Action Games (Micro Star)/Micro Star Software - Action Games (1994).iso/MONSTER/VENDOR.DOC

Text File | 1993-05-18 | 12.5 KB | 290 lines

NOTE:  DO NOT DISTRIBUTE THIS FILE WITH ANY APOGEE GAMES.  THIS
FILE IS FOR VENDORS OF APOGEE GAMES ONLY.
===============================================================

Apogee Software Productions
P.O. Box 496389
Garland, TX 75049

(REMINDER:  Both our P.O. Box number and zip code have recently
changed, due to rezoning by our local post office.  The old P.O.
Box number was 476389 and the old zip code was 75047.  Also, Apogee
is soon moving to a much larger office location, so please do not
contact us using our office address at 3960 Broadway Blvd.)

Steven Blackburn: [phone]
Dennis Scarff:    [phone]
Fax:              [phone]
CompuServe:       72550,634
Apogee BBS:       [phone] -- 2400 baud
                  [phone] -- 9600 baud
                  [phone] -- 14.4k baud
Exec-PC BBS:      [phone] (Go to the "Apogee Collection")
America Online:   Use the keyword "Apogee".

Member STAR -- Shareware Trade Association and Resources
Member SPA  -- Software Publishers Association

Dear Shareware Distributor:

Enclosed on these disks are the following files:

* MAJOR STRYKER -- Apogee's newest style of shoot 'em up space
combat game.  Features triple-parallax scrolling, which has never
before been seen on the IBM PC.  Read our on-disk catalog for a
full description.  Ad Lib and Sound Blaster support.

* MONSTER BASH -- Apogee's first horror game, with plenty of
bash'em, smash'em gruesome graphics.  This is our largest game
ever, with more animation and graphics than any game we've
released yet. Read our on-disk catalog for a full description.
Ad Lib and SoundBlaster support.

* BASHSHOW.EXE -- This is a self-extracting ZIP file that contains
a self-running slide show for Monster Bash.  You may use this file
for your own promotions, and you may use the PCX screen shots to
promote and advertise the game in your catalog, etc.

* MS-PIX.ZIP -- This is a Zip file with screen shots from Major
Stryker, which you may use however you want to help sell Apogee
games.

* CATALOG.EXE -- Apogee's new disk catalog, which must be
distributed with all Apogee games.  (This file, as well as
ORDER.FRM, must be distributed with all Apogee games.)

* ORDER.FRM -- Apogee's latest ordering/fax file.

=================================================================
**** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT ****

Both games are distributed with a "LICENSE.DOC" license agreement,
which you should first read before distributing either of these
games.

NEW POLICY CHANGE FOR RETAIL RACK VENDORS:  ALL previous Apogee
shareware games will now require a small royalty (10 cents) per
copy sold, payable quarterly to Apogee.  Current rack vendors may
continue to sell their existing Apogee inventory until September 1,
1993, or until the inventory is depleted.  After that, Apogee will
require every retail rack vendor to sign an "Royalty Distribution
Agreement", which may be obtained from Apogee--contact Dennis
Scarff for this agreement, call [phone].

=================================================================
THE APOGEE HOME BBS

If you are unsure if you have the latest version of any Apogee
games, you can call our Home BBS or Exec-PC BBS (both free if you
stick to the Apogee Games Section) to get the latest version(s).

Any vendor can log onto the Apogee BBS and join the "Apogee
Shareware Vendor Support Conference" (conference #76), where we
provide all our shareware games in all the various disk sizes.
This conference is free to all shareware vendors--no BBS membership
fee is required to use this conference.  More information on this
is provided below.

=================================================================
APOGEE GAMES COMING SOON

* BioMenace (formerly named Bio Hazard) -- A Duke Nukum style game,
in which you shoot first and ask questions later.

* Hocus Pocus -- A 256-color VGA scrolling arcade game.

* Mercenary 2029 -- A 256-color VGA action shoot 'em up.

* Blake Stone 3-D -- Apogee's second 3-D 256-color VGA game,
developed with a more advanced engine than the Wolfenstein 3-D
engine, and with many more enemies and more graphics, etc.

==================================================================
WOLFENSTEIN 3-D WINS SPA AWARD!!!

Wolfenstein 3-D recently won the Software Publishers Association
(SPA) award for "Best Arcade and Action Game in 1992".  This is the
biggest possible award that Wolfenstein 3-D can win, since the SPA
awards are the software industry's equivalent to the Academy
Awards!  Wolfenstein 3-D is the first and only shareware program
(game or otherwise) to ever win a SPA award!

==================================================================
APOGEE IS GROWING FAST

We've hired several key people to help run our operations and
specialized needs.  Apogee has recently hired three key people:

Dennis Scarff, Operations Coordinator
-------------------------------------
Dennis Scarff, the former Librarian and Software Review Supervisor
at Public Brand Software, joined Apogee on April 5th, 1993.

In a statement released March 5, 1993, Mr. Scarff said:  "It has
been my pleasure to work with the staff at Public Brand and a
number of shareware authors during the past three years.  Our
concentration on quality, author assistance, as well as a high
level of customer support, has definitely made Public Brand a
household word in the shareware industry."

"Since I first reviewed Commander Keen, I knew that Apogee was on
the cutting edge of graphics technology.  The subsequent release of
additional high quality games, numerous industry awards, and a keen
(pun intended) sense of marketing ability has kept Apogee at the
top of the shareware charts for nearly two years."

"I am very excited to join Scott and his team and look forward to
participating in Apogee's continued success."

You may reach Dennis at [phone].

