EvaUnit02 on 21/6/2011 at 23:38
Pretty much. Broussard was a muppet "perfectionist" with no organisational skills and for a long time was only surrounded by yes men.
T-Smith on 21/6/2011 at 23:41
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Pretty much. Broussard was a muppet with no organisational skills, surrounded by yes men.
That actually makes me more interested to see what the previous version of the game looked like. There's some exclusive screenshots / concept art in Duke Nukem Forever, but nothing big.
Makes me wonder how close the version shown in the 2001 trailer actually was to completion.
catbarf on 22/6/2011 at 02:05
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Ummm, no. The current incarnation was only in development ~2004/2005-2009. After Gearbox got a hold of it, they did some additional polishing, ported it to consoles and added MP.
Less, actually- from what I can tell, the current build was only in development for two years or so, with just a few reused art assets.
Melan on 22/6/2011 at 06:12
Quote Posted by T-Smith
That actually makes me more interested to see what the previous version of the game looked like. There's some exclusive screenshots / concept art in Duke Nukem Forever, but nothing big.
Makes me wonder how close the version shown in the 2001 trailer actually was to completion.
If I could disregard the commercial realities of game publishing for a while like 3dRealms was able to, I'd go back and complete those builds based on the available assets and the various teaser trailers (which actually show a game that looks tremendously fun even after all those years).
dexterward on 22/6/2011 at 12:31
I think I sort of preferred when Duke was in the Vapourland...it was like this mythical beast of legend that you only see a blurred glimpse of now and then. It was a PC legend and should remain as such.
Now the dust settled the game looks at best, well, average (haven`t played it thou). This is kind of surprising - I really expected it to be at least 8/10 kinda game. How can you mess up such a simple premise? It ain`t exactly System Shock.
So, stop gloating Gearbox, and get some real work done. You best not f-up these Aliens, ya hear me?
(Funny how it worked out for Duke`s quieter brother-in-vapour - Prey. First a semi-decent outing, onto an open-worlder under Bethsoft`s wing. Applause.)
nicked on 22/6/2011 at 12:40
Quote Posted by dexterward
How can you mess up such a simple premise? It ain`t exactly System Shock.
I'd say it's just as hard to make a good "simple" game (for players). Something like System Shock rests on giving the player lots of choices, so the chances of some of those choices being fun are much higher. If your game is a tight, linear experience, it has to be tuned to absolute perfection to remain fun.
Others have gone into why Duke in particular failed, but even for a development team with no anally-inserted thumbs, making a game like this is just as challenging.
EvaUnit02 on 22/6/2011 at 13:47
Quote Posted by dexterward
(Funny how it worked out for Duke`s quieter brother-in-vapour - Prey. First a semi-decent outing, onto an open-worlder under Bethsoft`s wing. Applause.)
Except Prey was made by Human Head and not 3DR. They didn't have to deal with Broussard's douchebaggery and Scott Miller is a doormat.
Who are Human Head? The core people who made the Heretic/Hexen series. When Activision bought out Raven, they jumped ship. Hence Raven's output since being quite soulless and workman-like.
Yakoob on 22/6/2011 at 15:45
Quote Posted by nicked
I'd say it's just as hard to make a good "simple" game (for players). Something like System Shock rests on giving the player lots of choices, so the chances of some of those choices being fun are much higher. If your game is a tight, linear experience, it has to be tuned to absolute perfection to remain fun.
I would argue the opposite is true. If you design a corridor shooter, it's much easier to dumb it down to a common denominator and make 99% of players happy. If you make a complex game like SS with not only multiple paths, but multiple constantly overlapping and reciprocal paths, it makes it exponentially harder to balance it and ensure that every path is equally as fun and rewarding. Hence why we see so many more linear games than big and complex ones these days.
Scots Taffer on 2/7/2011 at 10:27
Wow. I just got through the shrunken Duke segment. Does the game ever beat these heights? Fuck me it's dire.
