[MusicallyInspired]

Relax, everyone. If it's a bad game it'll still be bad, if it's a good game it'll be good. There's no need to convince anybody one way or the other. We're all big boys and girls who can think for ourselves. We won't be fooled into liking the game unless someone tells us beforehand that it sucks. Stop trying to undermine it before it comes out. It's unnecessary.

xMobilemux, you're being a douche.

[el zee]

Hello,

My name is Leon Zawada, AKA el zee, I have been working with Fred at interceptor for about two years now. You may know me from my doom TC "Return of the triad", I also worked on ROTT13, and helped with the apogee throwback pack, and the DN2 port for iOS. (I added those sunglasses to the player sprites, heh)

A strange cult of personallity seems to have emerged on this forum around Fred. Fred is the biggest duke fan I know, it makes ZERO sense that he would lie to anyone about what's going on.
The amount of work he/we we've done to get where we are is insane. ROTT was made on a hope and a prayer on the shortest timeline with basically no budget. We basically had to push the game for release when we did, with more time it would have been a much more refined game. We've learned a lot of lessons from that experience, which means our next project won't suffer the same consequence. If we hadn't made ROTT, Apogee (and possibly 3DR) probably would have just faded away.

The heart of the issue that we have with communication is that there is a very complicated piece of litigation going on between 3DR, and Gearbox; certain events have happened that we didn't count on. We wish we could tell you guys what it's really about, and hopefully we can reveal what the real story is when everything is resovled.

Now, our upcoming game is going to be revealed in a few days, it's going to be a very exciting game. It has a ton of awesome features and is mega fun. Everyone on the interceptor team is a huge fan of 3DR and Apogee, we hope to keep up the legacy of making awesome games. Please don't jump to conclusions just yet...

[OpenMaw]

Frederik Schreiber, on 13 May 2014 - 03:57 AM, said:

We are all professionals here - Let's start acting like it.
We are very exciting about the game we are about to reveal, but we do not tolerate harassing messages.

I know for a fact that what was posted on your page was not a "harassing" message. It was a legitimate gripe with the way you conduct your business. You've outright lied about things in the wake of the legal clusterfuck that took place. You also tend to act like a rockstar, and it's going to bite you in the ass when you face plant on the stage. Don't you see that?

See, i'm glad to hear you are very excited, but, you screwed up. You clearly announced too early, you assumed you had legal rights to something you did not. Let that hype train a-roll right on in to the train station, sir! That's the way professionals conduct themselves? It sure seems to be the way that "professionals" who ever get their mits anywhere near the Duke Nukem franchise seem to behave. Someone needs to add "Duke's Curse" to urban dictionary or something.

Look, I have no lack of sympathy regarding the legal turbulence of this franchise, but you have to be honest with your audience at that point and not continue to jerk them around. Omission, silence, and misdirection are poor practices as a developer. Stating that you never "officially" announced a Duke game for one, when you know full well that isn't true. We had a name, a website, and a synopsis of the plot. The fact that you couldn't just say things had to be changed says a lot. We didn't need details, but the truth would have been nice. I don't know why you guys chose to do it that way. Maybe you were afraid people would stop caring. That's sad if it's true. You shouldn't have to lean on nostalgic love to get results. I know that Interceptor has some talented people, but your management of PR on this project up to this point has been, in the words of Stephen Lynch "Fucking. Awful."

Personally I don't even mind if "the game (you) are about to reveal" is not a Duke game. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. Doesn't bother me if you had to change course because of legal concerns either. What bothers me, and Mobile, and others, is that you have kept up the facade that you were still making a Duke Nukem game. Yes, that's lying. You can call that harassment, you can call it whatever you want, but your community has told you how they feel. They have had enough of the games. The only game we want to play is the game you're going to charge us money for. Not these head games. Not these media blitz bullshit games. You want to interact with the community and I respect that, but what comes with the territory is honesty.

I've already covered the nitty gritty details in the DN:MD thread. Garner some humility, and take some of the advice into consideration. The damage is done for this project is concerned. In future.

[Damien_Azreal]

Frederik Schreiber, on 13 May 2014 - 04:01 AM, said:

We have a zero tolerance policy about personally harassing anyone on the team....

Sorry to say, if you don't want people on the team harassed... you are in the wrong industry.
It will happen. And the more you try to "fight" it by saying you have a policy, and blocking people... the worse it will get.

