Duke Nukem Forever Nearly Died Without a Script

[Logan Westbrook]

Duke Nukem Forever Nearly Died Without a Script

From a gameplay point of view, Duke Nukem Forever was nearly finished two years ago. From a narrative point of view, not so much.

Even though it's coming out in a few months, tales of Duke Nukem Forever's [http://www.amazon.com/Duke-Nukem-Forever-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0HAC6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1302786320&sr=8-2] very long and winding journey to store shelves still make for interesting reading. Take its modern incarnation, for example - that is to say, the version that people will soon be playing - which almost died without a single word of script when 3D Realms closed its doors in 2009.

David Riegel, a former developer at 3D Realms, and the president of its successor, Triptych Games, says that the games was around 80% finished in 2009, but it was a really uneven 80%. There were a lot of structures in place for the gameplay, and most of the weapons had been finished, but work on the game's story and characters had barely begun. "There was no narrative script; there was no dialogue; nothing written for any character ... NPC behavior didn't really exist, like no head tracking or eye tracking, no lip syncing, none of that. No music, no ending: there was a planned ending but it wasn't really there."

Reigel said that it had a challenge for the small Triptych team, which took over development after 3D Realms shut the project down, to find time to work on everything. Triptych decided to focus on the single-player PC portion of the game, and Riegel said that it wasn't until Gearbox, which now owns the Duke Nukem franchise, got involved that the studio was really able to focus on the areas that it had neglected.

At first, it's staggering to think that there were still parts of the game that hadn't been started, even after more than decade in development, but when you stop and think about it, it actually makes a certain amount of sense. It's not that there wasn't a story outline - Riegel made it clear that 3D Realms had plans - but the exact details of the script and the character interactions weren't set in stone. With the additional help from Gearbox and Piranha Games - which assisted with the multiplayer and console versions of the game - those missing elements are pretty much all ready to go, and the game is finally going to see release.


Duke Nukem Forever comes out for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on June 14th in North America, and June 10th in the rest of the world.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/#!5791911/so-how-far-along-was-duke-nukem-forever-before-it-was-binned]



Permalink

 

[Senaro]

Considering what passed as story in the other Duke Nukem games, it'll be interesting to see one with an actual script. More than an opening thirty second cutscene and one after the final boss of each world.

 

[Mister Benoit]

This game holds so many funny and interesting statistics it's incredible.

 

[Dogstile]

I honestly think Gearbox looked at this game and simply thought "... Well, someones gotta break the cycle".

 

[Weaver]

If this is how development studios work, it explains why the stories in so many games are terrible. "Oh we'll just jam a story in there somehow afterwards, it's okay."

 

[windlenot]

I just remember playing Time to Kill with a friend and getting the jet pack, or playing as Toga Duke, or laughing at everything he said. I'm sure nowadays the game would NEED a script. I don't think it would fly without one, unless it's an arcade title...

 

[GonzoGamer]

C'mon people! Two years?!
It's a Duke Nukem script. It aint that complicated.
There should be a checklist somewhere and it probably looks like an old Andrew Dice Clay setlist.

Smoke
Grab crotch
Thank everyone for being there
Comment on some chicks tits
Abuse her date
Fire off some more sexist material
Question someone?s sexuality
Dirty Nursery Rhymes

It aint Tolstoy.
I could've probably written it in a weekend.

 

[Mumorpuger]

For some reason I'm miffed that Duke is on store shelves a full four days before the country he's set in get it.

 

[TheLostSkeleton]

Hopefully the story they're going with was better than that leaked script that made it out a couple years ago. That was awful.

Spoiler

Something about Duke meeting up with this woman (another "action hero" like he is) and then for the second half of the game you play as her, trying to find Duke, who has apparently gone missing and may or may not be brainwashed by the aliens or something.

 

[beema]

Right, a script is what's been holding this game up forever. Because it takes 10 years to write a couple fart jokes and sexual innuendo.

 

[Uber Waddles]

Thats not a good way to design a game.

Although it is Duke Nukem, so I doubt people want it for its ground-breaking story. But still, you should design the story and the gameplay so they merge together. Not make the environments, the enemies, the guns, multiplayer, etc. than work on the script.

That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[maantren]

If this is how development studios work, it explains why the stories in so many games are terrible. "Oh we'll just jam a story in there somehow afterwards, it's okay."

It is (often, not always) and it does. In my experience many game designers will sort of wave their hand and refer disparagingly to 'the fiction' that's going to be overlaid across their awesome game mechanics and levels. There are extremely few people who understand both game design & story, even fewer who can make them work together as part of a whole.

Cheers

Colin

 

[icyneesan]

Always bet on Duke, not the developers behind him

 

[TheLostSkeleton]

Thats not a good way to design a game.

Although it is Duke Nukem, so I doubt people want it for its ground-breaking story. But still, you should design the story and the gameplay so they merge together. Not make the environments, the enemies, the guns, multiplayer, etc. than work on the script.

That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

On the other hand, designing the game around fun levels and fun weapons FIRST without thinking about the storyline is exactly the kind of videogame Duke Nukem Forever needs to be. I mean, what was the story to Duke 3D? "Damn, those alien bastards are going to pay for shooting up my ride"? A different era, I guess, but only a couple years before Half-Life, really. Games were already moving in the "more cinematic" direction by that point.

Fun comes first, and everything else is in service to that. You really think they thought of Super Mario Galaxy as a story? They didn't. It ended up having a story, yes, but that came well after they had figured out how they wanted the game to play.

Not that I expect Duke Nukem Forever to be comparable to the level of polish and whatever SMG had, but I'm just saying that there's nothing wrong with putting level/weapon/enemy design before you think about plot.

If I wanted a well-told story, I'd go read a book or watch a movie. As long as the story doesn't ruin the gameplay, it can be about pretty much anything as long as it's fun to play.

 

[harvz]

...idiocy, plain and simple.

what is the first thing you are taught in any software development course in any school/uni/college? put it on paper, even my high school sat us down and spent 5 weeks on how to put it on paper...and then i ended up teaching the class how to program because the teacher didn't know how, yet he knew the first thing to do.

you dont need the whole script down, you just need to establish every plot point and all characters you are going to interact with. its not like they were even in a rush, sometimes the AAA industry makes me burn inside and question why im going into uni.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

It's a sad state of affairs when any game, even a game with as simply a premise as Duke Nukem, can go this long without a script. With a movie that's the first thing that get's done.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

If this is how development studios work, it explains why the stories in so many games are terrible. "Oh we'll just jam a story in there somehow afterwards, it's okay."

Yeah, I'm pretty confused.

You spent 10 years on this and you didn't write any dialogue?!

 

[Stevepinto3]

I...just...wha...

Damn it developers. Sometimes you make me really sad to be a fan of games. Why can't you ever treat the story as equally important as the gameplay?

 

[PrinceofPersia]

Wait wait Duke Nukem had a script? I thought it was just random parody and toilet humor just thrown together at the last moment.