Duke Nukem Forever news

Angelo86 · 06-13-2009, 11:26 AM

http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/

by Tramell Isaac

The Wild Ride- part 1 Jun 12, 2009

Too many people have asked me.."What Happened?". My response is, I'm not really sure it matters at this point. People have been contacting me to get the dirt on 3dr etc. etc. I'm not about to dish dirt, because, there is no dirt to dish.

My part of the story began like this..(abbreviated version for those ADD'rs) George and I were introduced by a colleague of ours, Cliff. Cliff wanted to invite me into this group and said that I should contact George about it. So, I did. This was around mid 2002, I believe. George and I would chat from time to time on ICQ. We would talk Duke, the industry, games, etc. Typical things you would think game industry guys would talk about. We had a number of things in common as far as work related items were concerned. We continued to stay in touch over the years, talking about DNF every once in a while, nothing too heavy just kinda touching bases. Then around summer 2006, I was in the Dallas area speaking at a convention and George invited me out to dinner. Keep in mind, I had never met George in person before, so this was a bit, shall I say, "different" for me. I'm just now remembering all of this as I'm typing. It was George, my son Donald (11) and myself. I can't remember what we ate.
Anyway... we ate, shot the shit, and rolled out, back to 3DR.

I saw the game that evening....I was very impressed. The game looked good, it played well, but most importantly, it felt like a Duke game. From the time Allen Blum fired it up, until the end of the demo, it was Duke Nukem 100%. After that demo I was like...sign me up..........TO BE CONTINUED>>>>>

The Wild Ride- part 2 Jun 13, 2009

.... so not too soon after that meeting, maybe, 2-3 months, I signed on as the Art Director for 3D Realms. That was around August 2006. Of course, all of my friends wondered if I was crazy and Why would I go to 3dr? The funny thing is, I knew what I was signing up for. This was not a situation were I was told one thing only to find out everything was **cked up (not sure why I blanked out "jacked' but what ever). George made it perfectly clear in our discussions prior to me joining that this would not be a walk in the park. You got to respect the man for that. I came to find, that's JUST how George was, in your face, no B-jive, this is how it is, this is how I am, take it for what it is. As we used to say at Obsidian...."it is what it is". The funny thing is, 3dr didn't have anything more wrong than most other companies. ??? What's that you say??? 3dr was no different than any other developer??? Yep, I said it, their (our) problems were no more insurmountable than the next studio. Details? naw, not really important, again.. this is just a brief history of my time at 3Dr, not some tell all book. I'll just say that the problems were easy to solve, mainly because I've solved or seen them solved before at other companies.

Shortly after my arrival...just timing mostly, some people decided they had enough, so they quit. I really wish I would have had the chance to work more with them and to learn from them but I totally understand why they decided to jet. I don't really know their complete story so I'm not going to make up or assume the true reason(s) behind their departure. I will tell you this.. I talked to some of the guys after we all departed 3dr and they were genuinely upset about the outcome. They still cared for the product and the company as if they were still working on DNF. ...

Ok, got a little side tracked....soo, looks like I had some spots to fill now,....done. Everyone was in place on the art team. People were learning, growing, geling ..becoming a team. Of course if took us a little bit of time but we all came together. We were getting lots of things done. The game was looking much better than it did when I got there. That was completely due to hard work on all fronts, design, programming and art.

Fast Forward to ...around Christmas 2007 ... someone had the bright idea to make a teaser trailer for DNF. I honestly don't remember who came up with the idea...Jay or Jeron,... one of those guys. The kicker was, it had to be done on our own time. George wanted us to be focused on getting the game done (between the hours of 9am-7pm) ;-) What I do in my spare time is none of his business ...lol. We never planned to release it, it was only supposed to be a surprise for George at the Christmas party. We all busted our butts for that trailer. I think it was well worth it. Everyone that could, pitched in. I'm very proud of not just the outcome but the effort and love that went into that project. It was a small victory for the team. It demonstrated what it takes to create something from scratch to finish in a short amount of time. This small project gave the team a boost of confidence that would set the tone for the coming new year.

Needless to say, George was visibly moved by the gesture........TBC....

Aftermath1349 · 06-13-2009, 11:32 AM

Is this news?

RedSplat · 06-13-2009, 12:33 PM

Thread title is wrong.
Maybe his story could go into the 3D Realms Memories forum? When it's done.

Kennerado · 06-13-2009, 06:11 PM

Cliff as in Cliffy B?

John · 06-13-2009, 07:39 PM

Yeah, this isn't news. This is a 3DR employee's blog about his history with the company. History is kind of the opposite of news.

