Interview with Nate Wells: Art Director on BioShock 1, Infinite & The Last of Us

[warcrow]

Howdy HO!

Hi guys.

I sat down with Nate Wells at E3 and talked to him about Thief 1, SWAT 4, The Lost (unpublished Irrational Game), BioShock, BiShock Intinite, SWAT 4, ego-less development, leaving Irrational Games 6 months before Infinite shipped, starting on The Last of Us 10 months before it ships, his inspirations & a ton more. I worked hard on this lengthy interview, but undoubtedly there are improvements that can be made. Let me know what you think. It's one of my favs. Enjoy!

http://eat-games.tumblr.com/post/55627570901/interview-nate-wells


Some tidbits:


Regarding The Last of Us

"The environment really becomes a mirror to humanity. Humanity has decayed and become infected, so has their world. It’s decayed and it’s now being overrun and reclaimed by nature in the same way their bodies are. It makes a great analog, but it also makes these incredibility beautiful moments that you’re not likely to see".

Leaving Irrational

"It ended up with me leaving [BioShock Infinite] at sort of an inopportune time, but it had just been extended 6 months and so I kind of thought I was on the timeline for when it was supposed to be finished, then I would be making the transition. It turned out to go on for 6 months after that. Which, you know, leaving those guys in the lurch didn’t feel great, and obviously I had built a lot of close relationships. Not the least which was with Ken, who I worked with for 13 years. So it was a big choice."

On SWAT 4

One of the very first missions you go to this Chinese restaurant which is under an overpass, it’s like it’s in Queens. It’s this horrible little restaurant and upstairs is an apartment which is being leased to the person you’re trying to find. You get to the apartment and it’s dirty, there’re clothes and beer bottles everywhere, a game console, and then you go into the bedroom and see that there’s this little child’s playpen. So you know there’s this horrible, dysfunctional, probably abusive family living here. The guy you’re looking for is in there, and depending on your tactic you either arrest or kill him—and that’s it. That’s it! It’s just this ugly, ugly, ugly place to be!

 

[BlitzPuppet]

Howdy HO!


On SWAT 4
One of the very first missions you go to this Chinese restaurant which is under an overpass, it’s like it’s in Queens. It’s this horrible little restaurant and upstairs is an apartment which is being leased to the person you’re trying to find. You get to the apartment and it’s dirty, there’re clothes and beer bottles everywhere, a game console, and then you go into the bedroom and see that there’s this little child’s playpen. So you know there’s this horrible, dysfunctional, probably abusive family living here. The guy you’re looking for is in there, and depending on your tactic you either arrest or kill him—and that’s it. That’s it! It’s just this ugly, ugly, ugly place to be!

I remember this mission...that game was fun. I loved playing multiplayer and pepperspraying/tazering the VIP while the clock ticked down :biggrin:.

No more games like that anymore, it's all CODesque

 

[warcrow]

I actually had never played it at the time of the interview, but his talk on SWAT 4 was so compelling I picked this up the next day:

https://twitter.com/heymarkd/status/346826189727469568/photo/1


The mission is exactly as he said--ugly. I need to play more of it though.

 

[werepossum]

I really, really wish "The Last of Us" was available on PC, in first person. That world is simply amazing.