[dukeadvance]

I have always been a fan of Duke Nukem. I remember playing Duke Nukem II when it came out on my old 286 computer with Soundblaster, and my Gravis Ultra Game Pad.
I played Duke Nukem 3D when it came out, and instantly became one of my favorite games of all time.

When the GameBoy Advance recieved its very own Duke Nukem title, I was stoked. The game in itself was pretty fun. 19 original levels, weapons and monsters from Duke 3D, plus some new bosses and weapons.

I have always though, since the game itself borrows heavily from Duke 3D, looking pretty much like the same game with new levels, just scaled down, that it would not be too hard to recreate it with the Duke Nukem 3D engine. 95% of the textures, sounds, and sprites from the game are already available in the dozens of official expansions, and hundreds of user created content. Not to mention only 19 levels, so its not a huge under taking.

It could even be split up into episodes;

Episode 1: Area 51
Episode 2: Temple of Amun
Epsidoe 3: Sydney Australia
Episode 4: Alien Home Base

Just a thought.

Dont flame me if this has already been done. New here, looked through the 3D Realms Forums and Duke4, and didnt find anything related to what I am posting about.

[SwissCm]

It hasn't been done, no. You're welcome to try.

I think you're underestimating the amount of unique textures there are, from what I saw most of the wall and floor textures are actually unique to the game. It also has unique weapons, item pickups and a different HUD. Some CON scripting would need to be done as well.

The game engine used for the GBA game isn't Build, instead it uses a 2.5d engine made exclusively for the GBA. The Doom 2 GBA port uses it as well. Because of this it may be quite difficult to rip textures from the ROM since they would most likely be compressed. Also the Duke Nukem Advance's levels don't use any build specific features like flip doors, sprite floors and overlapping sectors so adding stuff like that may be a good idea, as well as extending the rather small levels.

[ReaperMan]

It would be alot of work for sure, but it would be nice if someone made a Duke Nukem Advance TC.

[dukeadvance]

You can make it a hard project by being that technical about it. I wasn't suggesting to port over the engine and every minute detail and exact texture, I was just suggesting a level pack. The majoraty of the textures in Duke 3D are close enough to do a moderatley accurate recreation. The only new textures that would be 100% necessary are some Egyptian themed textures, and the back ground image for the Sydney Australia levels and Temple of Amun levels.

The weapons, there arent enough "unique" weapons to worry about pitching them. The Desert Eagle and Quadruple Barrel Shotgun will not be missed I am sure; standard Duke arsenal would work just fine here.

Not saying I could undertake the project myself, I cannot create levels for the life of me. I am an artist, my ability stops at creating textures and sprites. So if anyone wants to create the levels, I would be more than happy to whip up some Egyptian textures and a Grey Alien sprite.

If you want it to be 100% accurate to the T, it could be a big project, however I dont really think its necessary to get too detailed with it.

[SwissCm]

I've always followed the philosophy of "Doing it right or not at all". Pehaps that's why I never finish anything.

[Headless_Horseman]

dukeadvance, on Nov 5 2010, 05:20 PM, said:

The weapons, there arent enough "unique" weapons to worry about pitching them. The Desert Eagle and Quadruple Barrel Shotgun will not be missed I am sure

By the way, they were already coded and imported in the old (and good) Nuclear Showdown Mod.

[ReaperMan]

dukeadvance, on Nov 5 2010, 10:20 PM, said:

I am an artist, my ability stops at creating textures and sprites.

Level design is an art...

[High Treason]

I guess in Build it is a form of Vector art or Line art.

[ReaperMan]

High Treason, on Nov 7 2010, 01:57 AM, said:

I guess in Build it is a form of Vector art or Line art.

Its more then that, your designing rooms, building, outside areas,etc.; So Its art.

[Simon_Croes]

I was bored so I started to port Duke Nukem Advance to eDuke32.
The weapons are almost done, including their sound effects.
I also did some background changes from the menu etc. nothing really difficult.
It's a little start. Getting the textures in eDuke32 will be a pain in the ass.

Here a few screens from the weapons and backgrounds. I know these are very pixelated but
what do you expect from Gameboy Advance

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[Jimmy]

Why don't you just use the original kick, shotgun, etc sprites?

[Simon_Croes]

Well that would be pretty weird, seeing the firstgun (desert eagle) being pretty lowres compared to the shotgun that hasn't been replaced.
And that wouldn't be a port then.

[Lunick]

You also need to make the maps.

