Differences

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

Considering that Duke Nukem Forever endured a long, chaotic development hell, its not a surprise that many things were changed.

Release Date#

Many release dates were promised (and missed) by various people. For convivence every release date ever promised has been noted here. Only dates coming those officially associated with the game's development (developers, publishers) are noted here.

To do: Likely more

Characters#

For a more in-depth analysis of how the characters changed, visit its dedicated page.

Logo#

2001	Final (2011)

Story#

The game's story (the final script written by Valeta Wensloff, Kristen Haglund and David Riegel on behalf of Triptych) went through a lot of changes.

1996 Builds#

Proton blows up a part of California.

1998 Game Outline#

See Development:Duke Nukem Forever/1998 Game Outline.

2000 Story Script#

See Development:Duke Nukem Forever/2000 Story Script.

2001 Prototypes#

Very loose plot threads exist in the 2001 prototypes.

2009 World Chart#

In a leaked world chart dated to July 29, 2008.

Gameplay#

The game once had RPG and horror elements, along with semi-open world sections with the Vehicles in 2001.¹

Game Icon#

2001 Prototypes	Final (2011)

The game icon of the 2001 builds is much different from the final game's. The nuke symbol is more orangish, less scuffed/detailed and is 32 x 32;

Main Menu#

August 2001	October 2001	June 2008 (footage)2	Final (2011)

The 2001 prototypes feature menus that are significantly different from the one in the final game. The prototype menus are styled like a computer built into Duke Nukem’s shades, while the final game uses a generic menu that has a looping background video of Duke looking around while smoking a cigar.

A raw August 2001 install has a broken menu. This causes it to not render any options in the menu, though the console and exit confirmation prompt still work. A fix is needed to make the menu appear properly.

A slightly modified version of this menu that added the game's logo, got rid of the graphics that made it look like Duke's shades, and had a background that either showed Duke in the background or had a frozen image of where the player paused appeared in footage from The Jace Hall Show.

HUD#

Weapon Selection System#

August 2001	October 2001	June 2008 (footage)

Miscellaneous#

Various ideas considered for the game but ultimately discarded include:

• In an email to Prey project leader Paul Schuytema, Scott Miller would suggest an idea to him that he also desired in Duke Nukem Forever that he called "adventure game class" items.³
• Scott Miller would state in a January 2000 interview that he had pushed for the idea for Duke to dual wield weapons, including the ability to have two different weapons. This idea was apparently voted down within the company for "being too different".⁴
  • Scott Miller would go on to state in the same interview that he had recently pushed for Duke to be incapable of killing female NPCs. This idea was also rejected by 3D Realms staff as they felt it "takes away from the realism of shooting whatever and whomever the player chooses." The final game made all NPCs unkillable, regardless of gender.
• Multiple endings were mentioned by Broussard as being considered in a March 2000 interview, comparing it to the Resident Evi games.⁵ The final game possessed only one ending.
• According to a loading screen tip in the final, Gearbox had considered the idea of permanently losing Ego, such as grabbing the poop from the toilet in "Duke Lives". This may however just have been a joke.

Music#

TBA

Weapons#

Several weapons used to feature alternative fire modes, such as in the 2001 builds, that were removed from the final game.

Pistol

1999	2001	c. 2007	Final (2011)
		|

Changed to a desert eagle after the Quake II iteration, ultimately ending up as a M1911 in the final game. Internal developer screenshots show that the pistol's design was

The pistol transitioned into a much bulkier design around 2007, featuring a barrel.

The Pistol's design was largely finalized around 2008 as seen in a image from May 2008.

Shotgun

1999-2001	Final (2011)

Ripper

November 1999	2001	2003	2005
Final (2011)

The Ripper is perhaps the weapon that went through the most revision during development. In the Quake II build of the game, it was introduced as an M16.

At some point no earlier than 2004, the M16 was swapped out with Duke Nukem 3D's Ripper. Broussard would confirm this change in an August 2006 post on 3D Realms' fourms.⁶

The files of the final game still occasionally refer to the Ripper as an M16 or more generically as a machine gun.

The Ripper's design was largely finalized around 2009, as seen in prerelease screenshots and video.

Pipe Bomb

2001	Final (2011)

2001	Final (2011)

The Pipe Bomb was known as the "Multi Bomb" in the 2001 prototypes, were it possessed two firing modes; pipe bomb and sticky bomb.

The Pipe Bomb's design was largely finalized around 2008 as seen in a image from May 2008.

