Still working to recover. Please don't edit quite yet.
Duke Nukem 3D
|
This article has been nominated for the Drunken Black Cat Award. Votes can be given on the talk page. |
Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and published by Apogee Software. It was released on January 29, 1996. Duke Nukem 3D features the adventures of Duke Nukem, a character that had appeared in earlier platform games by Apogee. These were Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II.
Contents
Synopsis
"Murderous aliens have landed in futuristic Los Angeles, and humans suddenly find themselves atop the endangered species list. The odds are a million-to-one, just the way Duke likes it!"
Taking on the role of Duke Nukem, players must fight through 28 levels spread over three chapters. (A commercial upgrade later added a fourth episode of 11 additional levels.) As usual for a first-person shooter, players encounter a whole host of different enemies, and can engage them with a range of weaponry. As well as killing aliens to free the Earth, players must also solve puzzles to progress through the various levels. Some puzzles allow access to extra, hidden levels.
Duke Nukem 3D is set "sometime in the early 21st century".[1]
Gameplay
Level design
A notable quality of the game is the immense interactivity and realism of its levels. While many past first-person shooter games like Doom take place within relatively confined corridors, usually in gloomy, claustrophobic mazes, the levels of Duke Nukem 3D take the player outdoors through attractively rendered street scenes, military bases, deserts, flooded cities, space stations, moon bases and even Japanese villas. Levels were also designed in a fairly non-linear manner such that players can advantageously use air ducts, back doors and sewers to avoid enemies or find hidden secrets, which also makes the levels well suited to deathmatch.
As well as being highly detailed, these locations are also filled with objects that the player can interact with (including light switches, toilets, pool tables, arcade games, closed-circuit cameras, and, infamously, strippers). While these rarely have a crucial role in play (the closed-circuit cameras being a tactical exception), they give Duke Nukem 3D an immersiveness greater than that of its rivals, and add considerably to its humor.
Weapons and equipment
The game includes a range of weapons, some of which, even today, are still unique to the Duke Nukem series:
- Duke's Mighty Foot - A basic melee attack, does very little damage but can be used unlimited times. Useful for breaking windows, vents, and other objects rather than using ammunition.
- Pistol - An average handgun. Can rapid fire (though with reduced accuracy) and reloads after 12 shots. Only useful against weak enemies.
- Shotgun - It packs far more power than the pistol. It fires seven pellets per shot, and can easily kill lower level enemies with one shot in close range. Must reload after each shot.
- Chain Gun - This rapid fire gun is useful for taking out Groups of baddies quickly. While more accurate than the pistol it is still quite ineffective at long distances.
- RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) - The RPG is perfect for dealing with enemies from a distance. A direct hit can kill most non-boss enemies and causes splash damage. You can easily kill yourself with this weapon if you use it in close quarters.
- Pipe Bombs - Great for laying traps, the pipe bomb remains harmless until remotely detonated or shot, they then cause splash damage over a wide area. There is no maximum range to the detonator; you can be completely on the other side of the level and still explode a bomb.
- Shrink Ray - This will shrink enemies down to a mere few inches tall. While an enemy is in this state it can be killed by either blowing it up or walking over it thereby squishing it with your foot. You can also shrink yourself by shooting at a mirror.
- Microwave Expander Ray (Atomic Edition Only) - Similar to the shrink ray but opposite in effect, your enemies expand until they explode. The exploding bodies inflict splash damage, so stand clear.
- Devastator - A double barreled mini-rocket launcher that has a high rate of fire, high damage, and does not need to reload. The mini rockets do little splash damage, equal to about one step in radius.
- Laser Trip Bomb - A strategic device which can be placed on flat-walled surfaces. After a second delay a bright red laser beam is emitted across to the opposite wall. Anyone or anything crossing the beam sets off a blast with twice the power of an RPG shot.
- Freezerthrower - This launches balls of ice that damage and will eventually freeze an enemy. Once an enemy is frozen you have to shatter it or else it will start to thaw out. The freezer shots will bounce of walls three times before they melt, but be careful because they can damage and even freeze you as well.
