Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II, published by 3D Realms. The shareware version of the game was originally released on January 29, 1996, while the full version was released on April 19, 1996 as version 1.3d. The Plutonium PAK, an expansion pack which updated the game to version 1.4 and added a fourth eleven-level episode, was released in November 1996. The Atomic Edition is a standalone version of the game that included the content from the Plutonium PAK and updated the game to version 1.5 following a later release.
Duke Nukem 3D was developed on a budget of roughly $300,000 and the development team consisted of eight people for most of the development cycle, increasing to 12 or 13 people near the end. At one point the game was being programmed to allow the player to switch between first person view, third person view, and fixed camera angles.
Duke Nukem 3D also features multiplayer and at the time of its release, Internet-based gaming was just beginning. Duke Nukem 3D did not support the TCP/IP client/server model but instead based its network play on the IPX LAN, modem or serial cable. Duke Nukem 3D players often either battled modem-to-modem, using the IPX network utility, Kali or the Total Entertainment Network (TEN) online pay service.
The original version of Duke Nukem 3D has since been discontinued as an official fifth episode was released on October 11, 2016 with 20th Anniversary World Tour published by Gearbox Software.
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