The Duke Nukem 3D team talked tough….until I kicked their @#*&%!!(GameFan Magazine)



GF: Although the Saturn PowerSlave engine was created from scratch, does it have any similarities to 3D Realms Build engine?



LOB: Though the PC version of PowerSlave did use the Build engine, the console versions were created considerably later and use an entirely new engine we created ourselves. The Slave Driver engine was designed to maximize the speed and reduce the world information to its minimum on Saturn, so it’s vastly different from the Build engine in almost every way.



GF: Have you made any significant modifications or improvements to the Slave Driver engine for Duke Nukem 3D?



LOB: Ezra has continued in his usual amazing style to add refinements to the engine as they’ve been needed. The biggest visible changes will be in the world lighting and some techniques which will allows for larger areas to be completely displayed without using any of the fog tricks so prevalent today. More speed has been squeezed out of the engine, so the game will feature framerates comparable to PowerSlave despite the added complexity of Duke’s levels.



GF: How much of PC Duke Nukem 3D’s graphics and textures have you been able to use to create the Saturn version.



LOB: Much of the original art had to be re-sized and/or cut-up into mosaics to meet the requirements of our engine and still express the original artist’s intent. To save memory, the art had to be color-reduced and some mosaics were optimized to use fewer unique tiles. Actually, we’re very excited about the fact that we’ve been able to use the existing textures to faithfully reproduce the level environments.



GF: How easy was it to convert the levels from the PC Build engine into the Slave Driver engine? Did you have to redesign them in BREW?



LOB: Since the Build engine was not in true 3D, most of the Duke levels are laid out in pieces. The PowerSlave engine is real 3D, so we have had to link together all of the Duke stage pieces in real space. It’s like putting together a giant 3D puzzle. We really want to maintain the integrity and play of the original stage design, and are striving hard to do so.



GF: Have you been able to incorporate all of Duke Nukem’s 3D finer details into the Saturn, such as destructible scenery, light switches, blood splatters and bullet holes in the wall?



LOB: We’ve already incorporated most of these features into the current version and hope to include many more by project completion. Memory will be the deciding factor, so we’re looking for ways of getting as much as possible out of the available memory.



GF: Have you been able to retain all of the frames of animation use in PC Duke for the enemies?



LOB: From the start our goal have been to retain as much detail as possible, and the enemies are no exception. We’ve made a few compromises, but you’d be hard pressed to notice the differences.



GF: Are you including analog pad support? Maybe even the option to use the analog pad as a mouse-look alternative, Turok style?



LOB: Duke already has analog support. As for an alternative Turok/mouse style, we will have to wait and see.



GF: Have you been able to include ALL of the PC Duke’s 30+ levels from all three episodes, including secret levels?



LOB: All of the stages from all 3 episodes will be present in the Saturn version. And the secret levels will be there as well.



GF: Is Sega going to make you remove any of the smut or violence, eg. the profanity, the strippers, the dog turds, the ability to give strippers money to remove their tops or the risqué cut scenes?



LOB: From the outset of the project Sega made it very clear that they wanted to leave the game intact. So the content should remain intact.



GF: The inclusion of Team Dolls in PowerSlave gave the game literally months of gameplay. Do you plan to add anything similar to Duke?



LOB: One of the neat things about the Team Dolls in PowerSlave was that no one knew about them right away, so they were a total surprise for the gamers who found them. If we were to put anything similar in Duke…well, I guess you’d just have to find out yourself.



GF: Might you add any other secret stuff?



LOB: Like a secret Lobotomy-designed level? I don’t know…



GF: Saturn PowerSlave featured some amazing lighting effects. Duke on PC had no lighting effects. Will you be adding lighting to Saturn Duke?



LOB: In a big way. We’re throwing as many in as we can get away with. It’s a trick you don’t want to overuse, nor lose framerate over, but it really is impressive to those who have seen the new look of Duke.



GF: Sega has confirmed that Duke Nukem 3D will be Net Link compatible. How difficult is this to implement?



LOB: Because the Slave Driver engine was written before Net Link, it was conceived as a one player game, and the code was written accordingly. We’re overhauling the guts of it right now, and as anyone who has added multi-player compatibility after the fact will tell you, it’s not quick or easy. But the Net Link library is straightforward, and we should have basic net matches in a week or two.