Jiminator · 06-13-2009, 08:21 PM

this is the official un-news thread...

Thriller · 06-13-2009, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelo86

http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/
it was Duke Nukem 100%. After that demo I was like...sign me up.....

EVERYONE thats seen/played it keeps saying this. How the hell does it not get funding?

Derfernet · 06-13-2009, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thriller

EVERYONE thats seen/played it keeps saying this. How the hell does it not get funding?

The press release by 3DR says it was a move on take two's part to make a grab for the Duke IP.

nels · 06-13-2009, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thriller

EVERYONE thats seen/played it keeps saying this. How the hell does it not get funding?

Yeah, there's also some nubs in other threads saying that from seeing a few seconds of that Jace Hall footage of inside a dam they have come to the conclusion DNF is not Duke at all and its just a Prey clone or some shit

terrannova · 06-13-2009, 11:05 PM

You can't blame people for reacting to the Jace Hall footage as a Prey clone because that is what Jace Hall showed us.

Lets see some Las Vegas, lets see some Casinos, lets see some strip clubs, the Belaggio, the MGM grand, the Fantastic/Fabulous Las Vegas sign, the old prospector with the stripper by his mine. That is the Duke we were expecting.

I'm sure what we saw from Jace Hall was probably one one or two levels of the final product, even still people will react to that footage as DNF being a prey clone and it's something that should be cleared up asap with new game footage or screenshots released asap to make sure that is not the impression in case the game ever does get gold status.

jaimie10 · 06-14-2009, 12:17 AM

I can't see the footage as I'm outside the US, is it on Youtube?

TonyPessimist · 06-14-2009, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaimie10

I can't see the footage as I'm outside the US, is it on Youtube?

isn't worth it

WoodenSword · 06-14-2009, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derfernet

The press release by 3DR says it was a move on take two's part to make a grab for the Duke IP.

wieder says otherwise

Kristian Joensen · 06-14-2009, 03:43 AM

So he posted the 2nd part:

Quote:

Jun 13, 2009
The Wild Ride Part II
.... so not too soon after that meeting, maybe, 2-3 months, I signed on as the Art Director for 3D Realms. That was around August 2006. Of course, all of my friends wondered if I was crazy and Why would I go to 3dr? The funny thing is, I knew what I was signing up for. This was not a situation were I was told one thing only to find out everything was **cked up (not sure why I blanked out "jacked' but what ever). George made it perfectly clear in our discussions prior to me joining that this would not be a walk in the park. You got to respect the man for that. I came to find, that's JUST how George was, in your face, no B-jive, this is how it is, this is how I am, take it for what it is. As we used to say at Obsidian...."it is what it is". The funny thing is, 3dr didn't have anything more wrong than most other companies. ??? What's that you say??? 3dr was no different than any other developer??? Yep, I said it, their (our) problems were no more insurmountable than the next studio. Details? naw, not really important, again.. this is just a brief history of my time at 3Dr, not some tell all book. I'll just say that the problems were easy to solve, mainly because I've solved or seen them solved before at other companies.

Shortly after my arrival...just timing mostly, some people decided they had enough, so they quit. I really wish I would have had the chance to work more with them and to learn from them but I totally understand why they decided to jet. I don't really know their complete story so I'm not going to make up or assume the true reason(s) behind their departure. I will tell you this.. I talked to some of the guys after we all departed 3dr and they were genuinely upset about the outcome. They still cared for the product and the company as if they were still working on DNF. ...

Ok, got a little side tracked....soo, looks like I had some spots to fill now,....done. Everyone was in place on the art team. People were learning, growing, geling ..becoming a team. Of course if took us a little bit of time but we all came together. We were getting lots of things done. The game was looking much better than it did when I got there. That was completely due to hard work on all fronts, design, programming and art.

Fast Forward to ...around Christmas 2007 ... someone had the bright idea to make a teaser trailer for DNF. I honestly don't remember who came up with the idea...Jay or Jeron,... one of those guys. The kicker was, it had to be done on our own time. George wanted us to be focused on getting the game done (between the hours of 9am-7pm) ;-) What I do in my spare time is none of his business ...lol. We never planned to release it, it was only supposed to be a surprise for George at the Christmas party. We all busted our butts for that trailer. I think it was well worth it. Everyone that could, pitched in. I'm very proud of not just the outcome but the effort and love that went into that project. It was a small victory for the team. It demonstrated what it takes to create something from scratch to finish in a short amount of time. This small project gave the team a boost of confidence that would set the tone for the coming new year.

Needless to say, George was visibly moved by the gesture........TBC....