Trip Mine

2001	Final (2011)

An earlier Trip Mine model in the 2001 prototypes can be found in the folder Meshes\Models\weapons\TripMine_BAK. This appears to be an older version of the used Trip Mine.

RPG

1997	2001	2002	Final (2011)

The RPG also went through excessive revision. It was featured in one of the game's very first screenshots in September 1997. The 2001 prototypes changed the design to one closer to the RPG from Duke Nukem 3D.

The 2001 prototypes featured an alternative fire mode called "Tac-Nuke". Remnants of the Tac-Nuke mode are still present in the final game.

A screenshot dated to 2002 shows a remodeled version of the 2001 RPG design. Notably, it has modeled screens on the left side and lacks the screws the 2001 RPG has.

The RPG with a different design can be seen in footage of the game dated to 2006. The final design adds a lot of greeble and some dark blue patches to the gun.

Railgun

2001 (Earlier design)	2001	Final (2011)

The Railgun was originally referred to as a Sniper Rifle. It is still referred as such internally in the final game.

A very rough version of the 2001 prototypes' sniper rifle model can be found in the 2001 prototype's files in the directory "Meshes\Models\weapons\Test_SniperGun". Its body has a gray body with a very simple texture compared to the used model, no recharging meter, an emitter with a solid light gray texture, simpler and red lenses, and a roughly-textured magazine.

Shrink Ray

2000	2001	Final (2011)

The 2001 prototype's design is timestamped to May 10th, 2001. It is a gray machine with a circular pod containing of an alien brain in it instead of being a sleek sci-fi weapon with a bottle of green goo jutting on of its left side.

An earlier, unused design for the Shrink Ray, timestamped August 30th, 2000, can be found in Meshes\Models\weapons\Shrinkray2. "Shrinkray2" follows the basic design principles that the used Shrink Ray does, but is much boxier, and most importantly, uses green crystals for ammo instead of a brain-like object.

The Shrink Ray's design was largely finalized around 2007 as seen in footage from The Jace Hall Show.

Freeze Ray

2001	Final (2011)

Called the Freeze Cannon in the 2001 prototypes.

Cut Weapons#

Weapons present in the 2001 prototypes that were removed from the final game include the Chainsaw and Flamethrower. Two audio files of the Flamethrower survived into the final game's files, suggesting that it survived for quite some time.

Items#

Beer
The beer item was shown with a brownish-tan color in the December 2007 teaser.

Duke's Shades

2001 Prototype Night Vision	Final Duke Vision

Duke Vision in the 2001 prototypes is referred to as Night Vision. Night Vision gives the screen a green tint and disables lighting so that dark areas can be easily seen.

The 2001 prototypes also featured Zoom Vision, Heat Vision and an Electromagnetic Pulse that was cut from the final game.

Jetpack
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: auto;" ! 2001 ! Unused Design ! Final (2011) |- | | TBA | TBA |} The Jetpack could be used in singleplayer levels.

The final game's files contain remnants of an earlier design.

Charges

The bomb charges used for blowing up the Hoover Dam sported a different design as seen in prerelease videos and this screenshot above from 2009.

Cut Items#

Cut items present in the 2001 prototypes include the Med Kit, the HypoSpray Gun, the Riot Shield, Rebreather, SOS Power Core, Money, and Food.

Levels/Locations#

To do: Analyze changes to the levels from the 2008 world chart to the final game individually.

Several locations and their corresponding levels would go through multiple changes throughout development.

Lady Killer Casino
Duke was meant to participate in an interview with Johnny O' Lenoman at the start of the game, before it would be intrupted. The final game had it completely canned by the aliens invading Vegas and the crew visiting them at Duke Burger.

Las Vegas
Vegas was originally set at nighttime but changed to daytime in the final.

Mourning Wood

Nevada Desert

Hoover Dam

EDF Base
Ended up being seen in The Doctor Who Cloned Me DLC.

Area 51
Ended up being seen in The Doctor Who Cloned Me DLC.

Cut Levels/Locations#

References#

todo

• Gary Whitta had penned the story to earlier versions of the game (1 2)
• Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of Zero Punctuation fame had been contacted about writing a script around 2007-2008 by Brian Hook.
  • Video with former developer that discussed it, Yahtzee confirming/discussing it and 2014 Vice interview where it is discussed again by him.
• .CPJ model timestamps for models from 2001 prototypes.
• Information about music by Jeremy Soule from Miller.
  • https://x.com/ScottApogee/status/1589801788265287681
  • https://x.com/ScottApogee/status/1589815156833669121
  • https://x.com/ScottApogee/status/1589820020829220864
• https://x.com/Apogee_Ent/status/1524773897526181888