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Duke Nukem Forever ( DNF ) is a first-person shooter video game that has been in development since 1997 by the software developer 3D Realms. It was intended as a sequel to the 1996 game Duke Nukem 3D , as part of the long-running Duke Nukem video game series, and it was to be directed by George Broussard, one of the creators of the original Duke Nukem game. Early on, the game was being publicised as having "unprecedented interactivity", aiming to "push the limits of gaming and establish new standards in interactivity, variety, and pure fun." Instead, it became infamous for its severely protracted development schedule, and it has been ridiculed as "the longest game ever in production" and "an elaborate in-joke at the expense of the industry". The game has been the subject of much speculation, and has frequently been referred to as vaporware.

Development on DNF was first publicly announced in April 1997, and promotional information for the game was released in one form or another in each of 1997, 1998, 2001, 2007, and 2008. After repeatedly announcing and deferring release dates for the game, 3D Realms announced publicly in 2001 that DNF would be released simply "when it's done". In May 2009, development of the game was terminated by 3D Realms, meaning that production on Duke Nukem Forever has halted. Although Take-Two Interactive still owns the publishing rights to the game, they do not have an agreement with 3D Realms to provide funding for the game's continued development, and its future remains unclear. In the same month, Take-Two Interactive filed a lawsuit against 3D Realms over their failure to finish development of the game.

Plot

The plot of Duke Nukem Forever has been publicly presented through footage and screenshots. Key developer Glen Burke has played an important role following the franchise from the first title. 3D Realms released trailers at the 1998 and 2001 E3 conventions, and released screenshots in the time between those years. However, as DNF has gone through extensive changes since its last trailer, the plot is not known in its entirety.

The status of several secondary characters also remains unclear. The 2001 trailer shows an alien invasion in Las Vegas. It features Duke fighting with several weapons, in many settings (such as a mine, some rural areas, the streets of Las Vegas, on water, and indoor areas).

As of 2003, the 3D Realms website states that "the screenshots and videos that were there have been removed as they no longer represent the game's current look and feel."

In 2008, Miller confirmed that the plot involves a retired Duke, who now owned a Casino known as "The Lady Killer" that had come under attack from aliens.

Development history

Duke Nukem Forever was officially announced on April 28, 1997 along with the purchase of a license to use the Quake II engine and the intention of releasing the game no later than mid-1998. Original prototype work on the game had begun as early as January. In August and September, the first screenshots of DNF were released in PC Gamer . In its November issue, Scott Miller restated that the intended release date was 1998. However, 3D Realms did not get the Quake II engine code until November 1997, and the earlier screenshots were simply mock-ups with the Quake engine that the team had made in their spare time. 3D Realms unveiled the first video footage of DNF using the Quake II engine at the 1998 E3 conference.

Change to Unreal engine

In June 1998, the 3D Realms team switched to Epic's Unreal Engine. Fans were concerned because switching game engines requires more development time and further delays the release of the game. Broussard said that the transition from the Quake to the Unreal engine would take from "a month to 6 weeks" and that the game would not be significantly delayed. He also reassured gamers that the items unveiled in the May 1998 E3 demo would carry over on the Epic engine. He also said that DNF would be released in 1999.

In 1999, 3D Realms announced that they had upgraded to the newer version of the Unreal Engine. They released a second batch of screenshots on November 1 that showcased Duke Nukem Forever on the Unreal engine for the first time. In December, 3D Realms released a Christmas card that suggested that DNF would be released in 2000.

In early December 2000, publisher Gathering of Developers announced that they had acquired the publishing rights for DNF . Shortly afterwards, 3D Realms released another Christmas card that suggested that DNF would be released in 2001.

At the May 2001 E3, 3D Realms released a second video that showed a couple of minutes of in-game footage, which notably showed the player moving in a what appears to be Las Vegas and a certain level of interactivity (the player buys a sandwich from a vending machine and pushes the keypads). In August, Gathering of Developers shut down its offices and Take-Two Interactive took over the publishing rights for DNF .

In 2002, after hiring several new programmers, the team completely rewrote the renderer and other game engine modules, beginning work on a new generation of game content. Broussard estimated that around 95% of the previous level design work was scrapped in the process. He also later stated that they were never less than two years away from shipping with the UT based version of the game. The engine, which now contains parts of an early version of Unreal Engine 2.0 (the team branched off from the engine in 2001) supports such features as pixel shading, normal mapping and high dynamic range based lighting.

Broussard has stated several times that the only parts of the Unreal engine that are still part of their code base are UnrealScript, the networking code, and the UnrealEd. Everything else (except the current physics engine) has been written from scratch by 3D Realms. The principal technical reason given by Broussard for the extensive delays was the unstable tech base. Once it was stabilized, 3D Realms expanded their team considerably, from 22 to 31 members.

Physics engine switch

On September 14, 2004, 3D Realms announced that they had replaced the Karma physics engine with one designed by Meqon. Several sites have speculated that Duke Nukem Forever will be using the latest generation of this technology, which was designed for next-gen consoles.

Conflict with Take-Two

On May 20, 2003, Jeffrey Lapin, then CEO of Take Two, told reporters that the game would not be out by the end of 2003. In response, George Broussard commented on Shacknews, saying that "Take Two needs to STFU imo." Later in the year, on December 18, 2003, Jeffrey Lapin said that 3D Realms had told him that Duke Nukem Forever was expected to be finished by the end of 2004, or the beginning of 2005.

On September 9, 2004, GameSpot reported that Duke Nukem Forever had switched to the Doom 3 engine. Many gaming news sites mailed George Broussard, asking him to confirm or deny the rumor. After receiving no answer from him, they published the rumor as fact, ending the article with "Attempts to contact 3D Realms for comment were unsuccessful as of press time." Later that day, George Broussard explicitly denied the rumor and explained that he was not able to answer the emails because he was working elsewhere in the building.

On March 20, 2007, Scott Miller explained in an interview with YouGamers that they were still using the Unreal Engine, albeit a heavily modified version at this point.

2005–2007

Rumors in April 2005 suggested that the game would appear at 2005 E3, along with 3D Realms' previously canceled Prey . While Prey did make an appearance, the rumors of Duke Nukem Forever 's appearance turned out to be false.

In February 2006, Broussard gave an interview and updated the status on DNF . He reported that everything was together and in full production, and that the guns, creatures, and everything else had been finished. Broussard said that the development team was tweaking and polishing the game and putting it all together.

In April 2006, Broussard demonstrated samples of the game, including an early level, a vehicle sequence, and a few test rooms. One notable demonstration, according to the May 2006 issue of Computer Games magazine featured the interactive use of an in-game computer to send actual e-mails.

On March 21, 2006, 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller talked of a sequel by stating, "of course as soon as Duke is done we'll begin a new one."

In June, in a filing with the SEC, Take-Two revealed that they had renegotiated the deal and will receive $4.25 million instead of $6 million upon the release of the game. The filing also revealed that Take-Two was offering a $500,000 bonus if DNF was commercially released by December 31, 2006. However, Broussard denied the rumors that DNF would be released, saying that 3D Realms never cared for or asked for the bonus. He stated that he would "never ship a game early."

On August 30, 2006, Shacknews reported that several key employees had left 3D Realms. They speculated that the departures would lead to further delays for DNF . However, 3D Realms strongly denied these claims, stating that the employees had left over a number of months and that the game was still moving ahead.

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