| Robert J. "RJ" Mical | |
|---|---|
RJ Mical signing an Amiga for the 25th anniversary of the computer, 2011 |
|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Inventor |
| Website | |
| mical.org | |
Robert J. "RJ" Mical (born 26 January) was a pioneer in the video game industry and still an influential figure. He created video games at Williams Electronics, helped invent the Amiga computer,[1][2] co-invented the Atari Lynx and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer with Dave Needle.[3] He was a central developer of Amiga's Intuition user interface and was well known at early Amiga gatherings. He was the Chief Architect of the Fathammer mobile game engine. He recently left his position as a Senior Manager at Sony working on the PlayStation product line.[4]
According to Mical he built his first computer, a tic-tac-toe player, when he was 14.
Robert J. Mical graduated from the University of Illinois with dual degrees in Computer Science and English in 1979, plus a minor in Philosophy.[5]
From 1983 to 1984, Robert J. Mical is software engineer at Williams Electronics. He works on different projects, creating special effects, enemy intelligence, graphics, interface logic and documentation development. He was involved in the development of the game Sinistar and notably coordinated the Star Rider project, a racing game on laserdisc.
From 1984 to 1986, Robert J. Mical works for Amiga Corporation and then Commodore International on the development of the Amiga 1000. As software engineer, he creates the development tools and animation system software. He develops Intuition, the Amiga user interface system software. He also contributes to the Amiga hardware design and creates one of first software for the computer: the Amiga Boing Demo. At the peak of his responsibilities, he is appointed Director of Software. After leaving the company, he becomes a independent contractor, serving the Amiga community by creatinf development and support tools and games for a number of clients. He notably contributes to the development of Defender of the Crown (1986) from Cinemaware.
From 1987 to 1989, Robert J. Mical is vice-president of the technology branch of Epyx. He develops the first color handheld console, the Lynx (known back then under the name Handy), that was later acquired by Atari Corporation. He is the co-designer of the hardware and put together a variety of software development tools including runtime libraries, a debugger, art and audio tools. He also produces the six Lynx launch titles, and co-designed several of them, like Blue Lightning (1989).
From 1990 to 1995, Robert J. Mical is one of the co-founder of the New Technologies Group (NTG), a company established to create a new game system. He is the co-creator of this new game system with Dave Needle (from Amiga Corp. and the Lynx) and Dave Morse (co-founder of Amiga Computer and Crystal Dynamics). He co-design the hardware and designs its multi-tasking operating system, Portfolio. The company later merge with The 3DO Company and the technology is the base of the 32-bit console 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.
In 1996 and 1997, Robert J. Mical creates two societies, Prolific and Glassworks, specialized in the development of online games. In 1998 and 1999, he works as consultant in a new structure, Rjave. In 2000 and 2001, he is one of the vice president of software at Red Jade, and handheld console project by Ericsson, that would not see the light of day. In 2001 and 2002, he is the chief architect of Fathammer, a society who provides software development suits and other support for the creation of games on mobile phones. After various work as consultant in 2003, Robert J. Mical is the vice president of software at Global VR, a society who creates arcade version of popular PC or console games.
From 2005 to 2011, he is employed by Sony Computer Entertainment where he is managing a large number of software components for the PlayStation.