Duke Nukem Forever.... beyond a joke. (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Copeland]

I could never understand why people get so upset when games don't come out in timely fashion. Its not like the people complaining are sitting at their computers for 80 hour work weeks coding it trying to get it finished. All you gotta do is buy or don't buy. Why the whining?

The main thing being discussed is whether or not we think it will be a good game after so many 'delays'. Sure, they don't owe us anything, but I see nothing wrong with discussing the game's potenial and whether or not we are planning on buying it. Also, while they may truly owe us anything, they could at least give some sort of explanation why it's taking so long. They are making a mistake by not giving out more information. Just saying "when it's done" is not a very professional way to handle the fanbase that has supported the series thus far. At least keep people better updated. That's just my opinion.

Aaron

 

[Allan Petersen]

Whining?!? Where?
I'll give you a good whine if you want...
But there is not exactly a lot of it going on here.

 

[Robert Ma]

I can't wait for DNF and will buy it the first day it comes out.

Wana Dance?

 

[MikeAlletto]

They are making a mistake by not giving out more information. Just saying "when it's done" is not a very professional way to handle the fanbase that has supported the series thus far

I tell my bosses all the time it'll be done when its done. If they force a date on me I'll hit it, but then will have to go back and fix bugs. I hate going back and fixing problems that given a few more weeks would not have been there.

I'm a big supporter of "it'll be done when its done". I hate downloading patches when I buy the game that very week. Sometimes what is causing delays is just no ones business but the companies. Its all about making money, not making the fans happy. Its duke, they'll buy it whether it sucks or not.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Joel,
Good question. What ever happened to that game? I remember it was being talked about around the time Unreal was first being shown, but I never heard anything about it since.

 

[Gary King]

Although constant delays and a seemingly interminable development schedule are typically bad signs, there was a recent first person shooter which underwent 1 or 2 major design revisions, years of delays, a complete graphics engine change, and a company takeover, and still managed to become one of the best games ever.

It's not a common occurrence, but as long as 3D Realms' programmers, artists, and designers aren't jumping ship, there's still a chance DNF will be as great as DN3D. After all, Halo was all the rage when it was first shown at E3... 1999.

 

[Kelley_B]

I believe I read somewhere that Prey has been handed off to Human Head Software makers of Rune. Not sure if thats correct, but I believe I read that somewhere recently.

 

[Paul_D]

Its all about making money, not making the fans happy.

How do you have one without the other? I'm sure they *wouldn't mind* making the fans happy? So why don't they at least try, by giving progress reports?
This thread is a testament to the fact that there are fans out there you would like an update on the progress. Just saying "wait till its done" isn't the best way of handling the expectations of eager fans. Especially when the time-frames involved are getting longer and longer and longer and longer.......

 

[BrianB]

I believe I read somewhere that Prey has been handed off to Human Head Software makers of Rune. Not sure if thats correct, but I believe I read that somewhere recently.

The original Prey is long dead. There were recent rumours that 3DRealms was ressurecting the title in a radically different form, but I don't think anything formal has been announced?

 

[Paul_D]

The Adrenaline Vault has it listed for an October 1st release. Amazingly, the *exact same* day as Team Tortress 2. Imagine that.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

I remember a chat thread with one of the DNF development team (or even the head of it - I'm not up to scratch with who's who in the company) and the discussion led to how DNF's graphics would compare to recently released screenshots of the 'upcoming' Unreal Tournament 2 (now due out shortly as UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2003). The DNF guy stated that their game would be out a year or so before the next UT game, and you couldn't really compare the two technologies as the UT game would require 'at least a GeForce 2', whilst Duke's specs would be a little less resource-hungry. I remember thoughtfully considering this info when I first read it (two years or so ago) and mentally comparing how each game would theoretically look. It's amusing that DNF has now slipped past the release of UT2003 and will potentially be also beaten to the market by UNREAL 2. Of course, none of this matters in any real way to anyone, but the years-old screenshots of DNF don't really look all that impressive now when compared to DOOM 3 or (to my eyes) the two new UNREAL games. (DNF is reportedly using the UT engine so I wonder if they've updated the look of it yet again to reflect the abilities of the new UT2003 engine?) Anyway, the makers of DUKE might have all their finances taken care of and an infinite amount of time to tweak and polish the thing, but in the end I think I'd rather they had brought it out a year or more ago and set to work on another Duke game again for 2003/2004. Redoing the engine and tweaking everything to an Olympic standard might result in an even better game 'eventually', but Christ... by this logic, it'd be a dream come true if they abandoned their work and started over from scratch with an eye to releasing it with X-Box2/GeForce9 specs in 2006. I'm sure that everyone at the company is happy and comfortable and well-paid and feels that they're tweaking and polishing something really special, but I doubt I'll have much excitement ready for any future games if they're due to be developed at the same pace and schedule... Consoles (with all their attendant catalogues of games good and bad) have risen and fallen in the time it's taken DUKE NUKEM FOREVER to sort itself out. If I change my tune, keep an eye out for me in 2027 as I finally play through DNF in the space of week, rise off my chair, scratch my beard, grab my cane and proclaim "Folks, it was worth the wait..."

