[Kristian Joensen]

DNF's now ex-Art Director T. Ray Isaac has started a series in his blog telling parts of his story in relation to DNF, so far it has two parts. I should also note that he has got new position now, as Art Director at Sony Online Entertainment Seattle.

Anyways here are the posts in question:

Quote

Jun 12, 2009
The Wild Ride- part 1
Too many people have asked me.."What Happened?". My response is, I'm not really sure it matters at this point. People have been contacting me to get the dirt on 3dr etc. etc. I'm not about to dish dirt, because, there is no dirt to dish.

My part of the story began like this..(abbreviated version for those ADD'rs) George and I were introduced by a colleague of ours, Cliff. Cliff wanted to invite me into this group and said that I should contact George about it. So, I did. This was around mid 2002, I believe. George and I would chat from time to time on ICQ. We would talk Duke, the industry, games, etc. Typical things you would think game industry guys would talk about. We had a number of things in common as far as work related items were concerned. We continued to stay in touch over the years, talking about DNF every once in a while, nothing too heavy just kinda touching bases. Then around summer 2006, I was in the Dallas area speaking at a convention and George invited me out to dinner. Keep in mind, I had never met George in person before, so this was a bit, shall I say, "different" for me. I'm just now remembering all of this as I'm typing. It was George, my son Donald (11) and myself. I can't remember what we ate.
Anyway... we ate, shot the shit, and rolled out, back to 3DR.

I saw the game that evening....I was very impressed. The game looked good, it played well, but most importantly, it felt like a Duke game. From the time Allen Blum fired it up, until the end of the demo, it was Duke Nukem 100%. After that demo I was like...sign me up..........TO BE CONTINUED>>>>>

Quote

Jun 13, 2009
The Wild Ride Part II
.... so not too soon after that meeting, maybe, 2-3 months, I signed on as the Art Director for 3D Realms. That was around August 2006. Of course, all of my friends wondered if I was crazy and Why would I go to 3dr? The funny thing is, I knew what I was signing up for. This was not a situation were I was told one thing only to find out everything was **cked up (not sure why I blanked out "jacked' but what ever). George made it perfectly clear in our discussions prior to me joining that this would not be a walk in the park. You got to respect the man for that. I came to find, that's JUST how George was, in your face, no B-jive, this is how it is, this is how I am, take it for what it is. As we used to say at Obsidian...."it is what it is". The funny thing is, 3dr didn't have anything more wrong than most other companies. ??? What's that you say??? 3dr was no different than any other developer??? Yep, I said it, their (our) problems were no more insurmountable than the next studio. Details? naw, not really important, again.. this is just a brief history of my time at 3Dr, not some tell all book. I'll just say that the problems were easy to solve, mainly because I've solved or seen them solved before at other companies.

Shortly after my arrival...just timing mostly, some people decided they had enough, so they quit. I really wish I would have had the chance to work more with them and to learn from them but I totally understand why they decided to jet. I don't really know their complete story so I'm not going to make up or assume the true reason(s) behind their departure. I will tell you this.. I talked to some of the guys after we all departed 3dr and they were genuinely upset about the outcome. They still cared for the product and the company as if they were still working on DNF. ...

Ok, got a little side tracked....soo, looks like I had some spots to fill now,....done. Everyone was in place on the art team. People were learning, growing, geling ..becoming a team. Of course if took us a little bit of time but we all came together. We were getting lots of things done. The game was looking much better than it did when I got there. That was completely due to hard work on all fronts, design, programming and art.

Fast Forward to ...around Christmas 2007 ... someone had the bright idea to make a teaser trailer for DNF. I honestly don't remember who came up with the idea...Jay or Jeron,... one of those guys. The kicker was, it had to be done on our own time. George wanted us to be focused on getting the game done (between the hours of 9am-7pm) ;-) What I do in my spare time is none of his business ...lol. We never planned to release it, it was only supposed to be a surprise for George at the Christmas party. We all busted our butts for that trailer. I think it was well worth it. Everyone that could, pitched in. I'm very proud of not just the outcome but the effort and love that went into that project. It was a small victory for the team. It demonstrated what it takes to create something from scratch to finish in a short amount of time. This small project gave the team a boost of confidence that would set the tone for the coming new year.

Needless to say, George was visibly moved by the gesture........TBC....

