“Holy crap, even the Manhattan Project was finished faster!” — The Duke Nukem Forever List
As of today, it has been almost 14 years since the first announcement of Duke Nukem Forever. What has happened during this time?
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This post is a semi-translation-semi-copy-paste with some notes and additions. The original here. The copied part here and a little (forgive me!) from Wikipedia. The note part is right here :)
Yes, I have significantly cut and modified the original. After all, there was too much truly boring information. Also, points where it was problematic to find an exact figure as of today were removed, as I don’t want to lie. Of course, the gap between today and the publication date of the original article was also taken into account.
Development History
Duke Nukem Forever is the main construction project of the millennium from 3D Realms, announced on April 28, 1997, originally developed on the Quake II engine. A couple of months after the announcement, the first screenshots appeared in PC Gamer magazine, as well as the first release date - mid-1998. Interest in the project grew, and in May 1998 at E3, several short videos of Duke Nukem Forever were shown. At that time, everyone thought that the game was very close to release.
However, in June 1998 (when the game was supposed to be on sale), 3D Realms shared fresh details about the development process. It must be said, they did not inspire much optimism. The engine was replaced with a more modern one. 3D Realms chose Unreal Engine from Epic. The game’s producer, George Broussard, stated that the change of the engine would not affect the game’s release date and that 3D Realms had everything under control. But after some time, the release was postponed for another year.
In 1999, Duke Nukem Forever changed the engine again, and developers hinted at the project’s release in 2000. However, in 2000 we had to spend another year without Duke, and 3D Realms hinted at 2001.
In the summer of 2001, 3D Realms released the most significant proof of the game's reality - a two-minute trailer for Duke Nukem Forever.
The joy was short-lived. In 2002, 3D Realms hired new programmers and proudly announced yet another (already the fourth) engine change – the game was being reworked under the company's own technologies. The overhaul of all levels, according to Broussard, was supposed to take no more than two years.
In early 2003, the head of Take Two (the publisher of Duke Nukem Forever) announced the game’s release for the end of the year, but then it was postponed to late 2004, and then to early 2005. In September 2004, GameSpot published a rumor that the game was being developed again on a new engine - Quake III (don’t laugh, after all, the same Call of Duty 2 was made on it). Broussard denied this news, but a few days later revealed to the world that the game now used a new physics engine.
The years passed, but among the news about Duke Nukem Forever, apart from rumors and disputes between 3D Realms and Take Two, nothing interesting was seen. All this time, the only thing that instilled hope was a small (really small) screenshot size 200x125 with our favorite Duke.
On December 19, 2007, a new teaser for Duke Nukem Forever appeared with the usual “blah-blah-blah, the game will be released when it is done.” We had already heard all this before.
In June 2008, ShackNews published the first gameplay video of Duke Nukem Forever lasting about thirty seconds and a short interview featuring George Broussard and Scott Miller. During the interview, George Broussard said: “We made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of useful lessons, most of them in World of Warcraft.” Of course, this was a subtle joke, but I think there’s a lot of truth to it.
In the end, he said, “You will be pleasantly surprised.” Of course, I think everyone would like to believe that. The footage we saw looked quite good, and we really could have received the best first-person shooter of all time...
On May 6, 2009, the world seemed to change beyond recognition. ShackNews published a rumor that 3D Realms was closed. The news spread across the internet in a matter of hours, and gaming portals filled with sad news about the demise of Duke Nukem Forever. On the same day, Take-Two officially confirmed the closure of the studio and the “freezing” of Duke Nukem Forever. These events, by the way, did not affect Duke Nukem Trilogy for the DS and PSP. The project is still in development and will be released as planned this year.
12 years and 9 days. That’s how long it’s been since the announcement of the game in distant 1997. A new millennium has come, fourteen games in the GTA series have been released, twelve gaming consoles have come out, and the only thing we have seen is a few trailers and a handful of screenshots of not the best quality.
It’s interesting to read the comments of one of the former developers of 3D Realms:
In the 2001 trailer, there was not a single frame of real gameplay. It's all just scripts. They made special demo maps to create the trailer. Everything you saw in the trailer was a deception.
The studio's work usually went like this:
Developers were assigned tasks (create a new map, completely redo or edit an old one, etc.). Work on this could go on for two to three weeks or even a month, and all the “lower-level” management believed that development was going “in the right direction.” The developer switched to the next task, and after a few months, someone from the “upper” management of the studio said, “This is all wrong, do it again.” And it all repeated again.
All game maps were made only to beta quality because nobody wanted to make decisions at such an early stage.
Another example of the crap that was happening in the studio was the fact that part of one of the maps was being created when I first came to the studio. Nineteen months later, one of the map designers continued to work on the same part of the same map... I do not blame him, it was not his fault.
