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CODA THE FAQ PAGE: NATHAN VELLA Develop grills respected fi gures from the global games industry


Nathan Vella (below), co-founder of Capybara, which is currently working on Below (right) says one of his favourite games ever was FPS Tribes, as it required real teamwork for players to succeed


Who are you and what do you do? I’m Nathan Vella, co-founder and president at Capybara Games.


What are you working on right now? Capy just released Super Time Force on Xbox One and Xbox 360, and at the same time we’ve been working on our next game Below for PC and consoles.


What was the fi rst game that you ever worked on?


While we were working part-time to get Capy started, I was an artist on one of our fi rst titles, Super Shove Shove. It’s a puzzle game about expansion, contraction and… shoving. I still love that darn game, especially since we made a version that was under 64kb.


What was the fi rst video game you ever played, and did you enjoy it?


My father believed that computers were an extremely important part of my education, so he bought my siblings and I a Commodore 64. I played hundreds of games on that machine, and the fi rst I really remember digging into was Spy Hunter. I felt like James Bond. Beyond that, the fi rst truly impactful gaming


experiences I had that really made me think about games in a diff erent way were Chahi’s Another World and Final


Fantasy II.


What’s the most recent game you played? I was lucky enough to get to playtest Hohokum very recently. That game is a special intersection of the things that I love about games aesthetics, interaction, whimsy, exploration, invention, music and focus. While many developers are fi ghting over how to best achieve one or two of those elements, Ricky and Dick have grabbed them all and made them sing together. Can you tell I loved it?


I am disappointed that there are


so few games about, or even featuring, dinosaurs.


What is your favourite game ever, and for what reason?


I have at least 20 favourite games ever, but I will talk about one: Tribes. My cousin got me into this amazing team-based FPS, and after my fi rst hit I was hooked. It’s one of the most


creative and unique games that has ever been made. It gave players a massive playground of interactions all within the FPS bubble, and just asked them to play together. From skiing and freedom of movement to loadouts to playing within roles to map design, I genuinely believe it’s the only team-based shooter than actually mandates team play.


What area of the industry do you think needs more ‘investment’? I think we can all agree that we need to invest in diversity. I can’t think of anything that will net a better return for games than an investment in having a wider group of people making them. And I mean “net a better return” in many ways: fi nancially, creatively and culturally.


What do you enjoy about the games industry today?


Although I fully believe the industry to be the most creative, passionate, interesting sector out there, I think the best part about it is the people. Between the crew here at Capy and all the amazing folks making games worldwide, I am constantly fl oored by how special the people that make games are.


What disappoints you about the games industry today?


I am pretty disappointed that there are so few games about, or even featuring, dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are pretty cool.


What other video games developer do you most admire?


I admire anyone working hard to make something cool in games, and I especially admire people who have managed to create “special” places for the creation of games to occur. I think Media Molecule is an amazing example of this, as is The Behemoth and Supergiant Games.


I’ve been lucky enough to gain many mentors and friends in this industry so my Admiration List is over ten pages.


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