So… I guess it’s about time that I actually start using this website for something.
Figured I try giving a dev log a go.
With that said, I am working on, well, I wouldn’t say recreating, remaking, or upscaling, but maybe an upmake? Upmake seems like the right word choice for this. Anyway, I’m upmaking Descent 1 and 2 from the Dos and Win95 era in Unity. Why? Well, why not! That and I have plans for the Unity version than just having it BE the Unity version.
So, what have I done currently?
With the C# library from InsanityBringer, LibDescent, and the help from the Descent Developer Discord and the r/Descent Discord, I have been able to:
– Load hog files as a scripted object in unity.
– Load Textures in indexed format as an 8bit red channel texture.
– Load Palettes as a 16×16 texture which can be used in a shader for the Textures loaded in index format.
– Load High Rez textures that are in PCX format (and other formats).
– Load the font files. (This one was really tricky)
– Load sound effects.
– Load the BGM as a midi file then using MeltySynth get it synthesized into an audio format that Unity can use. (Havent tested the audio but it does synthesize.)
– Load the polymodels for the various enemies, objects, and player ships.
– Load the levels and separated out specific parts to be able to handle gameplay elements, such as doors, and energy stations.
Currently, I haven’t done much since then and real life has made me pause this for a while. But I’m going to see about doing some dev streaming on my twitch and getting back into the swing of things.
What I currently have planned is to work on shaders and the material system. I have a unique idea of using Texture Arrays and embedding texture lookups into the level model itself to have the level textures work.
