[oasiz]

Duke Nukem Advance for PC [Playtest]

!! NOTE !!
If you have played the previous version from last summer, this one has countless changes since then.
This is a PLAYTEST RELEASE, we're 98% there but some known issues still remain and are listed further ahead.
Please leave feedback for any issues & suggestions you might have, thanks!



Released in 2002 as a Duke Nukem spin-off title, Duke Advance sought to bring a proper Duke3D-like experience on a portable handheld for the first time.

What you get is a full new campaign with 19 new maps that's been tailored for the hardware, complete with familiar enemies, plenty of new ones and even a new weapon in the form of a "lead cannon" -- An extra powerful quad barreled shotgun!

This project acts as a "what-if" port from GBA to Duke3D, utilizing original assets such as sounds, graphics and levels with any necessary conversion and fixes to present them inside Build engine.
You'll get to experience all the unique GBA content but with all the bells & whistles of today!

For those who are curious, DN:A itself runs on the proprietary Southpaw Engine developed by Torus games which is more known for powering the GBA port of Doom II. The GBA adaptation of Duke in many ways can be thought of as a mod for this engine, making DN:A mechanically and technically quite reminiscent of Doom's gameplay and limitations.
Doom and Build being different engines with a lot of subtle differences on game play, a bunch of work went into adapting Doom-specific things to Build, some times foregoing purity in favor of game play.






DOWNLOAD
https://github.com/b.../heads/main.zip
You will find the git repo there as well.


RUNNING
- Git clone this repo or download
- Extract to a path
- Provide valid Duke3D 1.5 GRP file in the same path (~43 megs)
- Run the provided eduke32.exe (or supply own) -- Pick 'DNA4PC' as custom content -> Start
NOTE: We haven't tested with GNU/Linux yet, case sensitivity issues expected. Will be fixed later!

KNOWN ISSUES
- Customization is still WIP and not very bullet proof, 2nd page is not functional yet.. more on next section
- Later maps use maskwalls for vines instead of sprites, changing this is on the agenda
- Player is slightly shorter than the GBA original
- Automatic viewscreen thing is a bit iffy as the player can immediately move away
- Bullet trails in parallax sky (Also an issue in d3d)
- Freezer works differently due to code stupidities we didn't want to figure out just yet
- Palette swaps seen in few maps are not accurate to original

CUSTOMIZATION
As with all revisionist changes, there will be a lot of preferences on what's acceptable and what's not.

To make things simple, we have two presets that should make this easy: PC ENHANCED: Keeps all the new GBA stuff in but also the following from below: Alarm reduction, Autoshade and voicing with duke3d oneliners GBA ORIGINAL: Foregoes all of the above enhancements/"improvements" where applicable.

If you're still not satisfied then you can further customize your experience from the in-game "customize" menues.

- Alarm sound: Lessen the gaudy loud alarm you hear in some maps as the GBA original is rather obnoxious, sounding roughly 10 times and retriggering after a while.
- (NOTIMPLEMENTED) Step sound: Disables the step sounds which are new to the GBA version
- Cutscenes: Requires manual toggling of cutscenes via in-game triggers. GBA has these automatic
- Autoshade: Applies some much needed auto-generated basic 3D shading for walls and ceilings to make them pop more as the GBA original lacks any.
- Voicing: Apply fitting duke3d oneliners for cutscenes or have the whole game voiced by Gianni Matragrano! GBA original is completely silent aside from gameplay.
- Crosshair: Choose between 9 crosshairs
More may be added as per feedback.. let us know in the comments!

CREDITS
Voxelvoid - Initial work, Export of maps & texture assets.
branung - Project lead, Main code, Art, Mapping, Design
oasiz - Map effects, Editor support, Additional code & Design
Dzierzan - Lead cannon HUD recreation ART
Jimmy Gnosis - Pipebomb HUD tile fixes
Hendricks266 - GBA 3DR title graphics palette conversion assistance
Gianni Matragrano - Voice actor for Duke's lines in cutscenes when enabled.