[zwieback]

awesome read thank you very much charlie

[NightFright]

Quite insightful indeed. I already thought that Gus was fake since the very beginning, especially since he didn't fit at all into the strip bar with his redneck attire... xD But great to know the guys actually didn't cheat that much with the trailer back then. And I remember when I saw that waitress girl in closeup view, I was amazed by the character details and the graphics in general. Ten years later, I have to admit I am less impressed by it... ^^

[Honza]

awesome thx for sharing now I want 2001 version even more...

[X-Vector]

NightFright, on 09 June 2011 - 01:53 AM, said:

Quite insightful indeed. I already thought that Gus was fake since the very beginning, especially since he didn't fit at all into the strip bar with his redneck attire...

Wieder, on 08 June 2011 - 07:56 PM, said:

Clarification: The ideas expressed for those sort of things were definitely a part of the DNF "intent" at the time (otherwise the models wouldn't have been built). .

I don't see how this wouldn't have worked; the "fish out of water" premise could have made for a nice setup.

[Madmaxwell]

Really cool to know this stuff : D

[Sinisterambo]

Yeah its great to know these details That 2001 game was a half life killer. Also you mentioned the Blue Guy - was this supposed to be Dr. Proton?

[Sangman]

Like the others I had expected way more things to be fake. So was there actual playable stuff outside of what was in the trailer?

[themaniacboy]

I can't believe this, many guys at 3DRealms said back then that it was totally fake and very little was playable.
Well that beats that rumor.

Many thanks for this.

[X-Vector]

Then again I remember a comment from Ruben Cabrera, claiming that what we saw in the 2001 trailer was just the tip of the iceberg.

[zwieback]

Sangman, on 09 June 2011 - 04:31 AM, said:

Like the others I had expected way more things to be fake. So was there actual playable stuff outside of what was in the trailer?

quoting mr. blum himself (last podcast):

ELIZABETH: So let’s skip in time to 2001 when that famous trailer happened. Can you talk about created that trailer and what the time period for the game really like? What shape was the game in?
ALLEN: Back then the game was in really good shape. We had a lot of maps, there was a lot of game you could play through. It was definitely a highlight of everything we had at that point. Work still needed to be done past that, obviously. So everything in that trailer; there’s a lot of good stuff. Mostly a lot of concepts. There was that one scene when you’re driving down the street and that big army ant or whatever was chasing you. We had just recently got that in at the time so we had a horrible animation of him kind of patting his head ant-style that was kind of weird. But as far as the state of the game, we had a lot of content but most of the stuff needed a lot of polish.

[Malgon]

I definitely would like to listen to all the podcasts if there's more info about the earlier builds, but I think I'll wait until I've finished the game first, just in case there's spoiler material about the current version in them.

[Splat]

No ass.

[PokeThePower]

X-Vector, on 09 June 2011 - 12:54 AM, said:

Just makes me wish that Gearbox would release extra footage from that era, but I guess it won't be happening.

I don't think there is any footage from the 2001 era to be released honestly. Not unless an old build was brought back to life and captured from there, but even then I know a lot of the rendering won't work on current cards so we'd have to go find 10 year old systems. There is some behind the scenes stuff from around 2004-2006 that I hope is in the footage they put on the disk. Interested to see what there is.

Sinisterambo, on 09 June 2011 - 04:14 AM, said:

Yeah its great to know these details That 2001 game was a half life killer. Also you mentioned the Blue Guy - was this supposed to be Dr. Proton?

EDF Freeze Ray guy.

Sangman, on 09 June 2011 - 04:31 AM, said:

Like the others I had expected way more things to be fake. So was there actual playable stuff outside of what was in the trailer?

I can still mentally play through in detail the entire strip club and lake mead levels I was working on at the time. As well as a good chunk of the other guy's levels.

Glad you guys enjoyed the trip down memory lane. Looking forward to the launch party this weekend, then the release over here next week, then some playing... and then finally hopefully an entirely new Duke game that I don't know anything about to look forward to. I'm pretty excited about Aliens and Furious 4 though, so those will hold me over till then.

[Wulf]

Does anyone know the reason why they dropped the 2001 unreal 1 engine version? The game looked stunning back then.
I saw the video from 2003 and it looks like they were already experimenting on another engine. It didn't looked as polished as the 2001 trailer.
The 2001 version would have been a MASSIVE hit. Why did they decide to move on? :\

[OpenMaw]

Wulf, on 09 June 2011 - 08:15 AM, said:

Does anyone know the reason why they dropped the 2001 unreal 1 engine version? The game looked stunning back then.
I saw the video from 2003 and it looks like they were already experimenting on another engine. It didn't looked as polished as the 2001 trailer.
The 2001 version would have been a MASSIVE hit. Why did they decide to move on? :\

From what I remember reading in an interview was basically after E3 2001 everyone at 3DR was pumped up to really get into the development and finish things, but George continued in the same sort of direction he had been for a long while, wanting to add new things and experiment, and I think as the years rolled by some people felt the 2001 stuff was already becoming outdated. (Hence the purchasing of a new physics engine and hiring a bunch of people.).

[Kristian Joensen]

Well the restart was in already in 2002. So is not really a "as the years rolled by" thing. Meqon was in 2004 so that was a post-restart thing.

Edit:

"There's nothing new from the pre-2003 period included, just as with the artbook in the BoSE."

X-Vector, how do you know this? Have you seen Extra_DNF_2003.bik and Extra_DNF_2006.bik?

Edit2:

I am stupid you said "pre-2003". I apologize.

[PokeThePower]

Wulf, on 09 June 2011 - 08:15 AM, said:

Does anyone know the reason why they dropped the 2001 unreal 1 engine version?