[staffcarguy]

this will certainly put a lot of peoples speculations to rest and maybe clearify the story more of the last moments of the development of DNF and end a lot of speculation and rumors.

[dalbrech]

Interesting, though I find the "No problems worse then most Game Companies have" part hard to buy.
Maybe it is a case that the basic problems were not any worse, but 3dRealms management failed to see them and do anything about them until it had become a disaster.

[Kathy]

Then it means that the management itself was another problem. Big problem that barred the game from shipping. And most companies don't have this problem.

[Tea Monster]

 Lotan, on Jun 14 2009, 11:36 AM, said:

Then it means that the management itself was another problem. Big problem that barred the game from shipping. And most companies don't have this problem.

Not trying to downplay the events for anyone who has actually lost their jobs and is wondering how to support their families, but the games industry is a very volatile industry. Just in the Duke world, there is 'Endangered Species'. There are loads of other titles and studios which have suddenly bitten the dust. Us fanboys just go "Gosh, I was really looking forward to playing that!" while in the 'real' world there are a lot of people scrambling for new employment.

I knew one guy who worked for EA Tiburon as a play tester. He said it was great, there were XBox 360s in the break room and free soda and life was really good. Then they decided to move the release date back by 3 months on the title he was working on. Suddenly they didn't need play testers any more for 3 months and he and 200 others were out on the street that afternoon.

All the fanboys are going "OMGBBQ They just CANT DO THAT!" while sadly, they can, and it happens all the time, and to bigger and more connected companies than 3DR.

Ensemble Studios anyone?

[Jimmy]

Caine, one of the biggest dumbasses on Duke4.net!

[Ramen4ever]

Nice of T. Ray to explain.

[Kennerado]

He put the DNF shots back up on his site as well.

[zchri9]

Quote

Wild Ride Part III
Ok, so..."its been a long time, I shouldn't have left you..." Sorry about the gap, but its been a really busy couple of months.

Where was I... oh yeah. The video was a hit. No one was sure if George would even put the video out. When he decided to go ahead and drop it, all we could do was sit and wait to see what would happen. I thought it would make a nice headline but didn't think it would blow up like it did. We dropped it on Shacknews first and the demand for the video brought their servers to its knees. Not too shabby for a game that everyone joked about right? I'm not really sure how long the servers were down but I do know that day we proved a point. Love him or hate him, Duke was still in demand. People wanted to see the game, they wanted to see what many years of dev time looked like. Over all I think the feedback was 90% positive. 2+ million viewers on youtube can't all be wrong, right? This doesn't take into account the various other outlets that had the video linked to their sites.

I'd have to say, the next couple of months the crew was riding high. We used that positive feedback to push us even harder. We also used the negative feedback to make some changes to the models and textures. We even made some serious changes to some of the characters during this time. I know what you are thinking...of course you did... THATS why it was taking so long. Not at all, by this time we were turning around finish in-game models in about 3 weeks. Additionally, this didn't have any impact on design or programming progress. Production wise, we were on a good track, but we still needed more organization to get the whole team running at the same speed and in the same direction. What did we do.....we got a producer. Enter...."The Hook" (Brian Hook)..... TBC....

[Hendricks266]

There's more than Endangered Species that went unreleased. There's Duke Nukem 2D, Duke for Dreamcast (maybe?), and Duke Nukem: D-Day.

[Kathy]

Duke Nukem 2d? Is that an original side-scroller Duke Nukem Forever game?

[necroslut]

 Lotan, on Oct 10 2009, 08:59 AM, said:

Duke Nukem 2d? Is that an original side-scroller Duke Nukem Forever game?

Talking about that one, I've heard there is a screenshot of it. Does anyone have it (or even have seen it)?
Sorry for OT. ;

[OpenMaw]

 CultureShock, on Oct 9 2009, 06:38 PM, said:

I would never have hired Isaac. His vision and grip on things is embarrassingly poor. Look at his first public interview, his work, and his closing comments on the DNF project. The man is a clown.

Could someone post a link to his first public interview? I seem to recall it only vaguely.

[zchri9]

http://www.duke4.net...omment.news.170

[Jimmy]

I don't see a problem with him at all.

[OpenMaw]

 Captain Awesome, on Oct 10 2009, 06:29 PM, said:

I don't see a problem with him at all.

Me either.

