This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Duke Nukem Forever.

To do:
Screenshots, some interviews, original sources for things mentioned here, fact-checking of article as well, George's presentation of the game to journalists, etc.

2005 and 2006 doesn't seem to have been very great years for 3D Realms, with employee burn-out and little progress causing developers to leave the company. However, by the end of 2006 it seems Broussard becomes serious about finish the game.

2005

March 2005#

The Game Developers Conference was held from March 7th to 11th. Meqon would present their physics technology, claiming that it is superior to that of Half-Life 2.¹

July 2005#

Andrew Baker begins working at 3D Realms as a level designer.²

October 2005#

October 19th#

The Unreal Script file, AssaultTrooperFX_JetpackTrail is created by Charlie Wiederhold.

December 2005#

Employees begin leaving 3D Realms.³ ⁴

Unknown#

To do:
Rename every file here and add more information.

Timothy Wilson would release environment work he had done for Duke Nukem Forever from what he claims is from around 2005.

(Source: Timothy Wilson's portfolio.)

2006

January 2006#

Broussard is interviewed by 1up.com, while the interview is mostly about 3D Realms' long delayed Prey, George is later asked towards the end of the interview if the team is interested in returning to the universe of Rise of the Triad, which then morphs in questions about Duke Nukem Forever.⁵ ⁶ Below is the full discussion:

1UP: So what about Rise? Have you guys ever thought about playing with those guys again? Playing with that world?

GB: It hasn't really come up, but it's one of those things where, I mean, never say never.

1UP: Right.

GB: You know, we've been so busy on Duke Forever for so long that we can't really see past just finishing this game, but you never can tell when it's done, you know, what you want to work on next.

1UP: Wait, wait. You guys are working on Duke Forever?

GB: [Laughs] And ever and ever.

1UP: And when's that due out again?

GB: [Laughs] I think it'll be out when pigs fly. But it's definitely going well now. Things are together; we're in full production. We're basically just pulling all the pieces together and making the game out of it. There's a lot that's finished. All the guns are finished. Most of the creatures are finished. And as I said, we're just basically pulling it all together and trying to make it fun. We've kind of got all these disassociated elements that make up a game, and you put them together and things happen. And then you just tweak it and polish it until it's fun, and that's kind of the phase we're in now, just trying to make something that is really fun to play and interesting.

1UP: Hey, you know, that's awesome. I have to give you respect because with so many people out there saying stuff, it would be very easy to just, you know, pack it in or whatnot, and you guys have been resolute of, "This is going to be an awesome game. Just chill out." And I think that's fantastic.

GB: Oh, well, thanks.

March 2006#

In an interview with 3D Realms "Apogee Legacy" series of interviews, Allen Blum would provide this comment:⁷

Duke Nukem Forever is getting closer to being done day by day.

May 2006#

May 2nd#

⁸

Call for developers.

I know lots of developers troll Shacknews (local and not), and there are also lots of non-pros that are talented and looking to get into games.

We're pretty much staffing up in all areas (level design, programming, engine/rendering, modeling, etc). So if you're interested, in any position, send me a resume or portfolio at: georgeb@3drealms.com

Just put up a programmer ad on Gamasutra, and will be putting up more ads soon.

The May 2006 issue of Computer Games Magazine features a front cover and full story of Prey, but also has very brief coverage of Duke Nukem Forever in an article called: The Duke and I.

May 11th#

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter mainly focused on licenced games and Prey, Miller is asked about Duke Nukem Forever.⁹

THR: You must have done even better with your "Duke Nukem" franchise.
Miller: Oh, absolutely. Back in 1996, it took us two years and $350,000 to build the first "Duke" game. Of course, things were a lot different back then. And we've recently been offered $80 million for the franchise.

THR: What about the latest "Duke" game ... the one that seems to be taking forever to build?
Miller: We've put about $7.5 million into that and we've been working on it since late 1998. So it really hasn't been that much of an investment. And once it comes out, if it's as successful as we think it'll be, we'll make that money back in the first day or two of sales.

THR: 1998? You've been working on it for eight years?
Miller: I know, I know. It's embarrassing.

THR: Maybe you can explain to readers who don't know the games industry why it should take that long to make a game.
Miller: It shouldn't. And I'm dumbfounded myself. A huge part of the problem is that it's really hard hiring good developers to come to Dallas. This place used to be a hotbed of game development. But, nowadays, people seem to want to go to Austin instead. Plus we have this reputation now -- that our games don't ever come out, so ...