You have to have thick skin and roll with whatever is thrown at you. Truth, lies... fact or fiction. You've put yourself, and the members of your team in a spot that makes them targets.
It's part of being in this industry, and it's not something you can get away from.
It's fine to be professional, but, pointing out on a public forum that xMobilemux "harassed" you on Facebook isn't professional. That didn't need to be brought up here, and continuing any form of a public discussion/argument isn't professional either.
Either ignore it, or take it to a private message.

Simple matter of fact. The further you go in this industry, the more hate you will gather. The more comments and negativity that will be pushed your way, and that of the people on your team. Unless it's something you truly believe you can address in a civil manor and improve... the best bet is to ignore it. From a business move, if your running a company... you don't want to get caught up in debates on the internet.

[xMobilemux]

Is it really so illegal for you to just come out and say "No we're not making a Duke Nukem game, complications have risen, we're sorry" or "This game with an obvious female character is not related to that obvious Duke game we were making".
Those will be forgiven more than using Duke Nukem to hype up a completely different game.

[Frederik Schreiber]

xMobilemux, on 08 May 2014 - 02:45 PM, said:

Website looks great Fred Also it was very nice to hear you'll still be using the old 3DR logo.

Are you going to redesign the 3DR forum?

The new 3DR forum will get a small re-design and a software update, but will mostly remain the same

[Hank]

el zee, on 13 May 2014 - 05:02 AM, said:

A strange cult of personallity seems to have emerged on this forum around Fred.

Really? Cult? Fred is a master of hype. The forum has not changed, it's a small but well informed community of members. Nothing strange about it, let's just hope Fred does not do a facebook here. If you can't stand the heat, don't hype and stay out of the kitchen.

[Kristian Joensen]

Commando Nukem, how do you know that they don't have the right to use Duke in Mass Destruction? Who made you judge in the case brought by Gearbox? Have you read the agreement between 3DR and GBX? Have you seen the game? I see no reason to conclude anything other than that 3D Realms has the right to create Duke Nukem Survivor and that Mass Destruction is that game. Gearbox even concedes the former. Their mere claim that Mass Destruction isn't Survivor doesn't make it so. If they wanted they could sue practically anyone including you. Doesn't mean their lawsuit has any merits.

[Kristian Joensen]

xMobilemux, on 13 May 2014 - 05:12 AM, said:

Is it really so illegal for you to just come out and say "No we're not making a Duke Nukem game, complications have risen, we're sorry" or "This game with an obvious female character is not related to that obvious Duke game we were making".
Those will be forgiven more than using Duke Nukem to hype up a completely different game.

It may not be illegal as such but it is doubtfull that it is legally advisable to do so.

[xMobilemux]

Kristian Joensen, on 13 May 2014 - 05:23 AM, said:

It may not be illegal as such but it is doubtfull that it is legally advisable to do so.

OK fine, but is it illegal to remove the #dukenukem and #alloutofgum from the websites twitter feed, is it illegal to change the website domain to something that doesn't still reference Duke Nukem?
Commando Nukem is spot on, honesty is key, if Interceptor just came out and admitted that they made a mistake and can no longer make a Duke game or just gave some honest hints to it, sure I'd be disappointed and angry, so would pretty much all of Interceptors current audience, but it would show that they are faithful and honest with their community and it takes a big company to admit their mistakes, but saying you never announced anything Duke related when you obviously did and letting an obviously not Duke game be hyped up on the Duke name and revealing a completely different game is a flat out lie of Gearbox proportions and is a very very bad thing for a small company like Interceptor, also so is blocking someone for revealing said lies.
Does Interceptor really want their 2nd game and the first game from a reborn 3D Realms to be a flat out lie because they screwed up?

Interceptor still has 45 hours to confess before it's proven innocent or guilty.

[Tea Monster]

They may be waiting for the court case to finish before saying anything either way about Duke or Bombshell.

The 'cult' may have something to do with him being the face of the new 3DR, who seem suddenly willing to share their archives with the fans. Full-blown religions have started from less.

[OpenMaw]

Kristian Joensen, on 13 May 2014 - 05:20 AM, said:

Commando Nukem, how do you know that they don't have the right to use Duke in Mass Destruction? Who made you judge in the case brought by Gearbox? Have you read the agreement between 3DR and GBX? Have you seen the game? I see no reason to conclude anything other than that 3D Realms has the right to create Duke Nukem Survivor and that Mass Destruction is that game. Gearbox even concedes the former. Their mere claim that Mass Destruction isn't Survivor doesn't make it so. If they wanted they could sue practically anyone including you. Doesn't mean their lawsuit has any merits.

