So what's up with all the Build games re-releases?

[673122a371a54icemann]

Same here. I'll wait for the "finished version.

[673122a371c1bvoodoo47]

watched a few quick youtube videos, funnily enough, it looks more playable/finished than Blood2. I think they should have done what Monolith did - wrap up what they had, and release. would it have been a perfect game? no, but it would be good enough, most likely.

[673122a371da2icemann]

I say that as if we'd got both games, I fail to see the harm. Why ditch all that content to just start completely from scratch when you could just release that, make some cash and then go make your other game. Silly devs.

[673122a372030JDoran]

The development story of Duke Nukem Forever has been broadly told, but I would be fascinated to read a more detailed account. I would especially like to know if it's true (as seems to be reputedly the case) that it was solely George Broussard's bad decisions that caused the total restarts and the constant feature creep. Why didn't any of 3D Realms higher ups (or equals, I don't know the hierarchy of the company) say something like "You'd been making this game for five years now, enough is enough, we're giving you twelve months from today, we want it finished and ready for the discs to be pressed, one year from now"? Why did the company go silent, as regards trailer videos and
screenshots, after a few years, when originally they were happy to show the world what they were working on?

And how is that the finished game contains nothing innovative at all? It was so bland and unimaginative, so where were all the ideas and innovations that had supposedly caused the game to be delayed whilst these great new ideas were added and tested?

[673122a372181voodoo47]

iirc, the short story is that at one point they've decided to switch from Quake2 engine to Unreal (the game was nowhere near complete at that stage), and then in 2002 decided to switch to Unreal2 (game 80% finished, that's the leaked build), and that has messed up everything and all went to hell from that point on.

[673122a372317JDoran]

Yes, and from what I've read, every time George saw something new (or at least new to him) in a first person shooter that he had tried, he insisted that it be put in to DNF, thereby not only adding to the list of things to be contained in DNF, but also taking people away from their current tasks and forcing them to become involved in planning/programming/testing/whatever the new feature. There was never, if what I've read is true, even a remotely finalized list of what the finished game should be, at least not when George was involved in it. He was constantly changing what the end product should be.

So again I have to ask, why is the finished game (the one released in 2011) so generic and utterly lacking in great, even if second-hand, features or spectacle? Even if the 2011 game (the one that commercially released) had been released in 2001 (but still been the 2011 game), then it wouldn't exactly have been original or innovative.

[673122a372414icemann]

Retro Gamer Magazine had an extensive article on the games development, with interviews with devs, screenshots taken from the various versions etc. Tracking that article down be the tricky bit.

[673122a37279eJDoran]

Retro Gamer Magazine had an extensive article on the games development, with interviews with devs, screenshots taken from the various versions etc. Tracking that article down be the tricky bit.

Are you sure it was in Retro Gamer? It's not listed in either of the online indexes that I know of:

https://amigareviews.leveluphost.com/retrogam.htm

http://www.parkproductions.co.uk/area/magazine/retrogamer.htm

[673122a3728dbicemann]

Hmm could be wrong. Could have been Kotaku. I just remember reading an extensive article about the games development quite a while ago.

Though according to a search on that first link Duke's been covered in numerous issues of the magazine.

[673122a372aceZylonBane]

I just discovered that a year ago someone released a mod for Blood that converts all the enemies into voxels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9xMYbuZuPw

[673122a372d86Olfred]

There's also voxel Doom that came out this year, from the same guy.

[673122a372eaavoodoo47]

the fire extinguisher is still not voxelified, this is unusable.

but seriously, this isn't looking bad, wonder whether it will work with the open source ports.

[673122a3730ccJules]

Anyone ever given this a try? https://www.moddb.com/games/the-amc-tc
It's a free eDuke32 total conversion that's apparently been in the works for over six years, developed by a team of long-time mappers. Four episodes have been completed so far, so length-wise it seems to be on par with the original Duke3D campaign. It also seems to keep being steadily updated. Kinda tempted to give it a go.

[673122a373267JDoran]

That does look interesting, thanks. I will definitely give it a go.

I've been meaning to try the Duke Nukem 3D mod Alien Armageddon (https://www.moddb.com/mods/duke-nukem-alien-armageddon) for a while now. By all accounts it's amazing, having not just new weapons and new levels, but also different playable characters, RPG elements, and even the standard four Duke Nukem 3D episodes with improvements and rescue-able characters.

Unfortunately, due to my ever diminishing free time, I've pretty much had to stop following the game modding scene. There must be some truly amazing mods now for games that I love, that I will never get to play 

[673122a373379icemann]

Dayam. Some nice mods there.

[673122a37348dvoodoo47]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LQ3rt6Px8M

[673122a373673JDoran]

Snap! I just came here to post about the newly released (released today) Duke Nukem Restoration First Slice 1.0 . This is the first release of a project to convert the released 2001 source code of Duke Nukem Forever to a full and final game.

