Duke Nukem Forever Museum: check out the updates!

[Altered Reality]

If you remember my DNF museum from the post I made here last year, you're gonna love all updates I made during the past days! An extensive DNF development timeline, hundreds of concept art images (going way back to 1996 when 3DRealms wanted to develop the sequel to Duke3D with a version of Build with voxel support), a plethora of interviews spanning from 1996 to 2013, plan updates, development documents, various versions of Grabbag (including high quality clips from Gigadeth's version) and more! Maybe you'll find something you never even knew about!

The address is: http://duke4ever.altervista.org/

[doggydoo]

Never knew about the Duke Nukem Forever world chart. Interesting read..

[The Duke Returns]

Not being rude or anything but when reading this it laughable, Reading and watch the videos of Duke Nukem Forever from 1998 to 2011 goes from perfect to sad, I wasn't happy with the product, The first time, I played it I stopped at the twins death scene agood 2 to 3 days I tooked the game back to gamestop agood couple of months go by I brought Duke Nukem Forever again this time, I played all the way though make it to the end still, I wasn't happy with the game, I wish I was able to play the old builds looking from the videos they looked alot better.

[Damien_Azreal]

That's the thing, just because they "looked" better... doesn't mean they would've played any better.

It's best to not hang on "what if" ideas of how the old, unfinished builds were. Specially since most of those builds never got to a state that would be considered actually "playable".
The 2001 trailer build was probably the most playable, and even then... roughly half that trailer was scripted, "conceptual" gameplay of how the game should play.

[Altered Reality]

Originally Posted by The Duke Returns

Not being rude or anything but when reading this it laughable, Reading and watch the videos of Duke Nukem Forever from 1998 to 2011 goes from perfect to sad, I wasn't happy with the product, The first time, I played it I stopped at the twins death scene agood 2 to 3 days I tooked the game back to gamestop agood couple of months go by I brought Duke Nukem Forever again this time, I played all the way though make it to the end still, I wasn't happy with the game, I wish I was able to play the old builds looking from the videos they looked alot better.

Careful there. Those trailers were made to generate hype and make a game look good, while hiding everything that didn't work right yet (like incomplete levels, buggy objects or the lack of a story). It's easy to build an environment that looks like part of a larger level, while actually being all that exists. Then your mind fills in the gaps, imagining lots of cool stuff that you didn't see (that's how hype works), while instead, what you saw was all there was to see.

If you read all the interviews I collected, you'll have a much more realistic picture of progression. Not from "perfect to sad", but from the ambition to use existing Quake2 technology to get the game done soon, to wasting time experimenting with random stuff on the Unreal engine without a clue about how to make a game out of it, to being sick and tired of the game and implementing just the bare minimum to make it more or less coherent.

[The Duke Returns]

I know alittle bit of the history all I say is that I wish. I could play the old builds instead of the Duke Nukem Forever we have today ok.

[Altered Reality]

Originally Posted by The Duke Returns

I know alittle bit of the history

Then I invite you to read the interviews, the .plan updates, the press releases... I assure you that when you're done, you'll know a whole lot more. They're right here.

Originally Posted by The Duke Returns

all I say is that I wish. I could play the old builds instead of the Duke Nukem Forever we have today ok.

So you're telling me that you would rather play disconnected bits and pieces of failed attempts of making a game, than a complete game? Fine, the final game was marred by the incompetence of the project leader, I give you that. But your desire to play those incomplete builds is not borne out of what you actually saw in the trailers, but out of what you wish was there.

Maybe now you want to ask me whether I would like to play the old builds... in which case I'd say yes, I would. But not instead of the real game. In addition to the real game. To study them, classify them and destroy the whole myth and romanticization that people built around them since 1998.
That which can be destroyed by the truth, ought to be.

[Damien_Azreal]

It's exactly that.

People have built up this nostalgic love for the pre-release builds. They've romanticized them, viewing them as if they had been released they would've been the great second coming of Duke Nukem.

