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[The_Observer]

One of the biggest shames of this industry is not releasing this game in 2001. It would have melted faces, releasing it now will be just an interesting part of its history, nothing more, I feel.

 

[ShadowLag]

Considering the recent popularity of old school shooter derivatives and remasters, this looks shockingly fun even by today's standards. It would've sold like hot cakes back in the day, even without the never-ending hype train... wtf

 

[zeioIIDX]

Pause menu > Settings > SOS > Desktop Background. Scroll through that list for some very...interesting options...lol.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

More gameplay of all the stages of the leaked 2001 prototype of Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

One of the biggest shames of this industry is not releasing this game in 2001. It would have melted faces, releasing it now will be just an interesting part of its history, nothing more, I feel.

It really truly depends on how much "game" is actually there. I refuse to believe that build was anywhere remotely close to be truly complete, despite what some are claiming. Wired did an article when DNF was originally cancelled and many devs claimed that trailer was the bulk of the build. I am more inclined to believe that.

Plus, if this was really truly close to completion I have a hard time believing that Scott Miller wouldn't commission a studio to take those assets and give us a "what might have been" game.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

painful past ?!
They worked on this 2001 build for years.
There is no reason not to put all of it out. all builds... it's not making anyone money and certainly will not make any money just on some old harddrive.
Even if it's just the trailer areas playable in real time, that is enough but we know there is a bit more.
Let it all out and let people fix it up to a playable state... it's been over 20 years. He was a fool for moving to another engine time and time again so at least he should live up to his mistakes and let all of the team be happy and see their efforts COME OUT

See my post above. Believing that the 2001 game was anywhere remotely close to complete is pretty silly. I found the Wired article that specifically mentions the 2001 trailer.

Learn to Let Go: How Success Killed Duke Nukem

Duke Nukem Forever, the sequel to Duke Nukem 3D, quickly became one of the most hotly anticipated games of all time. But on May 6, 2009, everything ended.

www.wired.com

To keep fans at bay, Broussard decided to put together another trailer for E3 in 2001. It was the first peek at Duke Nukem Forever in three years, and it was genuinely spectacular. Duke rode on trains and in cars while blasting enemies. Wounded soldiers held their guts and groaned in pain. A pack of enemies attacked on Jet Skis. The trailer was the talk of the show. After four years of work, Duke Nukem Forever looked as good as any other game in development, and maybe even better.


The 3D Realms staff returned to Texas elated. One told me that the period immediately after E3 felt like the closest they came to shipping the game. "The video was just being eaten up by people," he said. "We were so far ahead of other people at the time."

But Broussard still didn't seem to have a finish line in sight. "I was hoping for George to come in and say, 'OK, that was great, we got what we wanted, let's get this done now!" another employee said. "But he never did."

 

[FireFly]

See my post above. Believing that the 2001 game was anywhere remotely close to complete is pretty silly. I found the Wired article that specifically mentions the 2001 trailer.

Learn to Let Go: How Success Killed Duke Nukem

Duke Nukem Forever, the sequel to Duke Nukem 3D, quickly became one of the most hotly anticipated games of all time. But on May 6, 2009, everything ended.

www.wired.com

That quote literally says: "One told me that the period immediately after E3 felt like the closest they came to shipping the game".

From what people who have played it have said, the current leak isn't close to complete, but also has far more content than George gives credit for. I suspect it could have been finished up in a few years had George not wanted to continually restart development until the company ran out of money.

Right now Gearbox owns the rights, though, so there is nothing Scott or 3DR can do.

 

[Loke]

That quote literally says: "One told me that the period immediately after E3 felt like the closest they came to shipping the game".

From what people who have played it have said, the current leak isn't close to complete, but also has far more content than George gives credit for. I suspect it could have been finished up in a few years had George not wanted to continually restart development until the company ran out of money.

Yeah, it's way more complete than what some people claim. For an example the rooftop section of the casino actually feels fairly finished although unpolished obviously. You can play from the beginning of the game to the Slick Willy stage of the game without the need of manually changing between levels (although noclipping is required at certain spots). That's like 3 hours of content.

There's also a section later in the game where you need to realign a radar dish and then launch a rocket from the an EDF bunker whilst an UFO goes about blowing shit up. Apart from missing enemies this section feels fairly finished too.

 

[amigastar]

The Duke Nukem Forever from 2011 was just terrible, imho.
This one can't be as bad.

 

[DukeNukem00]

Yeah, it's way more complete than what some people claim. For an example the rooftop section of the casino actually feels fairly finished although unpolished obviously. You can play from the beginning of the game to the Slick Willy stage of the game without the need of manually changing between levels (although noclipping is required at certain spots). That's like 3 hours of content.

There's also a section later in the game where you need to realign a radar dish and then launch a rocket from the an EDF bunker whilst an UFO goes about blowing shit up. Apart from missing enemies this section feels fairly finished too.

I feel you guys are giving this too much credit. There are 2 or 3 maps that are a bit longer but are almost empty, scripts almost non existent and the rest are bits and pieces with nothing tying them together. I mean, we do know how a finished game looks like no ? 12-20 hour campaign. Coherent scripting, events, flow. Coherent and well made situations, combat scenarios, interactions. After seeing the state of this, i would absolutely agree with Broussard here - this is actually just a string of prototype and test maps.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

That quote literally says: "One told me that the period immediately after E3 felt like the closest they came to shipping the game".

From what people who have played it have said, the current leak isn't close to complete, but also has far more content than George gives credit for. I suspect it could have been finished up in a few years had George not wanted to continually restart development until the company ran out of money.

Right now Gearbox owns the rights, though, so there is nothing Scott or 3DR can do.

You backed my point. Thank you, my man!

 

[JohnnyFootball]

The Duke Nukem Forever from 2011 was just terrible, imho.
This one can't be as bad.

Depends on how it's judged. If someone who has only played modern games in only the last 10+ years, I doubt its a game that will have much appeal in order to be true to 1998-2001. It has potential if plays like its a game could have legit been released in 2001.

It feels like there is an opportunity here, but they need to get a development team on it who can do it quickly.

We don't need another Kingpin:Reloaded Wrath of Aeon type development, where it just stays permanently in beta.

 

[The_Observer]

It really truly depends on how much "game" is actually there. I refuse to believe that build was anywhere remotely close to be truly complete, despite what some are claiming. Wired did an article when DNF was originally cancelled and many devs claimed that trailer was the bulk of the build. I am more inclined to believe that.

Plus, if this was really truly close to completion I have a hard time believing that Scott Miller wouldn't commission a studio to take those assets and give us a "what might have been" game.

Yeah, I agree that it was surely far from complete in 2001. I just meant that if they had the game that the trailer showed ready in 2001 it could have been a mega hit.

 

[Corporal.Hicks]

2001 trailer recreation

 

[Apocryphon]

2001 trailer recreation

The eyes looked so good!

 

[Corporal.Hicks]

The eyes looked so good!

Agree, character faces and especially their eyes looks surprisingly detailed given UE1 limitation. IMO all assets in this 2001 build looks very good.




Walkthrouh of all the playable stages (around 2h of gameplay) gives me Half Life 1 vibes. I hope some talented developer will buy the rights from gearbox and complete this 2001 build, because I'm sure many people would love to play it.

 

[The_Observer]

2001 trailer recreation

Amazing. I saw the original trailer so many times and it’s my all-time favorite video game trailer. Forever.