January 29, 1997

NOTE: This might not even work on all systems, so don't even bother leaving
      us Email about this.  This is provided "as is" for entertainment
      purposes only.

Duke Nukem Fans,

Today being the one year aniversary of the shareware release of Duke Nukem
3D, we thought we'd do something a little special for y'all.

We're releasing LAMEDUKE.ZIP.  This is a VERY early version of Duke Nukem 3D
and the EXE is dated 12/30/94.  That's about 13 months prior to the release
of the shareware version.  Oh, man, was this game lame then :)

Why are we releasing it?  We're not sure...  We just thought it'd be cool
for you all to see the state a game is in a year before it's release.  So,
this is a behind the scenes peek at what happens during the creation of a
game.  You will get to see lameness the likes of which the world has never
seen, and what most developer's hide from you and when the press visits. :)

Running the game
----------------

* It might not work on all systems, so don't even bother leaving us email
  about it.  It is provided "as is" for entertainment purposes only.

* You will probably have to load each level by hand.  Not sure if the exit
  switches are there, and even if they are, we don't know if they work.

* Type D3D /v1 /l1 (for mission 1, level 1).  This is pretty much the same
  as the release version of Duke.  I think levels 1-10 exist for volumes 1-3,
  so there is a lot to look at.
  NOTE: "D3D /v# /l#" - v# is the volume (1-3), l# is the level (1-8) or so.

* Run SETUP, and select video, sound (probably SoundBlaster only), and
  keyboard config.

* We noticed on our systems that is runs really weird, like the timer is
  going nuts, so don't expect smooth gameplay.

* If there are cheat codes in this thing, we have no idea what they are.

* There is no Dukematch in this.  Or if there is, we don't remember how to
  do it.  :)

* It might not work on all systems, so don't even bother leaving us email
  about it.  It is provided "as is" for entertainment purposes only.
  Remember, we don't want E-mail on it.

Cool stuff to note
------------------
* We had a laser sight on the pistol that was finally dropped

* We had stuff like subway cars, breaking glass and video monitors in from
  nearly the start of the game.

* Weapon 5 was the BIG rocket launcher.  Cool looking, but you can see why
  it changed.

* Weapon 3 changed to the 3 barrel chaingun

* Weapon 1 was a tazer type stick, dropped for Duke's mighty foot

* E1L4 shows the early OctaBrain.  Oh my God!

* You will probably notice lot's of level sections that look familiar. We
  used lots of E3L2 in the Plutonium PAK for the "DERILICT" level.

* That we're not answering any E-Mail on this.

So, have fun and poke around LAMEDUKE a little and see what you can find.
But most of all have some fun with it and don't take it too seriously.

Thanks to all of you who have supported Duke over the last year, making it
one of the biggest hits in recent years.  We appreciate it, and will try to
bring you better games in the future.  Also thanks to #duke3d on Undernet
IRC for pushing us to release this.  We joked about it for awhile around the
office and decided "What the hell, why not?"

A big thanks to Joe Siegler for having the foresight to keep this file for
a year and half so it can be released to you!

-- The Duke Nukem Team: (George Broussard, Todd Replogle, Allen Blum, Dirk
   Jones, Douglas R. Wood, Randy Pitchford, Brian Martel, Keith Schuler,
   Stephen Hornback, Lee Jackson, Ken Silverman and Bobby Prince.)

P.S.  Just in case you missed it, don't send us any E-Mail on Lameduke.
      This is released "as is".  We don't even know if it will work.