Yet, they ignore the fact that... they were made by the same people that made DNF.

Now, I'd love to get some hands on time with them, but only out of curiosity. Not because I expect them to be... amazing or something.
Honestly, I expect playing them would be frustrating and annoying. Considering they were really early pre-pre-alpha builds.
These were builds never intended to be played.

As is, the final released version of DNF... it is what it is. A piece of gaming history.
And, I'm glad I have it.

[Altered Reality]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

Yet, they ignore the fact that... they were made by the same people that made DNF.

They live in la-la-land. If you try to tell them that, they'll cover their eyes and ears and repeat to themselves that the early builds have nothing to do with the DNF we got because the former were made by 3DRealms and the latter by Gearbox.
As if Gearbox had scrapped everything 3DRealms had made and restarted from scratch, as opposed to merely gluing the pieces together like they actually did.

[The Duke Returns]

Duke Nukem Forever on sale now for a very low price get your copies now
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...7945963&sr=8-1

Price Dropped like a Bombshell

[HailToTheKing1997]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

It's exactly that.

People have built up this nostalgic love for the pre-release builds. They've romanticized them, viewing them as if they had been released they would've been the great second coming of Duke Nukem.

Yet, they ignore the fact that... they were made by the same people that made DNF.

Now, I'd love to get some hands on time with them, but only out of curiosity. Not because I expect them to be... amazing or something.
Honestly, I expect playing them would be frustrating and annoying. Considering they were really early pre-pre-alpha builds.
These were builds never intended to be played.

As is, the final released version of DNF... it is what it is. A piece of gaming history.
And, I'm glad I have it.

I'm honestly guilty of that. Though the Duke Nukem Forever that launched, with the Doctor Who Cloned Me installed, is a fairly solid game that has a ton of ideas that carry over from the pre-release builds in one way or another, I'd still be much, much happier if any other known build was released over it. Of course, that couldn't happen. Still, though. In the perfect world where any of those builds were complete, playable games, I'd choose any of them over the one that we got.

[Damien_Azreal]

While I do enjoy DNF for what it is, I do have minor gripes.

One: I would've preferred they kept the Vegas stripe levels at night. I get that going with day is off the normal path. But, there's a reason most want to show Vegas at night. The lights and atmosphere it creates can be great.
I think after you get knocked out by the debris of the mothership, they should've stuck with the idea of Duke waking up hours later and it being night.

Two: The aftermath in Vegas.
The destruction of Vegas from the top of the Lady Killer, and even later in the game looks immense. But, when you're down on the stripe... it feels rather slim.
To really sell the destruction and horror of the alien invasion... they needed to show more.
More dead innocents, burnt out cars, blood... violence... screams in the distance. A true sense of dread and isolation in between the gunfire and scattered commands of the EDF forces.

Three: More combat. This is one thing the game definitely does need. For a large scale alien invasion, there's really very little actual combat.

But, the full game combined with the DLC... I really like. And I honestly feel, had it been released in 2007/2008 as it is, people would've reacted much more positively to it.

[HailToTheKing1997]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

While I do enjoy DNF for what it is, I do have minor gripes.

One: I would've preferred they kept the Vegas stripe levels at night. I get that going with day is off the normal path. But, there's a reason most want to show Vegas at night. The lights and atmosphere it creates can be great.
I think after you get knocked out by the debris of the mothership, they should've stuck with the idea of Duke waking up hours later and it being night.

Two: The aftermath in Vegas.
The destruction of Vegas from the top of the Lady Killer, and even later in the game looks immense. But, when you're down on the stripe... it feels rather slim.
To really sell the destruction and horror of the alien invasion... they needed to show more.
More dead innocents, burnt out cars, blood... violence... screams in the distance. A true sense of dread and isolation in between the gunfire and scattered commands of the EDF forces.

Three: More combat. This is one thing the game definitely does need. For a large scale alien invasion, there's really very little actual combat.

