Nasir Gebelli ناصر جبلی | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957 (age 67–68)[citation needed] |
| Nationality | Iranian-American |
| Occupation(s) | Programmer,video game designer |
| Years active | 1978–1993 |
| Known for |
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| Notable work | |
Nasir Gebelli (Persian:ناصر جبلی, alsoNasser Gebelli, born 1957) is anIranian-Americanprogrammer andvideo game designer usually credited in his games as simplyNasir. He became known in the early 1980s for programmingaction games forApple II,[1] such asSpace Eggs (a clone ofMoon Cresta). These were initially published bySirius Software, then he started his own company, Gebelli Software.[2] Several of the games he wrote for Gebelli Software were 3Dspace combat simulators for the Apple II.
From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, Gebelli developedhome console games for Squaresoft. He programmed the first threeFinal Fantasy games,[3] theFamicom 3D System titleRad Racer,3-D WorldRunner, andSecret of Mana.
Gebelli was born inIran in 1957. Because of his family relationship with the Iranian royal family of thePahlavi dynasty, he migrated to theUnited States to avoid the 1979Iranian Revolution and studycomputer science.[4] He was inspired byGolden agearcade video games, such asSpace Invaders.[5] Gebelli's first project for theApple II wasEasyDraw, a logo and character creation program he used for his later games. He then began programming video games in either 1978 or 1979.[6]
As a college student, he demonstrated a slide show program he wrote at a computer store to the stores' owner Jerry Jewell.[5] In 1980, he joined a new company founded by Jewell and Terry Bradley,Sirius Software.[5] Gebelli's first game wasBoth Barrels.[6]
Within a year, Gebelli programmed twelve games.[5] He wrote the code in his head, then quickly entered it before forgetting the details.[7] His action games were well-received, and three of his games,Phantoms Five,Cyber Strike, andStar Cruiser, appeared onSoftalk's Top Thirty software list in March 1981.[8] Six of his games later appeared onSoftalk's Top Thirty list in August 1981, with the highest at number three.[9] His best-selling titles wereSpace Eggs andGorgon,[2] which were clones ofMoon Cresta andDefender, respectively.[10]Electronic Games referred to Gebelli as "ace designer Nasir" and gaveGorgon a positive review.[11]BYTE assured readers thatGorgon would not disappoint "Nasir Gabelli fans".[12]Gorgon sold at least 23,000 copies in a year, making it one of thebest-selling computer games through June 1982.[13] Gebelli's games usedpage flipping, which eliminated the flickering that early Apple II games experienced.[5][8]
He left Sirius in 1982 to establish his own software company, Gebelli Software, which released its first game that same year.[2] EntitledHorizon V, the game was afirst-person shooter with aradar mechanic.[14] Sirius released the Apple II gameZenith later in 1982, which added the ability for players to rotate their ships.[15] In October 1982,Arcade Express reviewedZenith and scored it 9 out of 10, stating "celebrated Nasir proves his reputation" with "this visually striking first-person space piloting and shooting" game.[16] In March 1983, however,Andromeda (fourth place for Atari 8-bit),Russki Duck (tied for sixth for Apple) andHorizon V (tenth place for Apple) receivedSoftline's Dog of the Year awards "for badness in computer games" based on reader submissions.[17]Horizon V sold 5,000 copies during its first few months on sale in 1982.[13]
IBM arranged for Gebelli to producelaunch titles for theIBM PCjr, announced in late 1983.[18] Gebelli's company was not successful, and thevideo game crash of 1983 caused Gebelli Software to close.[2] Afterward, Gebelli went on an extended vacation traveling the world. When he retired from Apple II development, Gebelli had eight games onSoftalk's Apple II best-seller lists, more than any other game designer.
