New details on the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 build

[seed]

I'm surprised he actually replied to the email, let alone take his time to explain how the situation is.

 

So we might see at least some stuff released, but only time will tell if there's truth in what Randy is saying or he's just completely full of shit.

 

2 hours ago, geo said:

I'd rather play Duke Forever and Aliens: Colonial Marines than a lot of indie FPS out there.

 

Now that's pretty extreme, I wouldn't touch A:CM even if you paid me. I'm glad I have no interest in any of their other games, which I lacked even before they butchered A:CM. They won't see a single penny from me.

[Dexiaz]

37 minutes ago, DooM_RO said:

I don't care how unfinished it is. Gearbox can finish it and put it on Steam. If not, release it and let the fans finish it. 

 

If it really is such a mess THEN I STILL WANNA SEE THE FUCKING MESS!!

Well, Gearbox will never finish it just becase it's old dead beta videogame.

 

The only way is fans recreation. But yeah, fans NEEDS this beta to get started.

[Avoozl]

I'd rather if they just released it free instead of doing a half arsed job and charging full price for it.

[DooM_RO]

I wish someone more competent got those rights. They got the rights waay back and did nothing with the ip. If Bethesda got them then Id could work on it.

 

Oh well, at least we got Ion Maiden.

Edited August 28, 2018 by DooM_RO

[Doomkid]

I know it isn't as easy as I'll make it sound here due to the rights being spread all over the joint but I feel like Duke fans deserve to see a dump of all the assets that have survived given what a steaming pile of garbage DNF ended up as. Let us take a peek at all that shit for the sake of historical interest even if there's no actual build of the game accompanying it, similar to what Romero did with all that old alpha/beta Doom stuff.

[DooM_RO]

52 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I know it isn't as easy as I'll make it sound here due to the rights being spread all over the joint but I feel like Duke fans deserve to see a dump of all the assets that have survived given what a steaming pile of garbage DNF ended up as. Let us take a peek at all that shit for the sake of historical interest even if there's no actual build of the game accompanying it, similar to what Romero did with all that old alpha/beta Doom stuff.

 

At the very least, the textures would be quite useful.

[geo]

4 hours ago, Agent6 said:

Now that's pretty extreme, I wouldn't touch A:CM even if you paid me. I'm glad I have no interest in any of their other games, which I lacked even before they butchered A:CM. They won't see a single penny from me.

 

You're telling me it's extreme?

[Eligos]

I guess since this thread has been bumped, I might as well share some information I found out. I didn't think it was worth posting until I had more evidence but I might as well now. Here are more screenshots from a leak:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

The screenshots came from a guy posting on 4chan, he says he has a build of the game and if gearbox doesn't release a version of the game by the end of the year he'll release the one he has. However, some people on Duke4.net say he's lying and he took the screenshots from Fred's private streams. Obviously, take all of this with a grain of salt.

[wheresthebeef]

I'd fully believe the developers of Ion Maiden claiming the guy has nothing over the guy himself.

They have no reason to do damage control and what they've said makes sense.

[crazyflyingdonut]

I apologize for bumping this thread, but I just HAD to share the email I got from Randy PBitchford. I wouldn't have bumped it if I didn't get a reply back.

[Touchdown]

I somehow forgot to comment on this topic so I'll rectify that mistake right now.

 

The description of this version of the game is pretty much exactly what I thought Duke Nukem Forever should have been. Not a rehash of Duke3D but something that was supposed to reinvent a lot of things and go beyond the previous game. That was one of the biggest problems with the final version of DNF which was doomed when George Broussard decided that instead of innovating they should just copy Halo and Half-Life 2.

 

Contrary to what a lot of people think, Duke Nukem is not one giant parody. It's not realistic of course, there are jokes, pop culture references and Duke himself is a badass action hero. But when you look at Duke3D, the game is actually pretty serious in terms of its tone. Levels are generally realistic and many areas are pretty dark. But people have this image of Duke Nukem being all about jokes and strippers.

 

The 2001 version of DNF sounds absolutely amazing. What's interesting though is that if I had said that Duke should have a darker atmosphere, hub world and quests people would yell at me saying that noooo, this is not Duke Nukem! And yet that's what it was meant to be. It's a shame that build was never finished. It sounds like it was really ahead of its time.

[Dexiaz]

6 hours ago, crazyflyingdonut said:

I apologize for bumping this thread, but I just HAD to share the email I got from Randy PBitchford. I wouldn't have bumped it if I didn't get a reply back.

 

Why to apologize? That's better than total silence.

 

BTW, it's funny to see that it started as "I have this beta and I want to release it" and became "You will not like this beta". LoL, just say "I can't get the permission to release it" instead of "You will not like this beta, it's buggy and unstable". Come on, every BETA version is buggy and unstable, that's ok, heh

[Immorpher]

I think after Colonial Marines he would want to do the community a solid and release the source code. I had good times with 3D Realms (Duke Nukem 3D) and Gearbox (Borderlands) but some rough (Duke Nukem Forever and what I already mentioned) ones as well which leaves me with mixed feelings.