But, the full game combined with the DLC... I really like. And I honestly feel, had it been released in 2007/2008 as it is, people would've reacted much more positively to it.

I couldn't agree more. Duke Nukem Forever, in its entirety, is a good time. But it could've been a lot better. Especially if Gearbox hadn't stripped the best part of the campaign to sell it separately. The campaign you get when you first purchase Duke Nukem Forever is, understandably, full of disappointment. However, when combined with the Doctor Who Cloned Me, Duke Nukem Forever transforms from a terrible game with no real story and an atrocious ending into a worthy enough sequel to Duke Nukem 3D that just has a lot of build-up before the really good stuff happens. You know, like the Lord of the Rings except with more dick jokes.

[Damien_Azreal]

After talks I had with a few guys from Triptych, it was them that decided to end the game where they did.
After the layoff they said they had to make a very tough call on how to actually finish the game. They said it would've been almost impossible to try and take on the complete planned storyline.

So, before Randy and GBX even got involved they made the decision to end the game after the Dam levels.
He said they kept what little of the Area 51/space levels they had (which was mostly place holder and concept as some of those levels hadn't even started development yet) in the hopes they could return to it later.
But, in 2010, the goal was to finish what they had. And worry about the rest later.

Once DNF was finished Gearbox pretty much gave Triptych freedom to do what they wanted with it. And they wanted to finish the game, so to speak. Changes were made, mostly the inclusion of Dr Proton, and the DLC was made.


I see the DLC as being superior to the main game in almost every way. And, I think it's mostly because Triptych had more control, more time to really create with it.
Where as with the base DNF game, they were simply trying to complete what had been created. And do so quickly, with little resources.

[HailToTheKing1997]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

After talks I had with a few guys from Triptych, it was them that decided to end the game where they did.
After the layoff they said they had to make a very tough call on how to actually finish the game. They said it would've been almost impossible to try and take on the complete planned storyline.

So, before Randy and GBX even got involved they made the decision to end the game after the Dam levels.
He said they kept what little of the Area 51/space levels they had (which was mostly place holder and concept as some of those levels hadn't even started development yet) in the hopes they could return to it later.
But, in 2010, the goal was to finish what they had. And worry about the rest later.

Once DNF was finished Gearbox pretty much gave Triptych freedom to do what they wanted with it. And they wanted to finish the game, so to speak. Changes were made, mostly the inclusion of Dr Proton, and the DLC was made.


I see the DLC as being superior to the main game in almost every way. And, I think it's mostly because Triptych had more control, more time to really create with it.
Where as with the base DNF game, they were simply trying to complete what had been created. And do so quickly, with little resources.

Huh. With things like Area 51 (shown in various incarnations of Duke Nukem Forever), Dr. Proton (2001 trailer), and the robot trying to kill you in first person (2001 trailer), I just assumed that everything that made up the Doctor Who Cloned Me were all ideas that stuck throughout the years.

[Damien_Azreal]

Dr Proton was the main baddie in earlier DNF builds.
But, when they decided to bring back to the aliens from DN3D, they removed the good Doctor.

Area 51, the robot clones and such were still in there. But, in later builds instead of Dr. Proton trying to create doubles of Duke... it was the aliens.

[HailToTheKing1997]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

Dr Proton was the main baddie in earlier DNF builds.
But, when they decided to bring back to the aliens from DN3D, they removed the good Doctor.

Area 51, the robot clones and such were still in there. But, in later builds instead of Dr. Proton trying to create doubles of Duke... it was the aliens.

Huh. Well, I'm glad things worked out the way they did. Outside of maybe the Duke clones, the rest were what Duke Nukem Forever was for so long that to not have them would be insanity.

[evilemperorzorg]

Amazing DNF museum. Are you still planning to upload the demo of DNF? I know it will probably be illegal but I guess it was also illegal to remove access to it even though most of us actually paid for it when we pre-ordered DNF or with Borderlands GOTY.

I also had it pirated just for my DN archive but I somehow lost it...