Hyperbole. I don't have to see the game, or be the judge, to piece together what has happened. You can continue to defend them if you wish, or you can look at the history and the evidence that shows they had to change the game around due to the legal Situation. We've talked about this at length already. You just don't want to accept it. Fine. Not my psychosis to worry about.


Just a basic time line.

One of several images posted on facebook that were then pulled down because, "OOPS WE REVEALED TEH GAME." Reveals this was in fact a Duke Nukem game. One of several showing blurry images of concept art related to Duke Nukem Mass Destruction:



Website as originally presented



Plot synopsis hidden in alien text, translated prematurely(oops):











http://egmr.net/2014...out-duke-nukem/

"We have never officially announced anything in relation to Duke." - Frederik Schreiber See website, plot synopsis, concept art, and Duke related remarks on twitter and facebook pre-lawsuit.




Now:




The current website, which was initially redirecting from "All Out of Gum" is now "No Gum Needed" which can clearly be understood that Duke has been taken out of the picture. They've either replaced him with Bombshell, or Bombshell was in the game, and is now standing as the lead character. That's it. That's all it is.

[xMobilemux]

Also JSJ confirms he's not involved.

[Frederik Schreiber]

He is - Jon is voicing a few characters in the game. Our Villain for instance, is voiced by Jon st. John

[xMobilemux]

Hm, ok then what was with the "nope"?

[OpenMaw]

Frederik Schreiber, on 13 May 2014 - 06:04 AM, said:

He is - Jon is voicing a few characters in the game. Our Villain for instance, is voiced by Jon st. John

Well, Hell, that will be cool. Always glad to hear JSJ doing more roles. He sometimes unfortunately gets saddled to the one character, though he doesn't really seem to mind it. He's also a great vocal talent and has a great range.

[Frederik Schreiber]

Commando Nukem, on 13 May 2014 - 06:33 AM, said:

Well, Hell, that will be cool. Always glad to hear JSJ doing more roles. He sometimes unfortunately gets saddled to the one character, though he doesn't really seem to mind it. He's also a great vocal talent and has a great range.

Jon is doing a great job We have sessions every 2 weeks, as the dialogue for each event is game gets written and defined. He also takes part in directing the other Voice Actors on board, to ensure everything is consistent.

[xMobilemux]

I heard JSJ do a Joker impression and he was damn good, JSJ is pretty much the only VA you need, he and Lani pretty much did the VA of all characters in the Duke spin offs.

Btw how's progress on them coming new platforms?

[TerminX]

What do you mean what was with the "nope"?

Jon is under NDA... if he said yes, wouldn't people just automatically assume it was to voice Duke specifically, therefore making it seem even more like some "announcement" had been made?

About concerns that this is some different game, or that Duke was used purely for hype... sorry, guys, you don't know what you're talking about this time. I am under NDA myself and hopefully I'm not violating it by saying that when I was shown this game recently (this week), my first question to Fred was whether they could even do what they were doing regarding some aspects. I think you guys need to just wait and see what's coming before prematurely deciding you hate it. Don't act like overprotective parents that come to the door with a shotgun when Fred shows up to take your kid on a date, regardless of the fact that he was well dressed, well spoken and tried to shake your hand.

[MusicallyInspired]

Like I said, stop the douchery.

[xMobilemux]

TerminX, on 13 May 2014 - 07:00 AM, said:

What do you mean what was with the "nope"?

Jon is under NDA... if he said yes, wouldn't people just automatically assume it was to voice Duke specifically, therefore making it seem even more like some "announcement" had been made?

About concerns that this is some different game, or that Duke was used purely for hype... sorry, guys, you don't know what you're talking about this time. I am under NDA myself and hopefully I'm not violating it by saying that when I was shown this game recently (this week), my first question to Fred was whether they could even do what they were doing regarding some aspects. I think you guys need to just wait and see what's coming before prematurely deciding you hate it. Don't act like overprotective parents that come to the door with a shotgun when Fred shows up to take your kid on a date, regardless of the fact that he was well dressed, well spoken and tried to shake your hand.

That ship sailed when JSJ was added to Interceptors team list and Duke Mass Destruction was discovered.

