Retro Gaming Australia

3D Realms announced that they were working on a successor to Duke Nukem 3D in April 1997. The name of the game was Duke Nukem Forever. A month later at E3 1997, 3D Realms announced that they would be licensing the Quake II engine for the game, rather than producing their own technology. At this point in time, 3D Realms expected to ship the game in 1998. 3D Realms were financing the game themselves, with GT Interactive set to act as a distributor.

The US edition of PC Gamer got the scoop on the game for its August 1997 issue. George Broussard later revealed on the 3D Realms forums that these images were mock-ups done in the Quake I engine to keep the masses interested – they didn’t get the final Quake II engine code until November 1997, right before Quake II was released. For the majority of 1997, most of the 3D Realms team was focused on completing Shadow Warrior – work on Duke Nukem Forever was being done ad-hoc while they waited on the engine code. (continue reading…)

One of two Duke Nukem games made right here in Melbourne:

Duke Nukem for the Game Boy Color is the hero’s second handheld outing. It’s in some ways a remake of Duke Nukem II, but never explicity claims to be such.

When the full version of Duke Nukem 3D shipped in May 1996, the Build level editor was included on the disc. This was the exact same editor that was used to make the levels included in the game. The editor was easy to use and well documented – anyone, regardless of experience, could assemble a basic level in Build. Tools were included that could port levels and textures from Doom, meaning that user-created levels were available almost overnight.

Communities of Duke 3D level builders sprung up quickly too. Within weeks of release, people were trading levels, writing tutorials on the more advanced aspects of the editor, and adding new textures for use with the game. Some of the best level creators found themselves being scouted by professional development studios – Valve Software’s Aaron Barber and Matt T. Wood were originally hired by Xatrix Entertainment and 3D Realms respectively based on their work with the Build engine. (continue reading…)

How about one from the UK?

The Sega Saturn version of Duke Nukem 3D was developed by Lobotomy Software and published by Sega. The game is quite different to the PC version, as it uses the full 3D Lobotomy Engine, which allows for coloured lighting, proper up/down looking and other nice effects. They still had to chop out a bunch of animation, though.

We’re not the only one getting in on the Duke Nukem Forever launch festivities. The Mana Bar, the world’s first video game bar, is running a Duke Nukem week celebration of their own from today. Yug, co-founder of the Mana Bar and Australian Gamer is going to be heading up the celebrations, returning to his old Fortitude Valley haunts.

Tell them Retro Gaming Australia sent you for a free baffled look.

Duke Nukem 3D (1996, 3D Realms, DOS)

Duke Nukem 3D effectively picks up at the end of Duke Nukem II, with Duke returning to Earth aboard an alien spaceship. As Duke prepares to land in Los Angeles for a much needed vacation, his ship is critically hit by an energy blast. While sending out a distress signal, Duke discovers that Los Angeles has been attacked by a new alien threat, which has transformed the LAPD into pigs.

The game begins with Duke ejecting from his ship, and swearing revenge on “those alien bastards” for shooting up [his] ride.” The opening level, set around an adult movie theatre and street, does an excellent job of establishing the tone of the game, and demonstrating the factors that set Duke Nukem 3D apart from the competition like interactivity and destructible environments.

The opening episode has some unforgettable moments and locations. One level that sticks with most players is the game’s second level, which features a strip club, complete with scantily clad women that will give you a little show for some cash (of which Duke has an unlimited supply). (continue reading…)

The Shift

After Apogee released Wolfenstein 3-D, the company’s focus began to change – a moment which Scott Miller recalled in an interview with Gamasutra:

It was like, “Okay. Do we want to keep making games that make us $15,000 a month, or do we want to start making games that make us $200,000 a month?” So that’s what happened; what really happened was Wolfenstein. It kind of rewrote the whole rule book on the potential of what we could earn from games. At that point, everyone’s eyes opened to the power of 3D. Pretty much from that point onwards, a lot more focus went into making games that were 3D in nature.”

Apogee had licensed the technology id built for Wolfenstein 3-D to make their own first-person shooters: Blake Stone and Rise of the Triad, which were reasonably successful in their own right, but sold half as well as Wolfenstein. Scott Miller and George Broussard knew they’d need their own technology to stay in the game with their cross-town rivals, and it came from what now seems like the unlikeliest of places; the room of a seventeen year old kid called Ken Silverman. (continue reading…)

Duke Begins

The origins of Duke Nukem trace back to the late 1980s, when programmer Todd Replogle was working on a side-scrolling action game called Metal Force, his fourth title for Apogee. The hero of the game was called Duke Nukem, but Apogee boss and producer Scott Miller suggested that the game should use the character’s name as its title. (continue reading…)

After fourteen years of waiting, Duke Nukem Forever will be available on Friday, June 10th. It’s incredible, isn’t it? Think back to where you were fourteen years ago, and all of the things that have happened since. That entire time, people have been working on this game, undoubtedly in many different incarnations, vainly trying to produce what they deemed to be a worthy successor to Duke Nukem 3D.

In honour of this landmark release, Retro Gaming Australia has decided to dedicate this week to the Duke Nukem series. Over the next seven days, we’ll look at the history of the series, from Duke’s humble origins right through to Duke Nukem Forever, the failed attempts to get Duke onto the silver screen, the cameo appearances in other Apogee/3D Realms products, promotional materials and much more.

The History of Duke Nukem
Part One: Origins
Part Two: The Road to 3D
Part Three: Duke Nukem 3D
Part Four: Making It Your Way
Part Five: The Journey to Forever
Part Six: Licensing the Duke
Part Seven: The Dukes That Didn’t Make It

Other Duke Information
The Cameos
Merch & Media
Where Are They Now? The Duke Nukem 3D Team

Duke Nukem Ads
Duke Nukem 3D (France)
Duke Nukem Forever & Time to Kill (USA)
Duke Nukem: Zero Hour (USA)
Duke Nukem 3D Saturn (UK)
Duke Nukem GBC (USA)
Duke Nukem Advance (USA)
Duke Nukem 64 & Total Meltdown (USA)
Duke Nukem: The TV Commercials

Events
Duke Nukem Week at the Mana Bar