In Garland, Texas – yes, the same place where
God was supposed to have appeared on TV a few weeks back – Scott Miller and George
Broussard were actively working away on Duke Nukem: Forever, the highly anticipated
follow-up to Duke Nukem 3D. Anyone who knows 3D Realms would be able to tell you that they
are so intrinsically focused on quality, they seldom have time to work with any outside
developers. But, Ron Chaimowitz took a chance and called up Scott Miller one day last year
with an idea. As Miller remembers, "Duke Nukem: Time To Kill was first presented to
us as a potential way to further capitalize on the growing popularity of the Duke Nukem
character." However, Miller and Broussard had one ground rule for Chaimowitz:
"So that the game would not compete with Duke Forever, we stipulated that Time To
Kill could only be developed for the console market," says Miller. Although 3D Realms
seemed interested in the idea of doing an original Duke product for the consoles, the true
test would be in selling them on n-Space, the development group with an average age of 27
who loved Duke 3D.
BELOW: n-Space President Erick S. Dyke Fondly Remembers How He Researched
for the Game.
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So, one day last year, Erick Dyke walked through the Orlando airport --
no doubt with thousands of kids wearing Mickey Mouse shirts and Goofy ears in the
corridors -- and headed off to Garland, Texas to meet 3D Realms. Dyke knew the face to
face meeting with 3D Realms would make it or break it for his concept of Duke Raider,
which had now been fleshed out into much more than a simple Tomb Raider rip-off. As Dyke
remembers, "Winning over 3D Realms was something that scared the hell out of us. The
first time I went to visit them, I had to bring along videotape of our offices to prove we
were cool enough to work on the project."
According to Miller of 3D Realms, "We were very impressed by
n-Space’s desire to make a top-notch Duke game, and their desire to have us a part of
the creative process." That was probably the catch for 3D Realms – They wanted
to trust the developer’s instincts, but still have the ability to guide the direction
of the project. Miller also liked n-Space’s attitude and their technical knowledge of
the console format, something that 3D Realms has never dealt with directly. In the end,
the videotape worked. The pitch worked. N-Space was a new F.O.D. (Friend of Duke). Now
they just had to deliver the best Duke Nukem action game possible on the PlayStation, for
they knew 3D Realms wouldn’t take kindly to anyone trying to pawn off a mediocre
action game as a Duke game. This was n-Space’s big chance.
