The yearly "what the hells up with Duke" thread.

[Hellbinder]

Well, What the hell *is* up with Duke Nukem?

5 years..... being that they started dev on the quake2 engine.

Who knows, it may add up. But at this point i really seriously dont think its going to make it. I am begining to wonder if they know it as well. Not even a *peep* about the game for almost a year now. It is just really really sad that they let this project go to hell. There is simply no game play tweaking on earth that can explain a development cycle this long. I dont care how interactive it is. It should have been finished and released before christmas last year. And thats the bottom line.

They are making the mistake that it will fly off the shelves based on the DukeNukem name alone. I dont think that cuts it anymore. Not When the graphics are going to be a joke. this is going to be the next diakatana. No doubt about it.

My guess at this point is this is whats going on with the game.

-They are going for a Christmas release this year.
-They are currently "revamping" nearly all the game textures to S3TC.
-They are including support for Trueform/Npatches

In my mind this is the *only* steps they can take to make this game even a little bit interesting.

[Babel-17]

I hear you. The amount of money they've sunk is into this game must be a record. The one ray of hope I can see is that it's possible they are using the new Unreal engine and they are working with the Unreal developers to get the final bugs out. Is that the engine they are using?

[Hellbinder]

No, im afraid not. They are using UT 436 as their base. For them to switch to the 900 series UT engine would require a top down rebiuld of every single map/model/texture to see any difference. The new Unreal Engine provides more functionality, not gurantees it. not to mention a complete conversion of their scripting engine.

Simply not possible. The only real impact graphically speaking they could make is to Revamp several of the core textures... but that still will only have a limited affect.

All I can say is that this game will live and die by the level of interactivity they are claiming. If you cant turn on every, light, appliance, vehicle, use the toilet, watch TV, listen to the radio, ride the evelators, and use the excersise equiment *add infenitum* it will be the biggest game bust of all time.

[Babel-17]

Thanks for all that information! I think a lot can be done with the 436 engine. I'm currently playing Operation Na Pal by Team Vortex and it has some great visuals. But for a commercial release to use that engine and have to bear up to comparisons to the latest upcoming titles is a daunting task.

Gameplay is very important of course and I expect Nukem to be a hoot. I doubt though it will get the return on investment the developers were hoping for. Releasing it would still be smart imo in order to keep the franchise alive. Hopefully they can move rapidly to another sequel sequel, this one using the new engine. :)

[Johnny Rotten]

Hellbinder, hellbinder, hellbinder. When are you going to learn to stop stating your personal conjecture as FACT?

For what its worth, 3dr ARE plugging in pieces of the current unreal engine as well as their own homerolled technologies. Its very likely that they ARE redoing significant amounts of content.

http://www.shacknews.com/funk.y?id=3603393

http://www.shacknews.com/funk.y?id=3603299

http://www.shacknews.com/funk.y?id=3805328

[Hellbinder]

Hellbinder, hellbinder, hellbinder. When are you going to learn to stop stating your personal conjecture as FACT?


Your information is not for off what i said. I simply said to switch to the latest UT engine they would have to redo HUGE parts of the game to see any difference. They have been using custom engine pieces from the beginging. like their scripting engine for instance.

So, when are you going to learn, to not nitpick my statements just because you dont like what im saying? or becuase you have some odd personal problem. Read those lnks again. They really dont say anything other than a bunch of "maybe" we are doing this and "maybe" we are doing that.

Looking at his posts, reveals an even bigger issue. These guys just cant seem to close a project and release it. I mean good grief if they do revamp the graphics, then that will likely impact other areas of the game, which will then require more tweaking....

Does anyone else see an endless cycle.....

[Chalnoth]

Of course, the newer Unreal engine has been available to developers for how long now? I think about a year and a half to two years. That may be why it's still not out.

But, I do know that it was still using the UT version of the engine back when the updated graphics for the upcoming Unreal games were announced.