Diving Into Chaos: Duke Nukem's Code Shouldn't Work (but it does?)

Video Description

This video was sponsored by Brilliant. To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit https://brilliant.org/Tariq10x/ . You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription. In this video, I’m taking you deep inside the Duke Nukem 3D source code—a wild mix of brilliant hacks, questionable practices, and pure 90s ingenuity. You’ll see exactly how this code shouldn’t work…but somehow powered one of the most iconic shooters of all time. About Duke Nukem 3D: Released in 1996 by 3D Realms, Duke Nukem 3D became famous for its over-the-top humor, fast-paced action, and highly interactive environments. Built on the Build Engine, created by 17-year-old programming prodigy Ken Silverman, the game pushed the limits of PC hardware and set new standards for first-person shooters. What You’ll See in This Analysis: The insane use of global variables and monolithic code structures How a “shouldn’t work” codebase ended up dominating gaming history Why Duke Nukem 3D still inspires developers today If you enjoy seeing how classic games were really built, make sure to subscribe, like, and drop a comment telling me what game source code you’d like to see next! Help me get better equipment: https://www.patreon.com/tariq10x/ https://x.com/realtariq10x My Equipment: Keyboard: https://amzn.to/4nnCw6V Drawing Tablet: https://amzn.to/3FY1BEM Microphone: https://amzn.to/4emo9vn Sources: id as Super-Ego: The Creation of Duke Nukem 3D: https://fabiensanglard.net/duke3d/id%20as%20Super-Ego-%20The%20Creation%20of%20Duke%20Nukem%203D.pdf Fabien Sanglard's Blog: https://fabiensanglard.net/duke3d/ Duke Nukem3D source code: https://github.com/videogamepreservation/dukenukem3d If you like the content hit subscribe to support the channel. 00:00 Duke Nukem 3D 02:26 Software Architecture 08:23 Genius Chaos 18:14 Rendering Basics 19:37 Main Loop 22:16 Rendering Detailed 24:50 Ray Crossing Method 25:59 Point Inside? 28:58 Inside Function Breakdown 34:18 Draw Rooms 39:00 Occlusion Arrays 41:42 Game Module Source Code 44:21 Build Info TXT 48:55 Conclusion Song Credits: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All songs Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Intuit 256" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Hard Boiled" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Dispersion Relation" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Spy Glass" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Mesmerizing Galaxy Loop" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Lightless Dawn" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)