Frédérick Raynal is a French video game designer and programmer notable for being the creator of Alone in the Dark and, with that, establishing many conventions of the survival horror genre.
Frédérick appears as an overarching character in Alone in the Dark (2024), being the first and only real-life character in the series.
Biography[]
Background[]
For the full article on Frédérick Raynal, click here.
Frederick Raynal was born in 1966 in Brive-la-Gaillarde, Corrèze (France). Beginning in his high school years, Raynal made early LED games including Laser (1979) for the ZX81. 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 also designed a suite of Minitel emulators: Minitelec (1986) for the Amstrad 464 through 6128 (Minitelec and Transmitelec), the Amstrad CPC 6128 (Servitelec), and the PC-1512 (Minitelec Pro). He also produced graphics for the game PopCorn (1988), which was 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, 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. Alone in the Dark was a major contributor to the growth and success of Infogrames, and has since come to be widely regarded as a forefather of the survival horror genre. More importantly to Raynal himself, he became romantically involved with the game's graphic artist, Yaël Barroz, who gave birth to his first child shortly before Alone in the Dark was released.
Raynal formed Adeline Software International in 1993 with several former Infogrames members. With this new team, he produced Little Big Adventure (1994), Time Commando (1996), and Little Big Adventure 2 (1997). He was also given special thanks on the PlayStation port of Fade to Black (1995).
On March 13, 2006, 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.
In 2014, he founded Gloomywood and developed the stealth survival horror game 2Dark.
On September, 2021, Raynal joined a new studio named [2.21] for the production of a new installment of Little Big Adventure.
Events of Alone in the Dark (2024)[]
To be completed...