Polygon Pumpers

We all know Duke Nukem Forever was released on time and on budget,

Duke Nukem Forever to use Unreal Engine

From George Broussard’s .plan file:

We are switching to the Unreal engine to finish the game. You will be able to find a press release online at www.3drealms.com in the next 24 hours. We are very excited about this decision, and we think our fans will be as well.

We don’t feel there will be a significant development delay, but there will be a slight one as we move over to the new engine. But this is analogous to people moving from the Quake 1 to the Quake 2 engine. Our game data will convert right over, without a hitch.

It’s very important to note that this was a tough decision for us. It does not stem in any way from hard feelings, nor in fact, anything to do with id software. Our relationship still remains very good. This was a business decision and based on what we wanted to do with Duke Nukem Forever as a game.

Now, if you will excuse us, we have a lot of work to do

Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Garland, TX – June 15, 1998

GARLAND, TX – 3D Realms Entertainment’s highly anticipated Duke Nukem Forever, the follow-up to one of the all-time best-selling PC games, Duke Nukem 3D, will now be built around Epic MegaGames’ highly praised Unreal technology.

George Broussard, project leader for Duke Nukem Forever had this to say, “The switch to the Unreal engine was simply a business decision, and it came down to what we wanted to do with Duke Nukem Forever and  how best to achieve it. It’s important to note that this decision has nothing to do with id software or our relationship with them, which still remains very strong.”

“The game should not be significantly delayed”, noted Broussard, “but it will take a little time to get up to speed with the new engine and learn how to exploit it. Fortunately, all of our game data will transfer very easily and we see being back to where we were at E3 within a month to 6 weeks.”

People who have seen the Duke Nukem Forever E3 video, or back room demo voiced concerns that some of the items they saw would be lost. “Not at all” says Broussard. “If anything, the E3 demos showed what we could do with licensed technology and how we can extend it.  We intend to apply the same ideas and efforts into the Unreal engine and push it until it breaks. Fans can expect all the stuff they saw at E3 to make the crossover to the Unreal engine.”

In response to fans, asking about Internet play and the high machine specifications of Unreal, Broussard had this to say. “We are very confident that the Epic team will fix any and all outstanding issues with Unreal multiplay over the Internet, and see it becoming one of the most popular games over the net. As for machine specifications, Duke Nukem Forever is a 1999 game and we think that timeframe matches very well with what we have planned for the game.”

In anticipation of an obvious question, “Why not use the Prey engine?,” George said, “It is of utmost importance to us to have Prey be the first game released using the Prey technology. By going with Unreal’s tech to create Duke Nukem Forever, we’ll be able to stay on schedule to get Duke done and released before Prey.”

Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic MegaGames, said: “We are extremely excited that 3D Realms has chosen to use the Unreal engine for Duke Nukem Forever. Their proven track record with the Duke Nukem series combined with the Unreal engine is an amazing combination.”

Duke Nukem Forever will be commercially published by GT Interactive Software (http://www.gtinteractive.com). For more information about 3D Realms, please visit http://www.3drealms.com. For more information about Epic MegaGames, please visit http://www.epicgames.com.

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