3D Realms' George Broussard Tosses Out Duke Nukem Forever Information Scraps
There is a slight chance you have seen this teaser trailer we premiered for Duke Nukem Forever, a new game from 3D Realms, the company that made...
There is a slight chance you have seen this teaser trailer we premiered for Duke Nukem Forever, a new game from 3D Realms, the company that made Shadow Warrior. Seems like it could be pretty hot! For some info about its storied past, check out our detailed chronicle of events.
In even newer news, 3D Realms co-owner and regular Shack user George Broussard tonight answered questions from Shackers about Duke Nukem Forever in an inquisitive chat thread. Though he was often understandably reluctant to give many concrete details before the full media blitz begins, there are some encouraging bits. Since most of our readers are not regular chatty readers, we figured we'd pass those comments along here.
oatmela: what engine is it using? Not bashing at all, just curious.
Broussard: Unreal. I believe we branched off somewhere around the Unreal 2 time when they added static meshes. Since then we've redone the rendering 100% and it's a fully modern engine.
jimvolk: Now that the game has been through such a long development process and revisions, will it still be a LONG game? or will it be a fairly short experience (ala Prey)? Surely after 9-10 years, we can all hope for a decent length game, and a wide multiplayer experience.
Broussard: The game has not been one continuous game worked on. It's probably re-started 3+ times due to various issues. The current (and last) version is 2004-ish. As for game length we should be similar to competitive games in our genre.
Continue on for the rest of the interview.
Unleashed: how long does it take for one of your characters/monsters(duke for example) to get modeled/textured and ingame?
Broussard: 6 weeks?
Sturm08: What's your favorite part of the game so far?
Broussard: I like environment puzzles, and blowing the heads and arms off of things.
smacknca: any regrets breaking the long media silence with this teaser? its pretty obvious many people didnt quite get the whole 'this is just a teaser made by some cool folks at 3DR for the holidays and we wanted to share with the world'
Broussard: Gotta start somewhere. No regrets. With our development history if you let regrets bother you, you'd jump off the nearest roof. Onward and upward.
omnova: Is environment interactivity going to be a bullet point in the game's feature list?
Broussard: Big, big, yes.
pyrogen: Will it have over-the-top gibs flying everywhere? You know, the old-fashioned kind with body chunks and blood trails everywhere.
Broussard: Yes. But in a way that makes sense. Shotguns pull limbs off, but not a machine gun or pistol. Explode something or set off a pipe bomb and you can remove limbs that are within splash range and take enough individual damage. But yes, gibs are back.
Mister Groin: Which do you prefer? Boxes or barrels?
Broussard: To hide behind....unbreakable boxes and non explosive barrels. To shoot at, the opposite :)
edgewise: How many lines of dialog are you recording for Duke?
Broussard: We're definitely going to record 'I'm gonna kill you old school."
painangel: will I be able to impale aliens with a raging man unit ala brock samson?
Broussard: No, but maybe a forklift.
...
Broussard: Gotta run guys. Sorry. More later. We have a lot of work to do, but we really appreciate the interest and support shown today (even if you didn't like it, you checked it out, and that's cool).
In all seriousness, it's great to see Duke back in action--I still have the original 1997 PC Gamer with the Duke Nukem Forever cover story--and all signs point to this time being the real deal.
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"I still have the original 1997 PC Gamer with the Duke Nukem Forever cover story--and all signs point to this time being the real deal."
I wonder how many times that's been said during its development. =)-
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At this point in DNF's development cycle, they could have easily done just that. Though I lean more towards that 3dR felt they needed to release some new content. Honestly, I don't understand how George B. still has a job at 3dR, it's not like he's really proven himself capable of delivering great products (save ten years ago when 3dR still mattered at any length).
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