Istvan Pely (born in 1974), is an American computer artist and game developer. He works at

Bethesda Game Studios Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. It is best known for its action role-playing franchises, including ''The Elder Scrolls'', '' Fallout'', and '' Starfield''. B ...

, specializing in art direction and

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...

. His interest in video games began when his father brought home an

Apple IIe The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer. It was released in January 1983 as the successor to the Apple II Plus. The ''e'' in the name stands for ...

; Pely enjoyed playing adventure games such as ''Dragon World'' and ''

Wrath of Denethenor ''Wrath of Denethenor'' is a top-down perspective, top-down role-playing video game originally written for the Apple II and ported to the Commodore 64. Both versions were published by Sierra Entertainment, Sierra On-Line in 1986. Many reviewers n ...

''. He recalls that he "was really drawn to games as a storytelling medium, as well as an interesting challenge in the visual arts." Pely began studying a

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

major at

Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early (educator), John Early and eight other members of the Society of Je ...

. Having always been artistically inclined, he found computer science alone to be a bit too technical, while creating games was a "nice way to mesh technology and art." He instead completed a dual major at both computer and art departments. While still a student, he worked part-time as a multimedia consultant where he learned to work with many off-the-shelf packages such as

3D Studio Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabi ...

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editin ...

Premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

, and

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

. Sacrificing his grades, with these tools he developed a Mac/PC adventure game called ''Majestic Part I: Alien Encounter'', and managed to get it published before graduating. Since then he has developed two more

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

games independently: Symbiocom and Zero Critical. Pely eventually decided to focus solely on 3D art. His project ''Movkup'' is an avenue for exploring fantastical

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

/industrial design. Pely has been with Bethesda Softworks since 1998. As the lead artist of

Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...

and

Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for Microsoft Windo ...

, Pely was responsible for the overall visual style of the games, interface graphics, environments, and featured characters. Pely is a self-described “ car nut” and having an interest in

automotive design Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern mot ...

, he was also responsible for the design of the game's pre-war vehicles having the aerospace styling cues. He married Hiu-Lai Chong, who worked as a character artist for ''Fallout 3''.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pely, Istvan 1974 births Bethesda Softworks employees Living people Place of birth missing (living people) American video game designers American people of Hungarian descent