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| If you take this trip as a lawyer, there's no turning back! |
As promised in my Where are they now? post on Glen R. Dahlgren, I'll now delve a bit into the careers of the other developers on the game Frederik Pohl's Gateway. One of these other developers was Michael J. Lindner which I didn't really have much information on besides what is displayed on MobyGames. However, thanks to some interwebs detective work, I've been able to piece a bit more about Michael J. Lindner's career after computer games.
So apparently in the 1970s, Lindner started a Bachelor of Arts in history at Kenyon College and managed to graduate in 1981. I'm guessing that during the 1980s he must've got into computers since shortly after Legend Entertainment was formed in 1989, he was already working on games for them.
"Star Control 3 seemed to be a big project for him as he was involved in video post production, audio production, programming character design, story, art and he was also the project leader."
One of the earliest games Lindner worked on (probably the first at Legend Entertainment) was 1990's Spellcasting 101 where he was responsible for producing its music. He continued to work on several of Legend Entertainment's 1990s Interactive Fiction/Adventure games such as 1992's Frederik Pohl's Gateway as a producer, programmer and composer, and 1993's Companions of Xanth (where he was responsible for almost everything). 1996's Star Control 3 seemed to be a big project for him as he was involved in video post production, audio production, programming character design, story, art and he was also the project leader. One of the last games he worked on at Legend Entertainment seemed to be 1997's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon where he contributed to its design.
1998 was when Legend Entertainment was acquired by GT Interactive. Coincidentally, this was also the same year Lindner studied a Juris Doctor degree at the American University, College of Law. In 2001 he started his own private practice focusing primarily on criminal and traffic defense and he's been practicing law ever since. This year, Lindner became a judge at the Fairfax County General District Court, so it's definitely quite a career change from his days as a game developer!
While it's unlikely Lindner will ever get back into game development it seems he's doing quite well for himself in his new career. To us PC gamers though, he'll always be remembered as one of the most important names at Legend Entertainment - a company that produced quality interactive fiction and adventure game titles.
LINKS:
[ MobyGames: Michael Lindner ]
[ Michael J. Lindner's Law Office Webpage ]
[ Wikipedia: Legend Entertainment ]
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