Apogee reboots as an indie publisher and showcases new survival platformer
Founded in 1987, Apogee Software is back under the name Apogee Entertainment. The company was at the origin of well-known titles such as Duke Nukem. As a publisher, it will focus on indie games and the survival platform game Residual has now been announced.
Original Apogee founder Scott Miller and executive Terry Nagy founded Apogee Entertainment because they see many opportunities in the indie game market. Miller writes in a blog that independent developers have never had it better, as there are now resources such as engines, tools and marketplaces, complemented by Steam and the ability to self-publish games.
Still, Miller thinks Apogee can add more, such as helping fund games or promoting games through marketing, so those games can “reach their full potential.” In addition, Apogee Entertainment stands for porting games for all platforms and the company wants to focus on quality control and making games suitable for local markets.
Miller and Nagy tell Gamesindustry.biz that there are plenty of diamonds in the rough and that they will be very picky about which games to play. They mainly focus on games with a strong fun factor that players can easily get into. Miller says that a game like Cuphead is an example of a very difficult game, which Apogee Entertainment will not focus on.
The renewed Apogee is working on four projects, of which the game Residual was announced as the first. This is a survival platformer where players can explore a limitless world of forgotten alien technology and stories and must prevent a galactic gunge from spreading further. The game is being made by OrangePixel and will be released on Steam sometime this fall for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox platforms.
Apogee Software was formed in 1987 and the name and logo were eventually sold by Miller to colleague Nagy, who continued with the company in 2008. Apogee is best known for titles such as Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein 3D, Rise of the Triad, Raptor, Shadow Warrior, Max Payne and Prey, although some titles were released under the 3D Realms label at the time. This became a separate company, of which Miller is co-owner. 3D Realms is still around and released Ion Fury not too long ago. In addition to this reboot of Apogee, Miller and Nagy also want to get their hands on the rights to the name 3D Realms.