Angelo86 · 06-14-2009, 04:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSplat

Thread title is wrong.
Maybe his story could go into the 3D Realms Memories forum? When it's done.

Ok please move my post in 3D Realms memories and change my title

Derfernet · 06-14-2009, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WoodenSword

wieder says otherwise

Where? here or duke4? I THINK I've read most of his posts here but I cant say the same for Duke4.net.
And correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that this alleged grab happened long after he left so how would he know?

Shadow-Con · 06-14-2009, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John

History is kind of the opposite of news.

what about the history of news?
or news from the past?
lol

Altered Reality · 06-14-2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSplat

Maybe his story could go into the 3D Realms Memories forum?

Yeah, he should've posted there.
Oh wait, he couldn't

Angelo86 · 06-14-2009, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelo86

Ok please move my post in 3D Realms memories and change my title

^ please

WoodenSword · 06-14-2009, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelo86

http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/

by Tramell Isaac

hahahahaha!!! AWESOME pics!

dukeMadness · 06-14-2009, 04:48 PM

Also interesting...from the linkedin of Brian hooks:

Quote:

February 2008 — May 2009 (1 year 4 months)
Came onto a fractured and demoralized project that lacked direction, milestones, or cohesion. Implemented mechanical processes -- sprints, milestones, task scheduling, etc. -- and worked towards solving team interaction issues. By the time the company closed down the team was working as a unified entity towards common goals instead of as multiple insular groups with their own objectives.

Tualmasok · 06-14-2009, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelo86

^ please

Why didn't you post it correctly and not as "Duke Nukem Forever news"...

Angelo86 · 10-03-2009, 05:49 AM

Update

The Wild Ride Part III

Ok, so..."its been a long time, I shouldn't have left you..." Sorry about the gap, but its been a really busy couple of months.

Where was I... oh yeah. The video was a hit. No one was sure if George would even put the video out. When he decided to go ahead and drop it, all we could do was sit and wait to see what would happen. I thought it would make a nice headline but didn't think it would blow up like it did. We dropped it on Shacknews first and the demand for the video brought their servers to its knees. Not too shabby for a game that everyone joked about right? I'm not really sure how long the servers were down but I do know that day we proved a point. Love him or hate him, Duke was still in demand. People wanted to see the game, they wanted to see what many years of dev time looked like. Over all I think the feedback was 90% positive. 2+ million viewers on youtube can't all be wrong, right? This doesn't take into account the various other outlets that had the video linked to their sites.

I'd have to say, the next couple of months the crew was riding high. We used that positive feedback to push us even harder. We also used the negative feedback to make some changes to the models and textures. We even made some serious changes to some of the characters during this time. I know what you are thinking...of course you did... THATS why it was taking so long. Not at all, by this time we were turning around finish in-game models in about 3 weeks. Additionally, this didn't have any impact on design or programming progress. Production wise, we were on a good track, but we still needed more organization to get the whole team running at the same speed and in the same direction. What did we do.....we got a producer. Enter...."The Hook" (Brian Hook)..... TBC....

Ironside · 10-03-2009, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tualmasok

Why didn't you post it correctly and not as "Duke Nukem Forever news"...

cuz its the only news worth reading atm.

WoodenSword · 10-03-2009, 08:04 AM

They actually took into account the whole "HE LOOKS LIKE BRUCE WILLIS" complaint....

LOL

Wamplet · 10-03-2009, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelo86

Update
We dropped it on Shacknews first...

*rips hair out*

I honestly don't know why the forums here ever even existed, or the main site, for that matter, when it always goes to shitnews first.

LeadBullet · 10-03-2009, 10:49 AM

That always bugged me too, but in reality I guess if they did something like that the forums go down instantly and then theres no real point.

ReadOnly · 10-03-2009, 10:53 AM

He meant they dropped the video on shacknews since 3dRealms servers were not suitable for this. The news about a teaser were dropped here also. And several days before George hinted on this forum about something big coming.

Wamplet · 10-03-2009, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeadBullet

That always bugged me too, but in reality I guess if they did something like that the forums go down instantly and then theres no real point.

That's what I thought as well. Still, it would always grind my gears.

MDS · 10-04-2009, 08:37 AM

Эх кто нибудь говорит по русски??. We understand Russian??

Waiter · 10-04-2009, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelo86

It was a small victory for the team. It demonstrated what it takes to create something from scratch to finish in a short amount of time.

I'm ever so sorry, but that made me LOL.

shadow · 10-05-2009, 12:13 PM

MDS, я говорю))

So much time passed and still there is no news.. DNF is like a ghost, it's a very mysterious project I should say. I presume dakk times came for DNF and the game itself plunged into the mist of uncertainty...