Aside from weapons, Duke's inventory also includes a series of items that could be picked up during play. A portable medkit allows players to heal themselves whenever they choose to. Steroids speed up player movement making transit through hostile territory easier (additionally, they render the player immune to the effects of the Shrink Ray, especially useful in multiplayer mode). Nightvision goggles allow players to see enemies in the dark. The "HoloDuke" device projects a hologram of Duke that can be used to distract enemies. Protective boots allow the player to cross dangerously hot or toxic terrain. Where progress requires more aquatic legwork, an aqua-lung allows the player to take longer trips away from air. Perhaps most impressively, a "jet pack" allows the player to range fully in 3D, often to reach carefully hidden weapons caches or extra health, although typically jet pack availability is restricted to avoid making levels too easy.
Monsters
The game features a wide range of monsters, some of which are aliens, others mutated humans (the LAPD has been "turned" into "Pig-cops", with LARD emblazoned on their uniforms).
As is usual for a first-person shooter, Duke encounters a large number of lesser foes, and a small number of boss enemies (usually at the end of chapters). Like Duke, these enemies have access to a wide range of weapons and equipment (some weaker enemies have jet packs).
In keeping with the general tone of the game, Duke's enemies frequently experience humorous deaths, or engage in amusing, everyday activities (e.g. using the toilet).
Multiplayer
Duke Nukem 3D was one of the most popular multiplayer games of its time. At the time of its release Internet based gaming was just taking off. Unlike its popular rival at the time, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D did not support the TCP/IP client/server model and instead based its network play on the IPX LAN, modem or serial cable like the FPS games before it. While this hampered its popularity with online players, its then unmatched gameplay in 1-on-1 Dukematch quickly gained a hardcore following.
Duke Nukem 3D players often either battled modem-to-modem, using the $20.00 IPX network utility 'Kali', or via the Total Entertainment Network (TEN) online pay service. Kali allowed users to connect to a chat room to host and join games, but you typically had a slim chance of playing a successful game. The Total Entertainment Network was far more reliable and user-friendly, with hundreds of Duke 3D players online at any given time, but you had to pay a monthly fee for it (originally $5.00, gradually increased to $20.00).
The game's own levels were often used as the battlegrounds for these encounters and, although there was a huge flow of community created levels (or maps), the most popular maps for online play were the levels 'Hollywood Holocaust', 'L.A. Rumble', 'Stadium' and 'Red Light District'.
A popular proving ground for the multiplayer community was a website known as 'Case's Ladder' which allowed players to create a profile and log their wins and losses (more for bragging rights and pride than anything). Players who were ranked highly were often regarded amongst the community as the best of the best.
Most recently is the addition of the DukesterX multiplayer service. DukesterX has become the most popular method of reaching other online "Dukers". The DukesterX client allows players to create their own server that other players may join and enjoy up to 8 players in Dukematch or Co-op play.
Effects of glitches on gameplay
A common glitch in the game that was fairly easily exploited in multiplayer is "warping" (i.e. teleportation from place to place very quickly). These "warps" were very difficult to find and were often able to convey powerful advantages during play. While the "warps" were nothing more than an unwanted bug in the software, they contributed a lot to the enjoyment of the game for many experienced players. Most of these "warps" were an indirect result of the Build engine's inability to support true 3D architecture. The developers had to work around this limitation by overlapping different sectors to give the illusion of different floors. Crouching or jumping around in certain spots inside of said overlapping sectors would occasionally confuse the engine and "warp" the player to the other floor. Though most of these problems were fixed in version 1.5 of the game, also known as Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, many people in the multiplayer community preferred to continue playing with the original release.
Humor
Duke Nukem 3D is mainly notable for the often crude humor it introduced into what had previously been a fairly humorless genre, including a stream of one-liners (heavily inspired by Ash Williams and John Nada) from the title character. Many of these related to the frequently gruesome deaths meted out by Duke ("That's gotta hurt"), interactions with usable props such as toilets ("Ahhh, much better") or Duke Nukem arcade machines ("Hmm... don't have time to play with myself"). Various Easter eggs appear in the game, such as a giant sign on a wall proclaiming "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE" (signed "Levelord") in an area not accessible except by using a no-clip cheat or a jetpack.
