build.jpg StrifeStrips.com has just released a massive tribute to Build, interviewing 3D Realms veterans, including creator Ken Silverman, about the 3D game engine that powered Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and others. 3DR's Scott Miller is particularly effusive, noting: "Build had a few features over the Doom engine, such as sloped surfaces, looking up and down about 30 degrees each way, variable screen resolutions, mouse-look, and we could build rooms over other rooms using portal tricks. But really, the engines where otherwise fairly equal. Duke 3D didn't succeed due to the more advanced Build engine, but because of the gameplay innovations and the personality of the lead character." Oh, right, that personality, haw.

But joking aside, the Ken Silverman interview is also rare and precious, and includes a photograph of Ken's drawing of the U.S. states from memory. Silverman also contributes a perfect description of the Duke developer, then and now: "3D Realms doesn't really have time constraints. The way it works is: if you take too long, and some other company comes out with a game with new features, then you must suffer the delaying of your own game for several more months while you add those features..."