[Jimmy]

Obvious troll is obvious.

[Jimmy]

Right there is the problem though, regardless of what I post I don't think it'd change your opinion.

[Jimmy]

 CultureShock, on Oct 11 2009, 06:52 PM, said:

It's possible but not likely I'll change my opinion but that's my call not yours. If you're not that interested in the reasons why I hold it or presenting anything that might influence it whose problem is that? Coming out of nowhere and calling people trolls then digging your heels in looks a bigger problem if you want to go down that path.

Of course, I am, afterall, a troll.

[Kathy]

Yeah. Because being a troll is way easier since you don't need to actually base your opinion on anything. You just need to shout it and say you're a troll to escape any explanation.

[Kathy]

 necroslut, on Oct 10 2009, 12:28 PM, said:

Talking about that one, I've heard there is a screenshot of it. Does anyone have it (or even have seen it)?
Sorry for OT. ;

"The abandoned 3D side-scroller version will never be released due to legal reasons, nor will any screenshots. Sorry."
http://www.planetduk...q/general.shtml

Don't know how valid is that, though.

[necroslut]

 Lotan, on Oct 12 2009, 02:06 AM, said:

"The abandoned 3D side-scroller version will never be released due to legal reasons, nor will any screenshots. Sorry."
http://www.planetduk...q/general.shtml

Don't know how valid is that, though.

I know, but I've heard there is a single screenshot floating around somewhere.

[peoplessi]

Those Blog posts have been the only interesting thing related to DNF in years. Well, besides the media leak.

[ultra tree 85!]

 CultureShock, on Oct 9 2009, 05:38 PM, said:

I would never have hired Isaac. His vision and grip on things is embarrassingly poor. Look at his first public interview, his work, and his closing comments on the DNF project. The man is a clown.

George's grip was the problem. Broussard obviously has no training in management or planning, and the result was that he wasted everyone's time by aimlessly moving in one direction, then abandoning it just as momentum was picking up. After this cycle occured 3-4 times, the money ran out and it was the end of the project.

[Kathy]

I still don't understand how George didn't understand this earlier. It's not like the development was cancelled in 2001. And yeah, he should have gone to some lectures about management or something.

[K100]

Quote

Wild Ride Part FOE
Ok, holiday travel...uh yeah, sitting in the terminal listening to some kid kcufing lose his mind. Really, parents... are you truly powerless to stop this kind of nonsense? I have a 15 yo and he was never like that.

ANY WAYYY... Looks like I have some time to blow, so it looks like as good of time as any to finish off this story, or at least this part of it. Ok, so the project was going well, better than it had been. The guys were starting to get up a head of steam, things were coming together, but we were still missing that "screw driver" to tighten it all up. I did what I could on the art side of things. I would raised a stink when things didn't make sense in the grand scheme of things, much to Georges' and the designers dismay. Those guys had their hands full and were making serious headway, but I needed what I needed for my guys to move forward. I'm selfish that way So as you can see, we had a little problem getting everyone synced up.

ENTER BRIAN HOOK (insert wu-tang sound effects). Ok for those that don't know Brian Hook, he had a reputation for being somewhat of a d-bag. I say that with the utmost respect because I love the guy. But that was then and this was now...BHook is not a d-bag. We couldn't have gotten as far as we did without him and 'that's my word son'. Bottom line, he has a strong personality, he's a get it done (right), no BS kind of dude. He was the perfect guy for the job. Brian knew what was broken and exactly how to fix it. Insert screw-driver and turn clockwise....DONE! Brian helped us shave the b-jive and focus on what needed to get done.

Months passed, problem after problem got solved. The team was hitting on all cylinders at this point. Everyone knew what DNF was and how it was going to turn out. f-ing cool ass itsh. No doubt. The team leads, Brian, Pollard, Chris, Rick and Myself were all on the same page kicking out some serious content, design and tech in an insanely small amount of time. Along with Georges/Dukes' off the wall, no holds barred style of situational humor, DNF had the makings of something many people hoped and prayed for (sans the haters)...nothing short of "bad-ass"™. ---how you like that JB

[Sir Tobbii]

Wow, this is probably the most interesting thing regarding DNF since... well, almost ever. Hope he'll get to part 5 soon.

[Kennerado]

You don't know the half of it.

