Valhalla tower docking control to unidentified approaching vessel...

I have been a die-hard Descent'r since my childhood and, to make a long story short, thanks to projects like D2X/ReBirth I was able to relive those awesome memories. After beating both Descent I and II, I was so overtaken with nostalgia that I wanted... heck, needed to pay some form homage to these awesome games.

As a 3D artist I decided to put my skills to work and hence The Ascent Project was born as a complete remake of every single character model of the series.

It should be noted that despite having taken artistic liberties I make a point to preserve both the concept and “soul” of the original in-game models.

This project has become quite dear to me and I hope you enjoy my recreations as much as I have enjoyed making them.

I decided to start with the models from Descent II in order of appearance per the briefing screens of the campaign.

Without further ado,
For full-resolution downloads and backstory of the project and models please visit the links provided below or http://theascentproject.deviantart.com/

The Ascent Project's GuideBot:

dA link: http://fav.me/d55rix6

The Ascent Project's P.E.S.T.:

dA link: http://fav.me/d56hg73 (this one actually has quite a bit of back story)

The Ascent Project's I.T.D.:

dA link: http://fav.me/d57dz6a

The Ascent Project's P.I.G.:

dA link: http://fav.me/d58d0sx
Quite a bit of sci-fi thought went into making this guy, if you're interested in knowing please visit the dA link and read the description (you can also see/download the full resolution image!)

The Ascent Project's Bandit:

dA link: http://fav.me/d597qki
Almost 4 times more polygons than the PIG!

* * * UPDATE * * *
The Ascent Project's Smelter:

dA link: http://fav.me/d5a7wlu
Please visit the dA link of this bot and see it in full-resolution (and maybe read my little piece of fan-fiction in its description)!

Hi and welcome!

This looks very cool. Is it a render or a 3D model useable in the game? (D2X-XL supports hires models in ASE format)

Hi! Thank you!
As for it being usable ingame; I'm doing all these models without any constraints so I don't think it'll be possible (this one has over 30K faces). Though I would be receptive to recreate a game-friendly version some day, I am trying to focus on getting the rest of the bots done - it is a huge project but I'm determined to finish it (hence my posting on all Descent sites I find - public accountability) .

This is a great way to re-imagine robots in high-detail IMHO. It looks like a Guide-Bot, but not to a fault.

As for getting it into the game... yeah. 30k is clearly going to lag, but on the bright side it looks like it should be possible to bake a lot of the details into textures and get it down to a few hundred polygons if needed.

Wow! That is awesome!
Can't wait to see more from you.

Thanks for sharing.

Impressive... Most impressive... ;)

Glad you liked it and I agree about the textures/low poly part.

Thank you!

Thanks!

Definitely looking forward to seeing this guidebot and all the other models you do in game sometime. Me hopes we can make it work.
And if I can do anything to help get these into the game (though I doubt that someone who's closest thing to knowledge of 3D modeling is a rudimentary understanding of how to work with BSP engines would be much use) but anyway I'd want to help if I can .

Thank you! Glad you like it!
I do appreciate your offer to help but right now my main focus is to create the models this way - unrestricted. Regardless, I would definitely be receptive to creating game-friendly lowpoly versions some day - perhaps system-by-system? Again, thanks for your offer - will hit you up when there's work to do

NEW MODEL UPLOADED: P.E.S.T.

Nice work, but not as exciting as the Guidebot..... still I like it!

Thanks! Not sure if you checked out the description on dA but I made the PEST actually before the GB - hence the drop in quality. Also, fun fact, though the GB was made after the PEST, it was then remade after the ITD (which you'll see real soon) . I love that little guy, even though he can be annoying with his flares.

Well, the first one is always the most exciting because you're not just being introduced to the model/art/song/whatever, but also to the project as a whole...

:randomfact:
Did you know that D1 had more level songs than robot types?
/randomfact