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Duke Nukem 3D On Unreal Engine 3

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-out-of-bubblegum dept.

Julefrokost writes "While we're waiting patiently on Forever, there's some real news in the Duke Nukem realm. Ars Technica has a story about a fan-made Duke 3D project on Unreal Engine 3. There's an awesome demo video up on YouTube. Created by hardcore fan Frederick 'fresch' Schreiber, we can hopefully expect to see an upgraded Duke 3D in the near future." The article also notes, "Gearbox ultimately decided to support the project, and gave Schreiber a personal, non-commercial license to Duke Nukem 3D. He can't sell the work or profit from it directly, but he can use the characters and design of the game without fear of being shut down."

14 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Awesome. by boarder8925 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is how you get people to like your company. Instead of suing or shutting them down, or both, let them enjoy your work.

    --
    Keep your eyes to the sky.
    1. Re:Awesome. by AndrewNeo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Valve is on the short list of developers that still release tools (and super-encourage) the community to mod and make content for their games.

    2. Re:Awesome. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well, I also think that wannabe knockoff creators should learn a thing or two from this guy. He reached out to the IP owners before he started making anything. This allowed him to talk to the people who actually run the company and make games. If you just go ahead without talking to anyone, the only people you end up talking to are lawyers who don't give a fuck about what you're trying to do.

  2. Cool by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Kudos to Gearbox for seeing this as a fan project that will only help publicity rather than something that must be stomped out.

    I'm sure it probably doesn't hold up as well as my memory sees it, but Duke3D *when it came out* was actually kind of cool. Considering that the last FPS I'd played when I seen it was Doom, the capabilities of that engine seemed to be a lot better. Sure Quake with it's actual 3d had something going for it, but Duke's engine was much more interactive and the graphics, though sprite based, still seemed to be higher in quality than Quake's at the time (considering that I was running Quake using the software renderer).

    --
    "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    1. Re:Cool by DeadPixels · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Major kudos indeed. I've never played anything by Gearbox but I'll be sure to check out what titles they sell as a way of saying thanks. When companies do things like this, I have no problem supporting them with purchases or at least a nice note and a recommendation to friends if their games aren't for me.

    2. Re:Cool by retchdog · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Duke still has that half-parody/half-serious "macho" charm going for it. Playing Duke3d is like re-watching Commando; maybe you don't admit it, but it's a lot of cheesy fun. Also the real-time scripted deformable environments (like the earthquake level in mission 3 I think) still hold up on their own, let alone how impressive they were back then. It was a very impressive feature which they didn't trumpet as a breakthrough, but just quietly used to increase immersion.

      Duke3d had heart; since they had reached basically the limits of the Doom-type rendering technology, they were free to focus on gameplay elements, and it paid off greatly.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    3. Re:Cool by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sure Quake with it's actual 3d had something going for it, but Duke's engine was much more interactive and the graphics, though sprite based, still seemed to be higher in quality than Quake's at the time (considering that I was running Quake using the software renderer).

      That also ties into the whole timeless classic where gameplay over compensated for graphics, like when people hail Dwarf Fortress or one of the Super Mario Bros titles.

      Quake's graphics were actually pretty good at the time (I remember playing it without the software rendering necessary) - but the gameplay was definately not parallel to Duke 3D. Quake was more parellel to Doom, where it was more about getting the good guns and power ups and just rolling through opponents in a big bloody mess. Duke 3D was, in my opinion, far superior with its use of Pipebombs, holograms, Cameras/Screens, and all the little things about its gameplay, like being able to quickly look over your left and right shoulder while moving. It was less about getting the best gun for the level and owning it up and more about getting what weapons were best for your style of play - and owning it up.

      And the single player - is there really any contest? Strippers make everything better.

    4. Re:Cool by rm999 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's tough comparing quake/doom with duke. Quake was designed to scare you, duke was designed to make you laugh (and sometimes scare you). It's like the difference between a serious horror movie and a campy evil-deadish one.

      All three games were ground-breaking in their own way.

    5. Re:Cool by twistedsymphony · · Score: 3, Insightful

      check out Borderlands... seriously one of the more interesting games I've played in a long time... Imagine Fallout 3 but with a jump-in/jump-out co-op system and characters/storyline with the kind of humor you'd expect from Portal or Team Fortress. Gearbox just released a "Game of the Year" edition that includes all 4 expansion packs... and it also includes the Duke Nukem Forever demo from PAX.

      --
      Collector's Edition
  3. How's this more "real" than Forever? by JSBiff · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok, so we've got a project which we're being told is under development and which will be released "real soon", along with an "awesome demo video". This is sounding just . . . so familiar.

  4. Re:Bye-bye cross-platform Duke... by Cwix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm a big supporter of linux, but this is the type of whining that gives linux fans a bad name.

    I run Linux on my desktop, laptop, and now that I think of it my phone. Perhaps you could either fix it yourself, or offer some sort of support for the authors of wine. Perhaps throw a few bucks in their paypal, perhaps sit on their forum and help newbs, perhaps write documentation, or find bug fixes. Coming to slashdot and whining about it isnt gonna get you anything, but mocked by the /. crowd, and earn disdain from the developer.

    --
    You are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
  5. Uh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He made a 10x20 box map and played some Duke Nukem 3D sound effects... Why is this news? Most amateur level designers could accomplish that in a weekend.

  6. Re:Bye-bye cross-platform Duke... by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So run the UT I II and III games native in linux. you can still download the binaries.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  7. Eduke32 by Chelloveck · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just one word: eduke32.

    Oh yeah. That, and "groovy".

    --
    Chelloveck
    I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.