Duke Nukem Forever Thread

My word. I saw a trailer for Duke Nukem Forever from a demo disc from a mag from like 4 years back. I think it was 2001. The game looked awesome then, but what the hell is going on with it now?

I haven't heard anything from 3d realms for ages except for PREY, thier new game.

Anyone heard anything?

I think they scrapped it personaly but if its still being done you wont see it any time soon..

It has changed enginge like three times. From the very beginning 3D Realms wanted to go with the Quake 2 engine, wich was old already when they started the project. They changed, changed and changed. Also, when changing engines they had to everything from scratch again. The E3 preview video I think used the Unreal engine, wich was abandoned some time ago (3D Realms removed their Unreal engine screenshots of the game from the site since they didn't think they represented the current look of the game). Loose rumors has it that they have changed once again to the Doom 3 engine. Confirmed is that some months ago, a new (swedish of course ^^) physics engine was licensed.
From there and on there's nothing new and 3D Realms (if they are going to release the game, that is) will probably keep shut until the game lies on your doorstep one day.

I'm not a pessimist and have always loved the Duke games. Duke 1 was one of the first games that I played really much and had great fun with it. Allthough, you should probably know that most people think that 3D Realms has thrown Forever into the thrashcan and just likes the hype around the company. Who knows? I don't. =)

No, they only changed engines once, from Quake2 to Unreal. They've improved it since then, and I believe it's going to release in January 2006.

Loose rumors has it that they have changed once again to the Doom 3 engine.

didnt you see the pc gamer article just a few months ago? ut2k4 improved beyond recognition is the current engine.

kinda hard to keep their mouths shut when they let pc gamer do a preview..

Well, they did announce they were using the Havok physics engine, I think, and I've seen some videos, but it doesn't look that good. It was kind of like waiting for Driver 3 and getting a huge letdown. If it's taking them this long to do, it better be the best thing since sliced bread.

Okay, I can't expect that much, but hey, I loved Duke Nukem 64, and I'll probably still give this one a try, but it'd be nice if they got their act together and released the damn game already.

[/end 10,000th rant on DNF]

I lost my Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition AND my Duke it out in D.C. CD's. It's not fair, I can no longer play Duke!

Well, they did announce they were using the Havok physics engine

Who DOESN'T use Havok these days?

Duke 3D was awesome. A mod for a newish engine would be cool. You think 3d realms would allow it?

Ippo wrote: Well, they did announce they were using the Havok physics engine, I think, and I've seen some videos, but it doesn't look that good. It was kind of like waiting for Driver 3 and getting a huge letdown. If it's taking them this long to do, it better be the best thing since sliced bread.

Meqon, not Havok.

And if you are talking about seeing videos of dnf, then that was a looong time ago. Since then the game has been scrapped and started again, nobody from the public has seen dnf in it's current form.

Terak wrote: Duke 3D was awesome. A mod for a newish engine would be cool. You think 3d realms would allow it?

IIRC there was a Duke Nukem mod being made for Source that was given a C&D by 3D Realms

gah i hate it when total neds "joke" about DNF

Wraiyth wrote:

Well, they did announce they were using the Havok physics engine

Who DOESN'T use Havok these days?

many... as you have a couple of choices: havok, maqon, ode, and some others.

Dragonlord wrote:

Wraiyth wrote:

Well, they did announce they were using the Havok physics engine

Who DOESN'T use Havok these days?

many... as you have a couple of choices: havok, maqon, ode, and some others.

3drealms being one of them

Ippo wrote: Well, they did announce they were using the Havok physics engine, I think, and I've seen some videos, but it doesn't look that good. It was kind of like waiting for Driver 3 and getting a huge letdown. If it's taking them this long to do, it better be the best thing since sliced bread.

Okay, I can't expect that much, but hey, I loved Duke Nukem 64, and I'll probably still give this one a try, but it'd be nice if they got their act together and released the damn game already.

[/end 10,000th rant on DNF]

You seen fotage of duke nukem forever using havok physic?
or are you getting it mixed up with prey which is also made by 3drealms on the doom3 engine?

after the amount of time i've waited for duke nukem forever to come out has made me think that it possibly won't.
could be why they called it duke nukem ->forever<-

Well Prey started development over 10 years, then it was scrapped and now its back with a heavily modified Doom 3 engine... I get the feeling DNF may suffer the same fate.

