Rick Dyer (video game designer)

Rick Dyer is an American video game designer and writer best known for creating Dragon's Lair.[1][2][3] He founded RDI Video Systems, the developer of Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and also Thayer's Quest, which was a conversion kit for Dragon's Lair.[4]

Rick Dyer
Born
United States
Occupation(s)Video game designer, writer, realtor
Years active1982–present
Known forDragon's Lair

Dyer next designed the video games Kingdom: The Far Reaches and Kingdom II: Shadoan,[5] the former being a remake of Thayer's Quest and the latter a new game based on it.

Dyer is also known for being the person responsible for RDI Video System's Halcyon gaming console, named after the 2001: A Space Odyssey AI 'HAL 9000'.[6] He also appeared on multiple news networks for the technological advances the LaserDisc system offered between 1983 and 1985 as the figurehead for RDI systems.[7] Despite the TV appearances and being branded as 'David' among videogame companies in a David and Goliath comparison, Rick Dyer Industries (RDI) Systems went out of business in 1985 and the console was never released.[8] In the late 1980s, he designed a line of fitness equipment called Powercise. One of his last major successes in the gaming industry was the development of Time Traveler in 1991.

Rick Dyer became a realtor for Apple Tree Realty based in Julian, California.[9][10]

Works

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Year Name
Director Writer Producer
1983 Dragon's Lair No Concept Yes
1984 Space Ace No No Yes
Thayer's Quest a.k.a. Kingdom: The Far Reaches Yes Creator Yes
1991 Time Traveler No Creator No
1996 Kingdom II: Shadoan Yes Creator Yes

References

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  1. ^ Saltzman, Marc (May 18, 2007). "Review: 'Dragon's Lair' returns on Blu-ray Disc". CNN. Gannett News Service. Archived from the original on October 25, 2010.
  2. ^ Fox, Matt (December 1, 2012). The Video Games Guide: 1,000+ Arcade, Console and Computer Games, 1962-2012 (2nd ed.). McFarland. ISBN 9781476600673 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "Rick Dyer, Shadoan and the Frontier of Animated CD Entertainment". Animation World. Vol. 1, no. 1. April 1996. Archived from the original on August 4, 2009.
  4. ^ "Thayer's Quest". Dragon's Lair Project.
  5. ^ "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers". dadgum.com. June 2, 2024 [1992]. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  6. ^ RDI Halcyon. Incog. September 2, 2008 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ Rick Dyer and Halcyon - from 1983 1984 - RDI. Gustavo M. B. April 6, 2009 – via YouTube.
  8. ^ de Rochefort, Simone (October 27, 2017). "Something out of science-fiction: A short history of Dragon's Lair". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017.
  9. ^ "Rick Dyer". Apple Tree Realty. April 21, 2017. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017.
  10. ^ "Rick Dyer". www.realtor.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2019.
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