The game also references and spoofs other games. For instance, when the player comes upon a corpse that closely resembles the player character in Doom (Doomguy), Duke comments, "That's one doomed space marine". This quote became famous after websites dedicated to Duke Nukem 3D began reporting that Doom's developer, id Software, had filed a lawsuit against Apogee Games and 3D Realms, trying to obtain an injunction to remove it. (The suit was ultimately unsuccessful.[unverified]) Another jab at a fellow shooter game was a line in a level in Episode 3 when a building (with a sticker warning of a fault line) blows up and partially collapses; Duke responds, "I ain't afraid of no quake", obviously poking fun at the game Quake, which was yet to be released.
Duke Nukem 3D also freely plunders many themes from cinematic sources, notably the Alien (the protozoid slimers come out of eggs exactly like those seen in the Alien series and people trapped in pods who whisper "kill me" like in Aliens) and Evil Dead film series. Duke's pose on the box art and title screen is almost exactly the same as that of Ash's on the Army of Darkness movie poster. There are also cameos from Indiana Jones (whose corpse is greeted by Duke saying, in a German accent, "We meet again, Dr. Jones"); Star Trek: The Next Generation (a hidden recreation of the Enterprise bridge with Jean-Luc Picard's personal readyroom or, as Duke phrases it, a "REALLY ready room"); Star Wars (the hanging corpse of Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper armor: "Now this is a force to be reckoned with"); Escape From L.A. (the corpse of the movie's lead character, Snake Plissken, on a pike, with Duke saying, "I guess he didn't escape from L.A."); The Hunt for Red October (the submarine USS Dallas in Episode 1, Level 3); 2001: A Space Odyssey in which you use the famous black monolith to continue the level (complete with the eerie sound effect present in the movie); They Live ("It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of gum"); and The Terminator (a crushed Terminator is found, lifted from a scene the end of the first movie, while Duke utters "Terminated".
The Atomic Edition contains further references to Dirty Harry, Die Hard, Mission: Impossible, and Independence Day, as well as a subtle reference to The Simpsons episode "Brother from the Same Planet" ("trab pu kcip" written on a wall, which in a mirror reads "pick up bart"; which itself is a reference to The Shining). In another Simpson's reference in a level in a Nuclear power plant there is an area marked "Sector 7G" with donuts on the consoles. When Duke visits "Duke Burger"'s drivethru in the second level of "The Birth", Butt-head, who works at the similar "Burger World", can be heard saying "Go away! We're like, closed".
There are also references to the contemporaneous O.J. Simpson trial, including the chase of Simpson's white Ford Bronco being played on TV sets in the game (such as the "Red Light District" level), and prominent billboards simply saying "Innocent?" ("Hollywood Holocaust" from episode 1, L.A. Meltdown) and "Guilty!" ("Fahrenheit" from episode 3, Shrapnel City).
Technology
Duke Nukem 3D's graphic engine was an evolutionary step forward from the Doom engine. While the levels were still defined as 2D maps, the capabilities of Ken Silverman's Build engine allowed more complex levels than Doom and Dark Forces. Most notably, the game supports diagonal slopes in the floors, which was not possible with the entirely "top-down" level design of other contemporary shooters. It also supports mouse aiming (though aiming up and down distorts the graphics due to a lack of perspective correction), which would become the norm for many future FPS's. Since Duke Nukem 3D was still not a fully 3D engine, it was considered to be a 2.5D game. Although the era of true 3D games had begun with Descent in 1995, it would not be until Quake was released later in 1996 that a true 3D engine would be used for an FPS.
Controversy
The game has been heavily attacked by some critics, who allege that it promotes pornography and murder. For example:
"Duke Nukem 3D moves the 'shooter' through pornography stores, where Duke can use XXX sex posters for target practice. Duke throws cash at a prostituted woman telling her to 'Shake it, Baby' his gun ever ready. In the game bonus points are awarded for the murder of these mostly prostituted and partially nude women. Duke blows up stained glass windows in an empty church or goes to strip clubs where Japanese women lower their kimonos exposing their breasts. Duke is encouraged to kill defenseless, often bound women.— Media Watch, http://www.mediawatch.com/wordpress/?p=13
While some of this criticism is exaggerated or misinterpreted (e.g. players do not receive "points" for killing women, doing so usually spawns an alien to attack Duke, and some have actually been infected by aliens and beg the player to kill them), the depiction of women in Duke Nukem 3D is notable. George Broussard, the president of 3D Realms, defends the game, noting its success and arguing that consumers obviously do not find the content abusive or immoral. However, success with some consumers is clearly not evidence that Duke Nukem 3D is more widely acceptable. Significantly, the only women that appear in the game are either strippers, prostitutes, cheerleaders or alien prisoners, although a few of the following franchise sequels changed this, with Duke fighting alongside strong female characters. This treatment of women is extreme, even by the standards of video games. It could be viewed that their presence is intended as an ironic and over-the-top send-up of Hollywood action-film stereotypes, but, unsurprisingly, it causes offense, even if this was never intended by the developers.
