Riedel Software Productions
| RSP, Inc. (Riedel Software Productions) | |
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| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | Tuscon, Arizona, USA |
| Website | runningwithscissors.com |
| Other Names | RSP, Inc. RWS Running With Scissors |
RSP, Inc. AKA Riedel Software Productions (Riedel is pronounced "Read-l") was a game development company founded by Michael Riedel. As a start-up, the company ported games to the Apple II, but by 1990 it began working with Hi-Tech Expressions. Under Hi-Tech's name, RSP began developing children's games based on television and movie franchises targeted to the NES and DOS. Michael Riedel was a technology pioneer in the early 1990s, and his games feature high-quality speech, something that no other NES game could manage at the time. By 1993, RSP expanded into the SNES platform, however, it was never able to break out and create their own franchise. RSP's final game was released in December of 1993.
RSP would reemerge in 1997 under a new name, Running With Scissors, and this time they could finally tout their own franchise, Postal.
Games
Music Development
NES
Because he was a programmer, Mike Riedel programmed a sound driver in 6502 assembly, and he created a conversion utility for MIDI files. The company only produced four games, three of which were composed by their main in-house composers Nick Scarim. Riedel recalls Scarim bringing in a keyboard and using a sequencer to create his MIDI files.
For the game Big Bird's Hide and Speak, Riedel's sound driver was reduced to a single instrument. Riedel explained that this was due to the amount of digitized speech in the game, so room had to be made for the voice samples.
The game Sesame Street: Countdown was composed by Russell Ginns, who wrote the music on MasterTracks on the Atari ST.
Radiance Software used Mike Riedel's sound driver, as well as The Software Toolworks for their game The Chessmaster (NES).
SNES
The company used the Chip Level Designs sound engine. For the unreleased Bobby's World, the company used Bitmasters' SLICK/Audio driver.
Audio Personnel
- Fred Porter
- John Spence
- Keith Weiner
- Michael Artin (under contract from Children's Television Workshop)
- Mike Riedel
- Nick Scarim
- Russell Ginns (under contract from Children's Television Workshop)
Links
- mobygames.com/company/rsp-inc - MobyGames.
- gamefaqs.gamespot.com/games/company/73344-rsp - GameFAQs.
