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How Duke Nukem Forever Failed: Unlimited time, budget and ambition

270 点作者 TrevorBurnham超过 15 年前

22 条评论

jmtame超过 15 年前
Wow. If you watch the trailer, the gate that closes on a monster actually crumples where the monster gets stuck underneath it. This seems like one of those guys who really nit-picks down to the very last detail. It's probably like having a Steve Jobs around, except without the sense of urgency for shipping the actual product. Saying to your team "we could build for 5 years and not deliver anything" is probably not the right attitude you want to instill in a gaming upstart.<p>I was really blown away when a friend showed me that you could blow up parts of buildings in a recent popular game, and then I realized that the effect wasn't all that glamorous after buying the game. It wasn't as if you were dynamically destroying buildings, they just had pre-calculated bits and pieces that would fall off if you shot near them. Broussard would have said "no, the buildings have to be destroyed dynamically" and at that point, the game would never have been shipped.<p>On top of that, 18 developers? The effects they were after seemed really cool, but as the article pointed out, game teams are growing:<p>"The long grind began to wear on the staff. The Duke Nukem Forever team was unusually small; by 2003, only 18 people were working on it full time. This might have been adequate back when the game was announced in the mid-’90s. But in the years that Broussard had spent tweaking Duke Nukem Forever, games had become bigger and bigger. It wasn’t unusual for a developer now to throw 50 people or more at a single title. In essence, 3-D games had grown up: It’s as if Hollywood had evolved from tiny hand-cranked three-minute reels to two-hour epic blockbusters in half a decade."<p>I don't think this guy had anywhere near enough people to get this done.
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colinplamondon超过 15 年前
It seems like the big problem was that they were trying to be on the cutting edge by licensing other engines. But, by the time a engine is available for licensing, the flagship title (Doom 3, Half Life 2, whatever) has already shipped and set the new standard. At the same time, they wanted to have the best looking game available, despite always being behind the curve in their base technology.
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Ygor超过 15 年前
What do you think about all those developers who, as the article says, spent a decade working on a project and now have nothing to show for it?<p>Do you think they really have nothing to show for it? Do they take a part of the blame?<p>I mean, they still have a decade of experience in 3D game development and, as it seems, working with some of the newest technologies out there.<p>Would you consider hiring them, or would you rather hire someone who spent a decade working for someone who was a better leader than Broussard and actually finished some projects?
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elblanco超过 15 年前
The problem is likely that Broussard wanted to make the DN game that would last forever. It would be perfect and without flaw. He did this instead of just shipping one in a series of polished games (which he could have made over the last decade+).<p>I remember when one of my friends was hired at 3DR and lamented when they were going about one of their engine changes. None of the art assets were usable after the change, meaning they could have just finished up the old game, shipped and then started work on the next one and shipped that too.
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electromagnetic超过 15 年前
I think it was a major case of student syndrome. With no date set to deliver, they had no incentive to finish.<p>If you hire me to paint your house, I'll say "sure, happy to help." If you hire me to paint your house by Friday, I'll say "where's the paint can?"
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vaporstun超过 15 年前
Single Page: <a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/all/1" rel="nofollow">http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/all/1</a>
sutro超过 15 年前
Reminds me of another deeply troubled project out of the Dallas-area FPS community circa 1999: John Romero and ION Storm's development of "Daikatana," as described by this excellent Dallas Observer article: <a href="http://www.dallasobserver.com/1999-01-14/news/stormy-weather/" rel="nofollow">http://www.dallasobserver.com/1999-01-14/news/stormy-weather...</a>
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gkoberger超过 15 年前
I feel this is extremely relevant to startups. Most startups have no "end"- at least Duke Nukem had a goal ("release"). With startups, they really just go on forever. No startup will ever be finished, and it is far too easy to just keep toiling away with no real goal.<p>If startups had a set end date where the developers moved on, I would argue that we'd have more useful projects coming out of the Bay Area.
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bkbleikamp超过 15 年前
If you've never read the book Predictably Irrational there is an interesting chapter regarding a professor who performed an experiment with deadlines for his 3 papers due in the semester.<p>[simplified]<p>Class 1: Set your own deadlines Class 2: Strict deadlines from the professor Class 3: No deadlines<p>Guess who performed best? Strict deadlines.<p>[edit]<p>Also, I highly recommend the book : <a href="http://www.predictablyirrational.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.predictablyirrational.com/</a>
woid超过 15 年前
second system effect? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect</a>
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johnl超过 15 年前
That why it's a good thing to get rid of the founder when the company gets to a certain point some times. Broussard was never really running a business. It may have been a lot of fun, but never really a business.
jlgosse超过 15 年前
This story is great and all, but it isn't complete. Why don't they mention the original, side-scrolling Duke Nukem games for the PC? I'm pretty sure I remember owning 2-3 side-scrolling, baddy-shooting Nukem games, and they were equally as awesome.
10ren超过 15 年前
One of the terrible things about being your own boss is you have no one to push back against, and ridicule for their moronic opinions about cashflow, release it ready or not etc.<p>Instead, <i>you</i> have to play that role too.
Quarrelsome超过 15 年前
I felt like crying. What a terribly, terribly sad tale. :(
rapind超过 15 年前
Would be interesting if they open sourced it. Maybe some of the original developer's would get involved.
messel超过 15 年前
Part of our psychology as humans needs a deadline then. I shall go forth and create by Friday then!
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jonursenbach超过 15 年前
Feature creep is never a good thing.
alanthonyc超过 15 年前
The worst case of procrastination ever.
diggboard超过 15 年前
"I've got balls of steel"
maukdaddy超过 15 年前
Fail early. Fail often.
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swombat超过 15 年前
Duke Nukem Forever isn't dead. It's just hanging out with Elvis for a little while, before the time to come back is right.
shahzad_may超过 15 年前
Some one Hack my yahoo ID plz i want block my ID plz i want Block my .Do you help me.