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1994-09-08
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Interview with Scott "The Visionary" Miller of Apogee Games
Interviews by Patrick Grote
CyberNews is a reflection of how we communicate in cyberspace.
Understanding this, we want our interview section to reflect a
new age method of exacting answers from people.
In the coming months, we'll interview people via email, Internet
Relay Chat, BBS based Chat, CompuServe CB and many other
methods. Interviewing via cyberspace allows your interviewee to
reflect on their answers and deliver a more powerful message.
CyberNews:
Our first interview is with a leader is his field; a person who
single-handedly turned a money losing field into one of the most
profitable in the cyberspace arena. Scott Miller, President of Apogee,
is a visionary who saw an opportunity and grabbed it, or as Scott
explains it:
Scott Miller:
It was all dumb luck! I saw an opportunity to release some games I had
created onto BBS's and request money. First, I released Beyond the
Titanic, an Infocom-style text adventure. Beyond made about $100 in its
first year.
A year after releasing Beyond, I released Supernova as shareware, a very
advanced text adventure game. Still, it made very little money for me.
Then, in 1987, I had developed three Kroz games and I was on the verge
of letting them all go out as shareware, when it occurred to me to
release just one Kroz game (Kingdom of Kroz) and have it advertise the
other two for $15. I was simply tired of giving away my games for
free--since no one ever paid for them--so here was a way to make people
pay. It worked.
That first year I made over $30,000 and in 1989 I quit my job and
started Apogee full-time, even hiring my mom to help process orders.
CyberNews:
Of course, this begs the questions, why was the game so successful? The
trilogy approach?
Scott Miller:
The short answer is yes. We call this trilogy approach the 'Apogee
Model', since so many other companies, like Epic, MVP and Id, are using
it. We feel like this model is responsible for the success of games in
shareware, and we deserve the credit for inventing it.
CyberNews:
OK, now for the standard question for anyone in the PC biz. How did you
get started in the PC business? How long have you been in it?
Scott Miller:
I've been programming games since 1975. I bought a Commodore PET in
1978, later a C-64, then in 1981 an IBM PC. My career path, on the
other hand, always involved games in some way. In 1982, George
Broussard, Apogee's co-owner, and I co-wrote a book on beating arcade
games. Later, we both became managers at a video arcade. I went on to
write a weekly computer column, Computer Fun, in the Dallas Morning News
for four years, plus two dozen articles for computer magazines, like
COMPUTE!.
This all turned out to be very valuable training and experience in
running Apogee.
CyberNews:
No one can just do computers all the time. Do you hit the golf course?
Play a little ping pong? What?
Scott Miller:
I love high energy sports, like tennis, basketball, and especially snow
skiing. Lately, ping pong and paint ball have been mini-passions. I'll
save golf for when I'm much older!
CyberNews:
Do the words Pearl Jam mean anything to you? What type of music are you
in to?
Scott Miller:
Nowadays, I find that I listen to talk radio most of the time. I can't
take hearing the same songs over and over again that they play on the
radio. My favorite groups are Rush (pre-1985) and Joe Satriani. If
it's not hard and heavy, I won't listen to it. I have a huge drum set,
too, which I use to vent tension about once a day.
CyberNews:
Just for grins, what kind of car do you drive?
Scott Miller:
I have three cars. A '91 Nissan 300ZX Turbo with over $12,000 worth of
aftermarket stuff, like a very powerful Alpine system, 13 speakers, etc.
This is my fun car. The family car (I married eight months ago) is a
'93 Lexus SC400, plus I recently bought a '94 Grand Jeep Cherokee
Limited, for the ski season coming up. :) Ed. Note: Success has its
rewards . . .
CyberNews:
Of all time, what are your top five PC based games?
Scott Miller:
I love these questions! The first game that pops to mind is M.U.L.E.
After that I have to think. In reality, I don't play many PC games at
all. Instead, I play arcade games and cartridge based games. Those are
the games that Apogee tries to release. Let's see, to round out the
list, I'll pick Prince of Persia, Stellar 7, Space Quest III and
Planetfall.
CyberNews:
How does Apogee select game ideas? Developers?
Scott Miller:
We always keep an eye out for demos, etc., that appear on bulletin
boards. If we see something really impressive, we contact the author
and see if they are willing to work with us. We also get a lot of
submissions, but most are not worth pursuing. Game ideas are a dime a
dozen. It's more important to find a talented programmer capable of
pulling off an idea.