According to the website, this release includes

+ Chapter 1 of the Story Restored (9 Levels)
+ 1 Secret Level
+ 1 Test Map (Las Vegas Boulevard)
+ Multiplayer (Several maps and skins to choose from)
+ DukeED (Same as the Bikini Atoll releases)
+ All 2001 Build Unedited Maps (listed as their original names in the SOS Menu)

and is now available from:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/dnf2001-restoration-project/downloads/duke-nukem-restoration-first-slice-10

[673122a37376eicemann]

Now that's a project to watch. I'll wait for the final release, but that's definitely worth a play.

[673122a373964icemann]

Whilst not build engine specifically, a month or so ago saw the release of "The Force Engine". This is a reverse engineered source port for Star Wars: Dark Forces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JlOmmARG84

It features:

• Full mouse look (not present in the original)
• Support for modern resolutions
• Mid-level saving

And more. You can grab it here. Having completed a recent play through of the game via the source port, I quite like it. It MAJORLY improves the original, making the need for dosbox a thing of the past, and even just having proper mouse look was good enough, but to have the save system in there too, is just fantastic.

[673122a373a6bZylonBane]

The item pickup sound in Dark Forces sounds exactly like a higher-pitched version of the item pickup sound in Doom.

[673122a374105Jules]

Snap! I just came here to post about the newly released (released today) Duke Nukem Restoration First Slice 1.0 . This is the first release of a project to convert the released 2001 source code of Duke Nukem Forever to a full and final game...

I've seen this myself, even though I have yet to give it a try. It looks great, though. Who could have said that we might see the day when the community will recreate the DNF that could have been?

Whilst not build engine specifically, a month or so ago saw the release of "The Force Engine". This is a reverse engineered source port for Star Wars: Dark Forces...

I've been following this project myself for some time, it's great stuff. I've played Dark Forces for the first time only a year ago and it's already in my mind one of the most unique FPS of the mid '90s. To have it preserved in a proper source port is fantastic. As you've pointed out, some of the improvements are almost essential - I still remember how painful looking around and aiming was in the original.

I'm even more interested about future Outlaws support though, which is going to happen sometime in 2024. Outlaws is a game I'm more personally interested in, not being much of a SW fan, and I'm holding back from playing the original so as to have a smoother experience on a modern port.

[673122a37466dJDoran]

Now that's a project to watch. I'll wait for the final release, but that's definitely worth a play.

I'm torn between trying this, and waiting, too. To me, the past few years, and the foreseeable future aren'tt exactly brimming with games that appeal to me, so I am tempted to play this, rather than wait a year or two until it's finished.

I'm so glad that I'm a retro gamer. 

On the subject of Duke Nukem, it turns out that prototypes for four (4!) different Duke Nukem games were leaked in 2022!


These are:

   
Duke Nukem Forever (1996)   - A 2D sidescroller, which was abandoned in favour of the first person shooter of the same name,

Duke Nukem: Endangered Species - A cancelled PC first person shooter (see https://dukenukem.fandom.com/wiki/Duke_Nukem:_Endangered_Species for details)

Duke Nukem Forever (2001) - The one that fans are rebuilding, as shown in the video Voodoo has linked to, above.

Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded - The amazing fan-remake that tantalized us all, until (allegedly) Gearbox killed it around eleven years ago.

I can't post links, because of this forum's desire to stay totally legal, but they aren't hard to find.

Unfortunately, the released build of Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded is very disappointing, at least to me. It has no single player enemies, just some (not too bright) bots to play basic deathmatch against, though you do get to explore some of the single player campaign levels. And sadly, the graphics that looked great in 2011 now look much less impressive, as time and graphics have inevitably moved on.

An interesting point was made by someone on Youtube though. Apparently no company or person (be it Gearbox, 3D Realms, Randy Pitchford, etc) has complained about the leaks, or demanded that fans stay away from these files, which is unusual for leaks of this magnitude. Also, it's speculated that the same person might have leaked all of these files, and perhaps that that person is connected with Gearbox or 3D Realms or whoever, and is leaking these files with the permission of the owners of these files (Gearbox or 3D Realms), possibly (fingers crossed here ) because a new Duke Nukem game is in the works, and releasing these files (which would never be worth anything financially) would bring publicity and attention to the franchise/IP again.

I doubt it, but let's hope, eh?

[673122a3747c9voodoo47]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN8xZnbFJH4

[673122a37498cJDoran]

Aftershock, the expansion pack for the Build-engine derived first person shooter Ion Fury, has now been released! Well, the Steam version has, the GOG  version isn't available yet. And I can't find the release date for the console versions (the same situation as with System Shock Remake  ).



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c49Zj6E_u98

BTW, Phantom Fury recently had a demo released, see here for details:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1733240/Phantom_Fury/