Duke Nukem 3D, the Build engine, and my 1990s attempts at level creation

[@hrgerolf]

This book is still quite useful believe it or not. While Mapster32 is capable of doing more stuff, the overall functionality is identical to the original BUILD. This book covers a lot more than just how to use the editor, too. It goes over what makes a level fun, how to balance enemies and items, etc. So I’d say pick it up if you haven’t already.

[@CherryColaWizard]

I might have to track down a copy of that book.

[@CarlMahnke]

I have seen so many editors and I say that Ken Silvermans Build editor was the most fun and easiest to operate!

[@bubo1]

I marvel at the absolute size of you adolescent bedroom, looks to be several time zones across. Maybe its just my perspective having to make do with the box bedroom in our house :)

[@TimberwolfK]

It was pretty good! Originally it was a normal size room with big storage cupboards down each side, but then we knocked all of it together so it was one big room which went most of the way to the edges of the roof. (Up until then I'd always been jealous of kids in our road who had bedrooms in the loft of a bungalow, sloped ceilings were just too cool!)

[@dditions]

Very cool to reminiscence the past on the BUILD editor. My little brother and I spent countless hours in our childhood building levels. You know you can make "invisible" walls with the "purple" sector lines right? My brother and I used to call invisible walls "purple lines" in many games that we played after that, just because of the BUILD editor :D I became obsessed with smooth lighting after playing games like quake, so I spent most my time building cities with lamp posts, then surround it by many many many sectors around them to simulate a smooth light falloff... Those were good days :D

[@TimberwolfK]

I loved the hand-built lighting effects, especially the ones where they split up a sector in an otherwise dark alcove so it looks like the light is being "cast" round a corner. It was almost disappointing getting a Half-Life editor and finding it did the lighting for you...

[@3DSage]

I had the "official level design handbook!" It did come with a disk. I was too young to understand or appreciate it back then but now I find it really interesting! Great video!

[@TimberwolfK]

While trying to track down CASTLE.MAP, I found an old Usenet thread from 1996 or thereabouts complaining the Prima guide was just generic tips on how game levels should be laid out, and it was the official guide which actually told you how to do stuff in detail. So you did have the better one :)

[@Xalior]

Built it from the book now. Be that guy. -Dx

[@bortsimons7457]

I guess i played around with the build editor for more than 5 years. It was just THAT good

[@TimberwolfK]

It reminds me of the thing I said in one of the Midtown or maybe Carmageddon videos - this stuff was simple enough you didn't need to be a trained 3D artist or spend weeks building intricate details for something to even be close to the standards of the levels which came with the game. You could mess around over a couple of evenings figuring out stuff by trial and error and come away with a level which still looked good. I'd love to see a return of games which have this "anyone willing to put in a few hours of effort can make a reasonably decent mod" ethos.

[@gotonethatcansee]

@@TimberwolfK well said

[@patrickbennett439]

Yea id spend like 20 hours making a level, play it, take me 5 minutes to complete lol

[@roflman]

Imagine how crazy it is from todays point of view, that people would publish phonebook size guides on how to create levels for your game, and they sold well too. I too modeled my house as one of my first maps, i think its just human nature to model what we're familiar with when we're first introduced to such tools.

[@TimberwolfK]

The one I wish I'd completed was the model of my sixth form college for Half-Life. It had the perfect gameplay layout, circular with the first floor arranged around a U-shaped balcony over the open entrance area. You could have stuck a good power-up in the middle of that and let the chaos reign...

[@pjousma]

I was lucky to have a friend whos dad had 3 pc's networked when I found BUILD, good times.

[@TimberwolfK]

I was envious of my friends who got to go to a local Internet café and play it networked. Sadly for me that was a, "we have PCs at home" moment.

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

Well that was just lovely. I hope you find it, sir!

[@TimberwolfK]

I would love to. I know it will probably be underwhelming, it was just an example level someone put together for a "how to" book, but at this point I'd be happy with the closure even if it's unplayable!

[@dmeloTV]

I have so many memories of me and my brother creating maps for Duke Nukem, he even made a 3 map short campaing, it was awesome! So many memories! 😁😁 Your video is great man! Thanks for that!

[@NAzzTheHitMaker]

wow i used to do this all the time back in 96’ this was heaven for a 12 year old kid! I think every one had a crack at building their house 🏠. After this i moved to the build engine in “SHADOW WARRIOR”

[@patrickbennett439]

At 15 years old, this game was sooo me. lol

[@salmon85]

I remember me and my friend completely making their house. Spent weeks making the level. The hardest things I found to make were mirrors and the metro / railtrack.

