Duke Nukem 3D

Duke Nukem 3D
Developer(s)	3D Realms
Publisher(s)	Apogee Software, Virgin Interactive (Playstation)
Designer(s)	George Broussard & Todd Replogle
Engine	Build
Platform(s)	PC (MS-DOS), Mac, PlayStation, Xbox Live Arcade, Sega Saturn, game.com, Sega Mega Drive (Brazil only), source ports to many other platforms
Release	PC: January 29, 1996 Mac: May 25 1997 PlayStation: December 3, 1997 Saturn: 1997 Xbox 360 (XBLA): September 24, 2008
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer

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 previously appeared in the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II which were also published by Apogee. Duke is voiced by Jon St. John.

Synopsis

Taking on the role of Duke Nukem, an imperious action hero from Earth, players must fight through 28 levels spread over three chapters. A commercial upgrade, called The Plutonium Pak, later added a fourth episode of 11 additional levels, some new enemies, and one new modified weapon. As usual for a first-person shooter, players encounter a whole host of different enemies, and can engage them with a range of weaponry.

Duke Nukem 3D is set "sometime in the early 21st century" in a broken and far more morally corrupt Los Angeles, and expands to locations such as lunar space stations. Through cutscenes and gameplay, the premise is that an alien transgenic species has infiltrated Earth in light of Duke's absence while fighting in space. Upon crash landing back to Earth, Duke finds most humans are absent, with few attractive women remaining as diversions for the aliens. American civilization has been reduced to a virtual wasteland while pornography has become the sole source of entertainment. As well as killing aliens to free the Earth (and more specifically, retrieve "babes" that have been kidnapped), players must also solve puzzles to progress through the various levels. Some puzzles allow access to extra, hidden levels.

Gameplay

Level design

The levels of Duke Nukem 3D take the player outdoors and indoors through rendered street scenes, military bases, deserts, flooded cities, space stations, moon bases and 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. These locations are also filled with objects that the player can interact, that either benefit the player in some form (light switches make it easier to see, while water fountains and broken hydrants provide some health points) or simply provide a touch of diversion (tipping strippers provokes a humorous quote from Duke and sometimes a provocative reveal from the dancer).

Weapons and equipment

The game includes a range of lethal weapons, some of which, even today, are still unique to the Duke Nukem series. They range from Duke's "Mighty Foot", a basic melee attack, to a pistol, a Chain gun (similar in design to the Nordenfelt gun), pipe bombs, freeze- and shrink-rays, and laser trip mines.

Aside from weapons, Nukem's inventory also includes a series of items that can 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, as well as instantly reversing the effects of the shrinker. 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, scuba gear (an aqua-lung) allows the player to take longer trips away from air. Perhaps most impressively, Duke's trademark jetpack allows the player to range fully in 3D, often to reach hidden weapons caches or extra health.

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", a play on the derogatory term "pig" for police officers, with LARD emblazoned on their uniforms). As is usual for a first-person shooter, Nukem 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).

Multiplayer

Duke Nukem 3D features multiplayer. In 1996 at the time of its release, Internet-based gaming was just beginning. Duke Nukem 3D did not support the TCP/IP client/server model, instead basing its network play on the IPX LAN, modem or serial cable. Duke Nukem 3D players often either battled modem-to-modem, using the $20.00 IPX network utility Kali or the Total Entertainment Network (TEN) online pay service. Kali allowed users to connect to a chat room to host and join games. The Total Entertainment Network featured hundreds of Duke 3D players online at any given time and players had to pay a monthly fee for it (originally $5.00, gradually increased to $20.00). In 1996 TEN hosted a first of its kind, nationally participated in "online tournament" rewarding the champions with cash and prizes sparking an immediate surge in online gaming. Some of the first prizes were $500 cash and a lifetime membership to the service. The only Duke tournament was won by one of the first cyber athletes, Christopher S Carpentier, aka "Creamator", who battled over 14 thousand entries to claim the title of “One True Duke!” Most of these newly declared cyber athletes later went on to the PGL "Professional Gamers League" after TEN converted its business model to Pogo.

