The Descent Level Network is proud to present:
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Last Updated: 03/31/99
Entropy 2 is a single-player Descent II experience unlike any ever seen. This 6-level mission takes the player through uncharted territory in a quest that can't be missed. You'll be riveted by the compelling story and blown away by over 20 never-before-seen robots using never-before-seen weaponry. Level design reaches a new high as the mission goals provide a sense of coherency and accomplishment while leading up to ultimate confrontation. The Pyro-GX is history as you jump into the cockpit of the Pyro-VX, otherwise known as the Fang. Prepare yourself for the sequel to the Entropy Experiment!
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8 years have passed since the Entropy Virus eliminated the rebellious PTMC mining robots. The mining industry never recovered from the tremendous failure of AI robots as a mining tool. Little remains of the once powerful PTMC organization. Hawkeye 3, the mercenary pilot lost in deep space following his successful destruction of numerous robot mining facilities, was never recovered and is assumed to have perished when his warp core system malfunctioned.
A recent surge in interplanatary colonization has forced the inept Sol Defense Force, now a separate faction from PTMC, to recognize the utility of independent mercenaries. Mercs are now the primary defenders as colonists become more demanding of resources and have used extreme measures to survive in their new environments.
You are Aeon Reiser, a mercenary enlisted by the PolyHedron Corporation. Your current mission involves the the protection of the Armadillo, a cutting-edge cruiser with a prototype energy-resistant shield technology. Your destination is the Decahedron Research Outpost where the Armadillo's shields will receive a full testing.
Your adventure begins as the Armadillo heads into orbit over the fifth planet's only moon in the Hirohl System...
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Vengeance includes these amazing features:
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Entropy 2: Vengeance features 6 regular levels (no secrect ones this time). Below you can see some screenshots from a 2-player cooperative game. Click on the image to get a larger one. Note that these shots are made in a earlier beta version, so the levels might vary a bit from your screen.
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Level 1: Decahedron Research Outpost |
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Level 2: The Armadillo |
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Level 3: Gauss in the Shell |
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Level 4: Vermillion Caverns |
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Level 5: Monster City |
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Level 6: Singularity |
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Entropy 2's stars are without doubt the new robots. Here you can see 5 of them and 5 of the new weapons they use:
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Entropy 2 is the brainchild of Luke Schneider (myself). After the success of the original Entropy Experiment, it was easy to see there was still quite some demand for quality single-player missions. Eventually I started to plan a sequel, but time was short and there was no graphical polymodel editor for creating custom robots.
So I began work on Polytron (after DBB 2.1 and Blocked provided me with some programming experience). It took a while, but Polytron progressed fairly steadily and by early November I finally had the tools necessary to create custom robots. Level design started out with just the basic structure of the first two levels. On November 8th I only had two level structures and about 6 custom polymodels completed.
From that Saturday until now (2 weeks later), Entropy 2 has consumed my life. Complete level design took 8 more days, and then custom robots polymodels, weapons, and various other items took 5 days. In total I worked on this series for 170-plus hours in a two week span of time (about 12 hours a day!).
Not everything went quite as smooth as I'd hoped. Designing the custom polymodels was actually the easiest part of the custom robots. Tweaking, changing, and modifying their attributes took at least three times as long as actually designing them. And when I finally put everything together, the levels crashed frequently after destroying the reactors.
Garry Knudson came to my rescue shortly after receiving his beta copy and quickly pointed out a number of problem areas, but his real discovery was that of D2's strict reactor requirements (no need for details here). In addition he also found an error in some polymodel data that caused level 3 to crash and fixed it. Were it not for Garry, E2 would be a very unstable product.
Thus concludes my era of psychotic level design. I will now attempt to resume a somewhat normal life, but I've found a ton of satisfaction from creating this series. I'll probably be back designing more fairly soon, although I think I'll leave out the custom reactors from now on.
In addition to thanks to Garry Knudson for his immeasurable help, I'd also like to recognize Bryan Aamot and Heiko Herrmann at this time as two individuals who've assisted me in more ways than I can possibly mention. These guys are awesome and I'm very grateful to have met such wonderful people. Also thanks to Steve Klinger for his great feedback on Polytron (among other things). Last but not least, thanks to Razor Blade for suggesting the final boss.
It's been a great experience designing these levels, so I hope you had just as great an experience playing them.
