interesting article on Duke Nukem Forever

[Jerry_111]

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/

Ironically, the end was within reach, even if Broussard couldn’t see it. Raphael van Lierop, who was hired in 2007 as a creative director, was given several pieces of the game to play. It took him about five hours. Broussard was stunned; he’d thought those levels would take half that time to get through. “You could see the gears turning, with him thinking, ‘Oh wow — maybe we’ve got more game than we think,’” says van Lierop. Broussard had been staring at the game for so long, he’d lost perspective.

Van Lierop was excited: From what he’d seen of it, Duke Nukem Forever was so well developed — and so graphically superior to any other game in production — that if 3D Realms pushed hard for a year, they could release it and “blow everyone out of the water.” No, no, Broussard replied. It was two years out. Van Lierop was stunned. “I thought, ‘Wow, how many times have you been here, near the finish line, and you thought you were way out?’”

That excerpt got me curious about what the parts they did finish played like... could it have actually been decent?!

 

[Lizardizzle]

I grew up with DN3D, I find it so sad that it's gone, but angry that it was lead by a man who couldn't lock in to an idea.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Figures. I bet it would have been awesome, instead we have f*ckall of a place to park our bricks. I have a lot of bricks to park too. And nary an alien toilet around.

 

[Jerry_111]

is this the most we'll ever see of the game? The footage starts at about 8 minutes and it dates back to about 2008 i think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEcYciYEEHM

 

[dfc05]

^^^Based on that interview, one of my friend now believes that it was never finished because everyone at 3drealms got addicted to WoW .

I wouldn't be too surprised if that actually happened.

 

[Shakermaker]

Good read. Too bad it will never be released, even with its flaws and less than stellar graphics. Even in alpha state it would sell like hot cakes.

 

[TwwIX]

I could care less. 3D Realms stop being relevant in the mid 90's. They haven't developed a game since then.

 

[Cpt Tenacious]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzk-SpDwMb8&feature=fvsr

 

[Shakermaker]

I could care less. 3D Realms stop being relevant in the mid 90's. They haven't developed a game since then.

I would see it as disaster tourism. I would like to play a game that has been lost in development for over a decade, simply to see what they came up with.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

I could care less. 3D Realms stop being relevant in the mid 90's. They haven't developed a game since then.

So you DO care!

I'd digest every bit of content I could the way I did the hl2 beta. Fortunately, in that case we got to play the completed game afterward.

 

[Nomad]

Broussard, you dumb****.

 

[Captain M4d]

It's sad, but the article paints Broussard as an ultimate failure of a man. It's really a tragic story.

Makes me feel lucky to be a Half-Life fan. Waiting for EP3 is nothing compared to what Duke Nukem fans had to deal with.

 

[hot564231]

OH NICE ONE Captain M4d!

You just Jinks Ep3 now!

 

[Captain M4d]

OH NICE ONE Captain M4d!

You just Jinks Ep3 now!

You just jinxed it by saying that I did! :frown:

 

[hot564231]

LIES! HERESY! Heresy & Lies I tell you!

 

[Mirage]

I feel bad for Broussard, though. He is bascically being labelled as a failure. I mean, it has to suck to be in his shoes right now. Essentially (barring some miracle) his dream is dead, a lot of people are angry at/blaming him.

I read (from wiki) that 3d realms is "standing but not operating." Really doesn't pertain to DNF atm, but the article also said they would "continue to license and co-create games based upon the Duke Nukem franchise."

 

[Kadayi]

I feel bad for Broussard, though. He is bascically being labelled as a failure. I mean, it has to suck to be in his shoes right now. Essentially (barring some miracle) his dream is dead, a lot of people are angry at/blaming him.

I hear what your saying, however personally I can't feel sorry for a guy whose stage fright was so bad that he effectively wasted large portions of other people careers. Even though they went with their begging bowl to Take 2 I doubt very much if either of the chiefs are destitute, where as undoubtedly a lot of the guys who worked with them and held faith with the project (and clearly didn't get paid mega bucks because they thought they'd get profit share instead) left with nothing. Not even something good to put on their CVs.

Personally I'd love to see the game released, simply because it would mean that even if those people don't see a penny (which I doubt they would now), at least they'd be able to see their efforts weren't entirely wasted.

 

[Barnz]

Makes me feel lucky to be a Half-Life fan.

okay guys let's release this game on 97, whoops half-life was released in 98
okay guys let's release this sequel in 03, whoops half-life 2 was released in 04

I don't give a **** about what article says - it doesn't even have any citations/sources. Broussard is a good man, he wanted to do best for his game, so I don't blame him for his crazy motives. I still love Duke Nukem 3D to death. I had a great childhood thanks to him (his team), and mod makers.

 

[Kadayi]

okay guys let's release this game on 97, whoops half-life was released in 98
okay guys let's release this sequel in 03, whoops half-life 2 was released in 04

I don't give a **** about what article says - it doesn't even have any citations/sources. Broussard is a good man, he wanted to do best for his game, so I don't blame him for his crazy motives. I still love Duke Nukem 3D to death. I had a great childhood thanks to him (his team), and mod makers.

You're attempting to compare a 1 year delay in either case with a game which after 12 years of wait turned into vapourware? Plenty of titles games get delayed for 6-18 months all the time, Valve aren't the only developers who do this, they are merely the most high profile. However they do Ship, which is more than can be said for Broussard in the last decade.

 

[Sledgehammer]

Broussard = Axl Rose?

 

[Barnz]

You're attempting to compare a 1 year delay in either case with a game which after 12 years of wait turned into vapourware?

