Duke Nukem 3D

Duke Nukem 3D is a first person shooter developed by 3D Realms and released by Apogee in 1996. The story features the protagonist Duke Nukem fighting against an alien race. It contained many of the same features as Doom, although the atmosphere of the game is different: Duke Nukem contains lots of "one liner" humour and features partial female nudity.

Technical

While Doom and Duke Nukem 3D feature similar technology, Duke Nukem 3D could in some respects be considered technically superior. The rendering engine features slopes, overlapping and moving sectors, arbitrary scaling of textures and strong scripting capabilities. All of the game behavior is stored in external text files which can be modified to change almost any feature of the game. The registered version of the game came with an editor, "Build", which included a 3D editor mode. It is often considered the most simple editor ever made.^{[citation needed]}

Similarities

Many of the monsters and other features in Duke Nukem are analogous to similar concepts in Doom. The following is a list of analogies that describe the similarities between Doom and Duke Nukem 3D (and other Duke Nukem games).

Characters

Duke3D element	Doom element	Differences
Alien trooper	Imp	Alien troopers can fly and feign death.
Pig cop	Shotgun zombie	The Pig Cop can lay prone and shoot while doing so.
Enforcer	Chaingun guy	The Enforcer can jump and defecate.
Octabrain	Cacodemon	The Octabrain's projectiles briefly impair the player's vision.
Security Drone	Lost Soul	The Drone charges at the player like a Lost Soul, but explodes after a collision.
Assault Commander	Mancubus	The Assault Commander can fly.
The Queen	Arch-Vile	The Queen spawns minions instead of reviving them, and unleashes an electric attack that cannot be dodged.
Battle Lord	Spider Mastermind	The Battlelord can shoot mortars.
Overlord	Cyberdemon	The Overlord can trample the player.
Duke Nukem	Space Marine	Duke Nukem speaks.

Weapons

Duke3d weapon	Doom weapon	Differences
"Mighty foot"	Fist	The mighty foot can be used both as a primary weapon and a secondary attack. In the initial release, both feet could attack at the same time whilst running, but this was fixed in the Atomic expansion pack.
Pistol	Pistol	The Duke pistol requires reload with 12-bullet magazines.
Shotgun	Shotgun	The Duke shotgun shoots in a cone, the Doom shotgun shoots in a horizontal line.
Chaingun Cannon	Chaingun	The Duke chaingun and pistol expend different ammunition. In Doom, both weapons share the same bullets.
RPG	Rocket launcher
Freezer/Duke Nukem 64 Plasma Gun	Plasma rifle	The Freezer's projectiles freeze enemies, bounce off of walls, and can therefore hit Duke. The Duke Nukem 64 version has a Plasma Gun that shoots small plasma balls and can also charge up to shoot a more powerful projectile.

Trivia

• A reference to Doom is included in Duke Nukem 3D. E1L3 contains a church. Standing in front of the cross at the front of the church, there is a switch. Pressing this gives a red tint to the room while the horizontal bar of the cross lowers until it appears to be fully inverted. Smashing the left stained glass window reveals a secret passageway, that may contain an Octobrain. Walking down the passageway, a dead Doom marine can be seen. Duke says, ”That’s one doomed space marine”.

• This scene was parodied in the computer game Blood- in the carnival level, a hidden room behind the tight-rope showroom contains a mutilated Duke Nukem hanging form a chain. Caleb immediately says "I've got time to play with YOU!". Actioning Duke swings the chain as Caleb utters, "uhh, shake it baby!"

• Another reference could be found in the Sunsoft's unofficial Duke3D add-on "Nuclear Winter". In one area of the level "Land of Forgotten Toys" Duke is teleported to a parody of Doom's E1M1, complete with a sign reading "This Building Condemned". The player cannot access any other rooms with the exception of jumping out the windows next to the armor pedestal, where an important yellow card, a teleporter back to the rest of the level, and of course some dead Doom marines can be found.

• A special utility to convert Doom-based WAD files into a format playable by the Build engine, WAD2MAP, was included on the Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition CD. The program itself is currently available on various websites.

• The Doom II megawad, Memento Mori II, released six months after Duke Nukem 3D, contains some references to this game. The first appears in the mission briefing for MAP04: Ratamahatta, in the form of an ill-fated scout named "Duck Nukem." The second, and more famous one, is in the level itself, where the player eventually arrives at Duck Nukem's grave. The last is in the mission briefing for MAP18: Regulate, featuring an equally ill-fated scout named "Ken BUILDerman," whose name is a reference to Ken Silverman, programmer of the Build engine.

• More recent Doom WADs reference Duke Nukem. A Doom conversion of Duke Nukem 3D's E1M1 theater has been made using new textures and music[1]. The Blood TC(an attempt to port the Monolith game Blood to the Doom engine)[2] contains the dead Duke Nukem in the port of the carnival level. The extensive ZDoom-based mod Knee-Deep in ZDoom[3] contains a dead Duke Nukem shoved into a barrel of toxic waste in E1M3. The text "Hmm, that's one nuked Duke!" appears on the screen when the player approaches.

External links

• Official website