It’s here, friends, the moment all Descent fans have been waiting for has finally arrived! The source code for Descent 3, that monumental first-person shooter released in 1999, has been made public on GitHub. It’s Christmas come early!
For those who might not be familiar with this masterpiece (shame on you!), Descent 3 puts you in control of a spaceship in fully 3D environments, allowing you to move in all directions. We’re far from the labyrinthine corridors of the early Doom games—this is real freedom of movement, which was unheard of at the time! Add to that stunning graphics (for the time, again), a killer soundtrack composed by Christopher Larkin, and an addictive multiplayer mode for up to 4 players, and you have a timeless classic.
But let’s get back to the main point (in space). Until now, we only had access to fragments of the code, carefully released by the developers at Interplay Entertainment. But now, it’s the jackpot: we get the whole thing, the complete code! Well, some proprietary bits for sound and video have been removed, but nothing dramatic. The former Interplay team is already working to make it all functional without those missing parts.
This release of the code will help preserve this video game monument, ensuring it doesn’t fall into oblivion and become unplayable on our modern machines. And if a motivated community takes it up, we can expect updates, bug fixes, and perhaps even improvements! Imagine: new weapons, unique ships, additional levels… The possibilities are endless!
But the most exciting part is for all the modders and aspiring developers who will now be able to dissect the custom 3D engine, understand how everything works under the hood, and even be inspired to create new games! It’s a goldmine of learning for anyone wanting to get into game development.
This is just the beginning, and the developers have promised to clean up and comment on the code (because, let’s be honest, code written 20 years ago isn’t always a model of clarity). We might even hope for a continuous integration system to facilitate community contributions. And who knows, maybe in a few months we’ll see a Descent 4 entirely created by fans! Yes, I like to dream…
In the meantime, I invite you to take a look at the Descent 3 GitHub repository.
See you soon on Tech To Geek.