 

[Doug Schiller]

You bring up an excellent point.

It seems the DNF team is trying to blow the doors off everything and then they crack open a gaming magazine, look at the next FPS and say, oops.

They really missed the boat when they didn't release a Duke Nukem themed game with the Unreal Tourney engine a couple of years ago. They would have sold millions and had plenty of resources to start making the dream DNF game it has now become.

This is DNF we are talking about. They could come out with a game like Serious Sam and it would have flown off the shelves. Instead, they threw together some platformer game.

They will teach courses on the failure of this game, mark my words.

Doug

 

[Richard Waller]

I still remember seeing that video from DNF that showed him shooting at a helicopter from a moving train and thinking how sweet it was going to be to play. Then the delays happened and I've pretty much written this game off.

 

[Allan Petersen]

Consoles (with all their attendant catalogues of games good and bad) have risen and fallen in the time it's taken DUKE NUKEM FOREVER to sort itself out. If I change my tune, keep an eye out for me in 2027 as I finally play through DNF in the space of week, rise off my chair, scratch my beard, grab my cane and proclaim "Folks, it was worth the wait..."

Now that's class!
Excellent post, Anthony.

 

[Shawn C]

If DNF has actually been in production on a steady basis ever since they first announced it, it has been an incredible waste of time and resources.

ANY software project that takes this long shows a complete lack of management skills. This is the same problem that ION storm had. They let a gamer/programmer/techie/whoever run the project that had absolutely no management skills whatsoever.

I think I know exactly what is happening.

"Hey, boss, if we change this and do that, this thing can be even cooler than it was before!"

"Sound good. How long will it take to do?"

"About two week probably"

"Sounds cool. Let's do it.."

....3 months later

"Hey, what's up with that big change you were making?"

"Um, well, we had some problems and had to change some other things that caused some other problems sooooo it's going to be about two weeks.."

"Ok."

....3 months later

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Um, well, we couldn't get it to work so we just went back to the way it was"

"Well, as long as the original still works......"

 

[Adnan Sheikh]

Some interesting quotes from George Broussard about the situation and some of the complaints here. They are all taken from his comments at shacknews...
"People shouldn't make assumptions about what engine we're using or not using. It would be a mistake at this point. The 1999 shots are indeed...the poo." Link
"I think we're going to require hardware T&L, and a GF2 should be a good base card. A GF3/4 should be ideal for all the bells and whistles." Link
"On DNF...what can I say? We're late beyond all that is reasonable. All I can say is that we're doing what we can." Link

 

[Paul_D]

It's encouraging news that the GeForce 2 is the base card. Still, I can't see any chance that DNF *won't* be eclipsed by Doom III. Incidentally, it looks like Quake 4 may be out before the end of the year, which is a little strange, because its being developed by Raven (Jedi Outcast, Soldier of Fortune 2) and allegedly uses the Doom III engine, and the former is due in June next year. I would have thought that the first game to utilise the egine would have been the game its named after! :p)

 

[Shawn C]

Incidentally, it looks like Quake 4 may be out before the end of the year, which is a little strange, because its being developed by Raven (Jedi Outcast, Soldier of Fortune 2) and allegedly uses the Doom III engine, and the former is due in June next year.

I guess it kinda makes sense. The Doom III engine has probably been 99% done for a little while now. Now it's up to the mappers and creative guys to put the actual game together. I would assume that Quake IV would be easier to put together since you don't have to worry about a single player storyline, single-player levels,scripted events or cut scenes...etc.

 

[Paul_D]

I would assume that Quake IV would be easier to put together since you don't have to worry about a single player storyline, single-player levels,scripted events or cut scenes...etc.

Apparently, Quake 4 is going to be very single-player orientated. There will obviously be a multiplayer option, but in an interview one of the developers commented that they were focusing heavily on the sp component. Good news if you ask me.

 

[Shawn C]

Apparently, Quake 4 is going to be very single-player orientated. There will obviously be a multiplayer option, but in an interview one of the developers commented that they were focusing heavily on the sp component. Good news if you ask me.

Huh. Well, that is cool if it is true. I always assumed that the Quake series was going to be pretty much multi-player from now on.