Time for Andrew Hulshult's Duke Nukem Theme Remix: 

Spoiler

 

Damn that's good!

[mrthejoshmon]

You know what confuses me, why Randy keeps changing the reason this isn't being released.

 

Is it because 2K are tying your hands or is it because it's an uncompiled mess that will "disappoint us"?

[Eligos]

Here's something that's puzzling me. Why is it taking us so long to see what these builds look like? This whole thing started back in July 2017, it's been over a year and there's been absolutely nothing. Why is it taking us so long just to at least have a glimpse of old builds to a game from 2001? It's not like Gearbox is releasing a triple-A Product or anything like that, they're just releasing a bunch of old builds. 

You could say it's not a priority for them, and yes it is true this isn't a priority for Gearbox but even then does it take that many people to release build's to an unfinished game from 2001? 3D Realms sounded perfectly willing to do this for free (not to mention all the modders that would love to get their hands on this) and they already did it with Shadow Warrior. Randy already said he made a deal with 2K to release these builds. So why are we still talking about this? Why haven't we seen what they look like? 

 

Would it kill Gearbox just to show us a screenshot? It's not like we're asking them to rebuild the game from the ground up and give it to us for free. Why the Hell did Gearbox buy this franchise in the first place if they weren't going to do anything productive with it?

Edited August 29, 2018 by Eligos

[Avoozl]

Funny thing is I found a lot of enjoyment out of many game titles from 2001 although I didn't play all of them around their own time, I probably would've enjoyed the 2001 edition of Duke Nukem Forever if it was completed back then.

[Teivman]

The beta is good The beta is good, The Pitchford is Evil.

Edited August 29, 2018 by MrD!zone

[geo]

8 hours ago, Eligos said:

Here's something that's puzzling me. Why is it taking us so long to see what these builds look like? This whole thing started back in July 2017, it's been over a year and there's been absolutely nothing. Why is it taking us so long just to at least have a glimpse of old builds to a game from 2001? It's not like Gearbox is releasing a triple-A Product or anything like that, they're just releasing a bunch of old builds. 

You could say it's not a priority for them, and yes it is true this isn't a priority for Gearbox but even then does it take that many people to release build's to an unfinished game from 2001? 3D Realms sounded perfectly willing to do this for free (not to mention all the modders that would love to get their hands on this) and they already did it with Shadow Warrior. Randy already said he made a deal with 2K to release these builds. So why are we still talking about this? Why haven't we seen what they look like? 

 

Would it kill Gearbox just to show us a screenshot? It's not like we're asking them to rebuild the game from the ground up and give it to us for free. Why the Hell did Gearbox buy this franchise in the first place if they weren't going to do anything productive with it?

Because someone owns it now. Do they want to release footage of an almost 20 year old game? Do they want to get people buzzing and want to play it or do they not want to risk it and just leave it dead? Even releasing something that old still gets put on your software catalog and if you're working on modern $60 games you don't want investors, shareholders and publishers to think... wow this company is done for.

 

So yes... it may kill Gearbox.

[Dexiaz]

I believe that we will see this demo. Why? I'm also a fan of Resident Evil series and I lived to see the release of RE1.5 (and also RE1 GBA). Both games were considered as a pipe dream. Release of the RE1.5 can be considered as a miracle. DNF is kinda same to RE1.5

[Varis Alpha]

i'm not really optimistic about seeing anything, considering the horrible job Gearbox has done with managing the franchise recently (was there any reason why they had to pull not only the original Duke 3D from all digital platforms, but Manhattan Project, and the original 2 sidescrollers as well?)

[crazyflyingdonut]

Forgot to mention, in the email that I posted earlier in this thread, he mentions seeing concept art for space ships in Star Wars that weren't used in the final film.

 

It does not say anywhere on the Internet that Randy Pitchford was ever an employee at Lucasfilm and/or Disney.

[Touchdown]

Gearbox is garbage for hoarding the Duke license. They're not doing anything with it. They said they were going to make their own Duke game and 7 years later nothing's on the table because they're afraid to touch it. It must feel really great, investing a ton of money into a franchise so that it can collect dust.

 

6 hours ago, geo said:

Because someone owns it now. Do they want to release footage of an almost 20 year old game? Do they want to get people buzzing and want to play it or do they not want to risk it and just leave it dead? Even releasing something that old still gets put on your software catalog and if you're working on modern $60 games you don't want investors, shareholders and publishers to think... wow this company is done for.

 

So yes... it may kill Gearbox.

 

I'm trying to figure out if you're joking because that post is hilarious.

