Duke Nukem Forever Designers Speak Out
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
This actually neatly demonstrates three truths;
1) As said by Mr. Ben Croshaw in his ZP of Scribblenauts, when you are told you can have ANYTHING, you will be unable to think of anything. Having limited resuources can help focus things on doable tasks, and make them really well.
2) Deadlines are a good thing to keep in mind. They had no deadline and could work as long as they wanted, and look where it got them. When there's a time-limit, there's extra reason to focus on what you want. It can be a tough decision, yes, but it's a beneficial result at the end.
3) ONE MAN CAN RUIN EVERYTHING.
1) As said by Mr. Ben Croshaw in his ZP of Scribblenauts, when you are told you can have ANYTHING, you will be unable to think of anything. Having limited resuources can help focus things on doable tasks, and make them really well.
2) Deadlines are a good thing to keep in mind. They had no deadline and could work as long as they wanted, and look where it got them. When there's a time-limit, there's extra reason to focus on what you want. It can be a tough decision, yes, but it's a beneficial result at the end.
3) ONE MAN CAN RUIN EVERYTHING.
It's unfortunate that the one thing that could have actually saved the game that George Broussard could have incorporated from the industry was "EPISODIC CONTENT"..
Like Half-Life 3..
Then he could have spent the rest of his life working on his Magnum Opus over time and STILL being profitable.
Like Half-Life 3..
Then he could have spent the rest of his life working on his Magnum Opus over time and STILL being profitable.
So it took so long because to lead designer was like: "You know what this game needs? It needs guns, boobs, snow levels, aliens, zombies, a deep story, science fiction elements, more guns, the latest engine, star ships, jesus, vehicle sections, quick-time events, every greek god, chuck norris, furbies, a real-time stratagy minigame, giant robot battles, RPG elements, a strip club, an open world, karma system, the ability to control duke's ears, nukes, betrayals, chainsaws, more aliens, sticky grenades, regenerating health, the next new game engine, unlockable concept art, I-phones, ninjas, pirates, pirate guns, user created content, furries, more boobs, the ability to lock onto walls, a tower of hanoi puzzle, a slider puzzle, races, repeatable missions, mass multiplayer, peanut butter jelly time, elves, elementals, magic in general, internet connection, beer, co-op, multiple campaigns/story lines, player classes, whales, battleships..."?
Shouldn't the lead designer be able to prioritize?
Shouldn't the lead designer be able to prioritize?
That is stupid.
Instead of making something of his own, he pretty much wanted to copy everyone else.
Im still pissed that this game never came out.
you know what, Fuck Duke Nukem I dont even want another game I want him to fade into obscurity.
That is how angry I am!
Instead of making something of his own, he pretty much wanted to copy everyone else.
Im still pissed that this game never came out.
you know what, Fuck Duke Nukem I dont even want another game I want him to fade into obscurity.
That is how angry I am!
Yea they wasted a lot of money, but fans' time? Considering how sparse info, screenshots, and game videos were for DNF anyone could go through it all in less then an hour. The majority of the Duke Nukem releases were very entertaining, and definitely worth their price tags. While Broussard is completely guilty of abusing the franchise's success to be given all the development time he wanted, his heart was in the right place. He wanted to deliver a worthy successor no matter the cost, and ended up putting himself and development team in the position of being susceptible to the worst case scenario. He has no one to blame but himself here, but atleast he was trying to meet expectations. Regardless it would be impossible for him or any other person to met the expectations on a game that had been in development for over a decade.Abedeus said:
Why, exactly, were they trying that?ansem1532 said:
What was it about Duke Nukem, compared to its contemporaries, that led Broussard to believe 3D Realms was capable of making such a "perfect game"?
What was it about other developers, as compared to 3D Realms, that led Broussard to believe that while 3D Realms took time to make the "perfect game", they would sit still long enough that the definition of "perfect" would stop changing?
I think "perfectionism" is an insupportably self-serving answer for why DNF never materialized. There is nothing about earlier titles that suggests this developer is any more or less perfectionist than other AAA studios that manage to put out a game ever 2-4 years. Bungie anounced and released 4 Halo titles in the span between DNF's announcement and now, with three separate iterations of an in-house engine running on two distinct platforms (Xbox and Xbox 360).
That it was not essential for the day-to-day running of the office to release the game anytime soon seems more informative. Everyone could keep drawing a salary, and at the end, walk away and let the publisher (who didn't get the product to sell) sue whomever is left-- and that's just what happened. If not Broussard, somebody needed to step up and say "let's get this done and move on to what's next" instead of running in circles on a single project. This is why the industry is full of people with the title "producer" now-- because big studios working on big projects end up needing people to herd all the cats who are doing the actual asset creation-- artists, programmers, writers, etc.
I think it's egomaniacal of Broussard and 3D Realms to characterize the DNF project as an ultimately doomed attempt to make a single, perfect game because it's better to never come out than be flawed. That's false.
I'm reminded of the poster rumored to have been put up on the Apple campus for the Macintosh group back in the 80s:
Real Artists Ship.
I was jusr referrencing to some company who had recently adopted a game - I don't think those others had, too, did they?
You know, you're the second one to quote me and talk about bad voice-acting. But whoever adopts it could hire the original voice actor for DN, that would keep the good job.
You know, you're the second one to quote me and talk about bad voice-acting. But whoever adopts it could hire the original voice actor for DN, that would keep the good job.