I think the main problem of the studio was its self-financing. When a studio works on a game together with a publisher, there are certain milestones in development that need to be achieved. If you don’t accomplish something, you simply won’t get paid. That’s why you will continue development on schedule. However, if the studio is self-financed and you are not dependent on anyone, you won’t care how much money is wasted.
The refutation from 3D Realms came promptly. According to them, the guy who posted it was not on the team when the studio released the 2001 trailer and therefore could not know the truth. 3D Realms stated that he was lying and that the trailer contained only ready gameplay moments, and that weapons, vehicles, games, and AI were taken from a fully working version of the game. All that was scripted in the trailer would remain scripted in the final version of the game. Let’s not delve into where the truth lies. It will always be somewhere in between.
After a long mutual throwing of lawsuits between Take-Two and 3D Realms over who the hell now owns Duke... in general, “the pigs flew”.
January 21, 2011 saw 2K Games and Gearbox Software announce the game’s release. The release will take place on May 3, 2011, for North America, and for other countries, it will occur on May 6.
February 15 2K Games and Gearbox Software announced that all PC versions of the game would require activation through Steam.
On March 9, it became known that the game would be published in Russia by 1C-SoftClub.
And still... Duke Nukem Forever is still in development.
What has happened during all this time?
Games Released
Games:
A total of ten games have been released in the Duke Nukem franchise (including ports and mobile games).
Twelve games in the GTA series were released – from the first to the last part.
More than 80 games based on the MegaMan universe
More than 55 games in the Star Wars universe
Mario appeared in over 65 different games
All (!!) games in the MMO genre
All games in the Dance Dance Revolution and Bemani series
All Pokémon games published outside of Japan
Valve released Half-Life 1-2 and several sequels, as well as Team Fortress 2, Portal, both Left 4 Dead games, and managed to release Portal 2.
The Halo trilogy
Bioware released Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, both Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Mass Effect 2. All these titles are long and deep (in comparison to ordinary shooters) games with non-linear gameplay. And this is still not the complete list of this company’s games!
Quake 2, 3, 4, and countless games based on their engines.
The game Daikatana was announced just 10 days before the announcement of DNF. On May 23, 2000, it hit the shelves.
All Max Payne games appeared, the game was ported to consoles, and even a film was made about this franchise
The entire Thief series
The company Black Isle was founded, which managed to release 7 games and then shut down.
TES 3 and TES 4 with expansions were released.
If you collected all Magic: The Gathering cards since the announcement of DNF, you would have more than one hundred thousand.
All of “Serious Sam”.
All 3D “Prince of Persia” games
Another well-known company with delays - Blizzard Entertainment - managed to create five games (Starcraft 1/2, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, and World Of Warcraft) and merged with Activision.
Gaming Systems:
Microsoft XBOX
Microsoft XBOX 360
Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Gameboy Color
Gameboy Advance
Nintendo DS
Sega Dreamcast
Sony PSone
Sony Playstation 2
Sony Playstation 3
Sony PSP
Zeebo
EVO Smart Console
3DS
NGP
Approximately five thousand games were released over these years in the USA, and gaming consoles worldwide sold nearly half a billion units in total.
Interesting Facts
Computers and the Internet
In 1997, the fastest modems squeezed out 33.6 Kbps. Overall, today’s average speed for a regular network user is one to five thousand times higher.
When Duke Nukem Forever was announced, the fastest processor available to a consumer was the 233 MHz Pentium. Today, their clock speed has increased by more than 16 times (32 accounting for dual-core or 64 considering quad-core), while their sizes have decreased from 250 nanometers to 45 and lower.
Apple has created six generations of iPods, not counting the “offshoots” like iPod mini and others. iTunes became the most popular way to purchase music in the USA.
Steve Jobs, just like when Duke Nukem Forever was announced, still works at NeXT
All “peer to peer” programs were created after the announcement of DNF
In April 1997, such things as Google, eBay, and even the term “blog” did not exist.
Linux became at least ten times more popular.
Mac OS switched to UNIX. Apple moved the entire Macintosh line to Intel processors, and now anyone can run Windows on a Mac
Microsoft released 6 versions of Windows (not counting Server versions)
The Netscape Navigator 4 browser was released, Microsoft Internet Explorer managed to capture the entire internet space. Netscape is dying, while Mozilla Foundation rises. With open-source, Mozilla browsers became popular, and now Microsoft is doing everything possible to save the situation. Google Chrome also managed to join the “arms race.”
Valve creates Steam. The birth of true digital game distribution.
