History Trivia / Descent

!! Trivia items

** '''Three''' separate attempts at creating the next game in the ''Descent'' series failed, with the first attempt, ''Descent IV: Invasion'', cancelled due to legal issues surrounding the use of the ''Descent'' trademark, the second attempt, ''Sol Contingency'', left in DevelopmentHell after it was outright ScrewedByTheLawyers, and the developers of the third attempt, originally named ''Descent: Underground'', ultimately forfeiting the use of the ''Descent'' trademark to avoid being completely ScrewedByTheNetwork, and reverting to the game's original working name of ''Ships That Fight Underground''.

!! Miscellaneous trivia
* An artist who worked on the first game [[https://twitter.com/adampletcher/status/1465472961285087234 mentioned on Twitter]] that the iconic super-angular font used in the main menus was designed that way to prove a point -- he had wanted a font tool to have kerning capabilities, and the programmer working on the tool was skeptical because he didn't know what kerning was, so the artist made that font as a demonstration, to produce extreme examples of how bad a font could look without kerning. Seeing this, the programmer duly added the kerning support.

** The working title for Descent was [[https://youtu.be/Q8tsuYH1AIk?t=410 "Inferno"]].
** In ''Descent 2'', the "alien" virus turns out not to have been alien in origin after all.
** The novels feature a story more in line with the above, having the virus indeed be alien in origin, with Dravis, who is a much more of a MagnificentBastard in the books, instead stealing it and altering it for his own purposes in the third novel.
** ''Descent 3: Mercenary'' sets the record straight by revealing that the PTMC's encounter with the virus was indeed by chance. The missions in the singleplayer ''Mercenary'' campaign [[spoiler:take place during the period when Dravis attempts to control the virus (this is after the end of ''Descent II''), and finally succeeds in doing so, using the SRAD Research Laboratory and CED outpost on Io as testing grounds for the controlled strain.]]
** ''Descent 3'', it seems, was originally planned to be much more complex than what it is now. An old video on what used to be [=PlanetDescent=] shows a short segment of Level 3 when ''Descent 3'' was still in testing, and [[http://web.archive.org/web/20060706123037/http://avault.com/featured/descent3/ an ancient Adrenaline Vault feature]] used to detail every single robot's strengths, weaknesses and capabilities, such as the Juggernaut being able to kneel down to dodge a missile, the EMD Gun being the only weapon capable of short-circuiting the Spy Hunter's self-destruct mechanism, or the Thief being able to generate three decoys to fool a pursuing player. Traces of some of these additional features are still present in the final game (like the Stinger being more prone to friendly-fire incidents, or the EMD Gun being particularly effective on the Spy Hunter).
** Some levels, such as Level 6 and 15, were originally meant to have much more eventful boss battles, such as the player navigating a maze while being chased by a Homunculus shrouded in darkness, or the Hellion Assault Mech smashing out huge sections of the cavern he is in to generate lava falls. In addition, Level 3 of ''Mercenary'' was originally conceived such that the player would have a more drawn-out battle with the Tracking Station's Captain; he would remove himself from the lavatory and enter a secret door to the side into a very small room.
** ''Descent 3'' was also wildly anticipated by fans of the franchise, and had Interplay invested their funds in the right kind of advertising (a tournament [[NoExportForYou held in the US]] is ''not'' the right kind of advertising), ''Descent 3'' may have had a larger, albeit [[BrokenBase very broken]], fanbase.
** ''Descent 4''. A fourth title in the series got pushed back when the developers Parallax split into two separate companies, Outrage and Volition, of which Volition made a sort-of sequel in the form of ''[[VideoGame/FreeSpace Descent: FreeSpace]]'', and a lot of rumored elements of ''Descent 4'', such as the character's name (Parker) got recycled into the then new series, ''VideoGame/RedFaction''.

** ''Descent 3'' was also wildly anticipated by fans of the franchise, and had Interplay invested their funds in the right kind of advertising (a tournament [[NoExportForYou held in the US]] is ''not'' the right kind of advertising), ''Descent 3'' may have had a larger, albeit [[BrokenBase very broken]], fanbase. Further details may be found [[http://www.descent4.org/ here]]. You might be surprised at the wealth of information over there.

** ''Descent 4''. A fourth title in the series got pushed back when the developers Parallax split into two separate companies, Outrage and Volition, of which Volition made a sort-of sequel in the form of ''[[VideoGame/FreeSpace Descent: FreeSpace]]'', and a lot of rumored elements of ''Descent 4'', such as the character's name (Parker) got recycled into the then new series, ''VideoGame/RedFaction''.

* ImageSource:
** BigDamnFireExit

** The working title for the first game was [[https://youtu.be/Q8tsuYH1AIk?t=410 "Inferno"]].

** ''Descent 4''. A fourth title in the series got pushed back when the developers Parallax split into two separate companies, Outrage and Volition, of which Volition made a sort-of sequel in the form of ''[[VideoGame/FreeSpace Descent: FreeSpace]]'', and a lot of rumored elements of ''Descent 4'', such as the character's name (Parker) got recycled into the then new series, ''RedFaction''.