[zchri9]

Quote

Wild Ride--- The Final Days
I have to say, this has been very therapeutic to say the least but it's time to bring this to a close. The last 6 months leading up to D-day where nothing less than awesome. I think everyone on the team had gotten to a point that any and everything that we created was dead on. We had created "the perfect storm". We had a team that knew the product/ip inside and out, we were nailing our goals and then some on a weekly basis, we had a plan for not only completion but for success, and we had a team with the talent, will, and drive to take this mutha-kcufr across the finish line. What more could you ask for?

The guys on the DNF team, a team 1/3 the size of the average game dev team, were pulling out all the stops. I can honestly say that everyone was in the zone at this point. Cat's would go home on the weekend and fix issues/improvements in their "spare time" and then come in on Monday and say things like, 'that animation issue you were asking about....I fixed it...yep' or, 'you know that feature we talk about maybe we'd get it in .... got it in on Sunday. I was like, damn man.. thanks a lot. These random acts of super-bad-ass-ness were like fuel for the fire. Guys would see/hear about others on the team doing stuff like that and it would inspire them to do something like that as well. I remember one of the programmers, in his spare time, got the code running on a (non-PC) platform. This team was seriously operating on another level.

So, as you can see... the light at the end of the tunnel was brighter than ever. We knew our time frame of completion was short but no one really knew how short it truly was. To say that I was shocked by the news,.. naw... I had a feeling something wasn't right in the last couple of weeks but only in hind sight can you connect the dots. Even if I had figured it out... what could I do about it, not a gosh darn thing. Lol, I said gosh darn, anyway....We all gathered for the announcement that internal development would cease on DNF. That's pretty much it. As crappy as it was 3Dr were still class acts about it. They let guys work on their portfolios after they had officially shut down. They help tons of people find jobs. They invited big name companies to come in and 'head hunt' from the 3dr employees. 3dr did everything they could to minimize the impact the loss of a job would bring. I've never seen that kind of thoughfulness in my dealings in the industry. Steve, George, and Scott are class acts, genuinely gracious individuals. I don't think any of that was told in the "wired" article. That's why it had to be told here. segway..

Okay, so I read the "Wired" article "Learn to Let Go..." I have to admit it was very well written and the guy did some serious research considering he didn't get much help for any 3dr people. I have to applaud Clive for that. AND for the fact he can recognize great talent when he 'sees it'

"Many of those he hired were high-powered creatives, like Tramell Isaac, a 12-year veteran of the industry" (never knew I was "high-powered until then, good lookin' out...oh yeah, that's 15 year vet but anyway who's counting.

Clive, I'm sure you meant nothing by it but I do have to take offense to this line in the article..."On the last day, they gathered for a group photo. They were video game programmers, artists, level builders, artificial-intelligence experts. Their team was — finally — giving up, declaring defeat, and disbanding. So they headed down to the lobby of their building in Garland, Texas, to smile for the camera. They arranged themselves on top of their logo: a 10-foot-wide nuclear-radiation sign, inlaid in the marble floor.-----let me preface this next section by saying I'm not upset by this at all, it is just not accurate or indicative of the people that I worked with.

Why do I take offense to it?... because NO ONE gave up. Not a single person on that team wanted it to end, let alone end the way it did. As a matter of fact I know for sure that many people made sure that they wrapped up what they were working on and checked their data in before leaving that very day. Not because they were told to but because they cared about the project. They respected DNF enough to leave it with pride.

No one declared defeat, if it would have been possible, many if not all of the guys on the team would have worked on the game for free in order to finish it. To say that we gave up is like packing up the finish line and saying the runners still on the course were quitters because they didn't get there before the staging area was broken down. The guys on the DNF team were/are soldiers. We fought a battle that no one said could be won. Every time we put something out it was 50/50 love/hate..."get it done already"etc.. People had talked so much crap about the game and the company that it easy to recruit only those that cared to get the game done, lol, because they were the only ones that would touch it...ha..myself included. Everyone on the DNF team had to be very talented and thick skinned. We knew what we were getting into, so don't shed a tear for my Argentina. Bottom line, we came, we saw, and we conquered and as far as I'm concerned, we completed DNF.

Much love goes out to ALL the DNF fans and respect for EVERYONE on the last DNF team. I would gladly go to war with you guys again.

The End ........ ?

http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/

[Psyrgery]

The last 6 months leading up to D-day