Since the announcement of Duke Nukem Forever, Microsoft has released DirectX 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9.0c, 10, 10.1, and 11.
The entire line of graphics cards, both GeForce and Radeon, appeared after the announcement of DNF. The brand ATI has since been absorbed by AMD
When Duke Nukem Forever was announced, the highest resolution for modern CRT monitors at that time was 1280x1024, while most gamers were satisfied with 640x480 or 800x600. Today there are even monsters with a resolution of 7680x4800, which is 120 times larger than 640x480.
The first internet casino appeared in 1997, the industry of which has since doubled its turnover every year. In 2008, the total value of all online casinos was approximately 300 billion dollars.
If not counting a few, almost unique exceptions, all webcomics appeared after the announcement of DNF. In other words, the day of its announcement can (in quotes, of course) be considered the birth of webcomics.
Disasters
As a result of the September 11 terrorist attack, 2750 people died, and since then, countless conspiracy theories have been created.
More than 50 major earthquakes shook the world, which shortened Earth Day by more than 2.7 microseconds.
Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans and killed 1836 people.
Economy
Adjusted for inflation, the average price of gas in the USA has doubled.
The euro was introduced as the new European currency.
Apple’s revenue surpassed Dell’s revenue.
Nintendo became the second-largest company in Japan.
Films
The entire New Star Wars Trilogy.
The entire Lord of the Rings series, including the extended edition.
All Pixar animated films, except for Toy Story.
Five James Bond films, including a complete reboot of the series.
Every movie, animated film, video, and game from the Matrix series was released during this period.
All Marvel Comics films.
The DVD format appeared, as well as Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technologies, the first of which has managed to win the so-called “format war.”
Pop Culture
All of Britney Spears’ career as a pop star coincided with the post-announcement period.
Cell phones became ubiquitous, while in 1997 they were a luxury item... with a hefty price tag.
In 1997, Apple had an uncertain financial future. Since then, they have created 4 versions of the iPhone, 6 generations of iPods, iPads, and a number of other products that have mostly become iconic.
The entire Harry Potter franchise, along with all adaptations, also came to light after the announcement of DNF.
The first episode of South Park aired on August 13, 1997. Since then, more than 150 episodes have been released.
The number of episodes of The Simpsons has roughly tripled since then.
Science and Technology
Voyager 1 has traveled nearly 10 billion kilometers
The ISS was built and placed in orbit over 8 years.
In 1997, there were only 50 million cell phones in the United States. Today there are more than 200 million, accounting for over 60% of the U.S. population.
The U.S.S. Ronald Reagan (the largest nuclear aircraft carrier in the world) was designed, built, commissioned, and began active service.
Costa Concordia, the largest Italian cruise liner, was designed, built, and delivered by Fincantieri shipyard in Italy.
U.S. Politics
More than 40 new members were elected to the Senate.
The national debt grew by more than 3 trillion dollars.
Bill Clinton completed his presidential term, George Bush was elected and re-elected, after which he freed the presidential seat for the first black president in U.S. history - Barack Obama.
Arnold Schwarzenegger won the election campaign, was elected, and served a full term as governor of California. A few years later, he left that post.
Events that took less time than the development of Duke Nukem Forever
Pop Culture
The Beatles formed, released all their albums, and broke up. During that time, they also toured the world several times.
The comic Calvin and Hobbes was created, published daily for several years, and was finished, after which it was recognized as “The Best Completed Comic in Strip Format.”
Science and Technology
The Wright brothers developed and launched the first airplane in history.
The formulation of the general theory of relativity.
The United States completed the entire Kennedy space program to land a man on the Moon.
The construction of many monumental buildings and engineering projects. Here are some of them:
Empire State Building (January 1930 - May 1931)
Eurotunnel (the tunnel under the English Channel) (December 1987 - May 1994)
Golden Gate Bridge (January 1933 - May 1937)
World Trade Center (August 1966 - April 1973)
Digging the Suez Canal (by hand) took 11 years, from December 1858 to November 1869.
The Titanic took 3 years to build, from March 1909 to March 1912.
Hoover Dam was built in 5 years (1931-1936), although in theory (by documents), it was being constructed since 1922. However, there is still a chance to surpass the formal construction time.
The tallest building on Earth, Burj Khalifa, was constructed in 5 years (2004-2009, although they still have not finished the finishing work).
Wars
The American War of Independence.
The Civil War in the USA.
World War I.
The Vietnam War.
World War II and the entire Manhattan Project. Yes, even the total creation of an atomic bomb took less time.
The conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great took 6 years, from 334 BC to 328.
Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul lasted 7 years, from 58 BC to 51 BC.
Perhaps at the end, there should be some deep and unexpected conclusion.