** ''Descent 3'', it seems, was originally planned to be much more complex than what it is now. An old video on what used to be [=PlanetDescent=] shows a short segment of Level 3 when ''Descent 3'' was still in testing, and [[http://web.archive.org/web/20060706123037/http://avault.com/featured/descent3/ an ancient Adrenaline Vault feature]] used to detail every single robot's strengths, weaknesses and capabilities, such as the Juggernaut being able to kneel down to dodge a missile, the EMD Gun being the only weapon capable of short-circuiting the Spy Hunter's self-destruct mechanism, or the Thief being able to generate three decoys to fool a pursuing player. Traces of some of these additional features are still present in the final game (like the Stinger being more prone to friendly-fire incidents, or the EMD Gun being particularly effective on the Spy Hunter).\\
** Some levels, such as Level 6 and 15, were originally meant to have much more eventful boss battles, such as the player navigating a maze while being chased by a Homunculus shrouded in darkness, or the Hellion Assault Mech smashing out huge sections of the cavern he is in to generate lava falls. In addition, Level 3 of ''Mercenary'' was originally conceived such that the player would have a more drawn-out battle with the Tracking Station's Captain; he would remove himself from the lavatory and enter a secret door to the side into a very small room.\\

''Descent 3'' was also wildly anticipated by fans of the franchise, and had Interplay invested their funds in the right kind of advertising (a tournament [[NoExportForYou held in the US]] is ''not'' the right kind of advertising), ''Descent 3'' may have had a larger, albeit [[BrokenBase very broken]], fanbase. Further details may be found [[http://www.descent4.org/ here]]. You might be surprised at the wealth of information over there.

Some levels, such as Level 6 and 15, were originally meant to have much more eventful boss battles, such as the player navigating a maze while being chased by a Homunculus shrouded in darkness, or the Hellion Assault Mech smashing out huge sections of the cavern he is in to generate lava falls. In addition, Level 3 of ''Mercenary'' was originally conceived such that the player would have a more drawn-out battle with the Tracking Station's Captain; he would remove himself from the lavatory and enter a secret door to the side into a very small room.\\

* HeyItsThatVoice: Dravis's voice actor in ''Descent 3'' is David Warner, who is in ''everything''.

** ''Descent 4''. A fourth title in the series got pushed back when the developers Parallax split into two separate companies, Outrage and Volition, of which Volition made a sort-of sequel in the form of ''Descent: FreeSpace'', and a lot of rumored elements of ''Descent 4'', such as the character's name (Parker) got recycled into the then new series, ''RedFaction''.

** ''Descent 4''. A fourth title in the series got pushed back when the developers Parallax split into two separate companies, Outrage and Volition, of which Volition made a sort-of sequel in the form of ''Descent: FreeSpace'', and a lot of rumoured elements of ''Descent 4'', such as the character's name (Parker) got recycled into the then new series, ''RedFaction''.

** ''Descent 3'', it seems, was originally planned to be much more complex than what it is now. An old video on what used to be [=PlanetDescent=] shows a short segment of Level 3 when ''Descent 3'' was still in testing, and an ancient page on the Adrenaline Vault used to detail every single robot's strengths, weaknesses and capabilities, such as the Juggernaut being able to kneel down to dodge a missile, the EMD Gun being the only weapon capable of short-circuiting the Spy Hunter's self-destruct mechanism, or the Thief being able to generate three decoys to fool a pursuing player. Traces of some of these additional features are still present in the final game (like the Stinger being more prone to friendly-fire incidents, or the EMD Gun being particularly effective on the Spy Hunter).\\

** ''Descent 4''. A fourth title in the series got pushed back when the developers Parallax split into two separate companies, Outrage and Volition, of which Volition made a sort-of sequel in the form of ''Descent: FreeSpace'', and a lot of rumoured elements of ''Descent 4'', such as the character's name (Parker) got recycled into the then new series, ''RedFaction''.

** ''Descent 3'', it seems, was originally planned to be much more complex than what it is now. An old video on what used to be [=PlanetDescent=] shows a short segment of Level 3 when ''Descent 3'' was still in testing, and an ancient page on the Adrenaline Vault used to detail every single robot and what it was capable of, such as the Juggernaut being able to kneel down to dodge a missile, the EMP Gun being the only weapon capable of short-circuiting the Spy Hunter's self-destruct mechanism, or the Thief being able to generate three decoys to fool a pursuing player.\\
\\
Only a handful of the robots' abilities and flaws ever made it into the final version. Some levels, such as Level 6 and 15, were originally meant to have much more eventful boss battles, such as the player navigating a maze while being chased by a Homunculus shrouded in darkness, or the Hellion Assault Mech smashing out huge sections of the cavern he is in to generate lava falls.\\
\\
In addition, Level 3 of ''Mercenary'' was originally conceived such that the player would have a more drawn-out battle with the Tracking Station's Captain; he would remove himself from the lavatory and enter a secret door to the side into a very small room. ''Descent 3'', it seems was also wildly anticipated by fans of the franchise, and had Interplay invested their funds in the right kind of advertising (and not on a US$50K tournament, mind you), ''Descent 3'' may have had a larger, albeit [[BrokenBase very broken]], fanbase. Further details may be found [[http://www.descent4.org/outragedescent3 here]]. You might be surprised at the wealth of information over there.