Descent 1 1/2

[Alter-Fox]

I've been doing it.
I think without putting a reactor object in a reactor segment, the countdown length might be altered and some of the endlevel "door open" triggers might not work properly.
Although exits obviously still do....

Not 100% sure

[Xfing]

We can do a pass over all the levels and add reactors in, so as to have this out of the way. They don't need to be sensibly placed at all, what counts is that they're there in the first place. But yeah, that'd be for anarchy mostly. People don't want to get distracted by having robots with so much firepower messing up their multiplayer match

We'll also have to decide where to put secret exits and whatnot once we've got all the levels and secret levels in place. Naphtha has been completely uncreachable sadly, so I don't know if he'll be finishing the levels he's got claimed. Sirius is still available, fortunately, so we'll be waiting on his last levels while we figure out who does the final one.

[Alter-Fox]

I think it's probably worth re-opening that one level slot Naptha's still got claimed, yeah.
Does it need to be fire-themed, or was that just the way he had planned to do it?

[Xfing]

I think it's probably worth re-opening that one level slot Naptha's still got claimed, yeah.
Does it need to be fire-themed, or was that just the way he had planned to do it?

Nah, it's the penultimate one that's fire themed, and Sirius is doing that one. The last one I thought should be mostly gray and industrial-like, kinda like level 26 of D1 (minus the purples), or secret level 1 from there. Colofrul highlights could be used here and there too, but it should mostly be the gray rock, the X grate and the exit tunnel steel. No restrictions on D2 content unlike Eris though. I was thinking that the architecture should be rather claustrophobic and cubic, but that's probably level 27 coming through in my memories Anyway, got an idea for a single room in that level, not necessarily on how and where it should be placed in relation to the rest of the level though.

[Alter-Fox]

Have a slow weekend at work, I started playing around in DLE with combining mars-ish textures with the brimspark palette, something that might turn into a suitable replacement for Naptha's tracking station if I can manage to finish it.

[Xfing]

Have a slow weekend at work, I started playing around in DLE with combining mars-ish textures with the brimspark palette, something that might turn into a suitable replacement for Naptha's tracking station if I can manage to finish it.

Sounds interesting! Post some screens?

[Alter-Fox]

Right now I just have a screenshot of the editor that's too big to post... let's see if I can quickly fix that before I leave work.

Looks like I can!

I've added a little more since this but it's still fairly accurate to what I've got so far. About 225 segments for all this.
If I do keep going on it now that the weekend is over, and if I don't run out of segments before I get to the end, maybe this'll do for that slot. The geometry seems decent enough so far, even though those hallways near the start are deliberately very narrow. That red door is a little out of the way, but inside the blue area is a trigger players'll be required to shoot through the grates right above the red door, so that they see where it is.

[Xfing]

Not bad, looks like it's got a theme in mind, reminds me of D1 level 25.

Anyway, I was able to get in touch with Naphtha. He'll try to get both his reserved levels done by around the end of February, though he can't make any promises due to some personal stuff. I say we give him time and see what happens! Not sure what that would make of your level, maybe you guys could collaborate? I don't wanna be forced to choose out of either of your levels, since you're both such good mappers :c

[Xfing]

I've been doing a playthrough of the demo we have (first 15 levels) and I've fixed a few small issues, mostly misaligned textures, bad lighting etc, in a few levels. But I've also added goodies to the cubes diagonal from the reactor in level 7, the ones that the lifters fly out of. I really think these cubes deserved some more goodies to incentivize exploring them. Starting level 13 now and gotta say - I was a bit worried about the number of secrets, but so far it looks like we really do have a decent number of them, some really extensive and creative. The Solar System portion of the mission will be fine in that regard. Although I think some hidden places are a bit too empty and will need to be refilled with some goodies.

Also, I think the exit sequence of the Charon level is way, way too hard with all those spawn and THREE Lou Guards to deal with. We should definitely get rid of two of them and replace them with something less crazy, even medium hulks (though I'd prefer like small hulks or something equivalent to those). Ambushes of that difficulty do require smarts and/or megas, and we don't have any yet at that point. Same goes for Level 12's reactor room - although having 2 Lou Guards there makes perfect sense, those plasma drillers in addition to a matcen that keeps replenishing robots is simply too hard to take care of with the armament you're confined to. At least IMO

[Kaizerwolf]

Hellooooooo

long time no see. I had a kick to play Descent again, and found my Descent 1.5 missions folder. I don't really go by Kaizerwolf anymore (though I'm failing at sorting the items when making a new account), so for now I'm still Kaizerwolf. How are things going with the project?

