After 14 years of development Duke Nukem Forever became an industry joke. It’s hard to take anything seriously that takes so long to get its act together. However, through the jokes and jeers, Randy Pitchford and the team at Gearbox are doing the impossible by congealing the vaporware and releasing it to the masses. Now, with the release (supposedly) nearing on June 14th, Pitchford was willing to speak about his team’s digital necromancy, what it’s like to release to an inevitably critical audience, and how this Frankenstein of a game stays stitched together with parts contributed from so many different developers.
Article by: Justin Amirkhani
Based on what we've seen so far, the game makes a couple of jokes about its problematic pre-Gearbox development. How do you define the line between self-reference and self-deprecation?
Great question. I’m not sure that the English language is sufficient to describe where that line is or how to find the sweet spot between those two but I think Duke Nukem Forever will be, among other things, looked at as a great example of how to do that successfully. That’s one of the things that struck me most about it when I finally got to pour over everything myself when we got involved. The guys at 3D Realms were very intelligent and aware of the spot they were in and you can feel that in their game. That point alone proves the relationship between video games and art as this one clearly exposes the audience to the mind-set of the creators.
Back in 1996 when Duke Nukem 3D released, the character was a clear-cut parody of action heroes like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. 15 years later Hollywood has changed a lot and those types of meat-head heroes don't really exist anymore. How is Duke still relevant other than as a parody of himself?
Isn’t that fascinating? The guy who started out as an exaggerated amalgamation of every cliché action hero in today’s world of heroes totally stands alone! Today’s heroes have become extremely deep, complex personalities. They have feelings and problems. They’re emo! Duke doesn’t have problems. Duke is gloriously one-dimensional. He’s going to kick ass and win and in his world he is the king and that’s just the way it is. I can’t wait to see how it all goes down, but so far it somehow actually feels *fresh* to spend time with Duke again in this climate with all of these other types of emotional heroes.
Being so long in development, the Duke Nukem Forever project has been worked on while some monumental changes in gaming occurred. How much of the old school design remains in the final game and what has been done to keep younger players from feeling alienated?
The game is a new experience and a modern game, but it’s definitely got plenty of fan service and nostalgia. It absolutely remembers its roots, but as we’ve been testing the game with the full spectrum of gamers, from 17 year old players to 40 year old gamers, we’ve discovered that it has successfully figured it out. It charms and engages everyone who loves shooters, old or new.
Audiences have changed a lot since the mid-90's and people are a lot harder to offend these days. How has the use of sex evolved from Duke Nukem 3D, either as a statement or as comedy? Do you think there will still be moments that make players do a double-take?
I don’t think the goal of sex in Duke Nukem has ever been about attempting to offend people. Duke Nukem is this sort of Hugh Hefner meets Superman meets Tony Stark from Ironman kind of character, so he’s going to purposefully get himself into some compromising situations. That’s all part of the fun and the fantasy and the authenticity of spending time in the boots of a character like Duke Nukem. The situations are more about entertainment and experience than about shock value or trying to stir up controversy. Also, it’s a game. So everything that takes place has a purpose from a game play engineering point of view.
