I can understand them switching engines during the late nineties but I don't think that they would have to start from scratch. I mean they could keep the art resources they have and build on them. I would have have to agree with some of the above posts that they probably had bad management when working on the game. This game should have been out at the latest 2005. I mean it beats Shemue's development cycle but that was a console game and they created two games during that 7 years.

That's what I mean, they took so long on each part of the cycle that the game engine and graphics would be obsolete by the time it came out, rinse and repeat a few times and you can see how this game was doomed.
And what was the later teasers? A close up of what looked like an action figure.

What engine did DNF have before it was canned? The Unreal 3 engine?

Cry, or laugh my ass off? That is the question.

According to the wiki, Unreal 2. So heavily modified that there was almost nothing left of the original code.
So basically they built their own engine, but paid Epic a crap-tonne of money for the privilege.

Well isn't that a good idea.

I think that kind of sums this entire situation up.
Lets just say that 3DRealms would never have gotten ISO9001 or SixSigma certification

They wouldn't even be eligible for ISO9001, because there's nothing to certify!

Well the quality certifications are usually company wide rather than meant for specific products so in THEORY they could have applied for it but that would just have given the inspectors a laughter induced coronary

I don't know. I kinda liked Limbo of the lost as the biggest gaming joke...
but i guess DNF can take its place on top.