- Duke's Shades Operating System and S.O.S. system;

This is just a heads up display (HUD) that Duke recieves information on. On DNF and POTB you can see the corners of Duke's glasses in each corner of the screen, then information is displayed on it. Attached is an early prototype from DNF. I will be happy to send you the art for the corners of the glasses. But the intent is for all game interfaces to be in Duke's glasses to better immerse the player and to fit Duke's character more.

> - How do you understand Duke's Ego;

Duke's Ego is an attempt to replace generic "health". It simply fits Duke's character more to have Ego. Here is an excerpt from the DNF design document.

"Duke's EGO:

Replace generic "health" of all the past games with EGO. Avoid running around the game just grabbing medkits. If Duke's ego goes to zero, he dies. What is Duke without his ego after all? Why try this? It's different.
It's Duke. People should get a kick out of this.

GAINING EGO

Perhaps, your MAX EGO can increase a little bit each boss. That way, your character develops and grows and allows the game to get harder and harder. (similar to console games ala Banjo Kazooi and Metal Gear Solid)

*Killing guys (get an ego boost depending on where the killing shot is)

10% - Head shot
5% - Upper torso
2% - Other

NOTE: EGO from killing bad guys will take you over your max Ego (100 as a base) and will count down at 1 Ego/second.

* Speed kills (Multiple enemies killed close together). Possibly this has the ability to raise EGO over 100%. P

* Progressive Ego boost for the more enemies you kill in 1 shot (explosion etc)

* Finding secrets (Duke feels good about himself etc)

* Talking/interacting with characters (or learning new info).

* Looking in a mirror. "Damn, I'm lookin' good".

* Drinking from water sources (toilets, fountains, hydrants -- need something in each zone to identify).

* Eating / Drinking. Find junk food (Pizza slices, soda's, candy bar's, Bags of Chips, Pretzels). This stuff makes so much more sense to be sitting around the world than good old medkit's.

* Free / Rescue babes/civilians that are about to be snatched

* Get a boost for completing goals and sub-goals in the mission? He feels better about himself.

LOSING EGO

* Causing the death of innocent people. Duke never would. You can't shoot them directly, but splash damage could still kill them. You would not die from this, but you would be weakened to the point that real bad guys would kill you with a shot or two.

* Shooting innocent creatures like mules etc that pose no threat to you.

* Taking any damage from the game: Shot, falling damage, world hazards (slime, fire)

* Failing in any way to do something.

If we execute this properly, we will have fundamentally different gameplay than all the other games out there. That's a good thing.

>>>>

> - Should we have regular health;

We're still debating about that. I think it would be ok, to gain health by using a medkit. Duke would feel better, hence his Ego would increase. Health in a hunting game is an interesting thing. I don't think I've seen it done yet in ANY of them. If you allow Duke to raise Ego by shooting other animal then he can in effect keep his health up depending on the number of enemies he kills. But also getting medkits in air drops from the General would be good.

> - Is there anything else that we should use from DNF.

No, the Ego/SOS are the big ones.

>And please send us your comments on a design document.

I will do so very soon.
George