www.duality.net
"The new world of Duality of the two suns..."
"The new world of Duality of the two suns..."
"the next lucid dream from double aught software"Double Aught Software, Inc.
February 2, 1997
It is February 2, 1997 and Marathon Infinity has been out for over three months.
Double Aught launch www.duality.net for their next game in development.
Randy Reddig designs the first look and feel for the game complete with weathered duality kana.
Welcome to Duality... welcome to... duality.net.oo1
"it never ceased to amaze the junior officer how the poly managed, despite his
squat, clumsy legs and huge, bulbous skull, to leap unerringly from stone to stone."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Hats Off To Eight Nineteen. October, 1996
"poly: shortened from polymorph centuries ago, a poly is a human who suffers from a
peculiar degeneration of the bones, abnormal growth, and frequent mental retardation."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Duality Glossary. December, 1996
"oracular polys are those .001% of the viable mutants that have the gene that allows
them to telepath with the sarcophagi. they have withered, deformed bodies that are
attached to the crypts by large thrones arrayed around the crypts."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Electrosphere. February 6, 1997
It is May 15, 1997 and it has been over three months since the last duality.net update.
Gone now are the weathered cryptic duality kana.
Who shall mourn their passing?
Welcome to the new look Duality... welcome to... duality.net.oo2
"Fleeting is the second life, held fast between the fingers of sleep before and after..."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Age of Descension. June 5, 1997
It is June 5, 1997 and Double Aught update their Duality site with a slightly different look.
The yellow Duality logo would become synonymous with Duality over the next two years.
This is the Age of Descension... this is... duality.net.oo3
"Also Duality.net is bigger, literally!"Chrispy Nacho
alt.games.marathon. June 24, 1997
It is June 20, 1997 and duality.net gets a subtle change.
But this is leading somewhere... only we don't know it yet.
Check out the... "bigger, literally!"... duality.net.oo4
"kwalt: a thick vegetable that grows in large, open air bogs, but must be fermented or boiled
to remove it's mild poison. kwalt is the primary foodstuff of the polis, and huge work details
of serfs are responsible for raking, stirring, and harvesting the kwalt several times a season."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Duality Glossary. December, 1996
"serfs: a general term for polys servants, who are wards of the polis, but specifically means
the kwalt workers who tend the bogs on outlying estates. a serf is usually a poly, but they
can also be humans who are being punished, prisoners and their descendants that weren't
ransomed, or rarely a human sold by his family into servitude."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Duality Glossary. December, 1996
It is July 20, 1997 and duality.net gets an animated look.
A lone Poly stirs the kwalt... and dreams of a better life.
This is Duality... this is... duality.net.oo5
"polis: a human people living on one or more asteroids, generally in a fortified area outside
alien ruins. polis can refer to the full citizens who control the area, the fortifications themselves,
or more generally to all or part of the people living there. each polis shares common culture with
the others, but there are local customs, styles, and language that varies somewhat."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Duality Glossary. December, 1996
"manor: any small settlement, usually fortified, on smaller or less populated asteroids called
'outlands'. some large manors eventually become poleis and break away from the mother polis,
although it hasn't happened for some two hundred years or so, since Plataea broke with Aglaia."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Duality Glossary. December, 1996
"Plataea: colony overrun and destroyed by Aglaia two hundred years prior to the present day.
Plataea allied with an enemy, Trachis. the sacking paved the way for Aglaia's current glory,
giving them numerous serfs, and outlands for kwalt farming."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Duality Glossary. December, 1996
It is August 14, 1997 and a lone Poly stops stirring the kwalt.
A lazy Poly... or something more?
This is Duality... this is... duality.net.oo6
"It has been ten months since we first started work on Duality, and all the hard work is finally paying off."Double Aught Software, Inc.
August 29, 1997
It is August 29, 1997 and duality.net gets its first major content update.
Duality quotes, engine details, and a bit on the story. But no screenshots as of yet.
The quotes were changed on a regular basis. Did you log them all?
Duality quote 1 ... duality.net.oo7. 1
Duality quote 2 ... duality.net.oo7. 2
Duality quote 3 ... duality.net.oo7. 3
Duality quote 4 ... duality.net.oo7. 4
Duality quote 5 ... duality.net.oo7. 5
Besides, I rather liked the textures. The whole thing gives a kind of
"Nightmare before Christmas meets Wile E Coyote" feeling.Christopher Lund
alt.games.marathon. September 21, 1997
It is September 19, 1997 and the 'first' Duality screenshots are released.
Killer 3D Mac Games get the exclusive first look.