Due to a gunman's rampage through a movie theatre in Brazil, Duke Nukem 3D was banned in that country along with Quake, Doom and several other violent first-person shooters. The Brazil rampage was allegedly inspired by Duke Nukem 3D's opening level "Hollywood Holocaust" (Episode 1, Mission 1), where a firefight with aliens takes place inside a cinema. Despite this ban, Duke Nukem 3D was subsequently being published in a computer magazine, and other titles such as Quake and Doom are still sold openly in Brazil.
As a response to the criticism encountered, censored versions of the game were released in certain countries to avoid having it banned altogether. In Australia, the game was originally refused classification on release. 3D Realms proceeded to sell the game with the parental lock on, but due to a mix-up, the uncensored data was still on the game disc and soon the majority of the country was playing the uncensored version of the game. The OFLC then attempted to have the game pulled from the shelves, but it was discovered that the distributor had notified them of this fact and the rating could not be surrendered. Six months later, the game was later reclassified and released uncensored with an MA15+ rating.
Official addons
Plutonium PAK/Atomic Edition
The Atomic Edition of Duke Nukem 3D was released in late 1996, and contained the original 3 episode game as well as a new eleven-level fourth episode. The Plutonium PAK was also released as an upgrade package to convert the original release of Duke Nukem 3D (v1.3d) to the new Atomic Edition (v1.4, later patched to v1.5).
The Atomic Edition introduces three enemies: the Protector Drone, the Pig Cop Tank, and a new boss known as The Queen. It also includes a new weapon, the Microwave Expander.
The Atomic Edition also has several improvements to the scripting language of the game, allowing the game's active modding community to create new enemies and items without overwriting the existing ones.
EDuke
Following the release of the Doom source code in 1997, many of those in the modding community began wishing for a similar source code release from 3D Realms. The last major game to make use of the Duke Nukem 3D source code was WW2GI in 1999. Its programmer, Matthew Saettler, expanded greatly upon the scripting language used by modders to change many aspects of the game.
Saettler let it be known that he was willing to expand further upon WW2GI's scripting language, and shortly thereafter agreed to make his enhancements available for Duke Nukem 3D with the permission of 3D Realms.
3D Realms approved the project. Saettler was the sole programmer, working with several mod authors to beta-test the new addition that would carry the Duke Nukem 3D version numbering to v2.0 and be titled EDuke.
EDuke was released as a patch for Atomic Edition users on July 28, 2000, and included a demo mod made by several beta testers. The demo included new sector-based effects, sprite-based elevators, ladders, a bouncing particle fountain, a personal teleporter, and a more sophisticated translucent water effect.
Saettler has since archived his original Eduke site for reference.
LameDuke
LameDuke is an early-development, beta version of Duke Nukem 3D which was released by 3D Realms as a bonus one year after the release of the official version. Lameduke has been released as is, with no support. It is currently available to download from the 3DRealms FTP [1].
Lameduke featured four episodes: Mr. Caliber, Mission Cockroach, Suck Hole and Hard Landing. A lot of maps in the game are early versions of the ones contained in the official version and in the Plutonium Pak add-on. Some weapons have been removed during the development, such as the tazer stick, and others have been changed, such as the rocket launcher and the barrel chaingun.
Unofficial Addons
Commercial addons
Although Plutonium Pak is the only official add-on pack, some companies have marketed their own add-on packs for Duke Nukem 3D. Of these, the most well-known are:
- Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach: This game supposedly takes place after Duke Nukem 3D. Duke relaxes on a tropical island when he discovers that the aliens are having their own "vacation". This add-on pack has often been praised by players.
