Duke Nukem Forever RIP

[mindcycle]

The Chair Story
Blog post by game developer Charlie Wiederhold, who worked at 3D Realms between 1998 and 2006

http://gamingisstupid.com/2009...e-chair-story-revival/

I?m going to regret writing this and probably get myself into trouble but here it goes?

Anyways?

The DNF 2001 trailer was out as everyone knows, and it was doing insanely well. The entire team was jazzed, people seemed to really love it and all anyone kept asking was ?When the hell do we get to play this oh god!?!?!?

Before heading out to E3, George and Scott Miller had arranged a meeting between Epic, 3DR, and the people who had worked on Duke 3D but weren?t working on DNF. The intent of this meeting was? you guessed it? how best to handle the future of the Duke franchise. Epic was invited because having Duke around on the Unreal Engine was a constant PR boon for them. So they are almost just as invested in how well Duke does as 3DR (as you will see later). It was a secret meeting (there were actually two meetings, but I?ll get to that later), not even the publisher knew about it (except Mike Wilson? he was operating outside of the Gathering of Developer?s authority). The people there were Scott Miller, George Broussard, Cliffy B, Mark Rein, Tim Sweeney, Levelord, Allen Blum, Keith Schuler, myself, Brandon Reinhart, Mike Wilson, and even Todd Replogle and Ken Silverman made the trip out there.

Scott quickly got to the point. Max Payne was going to do gangbusters? and 3DR had some other stuff up their sleeves that would be generating so much revenue for 3DR that they could continue on indefinitely? or at least another 5-10 years? without making a dime on internal development. Scott being the marketing buff he is (and Mark Rein being pretty much the same for Epic), they got this idea for how to generate the biggest story in the history of gaming. DNF being a monster hit is fine, but it wouldn?t make ?forever? history. As you can tell from the name and what I?m about to describe, Scott and George apparently had this idea from the very start but weren?t sure they were going to act on it, but there wasn?t any harm in using a name that would play into it. So in order to make ?Forever? history there was only one way to do that, and that is to turn it into something completely unprecedented in the industry. Turn it into the sort of thing that will be talked about 100 years from now.

So about that chair?

The plan was actually pretty simple? create the longest developed game in history that eventually is one of the greatest games ever made. You have the time to work on it properly (no shit), so given the intelligence and talent of all the people involved, it was a pretty good bet. All 3DR had to do was make money on other stuff. All Epic had to do was open up a wide channel between the two companies. 3DR would serve as a research house for future Epic engine updates, but also give 3DR everything they did as well. The boots on the ground just had to keep the drum beating and keep the image of business as usual going.

We all came back the next day (Cliffy in white thankfully, not red). We went around and gave our thoughts on things after having a night to sleep on it. Scott and George wanted to get paperwork signed that day if we were going to attempt it at all. This seemed *way* too soon and I didn?t have a lawyer around to read the contract or anything. I was young, but I had had enough experience by that point to know you don?t sign a contract of any significance without having a lawyer read it. Unfortunately it was made clear that this offer was active only so long as we were all in the room.

I was told to think about my next words very carefully before giving my final answer. Honestly, I felt this was a test to see how well I would hold up to pressure later when we had to ?hold the lie? (the similarity to ?hold the line? isn?t on accident), so I held firm and said I really wanted to, but needed to have it reviewed?

oh fuck?

Faster than I can even remember (literally? I don?t remember) I was knocked out of my chair by I *think* of all people Tim Sweeney (it was a wooden kitchen chair) and was pinned on the ground by Mike Wilson and Cliffy B (he?s so much stronger than I ever expected). George walks over to my chair and fucking stomps the shit out of it until the legs are broken off. He casually picks up one of the legs that had split into a shit your pants style point and starts tossing it up and down. Scott and Mark Rein alternate on and off saying that I apparently wasn?t aware how *real* business is done and that if I didn?t want to find out why those two companies had maintained such a strong position in the industry dating back to the shareware days (when it seems people didn?t ask nearly as many questions about why developers appeared, made a game, and then disappeared without a trace)? I had better reconsider my answer.

Sounds kinda far fetched but who really knows.. I left a lot of the blog post out, so definitely read the entire thing if you're interested.
http://gamingisstupid.com/2009...e-chair-story-revival/

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

That blog post sounds like 100% pure bullshit to me. But I'm just cynical :roll:

 

[mindcycle]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
That blog post sounds like 100% pure bullshit to me. But I'm just cynical :roll:

I agree. It's probably just something he made up to drive people to his blog, but it's kinda amusing nonetheless.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Yeah, really. I mean, come on, CliffyB weighs what, 80 pounds?

 

[cheapherk]

NFW

 

[The J]

That blog post is fictional. If you go to the link to the original posting (at the top of the page), you'll see that the author leaves a comment stating such.

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: The J
That blog post is fictional. If you go to the link to the original posting (at the top of the page), you'll see that the author leaves a comment stating such.

The real story behind it all is probably much more interesting, but unfortunately I doubt we'll ever hear it.

 

[evident]

who the fuck cares, DNF is never coming out, anyone who even thinks about it has been punked!!!

i really wish this was true though LOL

 

[Stuxnet]

Please. DNF was KO'd the day Broussard solicited the Internet for ideas on "what we'd think would be cool things for Duke to do". They had no idea where they were going with the game and no inspiration. Coupled with constant tech overhauls, and you have a business failure on your hands.