Duke's levels were often used as the battlegrounds for these encounters and users were even able to create their own levels (or maps) via the in-game build engine. The game also features co-operative play (co-op) which allows players to complete the story based single player mode together. In the Atomic version, a new game play mode was introduced: Duke Tag, a "capture the flag" style mode.

Technology

Duke Nukem 3D's graphic engine was a step forward from the Doom engine of 1993, though many of the advanced features of the game had appeared in intervening first-person shooter titles such as Marathon, Star Wars: Dark Forces, and others. While the levels were still defined as 2D maps, the capabilities of Ken Silverman's Build engine allowed more complex levels than Doom. The game supports diagonal slopes in the floors, though this had been seen as early as Ultima Underworld in 1992. It also supports vertical mouse aiming (though aiming up and down distorts the graphics due to a lack of perspective correction), though vertical look had also appeared in Ultima Underworld and full mouse look appeared in Marathon.

While Doom was limited to doors opening and closing only by sliding up and down, the Build engine also included doors/walls that can move sideways. The Doom engine usually only moved a single platform at a time in response to a player event, while the Build scripting system allows a whole string of moving and sliding actions, synchronized with sound effects, to create collapsing buildings, earthquakes, and walls that crumble apart when hit with explosives. One of the more advanced effects that went far beyond the limits of the Doom engine is the horizontal sliding platform that can move the player inside a small sliding room, to create subway cars moving in a timed sequence around a ring-shaped track.

The Build engine solves this problem by allowing multiple overlapping 2D paths to cross through the same 2D location. The key is that while inside one of these spaces, it is not possible to see into the other space, and so the 2.5D engine has no problem rendering one space or the other even though the map data literally shows the two areas to be occupying the same place. Several Duke Nukem 3D maps exploit this engine feature to create bizarre mind-bending maps where multiple large rooms all seem to be occupying one 3D space. One secret level in particular ("Lunatic Fringe" from episode 2, Lunar Apocalypse) has a map where the player can travel 720 degrees around a circle and not cross their path. This would be much more difficult to duplicate with modern true-3D map editors and engines.

File:Lameduke octabrain.png

An early version of the Octabrain, as shown in LameDuke.

To resolve the problem of not having balconies or bridges that the player can walk over or under, instead special objects are used by the Build engine that are not actually part of the flat 2D map design. Instead they are a special type of decorative sprite inserted into the world, similar to the breakable cameras, flowerpots, and lights. These special large sprites allow the player to walk over the object and under it as if it were an actual part of the map, to create the illusion of a true 3D space. However these special objects have a highly restricted shape, typically as a perfectly square or rectangular non-sloping structure, greatly limiting their usefulness in the map design to simple bridges, balconies, or exposed rectangular air ducts.

LameDuke is an early beta version of Duke Nukem 3D, which was released by 3D Realms as a "bonus" one year after the release of the official version. It has been released as is, with no support, and is currently available to download from the 3DRealms FTP [1].

LameDuke features four episodes: Mrr Caliber, Mission Cockroach, Suck Hole and Hard Landing. Some weapons were removed and/or altered from the original versions.

Content and controversy

Duke Nukem 3D is often cited as one of the first videogames to merge irreverent humor and explicit sexual themes with gameplay, particularly within the first-person shooter genre . Several tongue-in-cheek jabs towards American consumerism, Hollywood culture, and sex in the media are prevalent. In a strip bar, players witness a white bronco fleeing from police on TV, a deliberate reference to the event preceding the O.J. Simpson trial, popular around the game's time of release. Fictional "Sister Act III" posters are visible throughout the game; the franchise now turned into an X-rated attraction. Additionally, Dirty Harry and Die Hard quotes and visual nods are evident in a police station level.

