Overload - spiritual successor to Descent - on Kickstarter

LstBrunnenG

Supreme [H]ardness
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The original developers who founded Parallax Software have started a new company and are working on a spiritual successor to Descent. It's coming not just to PC (Windows/Mac/Linux), but to Xbox One and PS4. Compared with Descent: Underground, Overload seems to be much more focused on a single-player campaign with a story, with a multiplayer expansion (free to backers) to come later.

It looks like they're a lot further along than the Descent: Underground guys were when they ran their Kickstarter, as you can see for yourselves in the video below.

Kickstarter link

 
I'm like "descent, cool".


Then i see kickstarter and i think, "meh."
 
Didn't a Descent reboot get kickstarted like, a month or two ago?
 
Didn't a Descent reboot get kickstarted like, a month or two ago?
If by 'a month or two ago' you mean '11 months ago', then yes!

This is the original team behind the first two Descent games. Interplay didn't pay them for digital sales of these games, and licensed the trademark (but not certain assets) to some former Star Citizen devs. The D:U approach is very multiplayer-focused, whereas Overload gets back to the kill robots, blow up reactor paradigm of the originals.

I really want their new company to succeed. They've hinted that a spiritual successor to Freespace would be next up.
 
If by 'a month or two ago' you mean '11 months ago', then yes!

This is the original team behind the first two Descent games. Interplay didn't pay them for digital sales of these games, and licensed the trademark (but not certain assets) to some former Star Citizen devs. The D:U approach is very multiplayer-focused, whereas Overload gets back to the kill robots, blow up reactor paradigm of the originals.

I really want their new company to succeed. They've hinted that a spiritual successor to Freespace would be next up.


Well, the gameplay of THIS reboot looks WAY more appealing. Maybe I'll put in a little cash...
 
I really hope this gets funded, but they have ~$93k to go and 38 hours to raise it.
 
Yeah, I really hope it gets funded as well. For people who are on the fence, play the demo. And if you like it, support it by contributing if you're able to. Now at ~89k to go. We're making progress.
 
TAKE MY MONEY!

I grew up playing Descent (on the original PlayStation) and spent countless hours on the second game. Good memories. This definitely looks a lot better than the other reboot.
 
I majored in the original Descent and Doom in college.

I dont do kickstarters. Remind us again when its done and its been reviewed.
 
Played through a couple of the missions since they provided a "Teaser".

I like where it's going. So far, a bunch of the early stuff has really narrow corridors so there isn't much room to maneuver. There were a couple larger rooms too. I only played 30 minutes or so last night, so don't assume this to be the end-all. I'm going to try and play a little further tonight, but on normal difficulty setting I was getting my ass handed to me by these bots who's claws slap together and become a giant saw. There are a couple rooms where they are setup to ambush you from behind just as you start attacking weaker enemies from the front.

The controls are well done. I setup my joystick to do all the rotating movements, and my keyboard to do all the linear movements. It would be even better with dual joysticks. If you can handle a gamepad with precision aiming, then a gamepad will work also.

The graphics aren't anything special (early last decade level), but this ensures it will work on just about any machine out there thus increasing their player base. I'm also glad they focused on everything else about the game before graphics.
 
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The campaign succeeded! Yay!

Yeah, this one looks a LOT more descent like than the other one that looks like it's basically going to be a multiplayer only game.

Heck, they claim it's early alpha but it's amazingly polished how it is now. (played the demo and backed it myself before it closed)
 
Now this felt like a real Descent! I played it on Hard mode and everything felt so familiar and loved every second of it. I look forward to getting lost again when escaping the blowing level in panic. (I love these games but having poor sense of direction is a pain in the ass. :D)

*edit* I hope they implement a cockpit viewpoint. Yes its detrimental to your FOV but that matters more on multiplayer. In single player I liked the looks of it.

*edit2* They are! Its right there at the VR news post.
 
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Just tried out the demo. Pretty excited for this. Descent was one of the games I played the shit out of way back then with my friends over the modem.
 
Just got this email on the other Descent



Howdy Rock Jocks!
Say hello to Colosseum by Goznik, the first of many maps created by gamers like YOU using our Map Kit. Colosseum is an old mine that was converted into a warehouse before being used as a mineral sports arena. Keep an eye out for destructible grates hiding goodies...