- Duke it Out in D.C.: Duke Nukem has been called out to rescue US President Bill Clinton from an abduction.
- Duke Nuclear Winter: The aliens have taken over the North Pole, and kidnapped Santa Claus. Duke Nukem must fight the aliens to rescue him. Although this add-on has been praised for its Christmas theme, it has still been criticized for unoriginality and poor level design.
- Duke Xtreme: This add-on pack contains around 50 levels and many utilities for Duke Nukem 3D. This pack has often been criticized for its many software bugs.
Source code ports
The source code to the Duke Nukem 3D v1.5 executable, which uses the Build engine, was released under the GPL on April 1, 2003. However, the game content still remains the sole property of 3D Realms. The game was quickly ported by enthusiasts to modern OSes. As of 2007, these ports gave the game a second life in multiplayer games through the Internet and a growing community is still actively playing.
Standard ports
The first Duke Nukem 3D port was from icculus.org. It is a cross-platform port that allows the game to be played on BeOS, FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, Windows and probably runs on others. The icculus.org codebase would later be used in the Duke3d_w32 (Rancidmeat) port, and later, the xDuke port.
One popular port is Jonathon Fowler's JFDuke3D, which in December 2003 received backing from the original author of Build, programmer Ken Silverman. Fowler, in cooperation with Ken, released a new version of JFDuke3D using Polymost, an OpenGL-enhanced renderer for Build, which allows hardware acceleration and 3D model support, along with 32 bit color high resolution textures. Another port based on JFDuke3D called xDuke (unrelated to the xDuke port based on icculus.org/duke3d) runs on the Xbox.
Silverman has since helped Jonathon Fowler with a large portion of other engine work, including updating the network code and continuing to maintain various other aspects of the engine. Projects such as the Duke 3D High Resolution Pack [2] were started in order to take advantage of the various engine improvements and attempt to update Duke's graphical resources almost to the level of modern games. Plans are still in the works to include additional engine features as time goes on. However, JFDuke3D appears to have been abandoned as no new versions have appeared since late 2005.
EDuke and other ports
The first port aimed at expanding features for mod authors was an experimental port called CDuke, authored by Colourless. It cleaned up and enhanced some unused code in the original source designed to allow translucent sector-based water and other "sector over sector" effects. The implementation was not perfect, but showed promise. CDuke was also the first port to demonstrate voxels within Duke Nukem 3D, which had been seen in other Build engine games. The port ceased production shortly after it was released.
EDuke is a branch of Duke Nukem 3D that was officially released by 3D Realms in 2000; it focused primarily on enhancing the CON scripting language in ways which allowed those modifying the game to do much more with the scripting system than originally possible. Around May of 2003, not long after the release of the Duke Nukem 3D source code, Blood project manager Matt Saettler released the source for both EDuke 2.0, the version of EDuke released by 3D Realms, and EDuke 2.1, the test version of what was to become the next official EDuke release. A few ports emerged (most notably WinEDuke and EDuke 2.1.1), but it was not until the release of Richard Gobeille's EDuke32 (an extended version of JFDuke3D which incorporates Saettler's EDuke code) in 2004 that EDuke became a real community focus. EDuke32 has seen consistent and frequent releases, often giving the community access to experimental new engine features weeks before the next JFDuke3D release.
Console ports
The Sega Saturn version was ported by Lobotomy Software and published by Sega. It retains the original name and lacks extra levels, but uses Lobotomy's SlaveDriver engine (which also powered the Sega Saturn version of Powerslave), as opposed to the original Build engine port that all the other Duke Nukem console ports used. Other features that are exclusive to the Saturn version are Lightmaps as opposed to sector-based lighting, and dynamic colored lighting. It is also capable of using the Sega NetLink for online gaming, and has built in support for the Saturn's Analog Pad that came bundled with NiGHTS into Dreams.... [4]
The Nintendo 64 version, Duke Nukem 64, has a split screen 4-player mode as well as bi-linear filtered textures, however it is still at its core using the Build engine and the only elements rendered in real 3D are some of the explosions. To meet the low memory requirement, in-game music was also dropped. The game is considerably censored, with most of the sexually suggestive material removed. For example, Episode 1, Level 2, "Red Light District", has been replaced with "Gun Crazy", an almost-identically shaped level where porn stores have been replaced by gun stores. Also, the steroid item was renamed "Vitamin X", to avoid the glorification of steroid use. On the plus side, Duke Nukem 64 does include better rendered and partially different weapons set, such as dual machine guns, plasma cannon and expander. The final boss, the Cycloid Emperor, is also changed into a new 3D model of himself.