Most landscapes have gone without maintenance and virtually all forms of entertainment in its dystopian future have been reduced to pornography, where women are predominantly sex objects in the eyes of both the protagonist and his foes. All of such themes are presented in a gonzo-style matter of humor, with numerous quotes from Duke Nukem to add light to the situation ("Nobody steals our chicks, and lives").

The game has been heavily attacked by some critics, who allege that it promotes pornography and murder. Media Watch made the following comments about the game.

"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, Teaching Boys To Kill

Duke Nukem 3D does not contain a "bonus points" system; even accidental shooting of innocents in the game is, sometimes, punished by a sudden onslaught of enemies. Additionally, the aforementioned "bound women" are captives of the alien invasion and are beyond a state of recovery. They encourage Duke to put them out of their misery ("kill... me"), something he is capable of doing at the player's will.

Duke Nukem 3D was banned in Brazil, along with Quake, Doom and several other violent first-person shooters. 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 repackaged the game with the parental lock feature permanently enabled, although a patch available on the 3D Realms website allows the user to disable the lock and revert the game back to its original uncensored version. 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 reclassified and released uncensored with an MA15+ rating. In Germany, the BPjM placed the game on the List of Media Harmful to Young People.

Add-ons

Various spin-offs and modifications to the original Duke Nukem 3D were produced in the following years of the game's initial launch.

Plutonium PAK/Atomic Edition: The Atomic Edition of Duke Nukem 3D was released in November 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). It introduces three enemies: the Protector Drone, the Pig Cop Tank, and a new boss known as The Alien Queen. It also includes a new weapon, the Microwave Expander, complete with its own ammo. It 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. A feature exclusive to the Atomic Edition is the Fake Multiplayer computer controlled bots which can be launched at the DOS prompt. These bots are capable of putting up a decent offline fight against the player to give a glimpse of what the player can find in real online games or if the player has no available connection. They can also be useful for testing DukeMatch sessions offline during the creation of a map.

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 Team TNT's WWII GI 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 WWII GI'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 (Enhanced Duke Nukem 3D). 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.

Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach: This is an authorized add-on developed by Sunstorm Interactive. Duke relaxes on a tropical island when he discovers that the aliens are having their own "vacation". This unofficial add-on includes sunny Caribbean atmosphere and theme like beaches, vacation hotels and modifications from the original Duke Nukem 3D stuff to fit to the sunny theme. It features levels created by Charlie Wiederhold, who was later hired by 3D Realms to work on Duke Nukem Forever, the upcoming sequel to 3D.

Duke it out in D.C.: In this storyline, President Bill Clinton is captured by alien forces, and it is up to Nukem to save him. This expansion pack featured levels that were based on real world locations, such as the White House, the FBI headquarters, the Smithsonian museum, and the Washington Monument and other places in Washington DC. This game was also developed by Sunstorm. While this was considered an unofficial add-on, it was included in an official compilation called Duke Nukem: Kill-A-Ton Collection through business deals with 3D Realms.

Duke: Nuclear Winter: Unlike the previous add-ons, this one was developed by Simply Silly Software. In the storyline, Santa Claus is mind-controlled by aliens into causing trouble on Earth. Several of the levels take place near the North Pole. This game has sometimes been criticized for recycling content from the original game.

Duke Xtreme: An add-on developed by Sunstorm and contained 50 levels and various utilities. It has sometimes been criticized due to its many technical problems.

Duke!Zone I and II: A product called Duke!ZONE was once sold by WizardWorks and had over 500 levels made by fans of Duke Nukem 3D. WizardWorks later created an add-on called Duke!ZONE II, which contained three episodes of its own design.

Compilations

Duke Nukem 3D has been included in several compilations. A bundle called East Meets West included the full versions of Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition and Shadow Warrior. A bundle called Duke Nukem: Kill-A-Ton Collection featured Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, Duke Xtreme, Duke!ZONE II, Duke Nukem I (Duke Nukum), Duke Nukem II, and various other utilities. Both of these compilations are no longer sold. Earlier packages of Duke Nukem 3D also included the complete versions of Duke Nukem I and II as a bonus.

