[MusicallyInspired]

Was it George, Allen, or Todd? Randy says it's Allen. Asking for a friend.

[Never Forgotten]

 MusicallyInspired, on 17 August 2017 - 06:53 AM, said:

Was it George, Allen, or Todd? Randy says it's Allen. Asking for a friend.

This is from the wikipedia page:

Quote

Duke Nukem was initially created in the late 1980s by chief programmer Todd Replogle of Apogee Software (now 3D Realms) as the protagonist for the video game he was designing titled Metal Future, which was set in the then-near future of 1997. After hearing the character's name, producer and founder of Apogee, Scott Miller, suggested the game should have the same name, and he helped design the character. Artwork was produced by George Broussard, Allen H. Blum III, and Jim Norwood. Duke was not voiced, but spoke through on-screen text.

So, based on that, it was Todd Replogle. How true this is I don't know, but I've been able to trust wikipedia in the past.

[necroslut]

I'm not sure that question is possible to answer unless you determine when he actually "became Duke. Todd probably had created a protagonist for the game, but he might not have had the look, the attitude, the inventory or anything else that actually made him Duke yet. Most likely Todd, Allen and George all contributed important parts to shape him into what he would become.

IIRC Allen said in an interview around DNF's release that Todd was working on the game before it was called Duke Nukem, but that was the characters name, and he suggested it become the name of the game as well. So, if you're going by that (and if I remember it correctly) then Todd at least came up with the name. Allen and George are credited for graphics though, so it's probable one of them, or both, had more to do with the look. As for who did the writing, and Duke's persona, I have no idea. Neither who came up with series staples like the collection of items to expand on Duke's moveset.

(Off-topic, but damn, it's such a shame Duke 1 didn't have an Adlib soundtrack like Dark Ages. Keith Schuler's soundtrack for that game was pretty kickass and the best thing about it. It would have made the first Duke game seem a lot less archaic today, even if it didn't matter than much back when relatively few people had sound cards)

[MusicallyInspired]

 necroslut, on 17 August 2017 - 08:56 AM, said:

(Off-topic, but damn, it's such a shame Duke 1 didn't have an Adlib soundtrack like Dark Ages. Keith Schuler's soundtrack for that game was pretty kickass and the best thing about it. It would have made the first Duke game seem a lot less archaic today, even if it didn't matter than much back when relatively few people had sound cards)

That would have been great indeed. What a neat idea. It's too bad we don't have a source port for Duke1 that we could add new sound effects and music to somehow.

[spessu_sb]

The way I understood it, is that George didn't invent him but that he very much was involved in getting his style right. Sunglasses etc how you have him in Duke3D..

[Sledgehammer]

Spoiler

[Steve 64]

It would have been funny if they got the idea from Captain Planet Belive the yellow dude was name Duke Nukem as well

[Hendricks266]

 Duke Legacy, on 17 August 2017 - 10:50 AM, said:

It would have been funny if they got the idea from Captain Planet Belive the yellow dude was name Duke Nukem as well

You know the story of why the first game's name got changed to "Duke Nukum", right?

[Sledgehammer]

The question is, was it coincidence or they took it as the name on purpose?

[MusicallyInspired]

I still don't understand why that character has that name. It doesn't seem to suit him. I did play the game before seeing him in the show, though. Maybe they just picked something random that was non-eco-friendly.

[gemeaux333]

"I got balls of Uranium !"

[Steve 64]

 Hendricks266, on 17 August 2017 - 11:01 AM, said:

You know the story of why the first game's name got changed to "Duke Nukum", right?

The first Duke Nukem game was titled Duke Nukem, but Apogee learned that this name might have already been trademarked for the Duke Nukem character of the television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, so they changed it to Duke Nukum for the 2.0 revision.[3] The name was later determined not to be trademarked, so the spelling Duke Nukem was restored for Duke Nukem II and all successive Duke game

[Fox]

 MusicallyInspired, on 17 August 2017 - 01:25 PM, said:

I still don't understand why that character has that name. It doesn't seem to suit him. I did play the game before seeing him in the show, though. Maybe they just picked something random that was non-eco-friendly.

It's petty much the same as naming a character "Captain Toxicity" or "King Deforestation".

[OpenMaw]

I would say, initially, Todd and George created the identity, Scott pushed the name to the forefront. In a video interview, Scott attributed Duke's "Yellow flat top and smirk" in DN1 to George specifically. Which are basically the core elements of the characters design.

It was definitely a more collaborative effort, though. At least three people contributed major pieces.