how would one even research that and find out? Because I'm pretty sure no one's been keeping track of that.  :P
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: Scyphi on May 07, 2014, 04:43:22 PM
Guys...I just found Freespace 1 (http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/?snr=1_7_15__13) on Steam...it was just released today...and is 50% off until May 14th...

Just thought you ought to know.

And of course you know this means Freespace 2 will probably soon follow, given current trends. ;)
Title: Re: Descent is on Steam!
Post by: VANGUARD on May 09, 2014, 01:46:25 AM
FreeSpace, not a bad game. Sort of miss the classics