I've noticed that business and financial types ride the lead wagon at most game companies, which to me explains a lot of this industry's problems with shoddy game releases. It requires ongoing research, testing, polishing and even tossing away of work and ideas that don't work after being implemented. Because of game development's inherent unpredictability, we never attach a release date to our games until we're within a few days of launching, and even then we won't hesitate to miss the date if it means improving the gameplay. Another key factor at 3D Realms is that all developers are important to the creative direction of the project they're working on. We don't have one person in an ivory tower handing done game design specs to the remaining developers, although we do have project leaders who guide development and help filter the bad ideas from the good ones.
Personal influence translates into deeper passion and caring in how the game turns out.
Apogee and 3D Realms are run by Miller and Broussard respectively, and both have a long history in development. Miller and Broussard, friends in the late 1970's, both owned home computers and wrote game programs for fun until the mid-80's when they both began to sell their games commercially through publishers and game magazines. Before stating Apogee in 1987 they both also spent several years as managers of a Dallas-based arcade chain, Twilight Zone.