[Danukem]

I think that starting by ripping the weapon sprites is exactly the wrong way to make an EDuke32 project based on DNA. The weapons in DNA are low-res because it is a game on an old hand-held system. That's not something worth emulating. Just use the normal Duke 3D sprites, or if you want them to be more like DNA use higher res ones from the Duke 64 TC or some other mod.

I would start by asking the following question: what is it about DNA that is lacking in Duke 3D? The first thing that comes to mind is the levels. Maybe there are also some gameplay differences that are worth bringing over, but my understanding is that it actually lacks certain gameplay elements from Duke 3D, and not vice versa. So really it just comes down to the levels. If you can port them, then you have a viable project on your hands. If not, then you don't. In my opinion it is not necessary to rip any of the textures or sprites. You could make a level pack with all the geometry and gameplay of the DNA levels but using Duke 3D textures and sprites with appropriate substitutes. It would not be a true port, or even a TC, but it would be a blast.

There are already emulators for Gameboy Advance that work perfectly and have many cool features, such as graphic filters. GBA ROMs are easy to find, and a perfect port of the game made for EDuke32 would be no more legal/illegal than downloading the ROM and playing it on Visualboy Advance. Therefore, there is absolutely no reason to make a port of DNA for EDuke32. It would be a complete waste of time. A level pack made for vanilla Duke 3D at least makes some sense, because then one could play the levels in either vanilla Duke 3D or with various mods that support vanilla maps, so it would offer something new.

[Jimmy]

Exactly. In fact, with some editing, the Desert Eagle doesn't look too bad, but still I'd make a brand new graphic set, personally, because it lacks Duke3D style reload frames. The SMG can be easily made, as well as the Lead Cannon, because they're just edits of the Shotgun. James has already made the Lead Cannon for his Nuclear Showdown mod. If you prefer the more shiny appearance of the Pipebomb, that can be easily done as well.

[Micky C]

While DT's suggestion for a vanilla map pack makes sense, it would also lower the appeal and uniqueness of the set considerably. It wouldn't feel at all like DNA. Now I'd admit that I've never played the game so I could be on the wrong track, but from what I could gather the maps were simple by duke nukem standards at least with mouse control, so that not only would it be just another map pack, it'll be a sub-par map pack

I'd rather play a simple mod for DNA with the levels like captain awesome was talking about with the levels then have them vanilla. The the duke 64 beta comes to mind, but others might have different tastes.

[bullerbullerseven]

To me the DNA game and DN3D have different feelings. The most important choice here as i see it is. Do you want the mod to feel like DN3D or DNA. If you want it to feel like DNA then i think you should change the sprites too. If you don't want it to feel like DNA then i think you should only make the maps.

[Danukem]

Jhect, on Dec 30 2010, 11:11 AM, said:

To me the DNA game and DN3D have different feelings. The most important choice here as i see it is. Do you want the mod to feel like DN3D or DNA. If you want it to feel like DNA then i think you should change the sprites too. If you don't want it to feel like DNA then i think you should only make the maps.

If you want it to feel like DNA then you should just play DNA on an actual Gameboy or use an emulator. That was my point.

[Micky C]

Oh I missed that, sorry. I'm using a *very* small screen. I've never played handheld games (except for touchscreens) let alone emulators for them and I wouldn't know the first thing about them. Besides that, I don't have any motivation to play the original DNA except for maybe if it was placed right in front of me on a gameboy, and a duke3d mod is about as close as I'll get to that.

[bullerbullerseven]

DeeperThought, on Dec 30 2010, 08:51 PM, said:

If you want it to feel like DNA then you should just play DNA on an actual Gameboy or use an emulator. That was my point.

Yes i know. But you can still make it run with eduke and make it look better with the DNA feeling.
Lets look at it this way:
No matter what a map pack would be really cool. Also doable.
When that is done. Now we have the map pack. Why not just add the DNA feeling?

[SpiderFighter]

Hi everyone...I'm new to the board and found this thread on Google. Just wanted to offer my thoughts...I actually converted the first episode back in'02 or '03 (can't believe it's that old already!). As I recall, the finished maps felt like they needed to be tricked out a bit...very generic and clunky feeling on a PC, although they rocked on a GBA. For a basic example, I remember the room in episode one where there are several ammo clips in an "L" pattern leading the player to the level's only secret. That kind of thing feels sub-par in a PC level. Still, it was great fun to do, and I remember getting similar results just using the textures already in the game (with some palette changes).

I actually was getting back into the scene and thought I'd resurrect the project, and here you guys are, so...fire it up!