I honestly hope I'm wrong, I want to be wrong, I'd gladly admit I was wrong and kiss Freds a** if this games turns out being a Duke game and a good one at that, because I want Interceptor to make a good Duke game, I've wanted them to ever since I saw Reloaded, I enjoyed ROTT a lot and had a lot of faith in Interceptor, I had more faith in Interceptor than I ever will with Gearbox, but everything they've done and shown as of late is very questionable.

You just came out and settled things down with a statement that clearly didn't upset the NDA, why couldn't someone at Interceptor have done that in the first place before all this started? That's ALL we wanted.
Can you really blame us for getting upset when pretty much everything pointed to that same conclusion?

[OpenMaw]

TerminX, on 13 May 2014 - 07:00 AM, said:

Don't act like overprotective parents that come to the door with a shotgun when Fred shows up to take your kid on a date, regardless of the fact that he was well dressed, well spoken and tried to shake your hand.

What, you've never read about any serial killers in the history of ever? That's the first sign of trouble when they gentlemen up! Their hands going right for the blouse the moment they get to the theater! Which is why they are going to lose it to a twelve gauge chastity blast! Lock and load, daddy-o.

... What were we talking about again? Ah, just for the record none of us detractors hate this game that is coming up. That's not even an issue one way or the other as of yet. We haven't seen the game. It's everything laid out in previous posts, that is upsetting to us.


However, maybe we are wrong. Maybe we've got it all backwards. The facts fit together in the way I arranged them. Maybe I just don't know what i'm talking about after all. I want that to be the case. Can you really blame us for seeing it this way when everything I just posted is all we've had to go on? This isn't some shit we just pulled out of our asses. It's all right there. Bearing witness to it as it happened, the frustration only gets worse and worse. Why are these things happening? Why can't the Duke character catch a break? The situation may indeed be more complicated than I initially thought, though. Time will tell, and if we're wrong, we're wrong. I'd love to be wrong. I'll gladly admit to being wrong in two days.

[Jblade]

Anything other than a nope will be endlessly dissected and digested and turned into a yes so I'm not surprised he just said 'nope' - although even 'nope' isn't good enough anymore because a lot of people still think Hayter is somehow going to end up as Big Boss again.

[----]

As much as I dislike the overstretched teasing ...

.... some things need to be fought out via PMs.

But that is probably me being older than 7 and not feeling personally attacked by the teasing. That happens to minors, only. Yes, I saw their reactions in for example supermarkets when they start to cry and stomp when they didn't get the candy.

And that's what we have got here.

EDIT: Jesus CHrist, kids, grow some balls ... or wait until the first hair shows around them.

[MusicallyInspired]

This is a unique situation. I can understand why they'd not want to say anything given the current legal situation. We'll find out eventually what's going on. Or maybe we never will. All I know is that it's not worth it to complain about it. Forcing their hand could very well result in a bad scenario for all of us, fans included. Just chill and wait.

[NUKEMDAVE]

TerminX, on 13 May 2014 - 07:00 AM, said:

About concerns that this is some different game, or that Duke was used purely for hype... sorry, guys, you don't know what you're talking about this time. I am under NDA myself and hopefully I'm not violating it by saying that when I was shown this game recently (this week), my first question to Fred was whether they could even do what they were doing regarding some aspects. I think you guys need to just wait and see what's coming before prematurely deciding you hate it.

Whatever that may be, it's more than likely not going to be enough to satisfy the fans. The fans were hyped for a new Duke game and I don't see it going well if Duke is nowhere to be found, especially with fans who aren't that active in the community and are uninformed about what has happened. Even if Duke is in and makes a cameo appearance or something, I don't think that's going to cut it. I don't doubt that it's the same game, but that might actually cause even more problems. If it has the elements of a Duke game, but without Duke, I don't see fans being happy with that.

Yes, I'm going to wait and see how things turn out, but sorry to say, if Duke doesn't show up, my interest in the game is probably going to drop a lot. I think it would have been better if they had just held off on it until things could be worked out, but I suppose they don't see a settlement coming anytime soon.

[HulkNukem]

I think Duke Nukem might be the main villain for their new game. Just gonna throw that out there

[Mr. Tibbs]

HulkNukem, on 13 May 2014 - 05:47 PM, said:

I think Duke Nukem might be the main villain for their new game. Just gonna throw that out there

Uh, what? Have you been following any of the threads?

[Outtagum]

Gearbox is the main villain.

[DustFalcon85]

Speaking of 3D Realms. From the great words of IGSRJ.


3D Realms? More like 3D Rectums!