[Eligos]

11 hours ago, geo said:

Because someone owns it now. Do they want to release footage of an almost 20 year old game? Do they want to get people buzzing and want to play it or do they not want to risk it and just leave it dead? Even releasing something that old still gets put on your software catalog and if you're working on modern $60 games you don't want investors, shareholders and publishers to think... wow this company is done for.

 

So yes... it may kill Gearbox.

You were just fucking with me weren't you?

 

Edited August 29, 2018 by Eligos

[carpidari]

1 hour ago, crazyflyingdonut said:

Forgot to mention, in the email that I posted earlier in this thread, he mentions seeing concept art for space ships in Star Wars that weren't used in the final film.

 

It does not say anywhere on the Internet that Randy Pitchford was ever an employee at Lucasfilm and/or Disney.

 

i noticed it doesn't show a date when you messaged randy pitchford in the email aside from the one on your desktop, when did you send this to him / when did he respond? because he's said all of this before.

 

Does randy also say anything else down below aswell? it looks as if there's more -

 

 

 

[crazyflyingdonut]

1 hour ago, carpidari said:

 

i noticed it doesn't show a date when you messaged randy pitchford in the email aside from the one on your desktop, when did you send this to him / when did he respond? because he's said all of this before.

 

Does randy also say anything else down below aswell? it looks as if there's more -

 

 

 

Well, you're going to be disappointed, because the following quote is all that's left in the email, and after that it's just a huge blank space. Not sure why the new Gmail does that.

 

Quote

- Randy

 

From: crazyflyingdonut <crazyflyingdonut@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2018 6:14 PM
To: Randy Pitchford <randy.pitchford@gearboxsoftware.com>
Subject: Re: Duke

Thanks!

This is great, thanks!

Got it.

Not sure what "Thanks!", "This is great, thanks!" or "Got it" means. They are colorful buttons or something. Not really necessary to put them there. Like those buttons on most microwaves that say the names of food on each button. Not sure what those buttons do either, but I do not care too much about neither of those to figure it out.

[JackSpurtsOnSundays]

Charlie Wiederhold (who worked on the game) and Frederik Schreiber have both said late 2002 builds are fundamentally the same game presented in the 2001 trailer though much further along with Fred going as far as saying a majority of it is playable, Randy saying none of it is, and Charlie saying the truth is somewhere in the middle being that there's probably a whole game of content but it's unfinished/unpolished content.

 

All the information that has been shared by Frederik Schreiber about Duke Nukem Forever relates to the late 2002 builds of the game. He has said on several occasions that the 2001 content is much rougher and there's not nearly as much completed. All the quotes about the game being almost complete except the last zone specifically relate to 2002 era builds.

 

 

The way that email is written is as if he's taken "DNF 2001" literally and we're going to be given an extremely early 2001 build rather than the late 2002 build that represents the most completed version of what was in the 2001 trailer before larger changes took place such as the lighting system and everything that followed. I wouldn't expect any less from Randy but at this stage something is better than nothing even if that something is 18 months earlier than the most completed build of that era.

[mrthejoshmon]

Honestly Gearbox (or 2K, whoever the fuck) should just sell the Duke licence for exorbitant amounts of money at this point, it is literally the only way they will make any decent money out of it at this point because:

 

A: they killed it, almost single handed.

 

B: Literally nobody trusts them to do anything decent with it, even Duke World Tour was a dodgy fucking job in most respects.

 

C: Given what they've done with it so far they don't really give a shit about it anyway, they are probably just IP hogging just for the sake of it (and nobody likes that so why are you doing it with so little customer faith in you to begin with? Great job improving the company image guys).

[Eligos]

Here's something everyone may find interesting. Charlie made a post back in 2011 breaking down the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 trailer and talking about what was faked, prototyped, scripted, or playable. Here's a list if you want to check it out.

Spoiler

 

[Teivman]

Well the "Hype" for Duke Nukem Forever 2001/2002 is at an all time high during these past few months. Gearbox/3DR/Whoever/Whatever can't just Like, Not do anything Yknow?  Somethings bound to happen sooner or later.

[crazyflyingdonut]

Just now, MrD!zone said:

Well the"hype"for Duke Nukem forever 2001/2002 is at a all time high this year *aside from when it was first revealed back in the day* Gearbox/3dr/whoever/whatever

Y'know, I basically got scammed by Gearbox. I was not a Duke fan until very recently (a couple months ago), and I wanted to play the game before getting into the fandom of it... and there was Duke Nukem 20th Anniversary World Tour on Steam. I never heard of the controversy surrounding Gearbox back then, and made the obvious mistake of buying it. Actually, I enjoyed it... until after I finished playing it, because that was the point I started reading about stuff and then I found out there used to be a much better port that was taken off of Steam. I feel so angry now. The reason I am angry is because the older port had some expansion packs that looked fun to me and... right now I cannot get said expansion packs legally.

 

It's the pain I get from being a millennial with an interest for retro FPS'es. And the pain hurts my soul.