Scott Miller (born 1961 in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
)
is an American video game designer, programmer, and entrepreneur best known for founding
Apogee Software
3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game '' Kingdom of Kroz''. In the ...
, Ltd. (which later became
3D Realms
3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...
) in 1987. Starting with the ''
Kroz
''Kroz'' is a series of Roguelike video games created by Scott Miller for IBM PC compatibles. The first episode in the series, ''Kingdom of Kroz'', was released in 1987 as Apogee Software's first game. It was also published on ''Big Blue Disk'' ...
'' series for
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
from that year, Miller pioneered the concept of giving away the first game in a trilogy—distributed freely as shareware—with the opportunity to purchase the remaining two episodes.
This method became the standard distribution method for Apogee. Competitors such as
Epic MegaGames
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Ma ...
later adopted the same business model.
Biography
Growing up, Miller lived with his father, Boyd Miller, an engineer at
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
who worked on the
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
and
Gemini
Gemini may refer to:
Space
* Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
** Gemini in Chinese astronomy
* Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program
* Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Northern ...
programs.
Miller began writing video games in 1975 on a
Wang 2200
The Wang 2200 was an all-in-one minicomputer released by Wang Laboratories in May 1973. Unlike some other desktop computers, such as the HP 9830, it had a cathode-ray tube (CRT) in a cabinet that also included an integrated computer-controlled c ...
while living in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. He wrote several
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
games that circulated widely on
BBS
BBS may refer to:
Ammunition
* BBs, BB gun metal bullets
* BBs, airsoft gun plastic pellets
Computing and gaming
* Bulletin board system, a computer server users dial into via dial-up or telnet; precursor to the Internet
* BIOS Boot Specificat ...
file bases: ''Computer Quiz'', ''Astronomy Quiz'', ''BASIC Quiz'', ''
Beyond the Titanic'', ''
Supernova
A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
'', ''
Kingdom of Kroz
''Kroz'' is a series of Roguelike video games created by Scott Miller for IBM PC compatibles. The first episode in the series, ''Kingdom of Kroz'', was released in 1987 as Apogee Software's first game. It was also published on ''Big Blue Disk'' ...
'', ''
Word Whiz'', ''
Trek Trivia The following is a list of the earliest, lesser-known video games published by Apogee Software. For a full listing of Apogee/3D Realms games, see list of 3D Realms games.
Games
Adventure Fun-Pak
''Adventure Fun-Pak'' is a collection of four vide ...
''. Miller started as
game programmer
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface ...
, but now handled primary business duties of 3D Realms, as well as producing and co-designing all third-party games associated with the company, including ''
Wolfenstein 3D
''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game ''Castle Wolfenstei ...
'', ''
Raptor: Call of the Shadows'', ''
Terminal Velocity
Terminal velocity is the maximum velocity (speed) attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid (air is the most common example). It occurs when the sum of the drag force (''Fd'') and the buoyancy is equal to the downward force of gravit ...
'', ''
Max Payne
''Max Payne'' is a neo-noir third-person shooter video game series developed by Remedy Entertainment (''Max Payne'' and ''Max Payne 2'') and Rockstar Studios (''Max Payne 3''). The series is named after its protagonist, Max Payne, a New York Ci ...
'' and ''
Prey
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...
''.
He created the method of game distribution where one episode of a game is released freely as
shareware
Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...
, and the follow-up episodes are sold through the company. The free episode is the carrot-on-a-stick; an advertisement to purchase the remaining, commercial episodes. ''Kingdom of Kroz'', in 1987, was the first game to use this method, which Miller refers to as the "Apogee Model." Upon success with this model with the seven ''Kroz'' episodes, Miller left his full-time job in early 1990s and devoted full efforts into growing Apogee. It was at this time that Miller contacted key members at
Softdisk
Softdisk was a software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products were disk magazines (which they termed "magazettes", for "magazine on diskette"). It was affiliated and partly owned by paper mag ...
(a monthly software magazine delivered on floppy disks to subscribers) who later formed
id Software
id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and ar ...
, and convinced them to make ''
Commander Keen
''Commander Keen'' is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were originally released for MS-DOS in ...
'' to be released through Apogee. The series was a success enabling id Software to become an independent studio. Miller was later instrumental in the formation of publisher
Gathering of Developers
Gathering of Developers, Inc. (shortened as G.O.D. or GodGames, and branded as Gathering between 2003 and 2004) was an American video game publisher based in New York City. Founded by Mike Wilson and associates in January 1998 and originally b ...
in 1998. He later helped found the Radar Group.
Miller was a professional writer in the 1980s, having co-authored a book on video games, ''Shootout: Zap the Video Games'', and writing a weekly column for ''
The Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
'' for four years (1982–1985), titled "Video Vision" (later changed to "Computer Fun"). He also wrote for
COMPUTE!
''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET c ...
's PC and PCjr and other magazines. From 2006 to 2008, Miller maintained an industry blog, www.GameMatters.com, where he was a strong proponent of
studio
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...
independence, and of studios and
publishers
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
creating original brands rather than licensing brands from other media sources.
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
named Miller as number 14 in their listing of the Most Influential People in Computer Gaming of All Time. In 1997, ''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...
'' ranked him as number 14 on the list of the Most Influential People of All Time in computer gaming for originating the Apogee
model.
[''CGW'' 159: The Most Influential People in Computer Gaming]
References
External links
*
Game Matters Miller's blog
at
3D Realms
3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...
Scott Miller's biographyat Radar Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Scott
1961 births
American chief executives
American computer businesspeople
American video game designers
Living people
People from Florida
Video game programmers
The Dallas Morning News people