Edited by: (ska)Diesel

Nuh-uh! I thought it was going to be released on Atari!

Really.

I did.

I hope it's released on Xbox 360 as well.

I am very certain that Duke Nukem Forever is not using the Havok engine but the Meqon (..."Game Dynamics") engine. It is also officially stated at 3D Realms site: 3drealms.com

I am also very certain that all projects that try to use, or try to use something similar to Duke Nukem will get into a situation with 3D Realms. They are like Blizzard - very careful with their licenses.

I'm not sure with graphics engine it is using, though. And I don't think an official statement has been made either, since the original Unreal engine. They released a trailer for the E3 that year using the Unreal engine.

No, they only changed engines once, from Quake2 to Unreal. They've improved it since then, and I believe it's going to release in January 2006.

Counting Quake2, Unreal and the new engine (UT2k4?), that ends up with three engines and two changes (not counting when the game was in planning stage and the Q2 engine wasn't thought about) where I live. Don't know about you, though. ;P
If they are in fact using the UT2k4 engine, I think that would be great - since they atleast won't be having to start all over again if choosing to upgrade to UT2k7 when it arrives.

Edited by: ToeJammi

You seen fotage of duke nukem forever using havok physic?
or are you getting it mixed up with prey which is also made by 3drealms on the doom3 engine?

Um, no I'm not. I've seen trailers for Prey, and I saw a trailer of DNF. Two entirely different games. Thanks to a_llama for the heads-up of the scraping of the original game. It still would be nice if 3DRealms got their act together, though. They've made a lot of people frustrated.

(ska)Diesel wrote: Well Prey started development over 10 years, then it was scrapped and now its back with a heavily modified Doom 3 engine... I get the feeling DNF may suffer the same fate.

You sure there's something similar to 1996s 3dR Prey besides the name?

prey is not being developed by 3dr, its 2kgames and human head studios

3drealms.com
good old 20th century

I know that not everyone uses Havok, it was a sarcastic comment pointing out that Havok is extremely popular.

The difference between DNF and PREY, is that I'm looking forward to PREY.

Originally posted on the 3D Realms forum, this wonderful post was deleted. I grabbed a copy for safe keeping:

Janurary 1997: Work on DNF started.*

April 1997: Quake 2 engine purchase announced. (they got it in mid-late 1997 before Quake 2 was released). Scott Miller states that he is confident that DNF will be released by mid 1998 and prey in late 1998 making 1998 a bit year for 3DR. He also mentions that his confidence is not misplaced.

August and September 1997: First screenshots in PC gamer (hummer, farmer i think).

May 1998: First DNF E3 video shown. You can see that a lot of work has been done.

Late 1998: 3DR announces switch to Unreal tech. It is expected to take no longer than 6 weeks and 3DRealms says "DNF is a 1999 game."

Mid 1999: 3DR admits that the engine switch took a lot more time than originally estimated.

Late 1999: 3DR announces upgrade to UT level tech. It is expected to take two weeks. 3DR releases a Christmas card saying that DNF will be released in 2000.

2000: I don't think anything happened. They released some sexy screenshots in late 1999/early 2000 (for the time). Broussard begins claiming that DNF development did not start until 1998. Inquiring minds wonder how they got so much done before May (E3) 1998.

May 2001: 3DR comes out of nowhere and puts DNF up at E3. They state that DNF will be released in 2001 and the end of the E3 2001 video says "WID in 2001". Many part of the video bear a clear resemblence to the 1999 screenshots.

October 2001: Broussard posts "sorry guys, it won't be a 2001 release" on the VE3D forums. "Don't worry, the last major hurdle is AI."

Unknown 2001: Broussard states that DNF will definitely be out before Unreal 2.

January 2002: Voodoo Extreme makes a list of top 10 titles to be released in 2002. #1 on that list is Duke Nukem Forever. Someone posts "when will we see something" in the 3DR forums. Broussard responds with "soon".

June 2002: The "soon" thread gets locked.

Unknown 2002: Broussard states that DNF will definitely be out before DooM 3.

2003: Broussard states that DNF has been "on track since early 2002" and that they haven't reached the light at the end of the tunnel, but "they finally found it." He wisps away the years between January 1997 and January 2002 and wishes people would consider DNF's development as if it started in 2002 (this is a strong hint that DNF was far from complete). Unreal 2 released.