Aside from the Quake 2 -> Unreal change... no version was ever dropped. They were all just step by step evolutions. Sometime after 2001 there was the switch to a more Doom 3 type lighting style that eventually caused a shift in direction, but even that rendering change was a gradual process and didn't happen all at once. The core game mechanics/ideas were kept through that change though they also would evolve as well such as switching away from the bug creatures and infested humans to the more classic ones and octababies, etc. Switching away from standard health to an "ego system" (not the same ego system that is shipping).

Sometime after 2006 there does seem to have been a big change in design direction and feel (2 weapons, regenerative health, etc)... but considering that was 5 years ago I imagine even those were still somewhat gradual changes.

Hope that helps.

[Aldo]

Some unreleased (I think) screenshots from 1999-2002 are featured in the extras as well. They look straight from a playable build. The 2003-2006 gameplay videos aren't very good IMHO.

[PokeThePower]

Duke Rocks, on 08 June 2011 - 07:43 PM, said:

So that guy's name is Vasquez?

Not a guy. It's a Duke game... so it's a pop culture reference...

[aftli]

Fox Mulder, on 08 June 2011 - 08:19 PM, said:

The game includes these videos

Extra_DNF_2003.bik 61,446,520
Extra_DNF_2006.bik 59,551,284
Extra_E3_1998.bik 86,773,256
Extra_E3_2001.bik 64,270,708
Extra_TriptychTrailer.bik 51,213,452
Extra_Xmas_2007.bik 21,521,680

2003 and 2006 builds videos, and the Tryptych trailer, from before Gearbox was involved. And I hope the 1998 and 2001 trailers will be remastered versions.

Hooly crap I just watched the Extra_DNF_2003.bik. DNF looked like Doom 3 in 2003! Seriously!

EDIT: I just watched the 2006 one too. It honestly looked better in 2003.

[Mr_Blastman]

I hope they at least left the riot shield in the final DNF product...

That was probably the coolest thing I remember from the 2001 video. Imagine the skill of being able to use it. Sadly, I doubt it is still in the game.

[PokeThePower]

aftli, on 09 June 2011 - 10:53 AM, said:

Hooly crap I just watched the Extra_DNF_2003.bik. DNF looked like Doom 3 in 2003! Seriously!

EDIT: I just watched the 2006 one too. It honestly looked better in 2003.

Curses! I'm staring at the BIK files in my steam directory... but I can't play them (even with the RAD Game Tools player). So close!!!

[zwieback]

Wieder, on 09 June 2011 - 10:15 AM, said:

Aside from the Quake 2 -> Unreal change... no version was ever dropped. They were all just step by step evolutions. Sometime after 2001 there was the switch to a more Doom 3 type lighting style that eventually caused a shift in direction, but even that rendering change was a gradual process and didn't happen all at once. The core game mechanics/ideas were kept through that change though they also would evolve as well such as switching away from the bug creatures and infested humans to the more classic ones and octababies, etc. Switching away from standard health to an "ego system" (not the same ego system that is shipping).

Sometime after 2006 there does seem to have been a big change in design direction and feel (2 weapons, regenerative health, etc)... but considering that was 5 years ago I imagine even those were still somewhat gradual changes.

Hope that helps.

i wonder if there are still left-overs of your work in the final version keep us updated with your thoughts on the final version..
playing the game is a weird surreal experience, but it must be a very special moment for you too i guess, because you've been working on this game - and still it is not the game you have been working on

[Fox Mulder]

Duke Rocks, on 08 June 2011 - 07:43 PM, said:

So that guy's name is Vasquez?

[Splat]

Looks like a guy to me.

[Fox Mulder]

Splat, on 09 June 2011 - 11:45 AM, said:

Looks like a guy to me.

Vasquez is not amused.

[aftli]

Wieder, on 09 June 2011 - 11:20 AM, said:

Curses! I'm staring at the BIK files in my steam directory... but I can't play them (even with the RAD Game Tools player). So close!!!

You mean I have seen stuff Charlie Wiederhold hasn't? I'm really surprised somebody like you who worked on the game so long couldn't get their hands on a pre-release copy. I was also really surprised to see that George Broussard seems to have gotten the same access to it as you have. From his Twitter posts, he was downloading and playing the demo just at the same time and in the same way as we all were.

I would totally send you the videos if I didn't think anybody would be all up in arms about piracy. To be clear, I will be (very impatiently) waiting until my Balls of Steel comes on Tuesday to play. I was thinking of doing a Steam pre-load also, but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra $45 just to play the game a few hours early. It might just be though.

[Hank]

Fox Mulder, on 09 June 2011 - 11:56 AM, said:

Vasquez is not amused.

Hank is!

[KareBear]

Charlie can you list of the enemies that were in Dnf while you worked on it please?

[X-Vector]

Wieder, on 09 June 2011 - 07:55 AM, said:

I don't think there is any footage from the 2001 era to be released honestly. Not unless an old build was brought back to life and captured from there, but even then I know a lot of the rendering won't work on current cards so we'd have to go find 10 year old systems.

So no screenshot or video directory on some old HD somewhere in George Broussard's private collection?

Kristian Joensen, on 09 June 2011 - 09:34 AM, said:

X-Vector, how do you know this? Have you seen Extra_DNF_2003.bik and Extra_DNF_2006.bik?

Those aren't pre-2003.

Aldo, on 09 June 2011 - 10:19 AM, said:

Some unreleased (I think) screenshots from 1999-2002 are featured in the extras as well. They look straight from a playable build.

That's interesting, care to elaborate?

aftli, on 09 June 2011 - 10:53 AM, said:

Hooly crap I just watched the Extra_DNF_2003.bik. DNF looked like Doom 3 in 2003! Seriously!

You say that as if it's a good thing.