Suppressor1 · 10-05-2009, 02:41 PM

Duke is dead!

Kray · 10-05-2009, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suppressor1

Duke is dead!

Yeppers

Duke's New Chainsaw · 10-05-2009, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suppressor1

Duke is dead!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kray

Yeppers

ReadOnly · 10-06-2009, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suppressor1

Duke is dead!

(q) Nietzsche

06-13-2009, 11:26 AM	#1
Angelo86	The Wild Ride, T. Ray Isaac's story http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/ by Tramell Isaac The Wild Ride- part 1 Jun 12, 2009 Too many people have asked me.."What Happened?". My response is, I'm not really sure it matters at this point. People have been contacting me to get the dirt on 3dr etc. etc. I'm not about to dish dirt, because, there is no dirt to dish. My part of the story began like this..(abbreviated version for those ADD'rs) George and I were introduced by a colleague of ours, Cliff. Cliff wanted to invite me into this group and said that I should contact George about it. So, I did. This was around mid 2002, I believe. George and I would chat from time to time on ICQ. We would talk Duke, the industry, games, etc. Typical things you would think game industry guys would talk about. We had a number of things in common as far as work related items were concerned. We continued to stay in touch over the years, talking about DNF every once in a while, nothing too heavy just kinda touching bases. Then around summer 2006, I was in the Dallas area speaking at a convention and George invited me out to dinner. Keep in mind, I had never met George in person before, so this was a bit, shall I say, "different" for me. I'm just now remembering all of this as I'm typing. It was George, my son Donald (11) and myself. I can't remember what we ate. Anyway... we ate, shot the shit, and rolled out, back to 3DR. I saw the game that evening....I was very impressed. The game looked good, it played well, but most importantly, it felt like a Duke game. From the time Allen Blum fired it up, until the end of the demo, it was Duke Nukem 100%. After that demo I was like...sign me up..........TO BE CONTINUED>>>>> The Wild Ride- part 2 Jun 13, 2009 .... so not too soon after that meeting, maybe, 2-3 months, I signed on as the Art Director for 3D Realms. That was around August 2006. Of course, all of my friends wondered if I was crazy and Why would I go to 3dr? The funny thing is, I knew what I was signing up for. This was not a situation were I was told one thing only to find out everything was *cked up (not sure why I blanked out "jacked' but what ever). George made it perfectly clear in our discussions prior to me joining that this would not be a walk in the park. You got to respect the man for that. I came to find, that's JUST how George was, in your face, no B-jive, this is how it is, this is how I am, take it for what it is. As we used to say at Obsidian...."it is what it is". The funny thing is, 3dr didn't have anything more wrong than most other companies. ??? What's that you say??? 3dr was no different than any other developer??? Yep, I said it, their (our) problems were no more insurmountable than the next studio. Details? naw, not really important, again.. this is just a brief history of my time at 3Dr, not some tell all book. I'll just say that the problems were easy to solve, mainly because I've solved or seen them solved before at other companies. Shortly after my arrival...just timing mostly, some people decided they had enough, so they quit. I really wish I would have had the chance to work more with them and to learn from them but I totally understand why they decided to jet. I don't really know their complete story so I'm not going to make up or assume the true reason(s) behind their departure. I will tell you this.. I talked to some of the guys after we all departed 3dr and they were genuinely upset about the outcome. They still cared for the product and the company as if they were still working on DNF. ... Ok, got a little side tracked....soo, looks like I had some spots to fill now,....done. Everyone was in place on the art team. People were learning, growing, geling ..becoming a team. Of course if took us a little bit of time but we all came together. We were getting lots of things done. The game was looking much better than it did when I got there. That was completely due to hard work on all fronts, design, programming and art. Fast Forward to ...around Christmas 2007 ... someone had the bright idea to make a teaser trailer for DNF. I honestly don't remember who came up with the idea...Jay or Jeron,... one of those guys. The kicker was, it had to be done on our own time. George wanted us to be focused on getting the game done (between the hours of 9am-7pm) ;-) What I do in my spare time is none of his business ...lol. We never planned to release it, it was only supposed to be a surprise for George at the Christmas party. We all busted our butts for that trailer. I think it was well worth it. Everyone that could, pitched in. I'm very proud of not just the outcome but the effort and love that went into that project. It was a small victory for the team. It demonstrated what it takes to create something from scratch to finish in a short amount of time. This small project gave the team a boost of confidence that would set the tone for the coming new year. Needless to say, George was visibly moved by the gesture........TBC.... __________________ Jesus 4ever † Duke Nukem Facebook Last edited by Angelo86; 06-14-2009 at 08:34 AM.*

06-13-2009, 11:32 AM	#2
Aftermath1349	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news Is this news?

