Ryder is an unused character from the 2002 video-game The Thing. His game files can be found by heading to the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Computer Artworks\The Thing\data" folder and opening the "english.pak" file with WinRar, Winzip or 7-Zip, in the "Animations" and "Sound" folders.
By examining the game files in the "english.pak" folder, the files "LS_L06CT64RYDER_ALL.an" (Animations folder) and "L06Ct64Full.ogg" (Sound folder) are found. These files serve to construct a hidden cutscene that plays in the Strata Medical Facility, where Fisk tells Blake the code. This cutscene can be accessed in the game by recruiting Fisk, heading to the security gate laser beam switches, turning them off and heading to the elevator room where Carter is found. However, it appears this is a leftover for another character, Ryder, who would've been in Carter's place. Also, Ryder's and Fisk's voices are completely different. Blake would have apparently questioned him on the laser beam code, playing the cutscene. It seems like a development oversight which ensued when leaving out the Ryder character. The reason for this might be that it would have been too easy to have the player simply know which switches to turn off, decreasing the dificulty of the level.
During the cutscene that plays with Fisk as a character model, he has a specific dialogue in a voice clearly different from Fisk's when encountered, which goes as follows:
Blake: "I need the sequence for the security gate, do you know it?"
Ryder: (in Fisk's character model): "Uh, yeah, yeah, the sequence is: er, on, off, off, on."
Trivia
- It is unknown why his cutscene still plays with Fisk in Carter's place, but it is likely a rushed development bug which ensued when his character was cut from the game.
- It is unknown why he was cut from the game, but it was likely so the player wouldn't know the security gate laser beam code so easily.
- Alongside Hawk and Hobson, he's one of the few known cut characters from the game, whose files remain in the game's folders.
- There are at least three NPC faces found in the game files that would have belonged to Hawk, Hobson and Ryder, respectively. The files are not named, so it's not possible to know which face belongs to whom.
- Ryder doesn't seem to have any voice files, unlike Hawk and Hobson.