Interview: how <em>Duke Nukem Forever</em> is the game 3D Realms wanted

<em>Duke Nukem Forever</em> is keeping multiplayer a surprise, but we have some details, as well as Gearbox's take on finishing the game: they didn't put their stamp on it; they finished the game that 3D Realms intended.

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/gaming/news/2011/02/interview-how-duke-nukem-forever-is-the-game-3d-realms-wanted.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[jandrese]

I'm always nervous when the developers start going "Yeah, this is really THEIR game, not ours." If they're distancing themselves from the game before it even hits beta then I get the distinct impression that they're not planning to go down with the ship.

I'm sure they're going to try their best to finish it and give it all of the love it deserves, but it seems to me that the developers know they have a problem and don't have anything like the amount of time they would need to fix it, if it can even be fixed.

 

[Questar]

Pipe bombs up the elevators. Ben, you are a genius.

 

[MoonShark]

They'd better not throw GameSpy or some other unnecessary crap in the way of MP, like they did for Borderlands. Just sayin', I'll be in their forums bitchin'

 

[dirtydata]

They'd better not throw GameSpy or some other unnecessary crap in the way of MP, like they did for Borderlands. Just sayin', I'll be in their forums bitchin'

I will never understand the GameSpy-in-Borderlands match. But really, I've spent almost 20 hours in Dead Space 2 and never touched the multiplayer so I'm hoping the single player will be enjoyable.

Great interview!

 

[pavon]

Gearbox's take on finishing the game: they didn't put their stamp on it; they finished the game that 3D Realms intended.

No they didn't. 3D Realms never intended on releasing the game until it was "perfect". Gearbox is putting their stamp on it simply by releasing it; warts and all.

 

[d_jedi]

Get this one out and then work on something brand new for the franchise.

I just hope, if this game is subpar, that they don't charge full price for it..

 

[MoonShark]

@pavon: You may have won +1 internets there for cutting through the BS. Of course we won't know until release.

 

[xeoph]

Gearbox's take on finishing the game: they didn't put their stamp on it; they finished the game that 3D Realms intended.

No they didn't. 3D Realms never intended on releasing the game until it was "perfect". Gearbox is putting their stamp on it simply by releasing it; warts and all.

That's not really true either. The situation was a clusterfuck and they ran out of money. They were trying to keep up with technology and they weren't putting enough money and time into the product to do that.

However, I have been looking forward to this game for a long time and Ars had gotten my hopes up in the past (april 1st). I'm very much going to buy this game even if the reviews are so-so. The raunchier the better.

Anyone remember the playboy mod?

 

[nhlkoho]

^^ Hell yeah. And Duke it out in D.C.

 

[jandrese]

Gearbox's take on finishing the game: they didn't put their stamp on it; they finished the game that 3D Realms intended.

No they didn't. 3D Realms never intended on releasing the game until it was "perfect". Gearbox is putting their stamp on it simply by releasing it; warts and all.

That's not really true either. The situation was a clusterfuck and they ran out of money. They were trying to keep up with technology and they weren't putting enough money and time into the product to do that.

However, I have been looking forward to this game for a long time and Ars had gotten my hopes up in the past (april 1st). I'm very much going to buy this game even if the reviews are so-so. The raunchier the better.

Anyone remember the playboy mod?

Not enough time? The game was in development for how long? Are you saying that they just didn't assign enough people to the project and the state of the art kept passing them by? Seems more likely to be a case of total management meltdown leading to developers idling away their days.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Not enough time? The game was in development for how long? Are you saying that they just didn't assign enough people to the project and the state of the art kept passing them by? Seems more likely to be a case of total management meltdown leading to developers idling away their days.

It was a management meltdown. More precisely, the control freak George Broussard. If they had just finished the game when they had the chance to finish it, they would have raked in the money and went on to another one. Instead, he pretty much lead the company into financial ruin.

 

[Xavin]

Not enough time? The game was in development for how long? Are you saying that they just didn't assign enough people to the project and the state of the art kept passing them by? Seems more likely to be a case of total management meltdown leading to developers idling away their days.

They never got to the point where they committed to a release date and did the final push. It's scary to make that call for any product because that's when you start working 80 hour weeks and potentially cutting features and content, but it has to happen. The last 10% of any software project is the hardest part, and takes way longer than any other 10%.

 

[GDorn]

"It wasn't ready to ship. By the time we got involved, and by the time it's ready to ship, it will have been two years," he said. "You're talking 100 plus guys involved. It's hard to quantify. Hey, were the levels done? Obviously not fully, or we wouldn't be spending all these man-months on the project."

Dear Mr Gibson,

You used 'man-months' in reference to software development.
You fail.

Sincerely,
The software industry.

 

[rpgspree]

It was a management meltdown. More precisely, the control freak George Broussard. If they had just finished the game when they had the chance to finish it, they would have raked in the money and went on to another one. Instead, he pretty much lead the company into financial ruin.

Agreed! Anyone remember the trailers they'd released for the prior builds of the game? Any one of them looked like an awesome game, for their day, and every one of them an opportunity that was pissed away. Sure, innovation marches ever forward, but when they started thinking of taking the game in a new direction, they should have spun those ideas off to the next shipping game. I think that is what most sane producers would do. Instead, they just effectively dumped the current game and started working on the next one anyway. Again, any sane producer knows that you have to ship something just to keep up with the dev cost.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Not enough time? The game was in development for how long? Are you saying that they just didn't assign enough people to the project and the state of the art kept passing them by? Seems more likely to be a case of total management meltdown leading to developers idling away their days.

They never got to the point where they committed to a release date and did the final push. It's scary to make that call for any product because that's when you start working 80 hour weeks and potentially cutting features and content, but it has to happen. The last 10% of any software project is the hardest part, and takes way longer than any other 10%.

Because of Broussard, they couldn't have committed to anything except another project scrapping and switching to yet another engine. The problem wasn't working 80 hours a week and potentially having to cut anything. The problem was when they got to that last 10%, Broussard had it all shit canned and started over because some new tech came out. Talented people quit because of it, and because of him, 3DR became a laughing stock and wasted tens of millions of dollars for nothing and went into near financial ruin for it.

The sole problem was Broussard (and Miller for putting up with it).

 

[SasoriSoren]

Duke Nukem Forever is a title I will buy on the premise that a completely made by Gearbox game in the future will emerge. I have been hearing the game is a bit of a mess but I don't care, getting the Duke back as an IP is well worth a $60 investment.