3D Realms is no stranger to helping third party developers create and publish games; their Apogee operation was one of the biggest PC shareware publishers of the 1990s. Now in 3D Realms' CEO Scott Miller's recent blog he states that the company is going back to a similar kind of set-up and will be helping as many as six third party developers with creating new games. FiringSquad got a chance to chat briefly with Miller about their plans and how this new development might affect their internal development team working on Duke Nukem Forever:

FiringSquad: First, helping other developers with their projects is nothing new to your company. Why did you make the decision to make this feature more of a priority?

Scott Miller: It's something my partner George Broussard and I have been thinking about for a few years, but we decided to wait until after Prey's release. With some 40 years of industry experience between us, we've acquired hard earned design, marketing, and business knowledge that we are willing to share with other teams. And just as important, we have significant clout within the industry, in large part due to our past success, and that allows us to push for deals that many other independent developers cannot get on their own.

FiringSquad: How will 3D Realms specifically help a developer with their project? Will it be merely financial or will 3D Realms also offer development and marketing help and also how much of the games will be owned by the developed and how much will be owned by 3D Realms?

Scott Miller: The projects we take on will benefit from our design philosophy and experience, and I think all projects we're involved with will have a recognizable 3D Realms touch to them. They will be innovative in terms of gameplay, have interactive environments, good development of the lead character, and a high degree of polish. Another thing we bring to the table is additional funding beyond what publishers can contribute. For example, we funded $2 million for Max Payne, and a higher amount for Prey. Finally, we have always been involved with the marketing of our games, from the making of trailers, to the design of all major ads and the retail boxes.

FiringSquad: Will 3D Realms use this newly expanded program to get outside developers to create games based on 3D Realms projects as well, as Human Head did with Prey?

Scott Miller: We might have more internal designs, but most often we're looking to create all-new designs in collaboration with the studios we team up with. I think it works best like this, when both studios share equally in the concept and the over design process.

FiringSquad: Your blog said that you are now planning to help as many as six developers at once. How hard will it be to coordinate those efforts?

Scott Miller: Six would definitely be a top-end number, and we might not reach it. I think four is more likely to happen, and it might take us a year to get to that number, depending on the opportunities that come along. It shouldn't be hard to coordinate our efforts because we've done this sort of thing since working with Id Software in 1990, and we know the ropes pretty well. Also, I will soon hire a Creative Director to assist in this area full-time.

FiringSquad: As PC games move into digital distribution, will 3D Realms self-publish these new titles from third party developers via that method or work with traditional publishers as you have with 2K Games for the Max Payne titles and Prey?

Scott Miller: None of these games will likely be released in the next two years, so that's still a question we have time to consider, as the landscape changes. I personally believe that digital distribution is going to soon wash over our industry like a tsunami, and we are seeing early signs of this shift even today, with 2K's announcement with regard to Steam. I still believe that traditional pubs will remain the powerhouses they are today, if for no other reason that they are the banks of our industry, providing the most accessible funding needed to make games. They are maybe a handful of top-tier independent studios worldwide who do not need external funding to make a game, so publishers will have their place for years to come, I'm certain.

FiringSquad: Since 3D Realms (and Apogee for that matter) have concentrated on action games in the past will you concentrate on that genre for your new efforts or will you consider taking on games based on other genres (RPGs, RTS, Adventure, Sports, etc)

Scott Miller: Exploring other genres will depend on the strength and desire of the studios we work with. We are not locked into the shooter genre.

FiringSquad: Finally how will all of this third party activity affect 3D Realm's internal team and the development of Duke Nukem Forever?

Scott Miller: It shouldn't have much of an effect at all, because DNF is fully internal, and these new projects will be full external. With the 3D Realms office, it is generally only me who works with external teams (and soon a Creative Director who will help me), so the impact upon our internal project is very, very small. The only time there's an impact is when an external project is near release, and a handful of people within 3DR play through the game and few times and provide bug finds and play-testing comments. That impact is about one 30 man-days total, equal to the whole company spending one full day on the game.

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