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Prerelease:Duke Nukem Forever/1996
This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Duke Nukem Forever.
 | This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. |
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Duke Nukem Forever begins development as a 2D side-scroller similar to Duke's first two adventures. As Duke Nukem 3D would prove to be a massive success for 3D Realms and was their main focus for the year, not a lot of information about Forever was released.
Contents
Start Date (Unknown)
Duke Nukem 3D is released as shareware on January 29th, with its registered full version arriving in April. The game becomes an instant success. With such success, demand for a sequel was immediate.
It is not precisely obvious when Duke Nukem Forever began development, but a rough estimate can be made. At some point in early-to-mid 1996, Darrin Hurd and his team are asked by the newly minted 3D Realms to change their platformer project into a forth Duke Nukem game to leverage hype off of Duke Nukem 3D.[1] With this information it can be guessed that Duke Nukem Forever had started development on or sometime after the release of either the shareware version or the registered version.
Another possible date is May 5th, when Duke Nukem 3D is shipped to retailers by 3D Realms.[2] Gearbox personally considers this the starting point of Duke Nukem Forever's development.[3]
June 1996
| To do: What was the add-on pack that caused the platformer to become "suspended?" |
Gearbox claims that the platform iteration has development "suspended in favor of prioritizing a Duke Nukem 3D add-on pack and a sequel".[3] however this information appears to be incorrect, as that version of Duke Nukem Forever still had work done on it as late as early November.
Keith Schuler had acted as a producer of the project.
Additionally, GT Interactive would acquire the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever this month.[3]
September 1996
September 7th
Joe Siegler, web wizard for 3D Realms, is asked this question on Usenet:
Is APOGEE working on any new platform games?
Joe responds with the following:
Not much in the body of the message. :)
Yes, we're working on a scroller, it's called Duke Nukem Forever. :)
September 25th
Steve Griffen would release a deathmatch level for Duke Nukem 3D called "HOOVRDAM". As the name would imply, the map is set on the Hoover Dam. Some time after the maps release, George Broussard would play it and decided that a Duke Nukem 3D sequel should use the Hoover Dam.Source Needed
October 1996
October 8th
The first of the 1996 prototypes (and possibly of ALL prototypes) is completed, its mostly an empty level.
October 16th(?)
Gameslice conducts an interview with George Broussard and Scott Miller where the Duke Nukem Forever side-scroller is discussed.[4][5]
GSW: What can you tell us about the next Duke Nukem game? Can we expect a sequel for Holiday 1997?
George: There will be a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D. We are deciding now what technology we will use. It is likely we will do one more 25-30 level game with an improved Build engine. Possibly with polygon characters, but we are still in the fact finding stages. I do expect to be in full production in a sequel to Duke by Xmas 1996.
Scott: Geoff, we are also making Duke Nukem Forever, which will be out next Christmas for sure. DN Forever is not a sequel though, rather it's simply another episode in the life of Duke, just like each episode of Star Trek is not a sequel to the previous episode.
DN Forever will be a side-scrolling platform game similar to the original two Duke games, but with far better technology and graphics. We're using the same Duke model from Duke Nukem 3D and adding dozens of new frames. Duke will climb chains/poles, ladders, walk hand- over-hand along wires and pipes, do midair flips and ride several vehicles, including a jet ski and a Harley.
The graphics will be very realistic and dark in style, and not cartoonish like the first two Duke platform games. Duke will have several familiar weapons, like the shotgun, RPG and Ripper, plus several new weapons. And, of course, he'll have his legendary attitude and Duke Talk(tm). <smiles> (The (tm) is a joke, by the way. <laughs>)
October 21st
Another 1996 build is complied.
October 24th
Yet again another build complied this month!
November 1996
November 8th
the fourth build of the leaked lot is compiled, this build also seems to be the last prototype of the side scroller days.
November 27th
3D Realms releases the Plutonium Pak for Duke Nukem 3D, upgrading the game to v1.4 and the "Atomic Edition" with a new episode, The Birth. The end screen of the episode includes a message from the developers thanking the fans and stating to "LOOK FOR A DUKE NUKEM 3D SEQEUL SOON".
December 1996
After the release of the v1.5 patch for Duke Nukem 3D, much of 3D Realms had moved on to assist in the development of Prey but Todd Replogle, one of Duke's co-creators and a programmer on Duke Nukem 3D would begin experimenting in the Quake engine.[6] Later he is joined by the Duke Nukem 3D team and co-leads it alongside Allen H. Blum III.[3]
Internal development of Duke Nukem Forever at 3D Realms began loosely on the 15th.[7] This likely means that the decision to put the side-scroller on ice came soon after.
References
- ↑ Interview With Darrin Hurd - Apogee Entertainment, August 8th 2022.
- ↑ Facebook post (archived) - 3D Realms, 5 May 2021,
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Gearbox's Offical Timeline
- ↑ Scott and George "Duke" it Out! - Gameslice, October 16th(?) 1996
- ↑ Apogee/3D Realms Interview - Blue's News, October 16th 1996
- ↑ Quote from "My Story of 3D Realms / Apogee Part VII" Joe Siegler: "I remember when we started development. It was in December 1996, very shortly after we released the v1.5 update for Duke Nukem 3D (the final one). Todd Replogle was farting around with some Quake tech and ideas in his office. It wasn’t super heavy duty development there, just Todd, as the ROTT and Duke teams were working on the original Prey, so it was small time stuff he was doing."
- ↑ Joe Siegler: "One last thing. 13 Dec, 2025 is significant date. Why? That’s the 1st date that DNF will have been out longer than it took to develop. Dev started 15 Dec, 1996 and ended on 14 Jun, 2011 – 5,294 days. 5,295 days from that is 13 Dec, 2025."
