Apogee Software, Ltd.
Overview
Apogee Software, Ltd. is a Texas Limited Partnership whose General Partner is Action Entertainment, Inc., a Texas Corporation.
Since 1987, Apogee Software, Ltd. has been a multifaceted pioneer and innovator in the PC gaming industry. Apogee's first breakthrough was in shareware marketing. Known in the shareware industry as the "Apogee model," our breakthrough method of releasing a portion of a full game (an "episode") as shareware (years before the Internet became popular) was risky and innovative, and done well before other PC game publishers released demos of their games -- now standard practice.
Among other innovations popularized by Apogee in our early years include cheat codes (standard practice for our games as far back as in 1987), level warps and the so-called "god" invincibility mode. Apogee's games, and later 3D Realms' games, have always included skill levels and save/load game options, both very rare in PC games in the late 80's and early 90's.
Apogee is considered the founder and father of the local Dallas-area game development community, with most of the top developers in this area having strong connections to us. For example, id Software located here to have a closer working relationship with us during the development of Wolfenstein 3-D. Ritual Entertainment was formed by several developers from Apogee. Ion Storm co-founder Tom Hall left 3D Realms to follow his dream of owning his own company where "Design is law." And many other of our developers have also gone on to become key members at non-local developers, such as at Valve Software (Half-Life) and n-Space.
The Apogee label, for all purposes, was slated to be phased out after having been responsible for nearly 30 PC games, including Beyond the Titanic, Supernova, Kroz, Pharaoh's Tomb, Commander Keen, the original Duke Nukem in 1991, Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, Word Rescue, Math Rescue, Wolfenstein 3-D, Blake Stone, Raptor, Wacky Wheels, Rise of the Triad, Death Rally and Stargunner.
After a long silence, the company announced its return in July 2008 with
Duke Nukem Trilogy, three new 2D Duke missions for the hand-held market.
Also Known As
- Apogee Software Productions -- Former company name
Trivia
Location & contact information in Oct. 1995:
Apogee Software Ltd.
P.O. Box 496389
Garland, TX 75049-6389
Technical Support: 1-214-278-5655
Fax Support: 1-214-278-4670
Related Web-Sites
- Apogee Software, Ltd. -- The Official homepage
- Apogee Central -- Apogee Central is a website which contains anything and everything about Apogee. The site contains a copy of every Apogee/3D Realms game ever created, as well as canceled Apogee games, and fan made games/utilities.
- Lon Matero's Apogee Page -- Features the classic games of Apogee Software. Each feature includes an overview of the game, credits, system requirements, some strategies, characters, items, weapons level overview, and more!
- The Apogee FAQ -- This FAQ is the official FAQ of Apogee and its spin-off brands such as 3D Realms and Pinball Wizards. It is copyrighted by Samuel Stoddard. While it is authorized and "officialized" by Apogee, it is not the property nor the work of Apogee. It was not written by Apogee, or any employee of Apogee. However, Apogee has contributed greatly and generously to its creation and growth.
Amazing FAQ, fascinating to read.
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