The Truth About DNF
Looks like someone leaked a build of Duke Nukem Forever from 2001. Anyone expecting much of a playable game will be disappointed. The game's brilliant trailer from that period definitely over-represented what was actually playable in the game.
(BTW, I have no idea who leaked the build or how they obtained it.)
DNF is the game that destroyed 3D Realms and ended up getting the company sold to an investor in Denmark (where it's still based). While our games like Max Payne and Prey were keeping the company afloat, DNF was a constant money pit for the company and eventually killed the original 3D Realms/Apogee.
IMO, while I was not part of the DNF project, as a company owner I had some good insight into the issues with the game's development.
We were always understaffed by at least 50%.
We did not have a good development roadmap (at least, I never once saw one), and instead the project was adlibbed too much.
Because of the game's slow development, when new 3D technology became available, the project--in effect--rebooted to make use of the newest tech causing massive delays over and over.
I recognized that DNF was in deep trouble back in 2004 and tried to get the entire game developed by a more experienced studio, Digital Extremes (now famous for Warframe). The owner there was eager to take over DNF from us, and we even had the blessing of our publisher at the time (Take-Two), but this idea was shot down internally. It turned out to be a fatal suicide shot.
In the end we worked out a deal to somehow barely save the project with Gearbox Software, and basically handed over the future of the Duke brand to them with the idea that they'd finish the game. A year or so later, it was released.
It's a very sad story no matter how you look at it. It brought 3D Realms to its knees, all of our development team left or was released, and the 3D Realms name is now owned by someone with no connection to our past.
I do hope that Gearbox can resurrect Duke Nukem at some point. It seems like the obvious move would be to recreate Duke Nukem 3D using Unreal 5. And if it does well, then start making more Duke adventures while also expanding the universe with new characters.
