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From: Joe Siegler (joe.siegler@swcbbs.com)
Subject: Apogee Wants Your Ideas! 
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc
Date: 1994-05-05 04:54:29 PST 
 

Apogee wants your ideas and comments!

Apogee is currently developing several 3D games using an engine similar
to DOOM, but with a few extra features, such as the ability to look up
and down.  These games are already well underway, and one or two have a
good chance of being released late this year.

It occurred to us that DOOM players here might have ideas and suggestions
that they'd like to see in a DOOM-style game, that weren't seen in DOOM.
Please list all of your ideas here and we'll use the appropriate ones
whenever possible.  You can actually be responsible for a cool idea that
appears in an upcoming game.

We'd also like to hear about annoying things you didn't like in DOOM. For
example, I've heard from many players that they wish the head bobbing
effect could be toggled on/off.

Please list all of you suggestions here, to me.

Here's some of the game we're developing:

[1] Duke Nukem 3-D -- This will be our most DOOM-like game.  Non-stop
    action as Duke rids a futuristic LA of crime.  Duke can use a
    jetpack to fly around the city!

[2] Shadow Warrior -- A Ninja action game set in Japan, with plenty of
    magic and mysticism, too.  You're a Ninja with many weapons (like a
    throwing star, bow/arrows and several awesome spells, which must
    first be learned).  The game is set in modern times, but has elements
    of ancient Japan, too.

[3] Ruins -- A modern day Indiana Jones action game, set in Egypt.  The
    player discovers an awesome secret within a great pyramid, but in
    doing so conjures up mythical creatures and must  overcome deadly
    traps, etc.

[4] Fear -- A horror game set within a huge castle estate.  Some familiar
    monsters, others not so familiar!  (We're working with Stephen King's
    agent, currently, to see if he'd like to be involved with this project.)

That's enough for now.  :)  Please, let's hear your ideas!

Scott Miller, President, Apogee

This is was from Scott Miller.  He wishes this broadcast all over the
place.  However, Scott doesn't normally visit this area, that's what I'm
for!  (Joe Siegler).   Please leave your comments to "Joe Siegler".

Joe Siegler - Apogee Software



From: Joe Siegler (joe.siegler@swcbbs.com)
Subject: Announcing 3D Realms Entertainment 
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc
Date: 1994-08-29 05:06:12 PST 
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
       Contact: George Broussard
           CIS: 71321,2743
America Online: Apogee1
      Internet: 71321.2743@compuserve.com
 

                       Announcing 3D Realms Entertainment
            New Apogee division dedicated to development of 3D games

 
Garland, TX -- August 27, 1994 -- 3D Realms Entertainment, a new division of
Apogee Software, Ltd., is focused exclusively on creating the best 3D games for
the PC.  "By just focusing on 3D games," says George Broussard, head of 3D
Realms, "we'll be able push the technology as far as it can possibly go on the
PC, thus providing our customers with the best 3D play experiences achievable."
 
Currently, 3D Realms has four exciting, next-generation 3D games under
development.  States Broussard, "3D games are an exploding market, and it's not
going to diminish any time soon.  We see 3D games as the future of gaming since
they best represent how we live in life--we don't live in a 2D world, we live
in a 3D reality.  It's about time a company commits to specializing in this hot
market, without being distracted by other game styles."
 
3D Realms is committed to releasing innovative, cutting-edge 3D games that
totally plunge players into a realistic environment, be it a hostile action
game, a simulation, a sports game or an adventure/exploration game.  Most games
rarely live up to their hype.  We believe the features and inventiveness of our
games will speak for themselves.
 
"Our current 3D development 'engine', Build, is tailor built for fast action
and realistic gameplay, plus it pushes the envelope of 3D gaming technology
further than we've seen it," states Broussard.  "It's natural to compare it to
Id Software's superb DOOM engine, except it has many new advancements, like
looking up and down, moving transport vehicles, more realistic lighting,
translucent images, rooms above rooms, spiral staircases, and other more
technical improvements. The game characters can also jump, duck, crawl, climb
ladders, fly, or anything else you can imagine."

All of the games support modem play as well as IPX network play.