 

[Sam25]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

The sad part is, it was completely unnecessary to even do this. Duke 3D was pretty outdated graphically the day it came out...the fans of the series don't care if it has cutting edge graphics. All they really had to do was update the graphics somewhat, make a bunch of new interactive levels and release it. It wouldn't matter if it was a new killer app, it would have sold hardcore.

Agreed 100%.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Balt

Originally posted by: The J
That blog post is fictional. If you go to the link to the original posting (at the top of the page), you'll see that the author leaves a comment stating such.

The real story behind it all is probably much more interesting, but unfortunately I doubt we'll ever hear it.

To the contrary, I bet the story is plain, simple, and boring: they were in way over their heads, had no clear direction on what the game was supposed to be, and time passed them by before they had even decided on the title.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: evident
who the fuck cares, DNF is never coming out, anyone who even thinks about it has been punked!!!

i really wish this was true though LOL

I don't know, I'm reading on the DNF forums, and there are some people who have been there a long time. A lot are starting a petition to get the game finished and released. A bunch were talking about donating to show Take 2 they're serious. Dunno if they're being serious but one offered up 5g's and a few others even more. A few said they would donate a few hundred. Many said they would give whatever they could (probably 5 bucks lol)

I have a feeling the game isn't dead. 3DRealms just has to get the rights to it from Take 2. Take 2 was just going to publish it, they haven't been fanicing it at all. And all signs point to 3DR still having money so it wasn't a lack of money that lead to this. It was some sort of direct friction with Take 2.

 

[ja1484]

lol @ the kids on the forums going "Let's start a petition!", as if online petitions ever do anything. The fanboys wandering around thinking they can somehow be involved in "saving" the game is just sad.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
To the contrary, I bet the story is plain, simple, and boring: they were in way over their heads, had no clear direction on what the game was supposed to be, and time passed them by before they had even decided on the title.

Bingo. I'm sure DNF would be considered a defining case study of development hell, if someone could get a proper post-mortem out of them.

If 3DR is really bankrupt, their assets will go to their creditors. Depending on who those are and what they do with the assets, DNF might yet see the light of day in some form.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Some of the comments are cynical and realistic. And thus, completely contrary to what makes for cult status.

All that is necessary is that it contain some element, often esoteric, that a strong following love about it.

Duke was the amalgamation of 80's action heroes, and arguably, his best one liners, were pulled directly from some of the "cult classics" of that decade e.g. They Live and Evil Dead II.

My POV: All they had to do was modernize Duke 3D with one of the Unreal Engines, and it would have sold very well.

It could be FPS or even over the shoulder (seeing Duke with his Ahnold from commando look, do his thing, would be hilarious) I'd definitely pony up for a updated Duke 3D, and so would many others.

So, whatever they were trying to accomplish, it was, IMO, probably a case of over thinking it. They should have stuck to the formula, and churned out a game that gives Duke's cult more of what we want. That being, Duke FUBARing alien invaders with total aplomb, while inspiring the occasional smile and laugh.

Because there is no cheesey machismo, like 80's action hero cheesey machismo.

 

[Sam25]

They could have made something like Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project and I would happily have bought it. Loved the fast side scrolling action in that one.

 

[Skott]

I'm not surprised that DNF is dead and never will see the light of day. What I am really surprised about is that the whole thing has gone on as long as it has. 13 years? Thats got to be a record of some sort in the PC gaming industry.

 

[ibex333]

Originally posted by: Astrallite
RIP DNF.

http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=58519

I wonder if a 3rd party publisher will have the cohones to start/complete the project.

Fuck.. I KNEW IT.

 

[wanderer27]

That's too bad.

If the Economy hadn't gone in the tank maybe they could've bought some more time to work on this.


Conspiracy theorist are out saying this is a PR stunt - after all, didn't they say they just hit a major milestone a few weeks back?
I really doubt that's the case (I think Economy killed them), but talk about one Sh**Storm of a PR release that would generate . . .


Hmmm. Shacknews is posting that new screens/artwork has been posted on the DNF site:

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58551

 

[mindcycle]

Here is some concept art and screenshots uploaded by a former 3DR employee.

http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/

While not bleeding edge by any means, some of those environments do look pretty impressive.

via Shacknews: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58551

 

[wanderer27]

Is it just me, or do some of those screens look awful Far Cry-ish.

I don't mean this in a bad way, the graphics are actually fairly good.



Ahhh, nothing like salt in an open wound is there ?

 

[abaez]

http://www.3drealms.com/news/2009/05/goodbye.html

 

[Sam25]

Originally posted by: abaez
http://www.3drealms.com/news/2009/05/goodbye.html

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: Sam25

Originally posted by: abaez
http://www.3drealms.com/news/2009/05/goodbye.html

On the plus side, maybe we'll finally get to play Duke Nukem Forever if they get taken over.

 

[TourGuide]

If the details ever get worked out they will likely turn the development over to another studio - and just as well they do so. 3DR proved they just couldn't get the job done. They had to have known the dev cycle couldn't go on indefinately.