Joe Siegler, Online Support Manager
-----------------------------------
Joe Siegler has been promoted from Apogee's technical support staff
to manage most of Apogee's online activities and online forums.
Joe has an extensive background with BBS software and hardware,
plus he's an active member of all the major echo-mail networks and
online services.

Joe will manage following:
* Distribution of all future Apogee releases
* Tracking down pirated copies of Apogee's non-shareware games
* Providing online customers with technical support and hints

You can contact Joe online at these online addresses:
- Internet         [e-mail]
- CompuServe:      74200,553
- America Online:  Use the keyword "Apogee"
- GEnie:           Apogee
- Prodigy:         CXVP94A
- Delphi:          Apogee
- Fidonet:         1:124/9006
- Rime:            Apogee

Steve Maines, Art Director
--------------------------
Apogee is very excited about the hiring of Steve Maines, who was
the head of the art department at Softdisk, Inc., prior to joining
Apogee in April.  Steve has an impressive resume and experience
record.

Steve is handling the creation of Apogee's new four-color, 28-page
catalog, as well as directing a multitude of talented artists, who
are making illustrations and logos for most of Apogee's current and
coming games.  Steve is also the project leader for two of Apogee's
coming games, Duke Nukum II and Duke Nukum 3-D.

==================================================================
NEW:  APOGEE SHAREWARE VENDOR SUPPORT CONFERENCE

WHAT is the Apogee Vendor Support Conference?  Apogee has put
together a new support conference for shareware vendors.  This
conference will contain the latest screen shots, and the all of
Apogee's shareware games (and latest updates) in all the various
disk sizes and formats.

WHERE is the support conference located?  On the official Apogee
BBS, Software Creations.  Call one of the following numbers to
become a member of this BBS:

   * [phone] (2400 baud)
   * [phone] (up to 9600 baud)
   * [phone] (up to 14,400 baud)

HOW to gain access to the Apogee Shareware Vendor Support
Conference?  Simply call our BBS and join conference 76.  Within
conference 76 you can list the file directories, one for each of
our shareware games.  Within each directory you will find the
shareware game broken down into all the required disk sizes, along
with the screen shots for that game.

WHEN will this conference be available?  It's already up and
running!

==================================================================
APOGEE WILL PAY TO HAVE OUR SCREEN SHOTS ON YOUR CATALOG COVER!

That's right!  Apogee will pay you $225/$100/$50 if you put a color
screen shot of any newer Apogee game on the cover of your catalog.

* How to get $225:  Print only Apogee screen shots on your front
cover, and they must take up MORE then fifty percent (50%) of the
front cover space.  (You can use just one big shot of an Apogee
game, or two or more smaller shots.)

* How to get $100:  Print only Apogee screen shots on your front
cover, but the total area is LESS than fifty percent of the front
cover space, but MORE than twenty five percent (25%) of the total
front cover space.

* How to get $50 or more:  Print one or more Apogee screen shots on
your front cover, along with screen shots from other shareware
programs.  Note:  Apogee will pay $50 for the first screen shot,
and $10 extra for each additional screen shot appearing on you
front cover.  (This rate only applies if you also include screen
shots from other shareware programs.)

If you're not sure about these rates, please call Dennis Scarff at
Apogee.  Dennis can also provide you with screen shots of any of
our games.  Before you receive payment from Apogee, we'll need to
see a copy of your catalog.

==================================================================
VENDORS CAN ADVERTISE IN APOGEE'S NEW CATALOGS

By June, Apogee will have a new, full-color, 28-page catalog that
will advertise all of our current games, along with future games.
This catalog will be sent to ALL customers who order games from us,
as well as our current customer list (over 100,000 customers).  If
games represent a good portion of your shareware sales, you'll
surely benefit by advertising to Apogee's customers.

If you'd like to advertise in our catalog, please call Scott Miller
at [phone] for details.  Currently, we're not sure what the
advertising rates will be.  Apogee representatives will have copies
of our first catalog for you to see at the 1993 SSS.  Or you can
send $1 to Apogee to get a copy.  (We charge $1 for catalogs, or
include it free with all orders.)

(Note:  We're not accepting advertising on the first issue of our
catalog.  However, with all future issues we'll accept either half
page or full page advertising.  We plan on printing new issues of
the catalog about three times per year.)

==================================================================

Apogee sells over 1500 Wolfenstein 3-D Hint Books per month (at $10
each).  Do you think you can sell these popular hint books, too?

If you'd like to try, we can sell you Wolfenstein 3-D Hint Books in
boxes of 130 each.  A box of 130 hint books will cost you a dealer
price of $845 plus shipping.  (We charge $6.50 per book.)  You're
welcome to resell these hint books at $10.00 or higher.

If you're interested in selling the hint books for Wolfenstein 3-D,
contact Dennis Scarff at Apogee.

Also available within a few weeks will be our hot new Wolfenstein
3-D full-color tee shirts.  Contact Dennis if you'd be interested
in selling these, too.  Although I don't have a firm dealer price
for these tees yet, I think they'll be about $11 each, and you can
resell them for $16 to $18 each.  These are very high-quality, 100%
silver grey cotton tees.  We don't use the cheap stuff!  And
the four-color reproduction silk-screening is also very high
quality.  (Just so you know how well tees sell, Apogee sells about
600 per month of our regular Apogee tee, which only has our logo
on it.  We expect the Wolf3D tees to sell A LOT better!)  If
you'd like a sample tee, just send us $11, which includes
shipping back to you.

==================================================================

In closing, I'd like to thank you for distributing Apogee games.
Apogee is firmly committed to staying in shareware, though at times
we'll try commercial releases, too.  We have over 60 people helping
us make games, so you can expect many exciting games in the coming
years.

Thank you,
Scott Miller, President