Here's a brief description of the current 3D Realms games in development:
 
[1] RUINS: RETURN OF THE GODS -- As an enterprising archaeologist, you have
    dug up more than you can handle! You've just discovered an alien mothership
    buried deep beneath a recent Egyptian excavation.  This vessel belongs to
    not-so-friendly aliens who built the ancient pyramids in order to produce a
    mind-controlling energy field over the Earth.  After a millennium, the
    aliens have returned to finish their dark work by enslaving the people of
    the world.  Only you know their sinister plot!  Battle the Anubis and other
    Egyptian mythological monsters, along with awesome alien enemies, as you
    solve puzzles and escape traps in your quest to annihilate the alien
    invaders.
 
[2] SHADOW WARRIOR -- As a highly trained Ninja warrior, you're on a mission to
    stop a powerful and evil mystical spirit that has been released after a
    thousand years' imprisonment under Mt. Fuji.  You'll cast magical energies
    and use an array of weapons, including throwing stars and a crossbow, as
    you battle a combative cult of obsessed assassins and murderers. Controlled
    by the returning spirit, this hostile horde seeks to overthrow first Japan, and then the
    world.  Only you have the power to give them the final "Sayonara, baby!"
    Overcome trained martial arts opponents, elude traps, defeat magical
    enemies, and conquer the supernatural as you set out to save mankind in
    this action-packed mystical adventure.
 
[3] DUKE NUKEM 3D -- The future is here and you may be the only one fierce
    enough to face it!  The World Government has lowered a gigantic dome around
    Los Angeles, which has become a mecca for criminals.  Evil but ingenious
    scientists and bosses have activated the nuclear plants and are building
    the mother of all bombs to obliterate Earth in one last gesture!  As the
    unflappable Duke Nukem, you are assigned the job of entering the dome
    through a secret passage and stopping the plan in its tracks.  Done Duke's
    way, this means kill first then ask questions.  This non-stop action /
    survival saga unfolds on a space station orbiting Earth where you must
    knock out a force field surrounding the planet.  With astounding futuristic
    weapons, you'll enter a battleground of phenomenal action to fry the foes
    before they undo the world.
 
[4] BLOOD -- Welcome to the nightmare!  Horror rears its many heads in this
    eerie spine-tingling action adventure. Suddenly, all of the subconscious
    and conscious evil in humankind's minds has spawned macabre manifestations
    all over the planet.  As a member of a secret group that has been awaiting
    this event, you journey to the heart of danger where the outbreaks of evil
    have been most reported.  You arrive at a mysterious castle, the first of
    several strongholds where gruesome monsters and otherworldly creations are
    preparing to do unspeakable horrors to the people of Earth.  You must use
    every weapon at your disposal, including a flame-thrower, to stop the
    erupting evil.  Without backup help available, you realize it's just you
    against them!
 
All four games are due out in 1995.  Each one will have a shareware version
available for free through bulletin boards (i.e. Software Creations BBS) and
online services (i.e. CompuServe and America Online).  Each shareware version--
approximately one third of the full game--will advertise the complete game,
which is sold directly by 3D Realms.  (The industry known "Apogee Model"
shareware marketing system.)  FormGen Corporation has the worldwide exclusive
license to release each game into the retail channel at the same time the
shareware versions of each game are released by 3D Realms.
 
"We will continue to develop state-of-the-art 3D game engines," Broussard said.  "Already under development is our
PolyTex engine, due to be ready in early 1995. It will let us design games that
are perfectly realistic using a true 3D environment.  Imagine yourself inside a
space station without gravity and using magnetic boots to walk on any surface
at any orientation, climb ladders to rooms above rooms and fly into space
through an airlock.  That's the kind of realistic game environment that will be
possible with the Polytex engine."
 
3D Realms Entertainment--more than a just a new company, it's a new outlook on
game development.  We are focused on creating the next wave of realistic,
engrossing gaming experiences.  Games that *are* real.
 
                                #    #    #    #    #
 
Additional notes:
 
* 3D Realms will release each game using the "Apogee Model", meaning the first
  third of each game will be available freely as shareware.  The full version
  of each game can be ordered directly from 3D Realms.  Additionally, the full
  version of each game will be available through retail channels, too.  FormGen
  Corporation (publisher of SPEAR OF DESTINY) will handle the retail
  distribution of all four 3D Realms titles.
 
* The inhouse level editor and development tools will be made available, so
  users can use these highly advanced tools to develop their own levels and art.
 
* RISE OF THE TRIAD, an Apogee release coming by November, is not being
  released under the 3D Realms label.

[ END PRESS RELEASE ]

 * 1st 2.00b #1051bt * 3D Realms - Not just a new company, but a new way of gaming!


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