[Xfing]

Heyy Kaizerwolf, things have been a bit slow recently. I'm still around and fully intend to bring the project to a close sometime, but I've found myself swamped with other commitments in the meantime, no idea how long it'll take to clear those up so I can fully get back to doing this. Anyway, I've been molesting Naphtha about doing the final level, as he had expressed interest in doing that, but that has also been going rather slowly for him as far as I know. More recently I did some texture fixes for D2, also intended to swap out some other textures that happen to be duplicates and add some extra ones - Descent 2's PIG and HAM files happen to have around 30 more texture slots that can safely be used, so I thought I'd restore some of the textures that went missing between D1 and D2. It's possible to program their properties and all as well. The problem is, DLE is currently unable to see any extra textures, so it'd kind of be a wasted effort until that is sorted out. And I haven't been bothering Sirius about that very hard recently either. Anyhow, go check out the relevant threads in Descent Development.

[Xfing]

Aight folks, looks like we've only got 2 regular levels to go. The penultimate level is assigned to Sirius and he'll probably get around to making it eventually, while the for the final level I'll be trying to get Naphtha to do it, although he hasn't had much inspiration for mapping recently. Hopefully we can get something anyhow! As for the secret levels, well - looks like we're in need for some as well. Most in fact! So if anyone feels like making something weird and puzzle-based, then be my guest!

[TRUEpiiiicness]

I can take a stab at one of the secret levels, it seems I enjoy making puzzles that are different from the norm. The puzzle to get the yellow key in L14 of my yet-to-be-released mission comes to mind.

[Xfing]

Sure, it'd be great! We'll have to do some reshuffling, since it seems Shroudeye is not available anymore and Secret Level 5 will be done by nightsurfer. Regarding the other levels, I don't think Naphtha will be doing his (gonna be a lot to get the final level from him as is), so I'll unlock his level for the taking too.

So looks like the secret levels to choose from are:
1. Asteroid Weapons Research
4. Fata Morgana Tunnels
6. Dementia

I might as well take the chance to say a few things about how I see these levels, since the titles have already been determined. Each title (especially later on) should have a huge bearing on the level's gimmick. So first of all some general ideas:

All secret levels should feature comparatively small enemy counts/relatively unthreatening robots (such as melee robots and mine layers), so that most of their difficulty stems from trying to solve them. They should be primarily focused around puzzles. Those in D2 are of course usually based around switches and location triggers. As in D2, the goal and reward of the secret levels should come from figuring out how to "solve" them - by which I mean access every single goodie the level has to offer. This process should require several attempts (unless one's very resourceful and quick on the uptake), so learning and figuring out the level is an experience in and of itself.

1. Asteroid Weapons Research - this should be lab-like and D1-ish (so probably those lab textures), obviously, and include some weapon that would otherwise be inaccessible at that time, to incentivize finding and exploring this level - as the final prize of the level. Since we're very early on in the mission and at that point very likely most of the weaponry will still be unavailable to the player, we could make the final prize of the level a bunch of secondary weapons that would normally be obtained many levels later, such as some flash missiles and smart mines (like perhaps 12 of the former, 8 of the latter or so). These would be all one gets until the Zeta Aquilae levels. Of course the normal restrictions of D1 don't need to apply, since it's a secret level - so disappearing walls etc are fair game.

TRUEpiiiicness, you've made some really outstanding Solar System levels, so I believe you'd make a great one here. You can take a look at Shroudeye's other Solar System secret level if you'd like, it's really excellent. Ofc no forcing, if you'd rather do one of the later ones that's fine too.

4. Fata Morgana Tunnels - as the name suggests, this secret level should be centered around the theme of desert mirages, so probably sand-themed (Alien 1), and the central gimmick would be walls that appear solid, but are passable. That's pretty much all, everything else is up to the designer I guess.

6. Dementia - This one should invoke loneliness, gloom and desolation. I'm thinking it should be based in the black obsidian texture and have some have long and wide winding tunnels, be poorly lit in general, and contain a lot of broken and flickering lights to invoke the feeling of disrepair and abandonment. Bit of a breather in terms of pacing. Can contain some surreal/grotesque geometry (preferably towards the end). A bit more exploratory/narrative-driven than your usual secret level but of course still should be reasonably packed with goodies, preferably in larger caches. Perhaps could be built around a single long winding tunnel with detours and rooms with stuff to explore and figure out in.

[Xfing]

Aight, things are going to pick up the pace in the secret level department real nice now! And nightsurfer turns out to be Kaizerwolf, a very valued level designer. I'll make sure to adjust the handle in all mentions.