In 1998, it was also ported to the Sega Mega Drive by Tec Toy [5]. The obscurity of this port (it was released only in Brazil) has frequently led to it being mistaken for an unlicensed "hack". It is not based on any other game made for the Mega Drive, instead it was programmed from the ground up by Tec Toy. 3D Realms claims that the port is not legal[unverified], but Tec Toy maintains that it was licensed by now-defunct publisher GT Interactive[unverified].
Additionally, a version of Duke Nukem 3D was also released for the Game.com, Tiger's short lived handheld system. Due to the console's hardware limitations, this version is not a true first person shooter but instead a sort of dungeon crawl.
Successors
Duke Nukem Forever
In 1997, 3D Realms announced a direct sequel titled Duke Nukem Forever. It has been shown at two E3s (1998 and 2001) and has gone through several engine changes and restarts. The developers have repeatedly stated that it will be released "when it's done". As of 2007, it is still in development, and celebrated its tenth year in development hell in March 2007. Recently, a thumbnail of what looks like Duke Nukem in a modern game was released to the Internet as part of a job posting on the video game developer website Gamasutra. This could be a sign that Duke Nukem Forever is still under active development.
SiN
The game SiN is considered by some a spiritual sequel to Duke Nukem 3D[unverified]. Like Duke Nukem 3D, SiN features a vocal main-character, over-the-top guns, hideous monsters, large-breasted women, and a satiric near-future setting. Ritual Entertainment, SiN's developer, was founded by several members of the Duke Nukem 3D team (including notable level designer Levelord). The first of SiN's sequels, SiN Episodes: Emergence, is run on Half-Life 2's Source engine, and appears to have modelled itself more after Half-Life; most tellingly, its main character John Blade has become a (mostly) silent protagonist in the vein of Gordon Freeman, Half-Life's lead.
Crew and cast
Project Leader/Director George Broussard
Game Programming Todd Replogle
3D Build engine/Tools/Network Ken Silverman
Map Design Allen H. Blum III Richard Bailey Gray Keith Schuler
3D Modeling Chuck Jones
Additional 3D Modeling Douglas R. Wood
Artwork Stephen Hornback Dirk Jones Brian Martel James Storey Douglas R. Wood
Music and Sound Effects Lee Jackson Robert Prince
Voice Talent Lani Minella-ProMotions Prod. Co. Jon St. John as "Duke Nukem"
Special Thanks to: Steven Blackburn, Scott Miller, Joe Siegler, Terry Nagy, Colleen Compton, Kevin Green, Bryan Turner, Dennis DeSmeth Brett Young, all the 3D Realms beta testers.
Theme Song
Duke Nukem's popular theme song was created by Lee Jackson. Its title is "Grabbag". The thrash metal band Megadeth recorded the song as a bonus track off their 1999 album, Risk, replete with sound bytes of Duke's one-liners.
References
External links
| You can help Anarchopedia by expanding this article by adding some of these quotes from Wikiquote |
- Official Duke Nukem 3D homepage
- Template:moby game
- JFZ Duke Nukem 3D site with full documentation of the Build editor
Reviews
- Review — GameSpot
- Review — Computer and Video Games
- Review — Metacritic
Source ports
- Duke3d_w32 — Duke Nukem 3D port for Windows
- EDuke32 — EDuke port for Windows/Linux
- icculus.org/duke3d — Duke Nukem 3D port for BeOS/FreeBSD/Linux/Mac OS X/Solaris/Windows/Other
- JFDuke3D — Duke Nukem 3D port for Windows/Linux/Other
- xDuke — Duke Nukem 3D port for Windows
| This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the GNU FDL article Duke Nukem 3D on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article | WP |
