Ad Personam: Marco Mele, Arkane Studios
Sia 'Garrett' Manzari, 2004-04-25

Ad Personam is dedicated to the people behind the games: programmers, artists, musicians, directors, producers and many other professions involved in creating the stuff that fills our harddisks, lets us sleep less and eat more junk food. In each Ad Personam, we want to introduce one of these fine folks to you - and this time it is Marco Mele, Game Designer at Arkane Studios.

Marco Mele: I'm Marco Mele. I'm 30 years old and I'm game designer, level designer and level scriptor at Arkane Studios.
I started my career in 1995 when I entered Electronic Arts France as a tester. Soon, I became member of the Hot-line team who was in charge of the technical support for all EA games. I was also a beta tester for both game play and language. I stayed at EA for about 3 years and then I joined Heliovision (Now Doki Denki) a french studio working for Infogrames. My job was to make level editing and script coding for a PS one platform game. After 2 years, I moved from Heliovision to create Arkane Studios with the other founders.

RPGDot: Your favourite game, both electronical and board?

Marco Mele: I can easily name 5 or 10 game that I realy love, but only one comes to my mind when I think about the best one ever. I can say that the game which drove me really crasy was "Day of the tentacle" !!! This one was so good and so fun I can still laugh when I remember some of the puzzles.
For the board game, there is no hesitation: Civilisation Board Game. It is a clever mixing of diplomacy, fighting and economic.

RPGDot: Your favourite movie and favourite actor & actress?

Marco Mele: My favourite movie is "The Empire Strikes back". It was the first movie I saw on a big screen, the first time I went to the movies to see a real movie, not just another Walt Disney cartoon. I was 9 years old and I remember I stayed in the theatre until the lights turned on and the screen was white. Then, I was in the streets and I was asking to my mum if the space craft would be soon created so I can learn to drive one.
My favourite actor is Robert De Niro. I know this guy has made good movies, but also bad ones. But I can still remember the feeling he gave to the character of "Raging bull" or "Taxi Driver". He was perfect in "Once upon a time in America", "Goodfellas" or "Casino". He was also excellent in the movie called "The Awakening" also with Robin Williams.
My favourite actress is Monica Bellucci because I fell in love when I saw a french movie called "The Appartment".

RPGDot: Your favourite singer/band and record?

Marco Mele: My favorite band is "Rage Against the Machine" because I've never felt so much energy in a rock band.
My favorite singer is Eddy Vedder from Pearl Jam. This guy got a voice that makes me shiver when he sings "Jeremy".
My favorite record is maybe "Blood Sugar Sex Magic" from "Red Hot Chili Pepper". It is the best rock, rap mixing record, with top notch musicians.

RPGDot: If you could do any game, regardless of money and developing time, what would it be?

Marco Mele: This game would be like Privateer. A game where you can walk trough entire planets in first person, making commercial agreement, fightings bad guys, buying part for my space craft and then take off with it and go into a real good space simulator. This game could be a "Han Solo simulation".

RPGDot: If you'd be able to choose anyone from within the game industry to work on your dream project, who'd you put in your team?

Marco Mele: One name comes to my mind: Warren Spector. I have a lot of respect for all he has done.

RPGDot: What character from a game or role-playing setting best describes you?

Marco Mele: I think the paladin is close to what can be a description of me.

RPGDot: Your non-gaming hobbies?

Marco Mele: Books. I love books and I love to read.

RPGDot: Your favourite author and favourite book?

Marco Mele: As I am a big book lover, it is really hard for me to choose one. But I can say one of my favourite author is Robin Hobb. She has written the "Farseer trilogy" which is a master piece in Heroic fantasy.

RPGDot: What historical person would you like to meet and why?

Marco Mele: H. P. Lovecraft. Just to meet him and talk about some weird creatures crawling in the shadows......

RPGDot: Thanks for your time!