Codex Gamicus
Explore
Main Page
Discuss
All Pages
Interactive Maps
navigation
Main page
Community portal
Recent changes
Random page
Admin noticeboard
Forums
Company Index
Character Index
Hardware Index
In-Game Index
Ratings Index
Video Game Index
Fandom
Gamepedia support
Report a bad ad
Help Wiki
Contact us
FANDOM
Fan Central
BETA
Games
Anime
Movies
TV
Video
Wikis
Explore Wikis
Community Central
Start a Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Sign In
Sign In
Register
Fandom's centric source of video game knowledge
42,423
pages
Explore
Main Page
Discuss
All Pages
Interactive Maps
navigation
Main page
Community portal
Recent changes
Random page
Admin noticeboard
Forums
Company Index
Character Index
Hardware Index
In-Game Index
Ratings Index
Video Game Index
Fandom
Gamepedia support
Report a bad ad
Help Wiki
Contact us
Editing
Games By Apollo
Back to page
Edit
VisualEditor
View history
Talk (0)
Edit Page
Games By Apollo
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Infobox Defunct Company | company_name = Games By Apollo | company_logo = | slogan = | fate = Closed <!--Suggestions: bankrupt, merged etc.--> | successor = <!--company merged into etc.--> | foundation = [[1981 in video gaming|1981]] | defunct = [[1983 in video gaming|1983]] <!--date it went bankrupt/merged etc.--> | location = {{USA}} | industry = Video and Computer Games<!--types of products or services offered--> | key_people = Pat Roper (founder) <br/> Ed Salvo (Director of Development) | products = SpaceChase, Shark Attack<!--some of company's notable products--> | num_employees = 30 <!--peak number of employees--> | parent = <!--former parent companies, if any--> | subsid = <!--former subsidiaries, if any--> }} '''Games by Apollo''' was an early [[third-party developer]] for the [[Atari 2600]], based in Richardson, Texas. Founded by Pat Roper in October 1981 by as a subsidiary of his National Career Consultants (NCC),<ref name=nyt>{{cite web | last =Dougherty | first = Philip H. | title = ADVERTISING; Video Game Client To Benton & Bowles | publisher = The New York Times | date = 1982-07-23 | url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01EFDA1539F930A15754C0A964948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print | accessdate = 2007-11-16}}</ref> their first game was Skeet Shoot. Releasing eleven games in total for the [[Atari 2600]], their titles never caught on, however, and when the [[North American video game crash of 1983]] occurred, they were one of the first software companies to declare bankruptcy. Several former employees went on to form Atari 2600 game developer Video Software Specialists (VSS) and [[MicroGraphicImage]]. ==History== ===Formation=== In 1980, Pat Roper was President of Texas-based National Career Consultants (NCC), a company that produced educational films. Roper knew nothing about the games industry, but while playing NFL Football on the [[Intellivision]] in 1980, he realized that there was money to be made.<ref name=apolloprofile>{{Citation | last = Iida | first = Keita | title = Third Party Profile: Apollo | url = http://www.atarihq.com/2678/3party/apollo.html | accessdate = 2007-11-16}}</ref> Roper decided to form a game company, which he called Games By Apollo because the name “Apollo” appealed to Roper because it was recognizable and a symbol of youth and activity.<ref name=dpinterview>{{Citation | last =Stilphen | first =Scott | title = DP Interviews....Ed Salvo | url =http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_ed_salvo.html | accessdate = 2007-11-16}}</ref> Instead of hiring away existing game designers from Mattel or Atari, however, Roper placed an advertisement in the Dallas Morning News and the San Francisco Chronicle. A young programmer by the name of Ed Salvo was living in Iowa and saw the advertisement after a friend sent him a copy of the Dallas Morning News advertisement. He proceeded to contact Pat and offer him a game he had developed in about 4 weeks, ''Skeet Shoot''. Roper flew Salvo to Dallas, where he was offered a job to lead the development for the yet to be formed Games by Apollo. Salvo initially turned him down, thinking it was too risky. <ref name=dpinterview /> After Ed returned to Iowa, Roper contacted Salvo and offered to buy Skeet Shoot for $5,000. Salvo accepted and agreed to a contract with him to develop a second game, ''Spacechase''. After the completion of ''Spacechase'', Roper offered Salvo a position with the now formed Games by Apollo as their Director of Development. Salvo accepted and was tasked with hiring 25 programmers to build a staff and develop games.<ref name=dpinterview /> ==Market Presence== Spacechase went on to become Apollo's best selling title.<ref name=dpinterview /> Apollo also marketed Spacechase with an offer to make customized or ‘monogrammed’ versions of Spacechase. Fewer than 10 were sold, and several were given to press including [[Electronic Games]] magazine [[1981 in video gaming|co-founder]] Arnie Katz.