Descent

In the year 2012 the Post Terran Mining Company (PTMC) has used save labor to create automated mines on 15 planets and moons of the solar system. The mistreated slaves have rebelled, killed their masters, and claimed the mines as their homes. PTMC hires you to invade these newly claimed homes and perpetrate genocide.

Shoot the robot monsters!


zerothis # 2014-07-10 13:29:07

This was a commercially available proprietary game. The source code was later released under the GPL (and proprietary and Public Domain, in other words a proprietary license) but the content remains definitively proprietary.

Mines throughout the solar system have been taken over by the robots built to mine them. Humans have been killed or imprisoned in the mines. It seems to be caused by some sort of computer virus. The owning company has hired a mercenary to rescue the surviving prisoners and destroy the main reactor in each mine, thus destroying the infected robots.
Shoot the robots, get power ups, find the keys, find the reactor, rescue the humans, destroy the reactor, escape the exploding mine.

Any commercial version of Descent can be played on Linux using either the D1X, D2X, DXX-Rebirth, or D2X-XL engines. Yes, That includes the PlayStation version. These are all considered source-ports. All aspects except for movies from the Mac version are preserved. The graphics are enhanced through OpenGL, any resolution, and proper widescreen options. D2X-XL also adds modes, difficulty levels, multiplayer options, graphics effects, faster or slower options, weapons enhancements, massive level design improvements (multiple boss robots can work as a team, robots can carry keys and switches), and an extensive help menu.

The source code license can be read here. It is a fully proprietary license that permits anything except commercial use. The media headline "released Descent's source code (version 1.5) to the public domain for noncommercial purposes." Is totally $#!@&%, as "public domain" prohibits having any restrictions, including non-commercial. The original media remains fully proprietary as well.

(Zerothis) - # 2008-10-05 07:46:52

software: Descent,

hardware: x86-64 CPU,

display: textured polygons

port of
Descent (MS-DOS)

ported to
Descent (BeOS)

prequel of
Descent II (Linux)

similar to
ProjectX – Forsaken (Linux)

version of
Descent (PS)
Descent (Amiga AGA)
Descent (Mac OS Classic)
Descent (Atari ST)