May 22nd#

¹⁰

June 2006#

June 9th#

Take-Two files their annual 10-K report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in its they reveal that they have renegotiated their deal for Duke Nukem Forever, expecting the game to release no later the end of 2006.¹¹

In March 2005, the Company renegotiated a $6,000 contingent obligation due upon delivery of the final PC version of Duke Nukem Forever through the payment of $4,250 and issuance of a promissory note in the principal amount of $500. The payment of the promissory note is contingent upon the commercial release of such product prior to December 31, 2006. -pg. 19

In March 2005, we renegotiated a $6,000 contingent obligation due upon the delivery of the final PC version of Duke Nukem Forever through the payment of $4,250 and issuance of a promissory note in the principal amount of $500. The payment of the promissory note is contingent upon the commercial release of such product prior to December 31, 2006. -pg. 36

Broussard would respond in a forum post.^{Original Source Needed}¹²

Neither of those is/was true, to my knowledge. So, yeah.

Our deal is simple. We're making the game. It'll be done when it's done. We've funded 99.999% of the game (aside from a very, very small advance from GT Interactive, years ago, before Take 2 bought the game from them). It's our risk, our necks and our gamble. Under the deal we should be earing royalties from about unit 30,000 or so (that's a real small number), so yeah...

As for the 500k completion bonus, I don't even know were that came from. Scott would know, but I do know that we never cared or asked for it, and I think it was just tossed in as part of some other agreement. We're certainly not motivated by that amount of money, after all this time, and getting the game right is what matters. I would never ship a game early (even a couple of months), for 500k.

It's just very odd to read all this and see facts tossed around, that as far as I know, are completely wrong (at least as stated or interpreted above). Maybe it all traces back to the original Gamespot article getting things wrong, or interpreting them wrong (and every other site copy/pasting the news with no attempt to verify), or Take 2's report languge [sic] being vague at best. Game journalism is actually pretty annoying in the copy/paste regard.

August 2006#

Tramell "T-Ray" Isaac joins 3D Realms as an Art Director.

August 30th#

Shacknews publishes a story reporting that a major employee exodus has been occurring since December of last year. Employees named by Shacknews included Scott Alden, Will Bate, Brian Cozzens, Kyle Davis, Andy Hanson, Keith Schuler, and Charlie Wiederhold.

Shacknews would estimate that about 24-28 developers were attached to the project prior to the exodus, now it was much closer to 18, the exact same amount of people from 2003. Shacknews later updated the article stating that four of the seven former employees named (Cozzens, Davis, Schuler and Wiederhold) were now working at Gearbox Software.

August 31st#

In a discussion thread on the forums, Broussard confirms that the Ripper Chaingun from Duke Nukem 3D will return.¹³

The Ripper Chaingun is back in the game.

When asked if it would be how faithful to the original design it would be, Broussard said:

It's pretty faithful to the Duke 3D one with some updates to be more modern and a few thousand poly's vs a 2D sprite :)

Later that day, Broussard clarifies the tech completeness of the game on Shacknews.¹⁴

Physics and animation systems are virtually finished and shippable. It's simply maintenance and polish from here on out. We haven't needed to make substantial changes to those systems in months. The changes we have made, were made without great effort. Things are never as bleak as they appear, as is often the case when you simply have one side of the story.

October 2006#

Timothy A. Wilson leaves 3D Realms to join Gearbox Software.¹⁵

November 2006#

November 13th#

John "Hal9000" Schuch posts on his website.¹⁶

Today was my last day at Ritual. It was rather sad leaving there. One of the best damn group of guys I've ever worked with and they will be missed. May they carry on for years to come!

Next week I'll be settling in to my new digs at 3d Realms.

Screenshots#

2005

2006 Watch on YouTube

References#

To do:
Incorporate/reference this information below into article.

GDC: Duke Nukem Forever physics surpass Half-Life 2 - GameIndustry.biz, March 9, 2005↩︎
Resume | Andrew David Baker ↩︎
3D Realms Sees Major Employee Departures, Fate of DNF in Question? - Shacknews, August 30, 2006↩︎
Learn to Let Go: How Success Killed Duke Nukem - Wired Magazine, December 21st 2009↩︎
George Broussard Interview from 1UP.com - 1UP.com, January 31st 2006↩︎
Duke Forever out 'when pigs fly' - Eurogamer, February 1st 2006↩︎
The Apogee Legacy #10 - Allen Blum - 3D Realms, March 13th 2006↩︎
Comments of First Post! - Shacknews, May 2nd 2006↩︎
Dialogue: Scott Miller - The Hollywood Reporter, May 11th 2006↩︎
The Apogee Legacy #20 - Joe Siegler - 3D Realms, May 22nd, 2006↩︎
TAKE TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE INC (Form: 10-Q, Received: 06/09/2006 06:09:58) - June 9th 2006↩︎
Broussard: We won't rush Duke Nukem Forever - GameSpot, June 13, 2006↩︎
The Weapon Thread - 3D Realms Forums, August 31st 2006↩︎
Chatty thread - Shacknews, August 31st 2006↩︎
Timothy Wilson's Linkedin ↩︎
John Schuch's Website - What The HAL, November 13th 2006↩︎