CyberNews:
How big is your family? Kids? Ages? (of the kids :-))
Scott Miller:
Got married last November. I have a three year old adopted son through
that marriage.
CyberNews:
Why start 3D Realms? Is this just a more polished Apogee? What is your
day to day involvement with 3D Realms?
Scott Miller:
3D Realms is a new division of Apogee, headed by George Broussard, that
will focus exclusively on cutting-edge 3D game development. We decided
that 3D games are an exploding market, and it would be better to have a
new and separate entity dealing with it, and creating a new image for
itself. When someone sees a new game released by 3D Realms, they can
count on it being the latest, cutting edge technology in 3D PC graphics.
My involvement in 3D Realms is great. It was I who laid out the entire
plan for creating it and its image, etc. However, since my name is so
well connected to 'Apogee,' it makes better sense for George to be the
front-man for 3D Realms.
CyberNews:
What's the best city you have traveled to? Why?
Scott Miller:
I love Utah and Denver, simply because when I'm in one of those two
cities, I'm on my way to a four or five day ski trip! Ed. Note: He is
the world's best game marketer, not a geography teacher <grin>
CyberNews:
What award that you have won personally or professionally made you
proudest? Why?
Scott Miller:
I don't care much about awards, they rarely do anything but feed egos.
If I had my arm twisted, I'd pick a trophy I won in a karate tournament.
I had a red belt at the time (I now have a black belt) and I beat an
opponent who had 30 pounds and three inches over me, plus he was a black
belt. I remember never being so scared prior to the bout, but when I
entered the ring I took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand.
After the fight, I discovered I broke several of my opponents ribs. Ed.
Note: Sort of makes a Mortal Kombat type game a lock, eh? :-)
Since we are in cyberspace, I had a chance to reflect on my questions.
The following questions were answered by Scott after the first set:
CyberNews:
What age would you let your child play Wolf?
Scott Miller:
My three year old son loves to watch me play Wolf, Blake and our coming
Rise of the Triad, which will be the goriest game ever released. I tell
him that it's not real, no one is being hurt, and it's just a cartoon.
I think that younger players should avoid overexposure to violent games,
and only play while parents are present to explain the game as not being
real. In Rise of the Triad, we've taken an extra step: This game will
have a parental lock-out code, which turns off the gore and blood in the
game.
CyberNews:
Did you expect Wolf to be the big hit it turned out to be? Describe the
experience . . .
Scott Miller:
Id Software had made two EGA 3D games (Hover Tank and Catacombs 3-D) for
Softdisk's monthly game publication, Gamer's Edge. After seeing these
two games, I knew that a shareware 3D game would be a tremendous
success. However, Id Software wasn't going to make a 3D game for the
shareware market originally. I had to work out a special deal with
them, in which Apogee made a game for Gamer's Edge, giving time for Id
to develop Wolfenstein 3-D.
It also took several weeks to convince them to make it a six episode
game, rather than only three episodes. This allowed us to charge $50
for six episodes, which is what most players purchased.
When Wolf was released, it easily surpassed our expectations. I knew
the technology was cutting-edge, but really, when you think about it,
it's just a maze game. So I wasn't sure if the public would dislike it
for being too simplistic. That fear was quickly shot down when orders
came in so fast we had to hire more phone operators.
CyberNews:
Can you spill any beans on where Apogee is headed outside of the PC
games market? Are you, say, moving into video, etc?
Scott Miller:
We don't have any plans other than to make PC action games.
Diversification is the opposite of focus, and we plan to remained
focused on PC games--and that's all.
Ed. Note: Scott Miller, a man who got tired of giving away his
software, invents a marketing practice that gives birth to a whole new
industry and still has time to play ping pong. What more can you ask of
a person?
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 3D Realms Stuns Audience with BLOOD Preview! |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| . BLOOD is one of the first games to hit the . |
| . )`. streets from 3D Realms, Inc. A new . )`. |
| )`. / \ leader in 3D technology games! )`. / \ |
| / \ ( | . . / \ ( | |
| ( | ~---~ )`. Want a sneak peek? )`. ( | ~---~ |
| ~---~ / \ . / \ ~---~ For more info |
| ( | )`. ( | on 3D Realms and their|
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|download the Windows . ( | check out the article in |
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|CyberNews from any BBS/ \ You can also contact George |
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