Team Fortress 2, 'nuff said.

oh, and there's Condition Zero too - a big mistake.

 

[TwwIX]

Team Fortress 2, 'nuff said.

oh, and there's Condition Zero too - a big mistake.

They completely changed Team Fortress 2's design. Hence the delay. They still released it, if i am not mistaken. Condition Zero went through several developers before anything got done. Valve's not really to blame here. Valve may delay a project but they still get shit done, unlike 3D Realms. They kept announcing release dates and changing engines every other ****ing day. Meanwhile, Serious Sam came out and most people stopped giving a shit.

Anyway, i never understood the fascination people had with this game "series".
Was is it the multiplayer? I don't get it.
It's a brainless run and gun shooter with toilet humor and copied lines from movies.
Yet somehow they were unable to make a follow up to something as uninspiring as this.

Good riddance.

 

[Captain M4d]

okay guys let's release this game on 97, whoops half-life was released in 98
okay guys let's release this sequel in 03, whoops half-life 2 was released in 04

I don't give a **** about what article says - it doesn't even have any citations/sources. Broussard is a good man, he wanted to do best for his game, so I don't blame him for his crazy motives. I still love Duke Nukem 3D to death. I had a great childhood thanks to him (his team), and mod makers.

I understand how you can sympathize for him, considering he made a monumental game long ago, but I think it's inexcusable to spend 12 years only to reach a half-made (if not that) game.

Maybe the quotes are false, but the game was asking to be a failure every time Broussard wanted to reboot it and add new bells and whistles that other games had. Perhaps the perception of Broussard is wrong in this article, but it didn't seem like he cared much about creating his own unique features for the game. Every time a new FPS was released, he wanted to outdo the features of each one.

I remember getting my monthly Computer Games magazine disc in 2001/2002, and the Duke Nukem Forever trailer was on it. If that was the final game, I would have been so excited for it! To me, it looked pretty revolutionary for the time with the huge cinematic moments and interactivity. I became uninterested as the years passed, and Computer Games annually listed DNF as a game they were looking forward to, but with no end in sight.

I feel bad for Broussard and his team, but at the same time, they could've stopped with the madness at one point and say, "Okay. We're going to stick with this engine, and we're just going to push it a whole lot!" It's a really tragic thing that happened to 3D Realms.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

CXIAM VETI SUR DUKE.​

That is all.

 

[Kadayi]

Team Fortress 2, 'nuff said.

oh, and there's Condition Zero too - a big mistake.

Did both of those still ship? I believe they did. Still attacking Valve doesn't disguise the fact that Big George singularly failed to ship DNF, or invalidate any of my earlier points.

 

[Barnz]

Yeah, after spending countless millions on both products, big ****ing failure - of course I'm not saying they're bad, but they're not the promised games from the beginning - they went through many redesigns.

Only problem I see about 3DR is Broussard being the project leader, and company's head at the same time. If you look at Valve, they let lead designers be project leaders. I can't see Gabe directing a video game project, he's no worse than Broussard.

Oh well, even if we don't get the game, we still have the cool trailer from old days.

 

[smwScott]

Yeah, after spending countless millions on both products, big ****ing failure - of course I'm not saying they're bad, but they're not the promised games from the beginning - they went through many redesigns.

THEY GOT RELEASED!

TF2 wasn't a failure at all, it was/is very successful. And they weren't actively developing it the entire time either. And they released other products in the meantime that were far better and far more successful than D3D ever was.

You're not doing that moron any favors by comparing his company or his work to Valve.

Only problem I see about 3DR is Broussard being the project leader, and company's head at the same time. If you look at Valve, they let lead designers be project leaders. I can't see Gabe directing a video game project, he's no worse than Broussard.

There is a big difference - Gabe is ****ing competent.

Even if this game had been released, it still wouldn't have been as good as other games - like Uncharted 2 for instance. It would've just been a fairly amusing, stupid little FPS. That was enough to rock the boat about 10 years ago, but we're past that now. There's no place for this low-brow shit anymore, time left them behind.

Not to mention the guy sounds like an arrogant, abrasive, incompetent asshole. I have no sympathy for him - he got lucky with a little success, squandered tons of money and then ran his company into the ground while ****ing over his employees. **** him.

 

[Mirage]

I hear what your saying, however personally I can't feel sorry for a guy whose stage fright was so bad that he effectively wasted large portions of other people careers. Even though they went with their begging bowl to Take 2 I doubt very much if either of the chiefs are destitute, where as undoubtedly a lot of the guys who worked with them and held faith with the project (and clearly didn't get paid mega bucks because they thought they'd get profit share instead) left with nothing. Not even something good to put on their CVs.

Personally I'd love to see the game released, simply because it would mean that even if those people don't see a penny (which I doubt they would now), at least they'd be able to see their efforts weren't entirely wasted.

Stage-fright? I'm sure he had his share. Hell, he had a lot to live up to. However, I see what you mean about his inability to keep the workers on a set path, which led to unimpressive portfolios, thus putting a temporary lynch-pin in their careers. And yes, it was crap the employees got paid so low, and in the end they didn't get a pay off. The employees bascically got screwed, I can't deny that.

Regardless, there is an air of melancholy at 3dr right now that I wouldn't want to be in the midst of.

Also, link: http://pc.ign.com/articles/105/1050461p1.html Apparently, "something big and unexpected will soon be announced."

 

[Saturos]

You guys do realize such vaporware like DNF is so old now that even if it was finished and released, it'd be so antiquated you all probably wouldn't like it anyways.