In 1998, 3D Realms filed a lawsuit against Micro Star over its add-on pack Nuke It and won.

Software projects working with the GPL'ed source code

The source code to the Duke Nukem 3D v1.5 executable, which uses the Build engine, was released as free software under the GPL on April 1, 2003. The game content remains under a proprietary license. The game was quickly ported by enthusiasts to modern OSes. As of 2007, these projects gave the game a second life in multiplayer games through the Internet and a growing community is still actively playing.

The first Duke Nukem 3D project was from icculus.org. It is a cross-platform project 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 Rancidmeat, and later, the xDuke projects.

One popular project is Jonathon Fowler's JFDuke3D, which in December 2003 received backing from the original author of Build, programmer Ken Silverman. Fowler, in cooperation with Silverman, 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 project based on JFDuke3D called xDuke (unrelated to the xDuke project based on icculus.org/duke3d) runs on the Xbox.

Silverman has since helped Fowler with a large portion of other engine work, including updating the network code and continuing to maintain various other aspects of the engine.

As of 2008, the following Duke Nukem 3D source code porting projects are commonly used to play the game, ordered by year of most recent release:

• icculus.org/duke3d — port to BeOS/FreeBSD/Linux/Mac OS X/Solaris/Windows/Other (2005)
• JFDuke3D — port to Windows/Linux/Other (2005)
• xDuke — port to Windows (2006)
• Duke3d_w32 — port to Windows (2006)
• EDuke32 — port to Windows/Linux/x86_64/Mac OS X (2008)

Enhancement by fans

Projects such as the Duke Nukem 3D High Resolution Pack 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 be on hiatus as no new versions have appeared since late 2005.

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 2003, not long after the release of the Duke Nukem 3D source code, Blood project manager Matt Saettler released the source code 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 projects 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 the community focus. Among the various enhancements, support for OGG music was added in September 2007. A pack of digitized music was compiled and is planned to be included in future releases of the High Resolution Pack. In June 2008, EDuke32 became the first Duke Nukem 3D project to compile and run natively on 64-bit systems without the use of a 32-bit environment thanks to contributions from the DOSBox team.

Console ports

A screen of the little-known Mega Drive port.

In 1997, Duke Nukem 3D was ported to all the major consoles of the time.

Playstation

The PlayStation version, Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, includes six extra areas and a secret level, the latter which was also included in the PC version. It also features music, some rearranged from the PC version and some original, in streaming XA-Audio made by Mark Knight.

Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn version was ported by Lobotomy Software and published by Sega. It retains the original name and uses Lobotomy's SlaveDriver engine. This version uses the Sega NetLink for online gaming, and has built-in support for the Saturn's analog pad. It also includes a hidden multiplayer mini-game called Death Tank Zwei.

Nintendo 64

The Nintendo 64 version was retitled Duke Nukem 64 and features a split screen 4-player mode. In-game music was removed from this version and many items have been renamed to avoid drug and sex references. Other changes include a fully 3D model for the final boss.

Mega Drive/Genesis

In 1998, a Sega Mega Drive version was released by Tec Toy. The visuals were drastically simplified, being closer to early shooters like Wolfenstein 3D; also, it consists solely of Lunar Apocalypse, the second from the original game's three "episodes". This version was released in Brazil only.

Game.com

A version of Duke Nukem 3D was also released for the Game.com, Tiger's short lived handheld system.

Xbox Live Arcade

Most recently, the game was released on September 24, 2008 for Xbox Live. This version features the ability to "rewind" the game to any prior point upon dying, save clips of gameplay, and online co-operative play, as well as the standard "Dukematch" online mode. Notably, the music received a slight quality upgrade with modern MIDI tools. It is available for 800 Microsoft points.

External links

• Official Duke Nukem 3D homepage