A legendary game developer who played a crucial role in the evolution of video games such as Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana has revealed that, despite contributing to one of the most esteemed RPG franchises in gaming history, he had never encountered the genre until he began working on it.
Once referred to by Doom creator John Romero as his “programming deity,” coder Nasir Gebelli is a pioneer in game design, having developed the first three installments in the Final Fantasy series, along with Secret of Mana. However, despite his significant impact on the RPG landscape, he disclosed in an interview with GamesRadar+ that prior to the original Final Fantasy game, he had never even encountered an RPG before.
“I perceived it was rather similar to what I was creating for Apple on the same processor,” he states, “so in terms of coding, it was quite straightforward. There was no learning curve. However, I had never experienced any role-playing games until Final Fantasy.” Having never worked on an RPG prior to this, it understandably posed some hurdles for Gebelli. “For instance, you’re navigating through this level, and this level holds this many messages. While you’re playing the game, if the machine can generate this background and messages and store them in temporary memory, and if necessary, display them, it’s going to consume much less memory.”
That said, Gebelli emphasizes that the difficulties of engaging with something so innovative were part of what made the work so rewarding. “It was a challenge, but simultaneously it was thrilling to be able to create something distinct.”
With a full team of individuals working on the current era’s Final Fantasy titles, it must be fascinating to appreciate just how pivotal Gebelli’s contributions were in the series’ early development. Some developers even believe that the original games took 16 years to receive a remake solely because Gebelli’s coding was unique.