Sincerely,
Luke Schneider
Some words from me, Heiko Herrmann:
While the alpha/beta-testing phase of Polytron, HAXMEdit and Entropy 2, Luke and I emailed each other very frequently. Being in the beta-tester-team and the offical homepage designer of Entropy 2 included one of the best moments I every had in the history of the Descent Network Team. I want to say thanks from my side giving me this time of my life.
Entropy 2 itself is now indisputable the most impressive level series ever made in the history of Descent home-made levels. It uses a wide number of possible effects in Descent 2. However Entropy 2 does not cover all features that can be created with an add-on mission and so I highly encourage all level designers to continue with their work on creating professional level series. Playing anarchy games is much fun but I never want to miss the feeling when playing a large and superb single player collection with a story, briefings, musics and custom robots, just like Phobos Encounter or Entropy! Let Entropy 2 be a great example of what fantastic worlds can create... And let it be an example of how good Descent fans can cooperate in teamwork!
Thanks to the whole Descent fan world for making this all possible!
Prepare for Vengeance,
Heiko Herrmann
Special thanks from Luke Schneider go to:
Bryan Aamot: For getting me started programming, Vertigo conversion and all the outstanding advice, help, and bug-reports.
Heiko Herrmann: For the web page, help on Polytron, author information files, special versions, FM upgrade, and anything else I forgot.
Garry Knudson: For making E2 work, finding every possible error, beta-testing like there's no tomorrow, and countless pointers for Polytron.
Steve Klinger: For the great suggestions on Polytron and the upcoming tutorial.
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Please feel free to contact me with any feedback you may have on Entropy 2: Vengeance. My eMail is luke@outrage.com.
For more information on Polytron go here.
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You need to have the Descent 2 V1.2 Vertigo Enhanced version installed (unlike first thought, using a Voodoo/Verite version of Descent 2 Commercial is NOT enough!). The free V1.2 patch is incompatible, as it does not support all features. Sorry for this, but you might look at Descent: The Definitive Collection package, which is now out for only $19.95, including Descent 1, Descent 2, Levels of the World, Vertigo Series and Descent Mission Builder 2!
Also there are five errors which I'm aware of:
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Before you download, please take a look again at your Descent 2 version and ensure that you have Descent 2 Vertigo Enhanced. If you only own Descent 2 Destination Quartzon, the Descent 2 Interactive Demo or Descent 2 Commercial with the free V1.2 patch, simply forget it: these versions are not compatible to Entropy 2! (Verite/Voodoo/3Dfx versions can be used when Vertigo is installed). Look at the notes above. You need the FM-upgrade only if you have no wavetable soundcard, i.e. you are using OPL2 or 3 in your D2 sound settings.
If you hang at a place in Entropy 2, be sure to look on our Descent Network Level Guide pages, where we have some demos, which show you how to solve some of the tasks in Entropy 2 (however these might also ruin some of the fun)...
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Entropy 2 - Vengeance - A Descent 2 Level Series / Overall Producer, Level Design, Robot Design, Weapon Design, MIDI composition, Briefing Backgrounds, Briefing Writing: Luke Schneider / Additional author informations: Heiko Herrmann / FM-upgrade: Heiko Herrmann / Beta-Testers: Razor Blade, Heiko Herrmann, Steve Klinger, Garry Knudson, Nathan Taylor, Sandra Skarke / Program Authors: Heiko Herrmann, Achim Stremplat, Bryan Aamot, Garry Knudson, Ben Damm, Stefan Nilsson, John M. Aldrich, Luke Schneider / Special thanks: Heiko Herrmann, Bryan Aamot, Garry Knudson, Steve Klinger / Thanks also to Razor Blade, Micah Lieske, Beth-Harnick-Shapiro, Craig Derrick / Screenshots from levels shows a cooperative game of Heiko Herrmann and Sandra Skarke / Visit Descent R.E.A.L. at http://www.ics.uci.edu/~lschneid / This page was made by Heiko Herrmann for Luke Schneider / Graphics: Luke Schneider, Heiko Herrmann
LEGAL INFORMATION: Please distribute the original archive as is. Do not disassemble the HOG file except for your own personal use. You may not use any part of the included files without the written consent of Luke Schneider. All music is copyright 1997 Luke Schneider.
