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Duke Nukem Forever Update
Gamasutra reports on an update to one of the longest running jokes in the games industry, Duke Nukem Forever. The title, already ten years in development, may (possibly) see release this decade. From the blurb: "3DR's George Broussard also demonstrated world interactivity that includes Duke standing in front of a computer and emailing the player, if he provides his email address for the game. But, according to the piece, Broussard was bashful, overall, about showing off the game, commenting: 'The problem is that when we show it, people are going to be like, Yeah, whatever. Honestly, at this point we just want to finish it.'"
They are complex.
The technology is forever changing.
There are multiple platforms.
They become obsolete after two months.
The fan base is one of usual hypercriticality.
With these aspects working against you, developing them is just all the more difficult. How many times has this game changed the engine it's being built upon? Too many.
From the article: There's also a very informative timeline. As the last sentence of the above excerpt illustrates, Duke Nukem Forever came to suffer a development process that simply could never complete itself because it always needed the newest latest and greatest renderer. This is insanity, and I predict that this game will lack original content and any sort of story line since they are relying on graphics and graphics alone to satisfy the customer requirements. You could release a side scrolling version of Duke Nukem (a la Duke Nukem II) that I would play given a good story line and fun puzzle-solving levels.
My work here is dung.
...have been thought up, created and gone through two or three versions in this timeframe?
I didn't think the house band in Hell would play this badly.
The brand itself seems to have lost a significant amount of value and overall relevancy to me. I remember many endless nights playing Duke 3D, and the great world it immersed you in. The character itself was great, as was the game. Everyone was excited to see what they could do next with the franchise, and they sounded really ambitious about what they wanted to do. Then, time passed.. and passed.. and passed.. and games like Deus Ex came out, which again kicked some serious ass (the sequel maybe not quite as much). So, obviously the industry has moved on, and would this game coming out even make as much as a splash as much as it once may have? I mean in all this time, they had plenty of opportunity to license another engine (again, like Deus Ex) and take the original game to the next level. Instead, I honestly have no idea what they have been doing, and in the meantime, many other great games have come along to fill the void. No matter what they come out with at this point, it is never going to live up to the expectations that they have working on this game, theoretically, for 10 years now.
I think the most important question at this point is: Who cares? Is there anyone who is still looking forward to this game? Anyone?
I remember playing Duke Nukem 3D, but I honestly can't remember what computer I was playing it on because it was so long ago. It isn't like there haven't been three or four generations of shooters since this game was announced.
Sure the original was amusing, but it wasn't that good. Just give it up. No matter what they finally release, it won't be worth the wait and no one will really care.
If the big feature they have is that the game's character can e-mail you a form letter then the game is in even worse shape than I ever imagined. They don't talk about innovative gameplay at all, but they were sure to show off how Duke can write you an e-mail probably telling you to "keep it real!"
This "feature" should be a late addition in the final production or something a programmer added on their lunch breaks, not something to show off.
Honestly, at this point we just want to finish it.
:-p
With a motivation among the devs at this level, what quality can one expect from the game?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
The old adage "research is never wasted" is somewhat relevant to this subject. One would expect that all of the work they were doing for DNF was used as a tech base for their other games that were released.
Stop reading too much into it. He's saying exactly what he's saying: After nearly a decade, it will be literally impossible to "blow away" anyone. Best case scenario, they'll get a "Well, it took long enough, and it doesn't suck, so I guess that's good". Worst case scenario they'll get "All that wait and we get this steaming pile of crap?". No matter what they do, they're fucked. It's just been too long.
At this point, they can't say they've invested 10 years in it. What they've done is spend the last 10 years on 3-4 failed projects, and one (bearing a superficial resemblence to a design doc that's ten years old) that may see the light of day.
Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
...just what sort of a biblical failure they are about to produce? Nothing they do will be adequate. Nothing they do will satisfy. Nothing they do will be enough. At this point in development, if we can call it that, if there's even an official 'point in development' for a game that's been under construction for ten years, 3DRealms can't even have normal marketing for their game. Worse yet, anything they say becomes some strange and surreal form of anti-marketing in which everyone the world over that knows about this game's history gets a good 10 minute laugh after debasing them for an equivalent period of time.
Who exactly are they trying to sell this game to? God knows it can't be any of us.
I don't buy games out of pity, do you?
Ever get the feeling that the people who don't have anything to say are the ones doing the majority of the talking?
Despite the cliche, it seems that Duke Nukem has become the "Jarndice and Jarndice" of the modern age, reflecting on the evils of software development rather than those of the Chancery division. In all seriousness DN3D was such a pathetic story it would be funny.
I wont be surprised if they make more money from the book about what not to do with a game/generic development project than they do from the software itself.
"The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."
Nice :) Unfortunately there are only two real possibilities:
1) The game is never released. The idiots in charge finally can the project, like they should have five years ago.
OR
1) The game is released
2) 5 people buy it
3) 5000 people download it for a laugh and delete it 5 minutes later
No, I did not read the f***ing article!