[@TimberwolfK]

Yes! When I was going through the levels for this there was definitely at least one which had the "smashed mirror" texture where a mirror was supposed to be, because I couldn't get it working. (OFFICE.MAP has a similar obvious place where a mirror isn't, and looking at the map layout I'd definitely left space for the magic sector to go behind it)

[@Eli-kt3td]

I too made my room and house in the build engine :) I remember being so proud of the lighting i made for a fireplace out of different sectors with varying brightness to simulate accurate shadows.

[@TimberwolfK]

I loved the stuff Build games did with fake lighting, the space station levels have some great "shadows" cast by walls. We thought it was so real at the time!

[@gregledbetter5942]

When I was a kid my dad got me the pie 3d gcs for dos.. I had a much similar experience... And more time I spent with it the more impressed I was discovering how to pull off tricks that weren't advertised or ever really done with that engine. To this day I still use it it's a lot of fun and nostalgic hobby for me. Although it pales in comparison to what modern engines are capable of today, I am working on a project which I hope to release this year.

[@indieemil]

This was such a great video! Well done ✌️

[@georgeoldsterd8994]

I remember rummaging through the game files and finding a picture of the Official level design handbook and being so sad that it wasn't included with the game, even as an e-book. To this day, I haven't found it. (granted, I stopped looking)

[@TimberwolfK]

My favourite of those was a budget CD-ROM release of Rise of the Triad where they filled it up with a huge amount of text files and images about the game production, general Apogee history and a few things to try (including a level which triggers the "pushwall off the edge of the map" bug)

[@marcovirtual]

Watching this video in September 2023 and wishing it had more views so someone could maybe know the book's author or something.

[@brandintinsman4011]

I built some real amazing levels. It's a shame my dad threw out my computer that had the only copies. Back in the day.....

[@TimberwolfK]

Yeah, there are so many more files I wish I preserved. Especially my first ever full game to 2030 of original Transport Tycoon!

[@Vlad-1986]

lol, how can you get your Doom clone habilities so weird? I can beat Doom, Duke3D, Quake in the hardest difficulty no problem, but I doubt I would survive long with Wolf3D on baby difficulty... Game is brutal! I also have good memories of Build. I had a pirated Duke3D version with no build engine, but I also had Whitchaven2 which did have it. I never liked the game, but I used to make levels at night and share them via floppy with my mates during recess. I also remember how different stiles we had! I also liked that it has so many medieval, dark textures.

[@nathnolt]

Cool video

[@KA-jm2cz]

Memories from childhood activities and finding they are oddly charming but pathetic is sign of getting old.

[@princessmaly]

"Other nerdy science fiction deep cuts" *stares at a giant sign that says "Earth Defense Force"* Wait... holy shit, Duke referenced Toho?! You mean that's an intentional toku reference?! Duke 3D has toku weeb shit in it?! Interrobang?! Holy shit this changes everything... *zooms in on 1138* ...oh n/m it was a George Lucas thing ~_~

[@grahamwilson4053]

I assume you tried putting the link into the Wayback Machine?

[@TimberwolfK]

Yep - that's where the few sites I was able to find came from. The internet Archive doesn't have much pre-2000, and once you get to sites which had disappeared by 1998 the odds of them being preserved are miniscule.

[@grahamwilson4053]

@@TimberwolfK I've had a bit of luck circa 1998 but yeah

[@pv8685]

i comment before watching, after it, but most in between. i never ever could build my room in a game... all the objects would take 3 entire lifes to model. 😅

[@plasma5545]

great video

[@pinkipromise]

the og minecraft

[@Danny-he4hi]

The truth is that Duke Nukem 3d, along with Shadow Warrior and Blood, are a HELL of a lot better than most AAA games today and for a good number of years now. 🔥🔥🔥🦵😎👍🔥🔥🔥 Ps, the maps you made of the space ship with bar and your room are really cool! The space ship captain room with bar is so British lol It would actually be really cool if you finish the space ship! Like if you make a copy of the file and model the whole space ship on the outside as well as the inside of it with all the rooms. And like add a space texture skybox on the outside of the space ship and maybe even have Dr Who's Tardis somewhere nearby lol That would be an awesome map!