<ref name=dpinterview /> [[PM Magazine]] came to Apollo's offices to film a segment on Apollo and Spacechase, with [[Leeza Gibbons]] doing the interview. The segment included Ed Salvo making a customized Spacechase for Leeza Gibbons. This involved changing the 3 shapes in the explosion graphic to her initials. When her ship died Leeza's initials appeared. Those programmers interviewed were Dan Oliver (Space Cavern), Steve Stringfellow (Lochjaw) and Ernie Runyon (Lost Luggage).<ref name=dpinterview /> [[Space Cavern]], a semi-clone of Galaxian, was the first scrolling 2600 game and is considered today a minor classic by many.<ref name=apolloprofile /> It was created after Pat flew Ed Salvo out to the Winter [[Consumer Electronics Show]] (CES) in Vegas to see [[Imagic]]'s new game Demon Attack. Pat had been very impressed and wanted one just like it. He gave programmer Dan Oliver the game play and specifications for Space Cavern without identifying where he got the idea, and Space Cavern became Apollo's third game.<ref name=dpinterview /> Apollo in turn attended the June, 1982 CES in Chicago with a booth of their own, which included the obligatory hiring of models to demonstrate its games.<ref name=dpinterview /> Shortly after, they hired Cyndy Spence, formerly of Atari, as advertising director. She in turn brought in well known advertising agency [[Benton & Bowles]] as Apollo's advertising firm. <ref name=nyt /> Also of note was Lochjaw, a Pac-Man clone that involved sharks. The movie studio [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]] threatened to sue Apollo because of what they felt was an infringement on their copyright for the movie [[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]. Because of limited funding, Pat decided not to fight it changed the title of their game to Shark Attack. The Lochjaw version had a very short shelf life, and is extremely rare as a result.<ref name=apolloprofile /> By the end of 1982, Apollo also moved in to designing games for the [[Atari 5200]], [[ColecoVision]], and [[Intellivision]]. However none of these games made it in to production before Apollo closed its doors in early 1983.<ref name=dpinterview /> ===Decline=== Early on, Pat spent much of the company's money on trying to emulate [[Activision]]. At one early staff meeting he was quoted as saying that "Activision had 26 million in sales its first year so Apollo would have 27. Activision had a campus with 7 buildings each 7 stories so Apollo would have 8 buildings of 8 stories".<ref name=dpinterview /> According to Ed, he built up production and inventory to sell 27 million but sales didn’t happen. Pat also bought a helicopter as an answer to Dallas’ Central Expwy, also hiring an engineer to put it together and maintain it. <ref name=dpinterview /> In late 1982, Ed Salvo, Terry Grantham, Mike Smith and one other fellow employee left Apollo when it appeared that Pat was not taking the right steps to stay in business.<ref name=dpinterview /> Forming Video Software Specialists (VSS), they developed games for CBS Electronics, Ktel (Xonox), Sunrise, and Wizard Games. Two weeks after the four left, Apollo was forced into bankruptcy.<ref name=dpinterview>{{Citation | last =Seitz | first =Lee K. | title = CVG Nexus: Timeline - 1980's | url =http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/cvg/nexus/features/timeline/1980s.shtml | accessdate = 2007-11-16 | format ={{dead link|date=April 2009}} – <sup>[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3ASeitz+intitle%3ACVG+Nexus%3A+Timeline+-+1980%27s&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&btnG=Search Scholar search]</sup>}}</ref> ==List of Games== *''Final Approach'' *''Guardian'' *''Infiltrate'' *''Lost Luggage'' *''Pompeii'' (unreleased) *''Racquetball'' *''Shark Attack'' (aka ''Lochjaw'') *''[[Skeet Shoot]]'' *''[[Space Cavern]]'' *''[[Spacechase]]'' *''Squoosh'' *''Wabbit'' ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://atariage.com/company_page.html?SystemID=2600&CompanyID=36 Database listing of all Games By Apollo releases] - includes screen shots, box images, manual scans, catalogs and company history. [[Category:Companies established in 1981]] [[Category:Companies disestablished in 1983]] [[Category:Defunct video game companies]] [[Category:Video game developers]]
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to the Codex Gamicus are considered to be released under the CC BY-SA 3.0
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Templates used on this page:
Template:Citation
(
view source
) (protected)
Template:Citation/core
(
view source
) (protected)
Template:Citation/make link
(
view source
) (protected)
Template:Cite web
(
view source
) (protected)
Template:Infobox Defunct Company
(
view source
)
Template:Reflist
(
view source
) (protected)
Follow on IG
TikTok
Join Fan Lab