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Allen Blum

User is offline   NNC 

#1

There is something I can't figure out for years. It's the lack of media presence and general appreciation for Allen Blum, the guy who basically created Duke Nukem (along with Todd Replogle).

When it comes to Duke, everybody knows George Broussard, Scott Miller, Richard "Levelord" Gray, Jon St. John, Randy Pitchford, Lee Jackson and Bobby Prince, and their involvment. Allen however isn't known by the public. Everybody outside the community thinks Levelord created the maps for Duke Nukem 3D. Even in the WT trailer he was called the legendary designer, not Allen. Inside the community there seems to be a growing consensus that Allen was the better leveldesigner for DN3D. But outside, there is nothing about the guy. No interviews, no appreciation, no media presence, not even a wikipedia article!

But it's not just DN3D. There was a little podcast of DNF pre-release, where he shared some inside thoughts. http://www.dukenukem...y/podcasts.html (Allen involved in parts 1, 2 and 7).

And he said this for example:
"Yeah, well if you want to go back that far. Duke 1: Todd Replogle and I went to school together. We grew up in Santa Cruz together and as I was going to school at UCSC studying computer science, he was making the side scroller stuff and then he started working on a side scroller that eventually became Duke Nukem 1 and we worked together on that: so that’s company one, I guess. Then company two would be on Duke 2 with him and I working on it out of our apartments here in Texas. I had to move out here, which was interesting. And then Duke 3, Todd and I started on the first floor of the, at that time Apogee building and we had our own office and our company actually had a name: Core Software. "

Which means Todd and Allen were the actual creators of this legendary franchise. And Allen stayed with it through the entire development hell of DNF (unlike Todd who left the studio in 1997), and founded Triptych Games, which basically finished the game. I know it wasn't that good, but you gotta admire the loyalty. Also I think DNF's failure was the reason of various decisions to swap engines, which wasn't Allen's fault I guess, the game in 2002 might have been a bang.

I think Allen does need more appreciation for what he gave us with this game. I think he should have been interviewed, or invited to this community to share his inside thoughts or future plans. And this thread is also about analysing his works during all Duke games.
3

User is offline   stumppy84 

#2

I think it’s no secret to anyone here how much Allen is/was involved in making The Duke titles. Randy has talked about how important he is on many occasions. I think that Allen likes to keep quiet. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. It would be awesome if he was on here!

This post has been edited by stumppy84: 17 March 2018 - 10:20 AM

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User is offline   OpenMaw 

  • Judge Mental

#3

I've always assumed Allen preferred not to be one of the video-game rock star personality. He just wanted to make games.
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User is offline   MusicallyInspired 

  • The Sarien Encounter

#4

I got the impression he likes to keep to himself mostly and isn't all about publicity.
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User is offline   NNC 

#5

You don't need to be a video game rockstar to get recongnition for your work, and Allen got very little in comparison to anyone of his contemporaries.

If there is somebody here to invite the guy to the forum or just to have a Randy like interview with some community members would be great.

A couple of things I would love to know from him:

1. He said on the linked podcast he made Duke 3D levels after the atomic edition with advanced features like we saw in Shadow Warrior. Are these still available and what should we know about them?

2. What were the leveldesign he worked on DNF? I don't remember seeing any level-to-level breakdown, but that would be interesting... I'm pretty sure Allen made the Duke Burger area, somehow that part reminds me of his style. Also some more infos about DNFs development, after all he was the only one who was there from start to finish.

3. Some future plans on Duke. I'm pretty sure he will be involved in any relevant Duke games in the future.

This post has been edited by Nancsi: 18 March 2018 - 12:56 AM

0

User is offline   MusicallyInspired 

  • The Sarien Encounter

#6

What if he,....I don't know,.....doesn't want to?
0

User is offline   OpenMaw 

  • Judge Mental

#7

Just watching him in the very few interviews he's been in I get the impression he doesn't really want or need recognition. He get's his credits int he game credits and that's all he needs. For him it's about making the games. That's my take from what i've seen of the man and what i've heard him say.
1

User is offline   NNC 

#8

Well, since this thread isn't going anywhere I just want to ask if anyone here knows what kind of leveldesign did Allen make for DNF? It would be interesting to just see his work compared to both Duke3D and the rest of DNF.
0

User is offline   OpenMaw 

  • Judge Mental

#9

Since the entire mindset on level design for DNF is different, I doubt it would tell you anything. DNF wanted to be Half-Life 2 in terms of how it's levels flowed. Duke 3D was more interested in setting up themes per level.
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User is offline   HulkNukem 

#10

Not gonna lie, for some reason seeing just the name "Allen Blum" as a title made me think he passed away.

Glad he didnt

I liked his and Levelord's commentary on World Tour when Randy wasn't butting in

This post has been edited by HulkNukem: 22 March 2018 - 04:35 PM

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