Frédérick Raynal
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Frédérick Raynal is a French video game designer and programmer, notable for his game developments in Infogrames, Adeline Software International and No Cliché. He is married to Yaël Barroz, a fellow game designer, with whom he has 2 children.
He is perhaps best known for Alone in the Dark, a game that established many conventions of the survival horror computer game genre. Raynal also has a cult following for his Little Big Adventure trilogy, which as of 2008 still remains incomplete.
Raynal and other former Adeline members have repeatedly told fans that creating the third installment is made difficult by having to license or reacquire the rights to the franchise, which currently belong to Delphine Software International. However, Raynal has hinted that his current company, Ludoïd (which Raynal owns jointly with his wife), is attempting to negotiate the rights for a game to be called Little Big Adventure 3: Genesis of the Stellar Entity, and at least one sketch (by Didier Chanfray) related to development of the title has been leaked to the public, later to be confirmed as appurtenant by Raynal.
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[edit] Career
Beginning in his highschool years, Raynal made early LED games including Laser (1979). Shifting to software programming and working at his father's computer shop, Raynal's first commercial game, Robix 500 (1983), sold around 80 copies. During his time working here, Raynal produced graphics for Pop Corn (1988), which was only a moderate commercial success.
After joining the infant Infogrames he ported Alpha Waves (1990), a game which pushed new boundaries in gaming and is considered the first true 3D platform game. The port, from Atari ST to DOS, was actually a complete rewrite in C of the original Motorola 68000 assembly language code written by Christophe de Dinechin, after Raynal convinced Infogrames to make an exception to their policy of not porting assembly-language games.
Convinced by his experience with Alpha-Waves that the time was ripe for 3D graphics [1], he and his team soon went on to produce Alone in the Dark (1992), and worked on parts of the direct sequel (Alone in the Dark 2) before leaving the company. The games were very influential on the gaming industry in general, and on the growth and success of Infogrames in particular.
Raynal formed Adeline Software International in 1993 with several former Infogrames members. With this new team, Raynal produced Little Big Adventure (1994), Time Commando (1996), and Little Big Adventure 2 (1997).
Adeline was purchased by Sega in 1997 and became No Cliché. With No Cliché, Raynal and his team produced Toy Commander (1999), and Toy Racer (2000) both for Sega's Dreamcast system, and also helped Raster Productions into coding localisation for the European release of its Dreamcast Quake III Arena port (2000).
For a time Raynal was also working on a survival horror action adventure called Agartha, which got cancelled due to Sega's decision to stop development on Dreamcast. No Cliché remained together for a little while after the cancellation, attempting to create a PC port of Toy Commander. However, the group split before it could be finished.
Raynal went on to form F4-Toys (later F4) with Bruno Heintz where he began work on an action adventure called Trium Planeta. The game was to follow the style of Little Big Adventure, but was cancelled after a few months. Raynal also worked briefly at Little World Studio before forming his current company, Ludoïd.
In 1997 Raynal was credited in the short film, Double Jeu. [2]
On March 13, 2006, Frédérick Raynal along with Shigeru Miyamoto and Michel Ancel were knighted by French Minister of Culture and Communication, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, as Knights of Arts and Literature.It was the first time that video game developers were honored this distinction.[3]
Frédérick Raynal was involved for a time, as consultant, in the design process of Soul Bubbles, a game for the Nintendo DS going to be published by Eidos Interactive[4]. He left the project on spring of 2006 to start a new game with Ubisoft Montpellier[5]. Little is known about this current project.
[edit] Games designed by Frédérick Raynal
[edit] Independent
[edit] With Infogrames
[edit] With Adeline Software International
[edit] With NoCliché
- Toy Commander (1999)
- Toy Racer (2000)
- Agartha (Canceled)
[edit] With F4
- Trium Planeta (Canceled)
[edit] As Consultant
- Soul Bubbles (2008)- Consultant
- Unknown Project with Ubisoft (TBA) - Consultant
[edit] References
- ^ Interview with Frederick Raynal from Adventure Europe
- ^ Double Jeu Cast at IMdb Retrieved on April 17, 2008
- ^ "From Paris with Love: de Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" from Gamasutra
- ^ Parisian studio popping out Soul Bubbles, Retrieved on April 5, 2008
- ^ Ecrans - Le stylet décoince la bulle (French website), Retrieved on April 5, 2008
