[Typing]
As of January 29th, 2016, Duke Nukem 3D is 20 years old
3D Realms released the MS DOS shareware version that day in 1996 and man,
nothing could have prepared me for it. I genuinely struggle to put into words
the full effect it had on my gaming preferences, my creativity, and even my
personality. The moment I saw this box instores in '96 I was blown
away. The embossed artwork was superb, the screenshots looked better than
anything I've ever seen, and dang it was Duke Nukem! The original Duke Nukem in
1991 was one of the first games I'd ever played,
shortly after being introduced to Crystal Caves and Commander Keen: Goodbye
Galaxy! Then my Uncle Mark got me Duke Nukem 2 for Christmas a couple
years later and it enthralled me even more with its awesome music and vibrant
graphics. Then 1996 rolled around and there I was... standing in a Software Etc store
at the local mall, holding this box in my hands...
Drooling over a 3d game featuring one of my favorite 2d characters! There was one
problem: I was 10 years old and it was rated for mature audiences only
and my parents rightfully said no to buying it. So I ended up buying The Need for
Speed Special Edition instead, leaving Duke to rest in the back of my mind as I
happily filled my days with speeding Dodge Vipers. That is, until the summer of
1998. A friend of mine had a copy of Duke 3d that was acquired through, uh... less than
legitimate means. I rushed home with that thing and prompty played through the
entire game in one sitting. It was better than I ever dreamed of dude! It was just
so real to me, like, nothing even compared! Up to that point the only first-person
shooters that I knew where Wolfenstein 3d and Doom and while those were lots of
fun, Duke 3d had so many things I'd never seen in a game.It was a first person
shooter based in the real world for one thing! I mean, sure, you also shot aliens with shrink rays
and explored extraterrestrial space ports. But all the stuff based on earth
made it sealed entirely unique!
Movie theaters, restaurants, bank vaults, subway stations, movie sets! All packed
with believable detail. Compared to the repetitive corridors of wolf 3d, and
the otherworldly hellscapes of Doom, these locations were amazing to me. Not
only did the levels feel like real places but they were also hugely interactive! You
could open up cabinets, you could pee in toilets, you could play pool, you could
break TV's, you could even... oh my, tip exotic dancers. Ahem, so yes Duke Nukem 3D and
puberty arrived at right about the same time for me, which, was fitting because
the entire game is an adolescent straight male fantasy. Shoot the aliens,
save the babes, simple as that.
And coincidentally, once my voice dropped a few octaves, it turned out I could pass off
a rather passable impression of Duke Nukem himself! And while there were plenty
of other Duke Nukem games that came out after that they were all on consoles I
didn't have until much later on. So I stuck to Duke 3d for years and I had no
problem with that. Because the game was hugely replayable, especially with mods!
I took trips to this local Barnes and Noble to read everything I could about
modifying the game, mostly by diving into the official Duke Nukem 3d level design
handbook. I must have read this thing a hundred times once I got my own copy. I
just couldn't stop making stuff! I designed my own levels, coded in my own objects,
created my own textures, recorded my own sound files; you name it, I probably
pulled it off, or tried my best to do so. My desire to customize the game
encouraged me to learn new applications, new programming languages, and develop
skills in audio and image editing that laid the foundation for what I do today.
To some, Duke Nukem 3D was just a good game with an immature plot. But to me it
was more than that. It became a passion that sparked an interest in creative
processes that lasted well into adulthood.
So on this twentieth anniversary of the game's release I just want to thank
everyone at 3D Realms that worked on it, as well as the excellent community of
Duke fans that has supported the game tirelessly ever since.
Without these individuals I would not be the person I am today. And seeing as I
quite enjoy being me these days,
thank you. Happy birthday, Duke!
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