In 1986, Gebelli became interested in developing games again and met withDoug Carlston, his friend and owner of video game developerBroderbund. Carlston told him about the rise of theNintendo Entertainment System and how he should start creating games for the console. Gebelli was interested, and so Doug offered to fly toJapan with Gebelli and introduce him to his contacts atSquare. Gebelli had the opportunity to meet withMasafumi Miyamoto, founder and president of Square, who decided to hire him. The programmers, especiallyHironobu Sakaguchi (a long-time fan of Gebelli's work), were aware of his reputation and were excited to have him join.[3]
While at Square, Gebelli programmed the gameTobidase Daisakusen for theFamicom Disk System, released in the United States in early 1987 as3-D WorldRunner on theNES.[6][19]3-D WorldRunner was apseudo-3Dthird-personplatform game where players move in any forward-scrolling direction and leap over obstacles and chasms.[6] It was also notable for being one of the firststereoscopic video games.[19] His second Square project wasHighway Star (Rad Racer in the U.S.), a stereoscopic 3-Dracing game also designed for theFamicom 3D System in 1987.[2] According to Sakaguchi, Square initially hired Gebelli for his 3D programming techniques, as seen in3-D WorldRunner andRad Racer.[20][21] At the time, Gebelli did not know anyJapanese and had no translator, so it was initially difficult to communicate with Sakaguchi. There were only three staff members working on both games, Gebelli, Sakaguchi, and graphic designerKazuko Shibuya. Both games were commercially successful, selling about 500,000 copies each.[6]
Gebelli then teamed up with Sakaguchi,Nobuo Uematsu andYoshitaka Amano as part of Square's A-Team to produceFinal Fantasy, the first entry in the popularFinal Fantasy series. Arole-playing video game released for the NES in 1987 in Japan, it featured several unique features, acharacter creation system, the concept oftime travel, side-view battles and transportation by canoe, boat and airship.[22][23][24] It also had the first RPGminigame, a sliding puzzle added by Gebelli into the game despite its not being part of Squaresoft's original game design.[25]
He went on to programFinal Fantasy II, released in 1988, introducing an "emotional storyline, morally ambiguous characters, tragic events". He also made the story "emotionally experienced rather than concluded from gameplay and conversations". The game replaced traditional levels and experience points with a newactivity-based progression system that required "gradual development of individual statistics through continuous actions of the same kind".[22]Final Fantasy II also featuredopen-ended exploration[26] and an innovativedialogue system where players use keywords or phrases during conversations withnon-player characters.[27]
Gebelli went on to programFinal Fantasy III in 1990, which introduced thejob system, a character progression engine allowing the changing and combination ofcharacter classes.[28][29] Midway through the development of bothFinal Fantasy II andIII, Gebelli returned toSacramento, California from Japan due to an expired work visa. The rest of the development staff followed him to Sacramento with materials and equipment needed to finish game production.[30]
After completingFinal Fantasy III, Gebelli took another long vacation and later returned to work onSeiken Densetsu II (released asSecret of Mana in the U.S.), the second entry in theMana series, released in 1993. The game made advances to theaction role-playing game genre, including its uniquecooperative multiplayer gameplay. The team who created the game had worked on the first three Final Fantasy titles: Gebelli,Koichi Ishii, andHiromichi Tanaka. The team developedSecret of Mana to be a launch title forSuper NES'sCD-ROM add-on. After Sony and Nintendo backed out of making the console, the game was changed to fit in a standard Super NES game pak.[31]
The game received considerable acclaim[32] for its innovativepausable real-time battle system,[33][34] stamina bar,[35] the "Ring Command" menu system,[34] its innovative cooperativemultiplayer gameplay,[32][36] and the customizableAI settings for computer-controlled allies.[37]
FollowingSecret of Mana's completion, Gebelli retired with income from Square royalties and travelled the world. In August 1998, he attended an Apple II Reunion inDallas, Texas, at video game developerIon Storm offices. There, he met developer and fanJohn Romero, who interviewed him.[2][38][7] Gebelli lives inSacramento, California, where he has lived most of his life.
John Romero (Wolfenstein 3D,Doom,Quake) credited Gebelli as a significant influence on his career as a game designer.[38] He also cited Gebelli as his favorite programmer and a notable inspiration, mentioning his fast action and 3D programming work on games such asHorizon V andZenith.[1] Gebelli also inspired the careers of other developers, such as Mark Turmell (NBA Jam,Smash TV).[7]Jordan Mechner has also credited Gebelli's work on the Apple II as inspiration and as a major influence on the creation ofKarateka andPrince of Persia.[39] Richard Garriott (Ultima) also praised Gebelli's ability to craft games that "were really playable and fun!"[40]
Final Fantasy went on to become a major franchise, andHironobu Sakaguchi went on to become a well-known figure in the game industry.Final Fantasy's side-view battles became the norm for numerous console RPGs.[23] Developers usedFinal Fantasy II'sactivity-based progression system in several later RPG series, such as theSaGa,[41]Grandia,[42] andThe Elder Scrolls[citation needed]Final Fantasy III's job system became arecurring element in theFinal Fantasy series.Secret of Mana has also influenced later action RPGs,[36][43] including modern titles such asThe Temple of Elemental Evil[44] andDungeon Siege III.[36]
Rad Racer andFinal Fantasy both contain anti-piracy checks that look for "NASIR" and "PROGRAMMED BY NASIR" respectively in memory.[45][46]
Sakaguchi: That is Nasir. He was originally a royalty of Iran and heard that he went out of the country and went to the United States at the time of the Iranian Revolution.
[...] So forFinal Fantasy II andIII, our staff actually brought all the equipment, everything that was necessary to finish those games, to Sacramento, because (Gebelli) couldn't come back to Japan. [...] We finishedFinal Fantasy II andIII in Sacramento, California. [Laughs]