Pumo Mines progress so far (2022)

During the latest year I managed to release new version of Pumo Mines after many years, but the project as a whole is very far from being finished, so you might be asking how is going the current Pumo Mines progress so far.

You can say it’s a life-time project, but hey, it’s something I want to see it done at its full scope sooner or later, as I consider it as a personal endeavor that I must fulfill.

It seems I’m crazy like that about Descent modding after all, hahaha.

The current release (v1.1) features all the bases of the mod and the complete 8 levels + 1 secret level the Mineral Valley episode, as well as remastered versions of the first 3 Levels of Kartsal Motivation (the second episode).

As a whole Pumo Mines comprises three episodes that will tell the full story of the campaign and its characters, and for now I’m focusing on making the Kartsal Motivation episode as fastest as possible.

The progress of the Pumo Mines project as it’s now

Here you can see how the project is going as of the time of this blog post.
I will mention the progress within each type of asset in different sections:

Pumo Mines Levels

All levels from Mineral Valley (Episode 1) are completely done and released on v1.1.
Those are 8 normal levels + 1 secret level.

Kartsal Motivation (episode 2) will feature 17 levels + 3 secret levels in total, and as for now the first 3 levels are also fully done and released on v1.1.

From level 4 and up to level 11 of Kartsal Motivation shell structures are currently being done, many of them being close to being completed, but lacking all robot and item population whatsoever.

As for the levels of episode 3 (Muchikuche) there are none being made at the moment…

Robots, Weapons and 3D Models

All robot and enemies featured on Mineral Valley and Kartsal Motivation episodes are completely done, except for the texturing of the Hosako enemy ships that you will encounter.

Muchikuche will feature slightly modified and re-textured versions of those same robots.

All weapons and powerups (including their 3D Models) are also completely done.

Scenery and special 3D Models are being done according to specific levels as they are being developed.
As for now the 3D models for levels 1 to 4 of Kartsal Motivation are mostly done, although I might need to work on a new Hostage 3D model for level 4.

Textures

Most of the basic Descent and Descent 2 based wall textures are done, but I still need to make a couple of doors for future releases.

New textures will be being made for the upcoming levels of the next episodes, but for now I got many of those done for Levels 4 to 6 of Kartsal Motivation.

Of course all textures needed for Mineral Valley and the v1.1 release are completely done.

Briefing and Character art progress

As for now only the Briefing background art for Mineral Valley and the first 3 levels of Kartsal Motivation is fully done, as it’s released on v1.1

I got some character art sketches around there, specially for Level 6 of Kartsal Motivation, but they are not finished works.

For the 3D space renders and planetary spacescapes for Kartsal Motivation and Muchikuche there’s still a lot of work to do.

Sounds and Music

All the music for all three episodes is completely done since some years ago, as you may have noticed on my Bandcamp website.

All sounds for Mineral Valley and the first levels of Kartsal Motivation are also fully done as from v1.1 release, but any sounds for upcoming levels and enemies still need to be worked on.

Script and Story development

The story script for all three episodes is also completely done since some years, although translating all of it to the actual levels will be a tough work.

Except for the released levels on v1.1 (including the Mineral Valley ones) and up to Level 4 of second episode, there is no in-game scripting on any of the remaining levels (from level 5 and onwards) of Kartsal Motivation.

Technical touch-ups

There are lots of technical touch-ups that need to be made for the upcoming releases, specially for the Kartsal Motivation episode as it’s the episode that most heavily relies on D2X-XL features.

This includes some specific level configuration files, folder / file structuring and mission planning, as it will use directed exits to work correctly with the hub and upcoming secret levels.