Duke Nukem Devs Talk About Gearbox Deal, Relevancy, More

In the next year, Duke Nukem Forever will finally be transformed from a longstanding punchline to something you can buy in a store. Well, that's the plan, anyway. The game's latest incarnation debuted at PAX a few months ago, when developer Gearbox showed off a playable demo of Duke Nukem Forever to an enthusiastic crowd. Now, some of the minds behind the game are talking about the game's history, its place in modern gaming, and much more.

The interviews, posted on Maximum PC's web site, are full of fascinating tidbits from the game's original designer, George Broussard, as well as Gearbox's Randy Pitchford and Brian Martel.

Here's Broussard on the subject of how Gearbox ended up taking the reins on the project:

"First, we had a relationship with Randy and Gearbox.  Randy worked for us in 1996-97 and I play poker with Randy and some Gearbox guys every week.  Second, we were in a bitter lawsuit with Take 2 that was going to last for years as they had shown no interest in being reasonable. Third, behind the scenes, there were 9 or so ex-3DR guys (Triptych Games) that were working on DNF in secret, on their own money, out of a house, because they believed in the game.

"Summer of 2009, I played Borderlands at Gearbox, prior to release. That afternoon, Randy and I talked about the suit and how things were going.  He mentioned that he'd love to help or get invovled, and while it wasn't clear what that meant, it was clear he was passionate to somehow get involved with Duke.

"A couple weeks later I mention Randy's interest in passing to my partner Scott and everyone got to talking.  Around Xmas 2009 a strategy was planned that would leverage Gearbox's positive relationship with Take 2 (due to Borderlands' success), settle the suit, and get the game published."

And here's Martel on how the game--more than a decade in the making--was looking when he and his team finally got their hands on it:

"The game was in really good shape, first off. So to answer your question, it was in good shape. There was a lot of it. The guys at Triptych Games had already pared it down a bit. So they had been working on it for a while anyway. Mike Wardwell – who’s the producer of the project at Gearbox – really worked with those guys to help narrow it down even more and make sure that the scope is correct. You also have the sort of things where the beginning of the game has a certain feel, so you’re getting the player into it.

"It’s just one of those sort of things where new, fresh eyes could help look at it and go “Oh, you guys might try this.” But it wasn’t like “You should do this kind of thing!” It was like “You should try this.” This is influence. “It’s your game. You guys can do what you want. But this is how we would do this thing.”

"Now, we did some other things like modify the EDF soldiers. Before, they were probably a little too sci-fi – maybe a little more like a Halo guy. Now they’ve got armor that’s more appropriate to the era, and Duke – this guy who’s all by himself – fits in appropriately. Because if you have this super sci-fi guy next to Duke, it feels weird. So we did some touching up on Duke as well and really pushed that character we’re talking about – that badass ‘80s hero kind of thing. Obviously the ‘roid rage, that kind of thing. [Laughs]."

It's a great, long read, overall--especially if you've been waiting to play the game as long as some of us have. Be sure to check out the rest of it here.