Broussard adopts the "DooM 3 and HL2 will have been in development for 5 and 6 years when they're finally released -- DNF isn't taking that much longer" belief (notice: his numbers are very inaccurate).

Late 2003/early 2004: Take 2 complains about DNF development and expects it around "late 2005". "At this point we're just hoping the team [in garland] will finish the project."

2004: Broussard states that DNF development has been on track since "late 2002/early 2003", bumping up his earlier statement in an attempt to fight back release expectations. It is clear, from this behavior, that DNF will not be released this year or next. DooM 3 is released. Half Life 2's release is anticipated this year.

So the most reasonable points in which they could've completely restarted would've been after each of the E3 videos. They could've restarted after the E3 1998 video or after the E3 2001 video. Luckily, you can refute both of these possibilities by simply looking at what Broussard was saying back then -- the Unreal engine upgrade was certainly not expected to require them redoing much. Things were added and tech was changed, things were adopted. This was all stated in interviews with Broussard himself.

It is more difficult to question whether they've restarted at some point after E3 2001. Clearly, in late 2001/early 2002 when Broussard was saying that the last major hurdle was AI and "soon", he could not have just restarted the project. Furthermore, in 2003 he stated that development had been good since early 2002. If this was the case, then there was no point at which he could've restarted (unless you restart while telling fans "the last major hurdle is AI" and "soon").

* "We've actually been working on the game since January." -- Scott Miller, 1997.

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Video game systems that have been released in DNF's development time:

Neo Geo Pocket Color
Wonderswan
Dreamcast
Gameboy Advance
N-Gage
Playstation 2
X-Box
Gamecube
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Major releases in prominent game series since first DNF press release on April 25, 1997:

Grand Theft Auto 1, 2, London, III, Vice City, likely San Andreas

Fallout, Fallout 2, All eight (to my knowledge) Infinity Engine games and expansions, and three Baldur's Gate console spinoffs

Final Fantasies VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2 XI, Tactics, Tactics Advance, Crystal Chronicles, Origins, Anthology, Chronicles and the Ergheiz & two Mysterious Dungeon spinoffs

Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening DX, Link to the Past GBA, Legend of Zelda GBA, Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages

Unreal, Return to wherever the **** that was, Unreal Tournament, UT2k3, UT2k4 and at least 4 games off the top of my head that use its engine

Quakes 2 and 3, and God knows how many games used those two engines

Thief 1, 2, 3

The Sims and all seven expansions

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1, 2, 2x, 3, 4, Underground

Madden NFL '98, FIFA '98, NBA '98 and NHL '98 for the Super Nintendo, and NHL '98 for both the SNES and Genesis

Might & Magic VI, VII, VIII and IX

With the exception of Meridian 59, every MMORPG apart from MUDs (I may be off here; at any rate UO was released five months after DNF was announced)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI, VII, VIII, IX, Dynasty Warriors 1-4 (and 2 expansions), Samurai Warriors, Kessen 1 & 2, Dynasty Tactics 1 & 2, Mystic Heroes

Every Dance Dance Revolution game

Every single Pokémon game released in the US

Every Deer Hunter game

Chessmaster 5500, 6000, 7000, 8000, 9000 with 10th edition out in two months, just on the PC

Twenty (to my knowledge) Mega Man titles, for GBC, GBA, GC and N64, not including direct ports

Thirty (to my knowledge) Star Wars titles, again not including direct ports
And something new! Working Designs is famous for taking absolutely forever to release a product. Since the announcement of Duke Nukem Forever, WD has released Albert Oddesy, Magic Knight Rayearth, Sega Ages (maybe), Raystorm, Elemental Gearbolt, Lunar: Silver Star Story, Sillhouette Mirage, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, Alundra, Arc the Lad Collection, Raycrisis, ThunderForce V, Vanguard Bandits, Silpheed and Gungriffon Blaze, with Growlanser Generations out in two months. Working Designs CEO Victor Ireland has made approximately 3,710 Usenet posts since the announcement of Duke Nukem Forever.

Also:

The Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled approximately 2.5 billion miles since the announcement of Duke Nukem Forever.

The rovers Spirit and Opportunity were proposed, authorized, announced, designed, launched and successfully landed upon Mars within the timeframe of Duke Nukem Forever's development.

The majority of the children who were entering high school the school year following Duke Nukem Forever's announcemnt are now eligible to drink.

Wow, it has been a while then.

Edited by: methy