The Descent3 repository is the open source release of the Descent 3 game engine by Outrage Entertainment, maintained by the community under the GPL-3.0 license. It provides the full C and C++ engine source code, including the historically significant “1.5” patch that was previously created by developers and later stabilized by fans. The codebase covers the game’s rendering, physics, audio, networking, tools, and editor components, allowing enthusiasts to build, run, and modify the classic 6-degrees-of-freedom space shooter on modern systems. To actually play the game, users must supply their own original game assets, following instructions in the repository’s usage documentation. The project uses CMake and related modern tooling for cross-platform builds, with support for Linux and Windows among other environments. A dedicated community maintains the engine, publishes updated releases, documents internals on a wiki, and coordinates contributions via an active Discord server and GitHub.

Features

  • Open source C/C++ engine for the classic Descent 3 game, released under GPL-3.0
  • Includes the historic 1.5 patch integrated and stabilized by the community
  • Cross-platform builds via CMake, with support for modern Linux and Windows environments
  • Full access to engine subsystems such as rendering, physics, networking, audio, and tools
  • Community-maintained wiki and documentation covering build, usage, and engine internals
  • Active development community with Discord support, GitHub issue tracking, and published releases for modern systems

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Categories

Game Engines

License

GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPLv3)

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Additional Project Details

Programming Language

C++

Related Categories

C++ Game Engines

Registered

4 days ago