Sharky Games: How old are you, and how long have you been working in the gaming industry?

Rich Fleider: I guess I've been in the gaming industry for almost 10 years if you count working with friends on plans for games that never saw the light of day. The first official project I ever worked on was a shareware title called "Galactix" back in 1992. I just turned a ripe old 31 last August 28th. I occasionally show a little bit of wear around the edges but I'm holding together well, all things considered. As Indiana Jones said, "It's not the years, it's the mileage."

Sharky Games: Was this a career choice you planned for?

Rich Fleider: Not exactly. Growing up, I was considered a bit of a technophobe. I spent most of my time reading and playing/designing pen-and-paper and tabletop games rather than hunched in front of a computer. Computer art was one of the last things on my mind. Perhaps I was a little biased, though. Our family was pretty convinced that "Missile Command" on the Atari 2600 gave my dad a mild heart attack (if there is such a thing as a mild heart attack). It wasn't like we were Luddites living in a shack in the woods or anything but it took me awhile to warm up to the idea of working with computers as a profession.

Sharky Games: Can you give us a little 'Rich Fleider: ' background? What were you doing before Rogue Entertainment? Did you do any schooling directly related to game design?

Rich Fleider: I was born and raised on the South side of Chicago before my family moved to the 'burbs when I was 10. I won a few medals and trophies in local art fares but I still debated whether to become an artist or an archaeologist. Then I found out just how much math was involved in most of the sciences. Complex math is my bane so I took up the only career that is actually synonymous with "starving". I studied classical arts at the American Academy of Art in Chicago.

It was around this time when a co-worker of mine (from McDonalds no less) approached me to help him on a video game he was making for some crazy scheme called shareware. A few of my other friends, including Jim, were interested in the idea so we made "Galactix". We must have done something right since we caught the attention of Apogee and id Software. They relocated us to "scenic" Mesquite where we enlisted the help of Steve Maines and developed the title "Raptor: Call of the Shadows" for Apogee (still in the top 10 best selling shareware titles!). We had plans to make a fantasy RPG with id's new Doom technology but start up companies being what they are, the project fell through and the company dissolved. The guys at id recognized our dedication and helped three of us form Rogue Entertainment. The rest has been a long, slow climb to the position we are in now.