We've also published a new version of the Map Kit with some fixes and a great set of placeholders based on Skeletonbane's awesome work! We'll soon be selecting a few more maps to bring into the Proving Grounds so hurry up and submit yours today!



NEW STUFF & Patch Notes (1938)

  • COLOSSEUM - An awesomely huge map (based on Goznik's great design) enters the Production environment!
  • DESTRUCTIBLE terrain elements have made their first appearance in the form of certain grates.
  • Proximity Mines and other gadgets should be less proliferative. We changed their diet.
  • Small changes and bug stomping.
COMING SOON IN PROVING GROUNDS

  • Smart Missiles will soon be shooting plasma blobs all over the place!
  • The Typhoon's Spin Attack is getting a buff!
  • Skylab, a map submitted by perfectpencil, is being beautified!
  • Flares will light up your life!
  • A Match Browser shall arise to let you select specific games to join!
  • In the future, Persistent Lobbies will allow you to play with the same people
  • Plus lots of tweaks and balancing.




SXSW 2016
We're going to be showing Descent: Underground at SXSW Gaming Expo this week, so if you're in Austin, come by and see us!
We'll have 4 VR stations set up to try out Descent: Underground!



Cool Board Game
Some friends of ours here in Austin are currently in the midst of a Kickstarter for a board game called Star Traders!
We hope you'll check it out and give them some love!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hzo5cds5dU



Known Issues:

  • Combat, Graphics, and Sound
    • The explosion particle effect for destructibles is on vacation in Tahiti. It's a magical place.
    • The Drone Bay has too many lights and so some people are getting poor performance while admiring their ships.
    • Objects near the corners of the screen can experience "barrel distortion" because of the way that 3D objects are mapped to a 2D screen. Using the Field-of-View slider can help with this in some cases.
    • Our guard bots in "Vs. Bots" mode have now passed the Drone Efficiency Recruitment Protocol, but still need to pass the Drone Universal Movement Battery to avoid getting occasionally stuck.
    • Collisions are more sticky than they are supposed to be, sometimes causing ships to catch on each other.
  • Launching, Installing, and Platforms
    • Installer & Launcher need to be run as administrator on Windows.
    • Streaming software may need to run as administrator to capture video.
    • Standalone (non-Steam) launcher not correctly self-updating on Linux and Macintosh.
    • Uninstalling & reinstalling the launcher may not properly clear settings.
    • Steam Overlay doesn't work on Mac and Linux.
    • The game is not launching correctly on Steamboxes.
    • Part of the ship selection panel in the Drone Bay can get cut off on 4:3 displays. Selecting a 16:9 resolution can sometimes help with this.
  • Input
    • The axis configuration menu is somewhat clunky and uses too-technical language (power changes the curvature of the sensitivity curve, factor scales the sensitivity curve)
    • Linux appears to not be detecting joysticks in many cases.
    • Many joysticks do not yet have a default mapping and need to be configured manually.
    • Controller customization issues are still being experienced by some users. Control customization needs a "reset to defaults" button.
    • If you are having mouse issues, please make sure that your Mouse axes and sensitivities are NOT inverted and reversed at the same time.
    • Multiple joysticks of the same model cannot currently be distinguished by the game.
  • Matches
    • Private matches can launch even if some players are marked "not ready".
    • Auto-start timer in the match lobby doesn't yet display. Keep an eye on the status shown above for an indication as to how soon your match will start.
    • There may be a wait for matches at times. While our all-backer player base is much larger than the beta pool, player play times can vary. Matches won't begin until they have at least 2 players, and will not add players if there are 8 players.
    • In a match lobby, gamepad users sometimes cannot exit the lobby using the gamepad.
    • All servers are currently in the U.S., other locations are planned.
General Information
If you need to get the installer, CLICK HERE for instructions.
This test is public and we are happy if people want to share on Twitch and YouTube. In the event that something is running poorly or breaks while you're streaming, please let your viewers know that this is an Early Access build that you are playtesting. It is NOT the final retail release.
If you do plan to stream, you may need to run your streaming software as an administrator.
Our game manual is a series of forum posts:
http://descendentstudios.com/community/forum/46-game-manual/
If you have any questions about downloading or playing the game, that's the best place to check for a quick answer.





Bug Reporting
Please report bugs in our bug reporting forum with as much specificity as possible. If you can provide screenshots, that's awesome!
We've also compiled a list of known issues so that you can skip those when reporting bugs.



Fly safe!
-Dunk
 
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