Duality.net posts them a day later.
Duality quote 1 ... duality.net.oo8. 1
Duality quote 2 ... duality.net.oo8. 2
Duality quote 3 ... duality.net.oo8. 3
Duality quote 4 ... duality.net.oo8. 4
Duality quote 5 ... duality.net.oo8. 5
"DUALITY. Violence that makes sense."Double Aught Software, Inc.
January 30, 1998
It is January 30, 1998.
It has been over four months since the last duality.net update.
Gone now are the Duality quotes.
Story and engine details are updated.
Has the story changed? Check out... duality.net.oo9
"Duality® is scheduled for release Christmas 1998."Double Aught Software, Inc.
May 13, 1998
It is May 13, 1998.
Jihan Kim takes over from Colin Kawakami as the Double Aught web page designer.
The updated Duality page has new story details and new screenshots.
Double Aught are heading to E3 (May 28-30) to show a preview of Duality.
Duality's release date is scheduled for Christmas 1998.
Double Aught is currently looking for a publisher.
Check out the new look... duality.net.o10
"Duality® is scheduled for release Christmas 1998."Double Aught Software, Inc.
May 15, 1998
It is May 15, 1998.
Two days later.
The Duality page design is quickly tweaked under the hood.
The "Frames" are gone and so is the Christmas 1998 release date.
But two new screenshots are added.
It's the little things that catch you out.
Check out the new... old look... duality.net.o11
"Creatures"Double Aught Software, Inc.
May 22, 1998
It is May 22, 1998.
Another Duality screenshot is added.
This one is simply called... "Creatures".
Creatures in a Cubist Landscape?
Can you see them?
Can you name them?
Find them on... duality.net.o12
"And since his degree reads Julliard [sic] we thought we'd put his bona fide skills to the test."Double Aught Software, Inc.
May 24, 1998
It is May 24, 1998.
Duality updates are coming thick and fast.
Courtney Evans joins the Double Aught team.
A recent Juilliard School graduate (Master of Music in Composition)... he brings music to Duality.
Listen to it on... duality.net.o13
"We're currently polishing up the DualityTM Preview and making
last minute adjustments to the DualityTM Engine."Double Aught Software, Inc.
May 26, 1998
It is May 26, 1998.
Double Aught arrive in Atlanta city for E3.
With less than two days to go... they barricaded themselves in their hotel rooms.
No kidding.
Find out why on... duality.net.o14
"As we add more adventure type gameplay, puzzle-solving and
strategy this will only raise us further above a crowded genre
and create a new standard for the first person game."Double Aught Software, Inc.
Press Release. June 1, 1998
It is June 4, 1998.
Double Aught return home to Brooklyn and set about implementing 16-bit texture support.
The Duality web site is updated with a short E3 report and a Press Release.
Duality is now officially announced.
You can read it on... duality.net.o15
"Sneaking up on bad guys and listening in on their conversations
can be as important as killing them. Figuring out how to help an
enemy can win that enemy over to your own side.... after all,
"the enemy of my enemy is my friend!" "Double Aught Software, Inc.
August 5, 1998
Fast forward 2 months.
It is August 5, 1998.
Another Duality update and four new screenshots.
Double Aught also engage in a piece of revisionist history.
Find out what on... duality.net.o16
"Armaggedon [sic] in our lifetimes"Double Aught Software, Inc.
September 24, 1998
It is September 24, 1998.
Double Aught solve the "Year Two Thousand problem".
Duality will be completely Y2K compliant.
But you'll have to wait until the year 2000 to find out.
Find out what the fossil fish had to say about all this on... duality.net.o17
" <! -- design by smudge, code by shiner (altho he'll deny it if asked)> "
" <! -- major props to 193 and 819> "Double Aught Software, Inc.
December 7, 1998
It is December 7, 1998.
Duality.net gets a major design change and a major injection of content.
Included in this update is the long awaited Characters section, first mentioned back in August 1997.
oh... and Frames are back! Long live... FRAMES!!!
Check them out on... duality.net.o18
To be continued ?
Actually... No.
I came across an old desktop screen capture dated February 20, 2000 at 16:32 (see below).
This is long after the demise of Duality and Double Aught.
The duality.net site stayed up a lot longer than the doubleaught.com site.
A haunting image from a failed timeline.
I'll leave the last words to Greg Kirkpatrick from an online interview in 2019:
"My big takeaway twenty years later from DA was that
we should have just shipped ANYTHING. At a few different
points along that journey we had some really awesome
and groundbreaking stuff, and we just had to take a
leap of faith and put it out"
THE END