06-13-2009, 12:33 PM	#3
RedSplat	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news Thread title is wrong. Maybe his story could go into the 3D Realms Memories forum? When it's done. __________________ ∙∙∙4∙∙∙8∙∙∙15∙∙∙16∙∙∙23∙∙∙42∙∙∙*

06-13-2009, 06:11 PM	#4
Kennerado	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news Cliff as in Cliffy B? __________________ "Mark it ZERO!"

06-13-2009, 07:39 PM	#5
John	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news Yeah, this isn't news. This is a 3DR employee's blog about his history with the company. History is kind of the opposite of news. __________________ Duke4.net Let not mankind bogart love. [A pessimist is what an optimist defines as a realist.]

06-13-2009, 08:21 PM	#6
Jiminator	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news this is the official un-news thread... __________________ big badass nasty weapons here....

06-13-2009, 11:05 PM	#10
terrannova	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news You can't blame people for reacting to the Jace Hall footage as a Prey clone because that is what Jace Hall showed us. Lets see some Las Vegas, lets see some Casinos, lets see some strip clubs, the Belaggio, the MGM grand, the Fantastic/Fabulous Las Vegas sign, the old prospector with the stripper by his mine. That is the Duke we were expecting. I'm sure what we saw from Jace Hall was probably one one or two levels of the final product, even still people will react to that footage as DNF being a prey clone and it's something that should be cleared up asap with new game footage or screenshots released asap to make sure that is not the impression in case the game ever does get gold status.

06-14-2009, 12:17 AM	#11
jaimie10	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news I can't see the footage as I'm outside the US, is it on Youtube?

10-03-2009, 05:49 AM	#23
Angelo86	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news Update The Wild Ride Part III Ok, so..."its been a long time, I shouldn't have left you..." Sorry about the gap, but its been a really busy couple of months. Where was I... oh yeah. The video was a hit. No one was sure if George would even put the video out. When he decided to go ahead and drop it, all we could do was sit and wait to see what would happen. I thought it would make a nice headline but didn't think it would blow up like it did. We dropped it on Shacknews first and the demand for the video brought their servers to its knees. Not too shabby for a game that everyone joked about right? I'm not really sure how long the servers were down but I do know that day we proved a point. Love him or hate him, Duke was still in demand. People wanted to see the game, they wanted to see what many years of dev time looked like. Over all I think the feedback was 90% positive. 2+ million viewers on youtube can't all be wrong, right? This doesn't take into account the various other outlets that had the video linked to their sites. I'd have to say, the next couple of months the crew was riding high. We used that positive feedback to push us even harder. We also used the negative feedback to make some changes to the models and textures. We even made some serious changes to some of the characters during this time. I know what you are thinking...of course you did... THATS why it was taking so long. Not at all, by this time we were turning around finish in-game models in about 3 weeks. Additionally, this didn't have any impact on design or programming progress. Production wise, we were on a good track, but we still needed more organization to get the whole team running at the same speed and in the same direction. What did we do.....we got a producer. Enter...."The Hook" (Brian Hook)..... TBC.... __________________ Jesus 4ever † Duke Nukem Facebook

10-03-2009, 08:04 AM	#25
WoodenSword	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news They actually took into account the whole "HE LOOKS LIKE BRUCE WILLIS" complaint.... LOL __________________ ------------------------------ When the chess game is over, the pawn and the king go back to the same box

10-03-2009, 10:49 AM	#27
LeadBullet	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news That always bugged me too, but in reality I guess if they did something like that the forums go down instantly and then theres no real point. __________________ "The" "DNF release date" "is" "next" "month" - George Broussard "Anyway, it's close to being ready." - Joe Siegler Friend Code -oSSBB: 1160o9449o5021

10-03-2009, 10:53 AM	#28
ReadOnly	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news He meant they dropped the video on shacknews since 3dRealms servers were not suitable for this. The news about a teaser were dropped here also. And several days before George hinted on this forum about something big coming.

10-04-2009, 08:37 AM	#30
MDS	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news Эх кто нибудь говорит по русски??. We understand Russian??

10-05-2009, 12:13 PM	#32
shadow	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news MDS, я говорю)) So much time passed and still there is no news.. DNF is like a ghost, it's a very mysterious project I should say. I presume dakk times came for DNF and the game itself plunged into the mist of uncertainty...

10-05-2009, 02:41 PM	#33
Suppressor1	Re: Duke Nukem Forever news Duke is dead!