Game Developer Insights
Gabe Cuzzillo, a game developer, casually remarks, “I’m not sure why he’s dressed in a onesie with a sizable posterior. Bennett just introduced that concept at some point.” Bennett Foddy, previously Cuzzillo’s professor at New York University’s Game Center and now his collaborator, responds with a light-hearted, “I thought it would add a touch of charm.” He continues, discussing his experience in character design and animation, “You grow fond of larger derrieres. I could present an overwhelming amount of proof to support this claim.”
Discussing the Game’s Central Character
Foddy and Cuzzillo are discussing Nate, the central character of their quirky and profound comedy game Baby Steps, created in collaboration with Maxi Boch. Preparing to speak with them felt daunting, akin to confronting my own gaming frustrations. Last year, I was thoroughly ensnared by their intentionally aggravating game about a terrible hiking trip with the most bumbling fool imaginable.
Initially, the premise of Baby Steps appears as a twisted jest: observe the pitiful man’s misery—and prepare to share in his suffering. Yet, the more time I spent with the game, the more layers of meaning I uncovered. Helping Nate tackle his inadequacies to ascend the mountain, I gradually began to empathize with him.
“It’s common for players to eventually warm up to him,” Foddy explains. He shares that many players initially despise Nate, but gradually begin to see parts of themselves or others in him. Some even end up finding him sexually appealing. This spectrum of reactions, Foddy notes, is central to the game’s philosophy: it begins with a sense of struggle and annoyance but ultimately seeks to convert these feelings into enjoyment—a transformation mirrored by Nate’s own reluctant venture outdoors for a hike.
Nate is portrayed as a large, bearded, 35-year-old with glasses, living in his parents’ basement. He is socially inept, overly sensitive, and highly resistant to accepting help. Early in the game, another hiker offers Nate a map, which briefly appears on-screen before Nate rejects it and it vanishes—this moment made me laugh. Like much of Baby Steps, this incident mocks both the streamlined experiences of modern gaming and Nate’s characteristically difficult persona.
Speaking with Cuzzillo was initially jarring as he also voices Nate; he and Foddy improvised every line in the game. Cuzzillo reveals a deeper connection to the character, stating, “Nate represents a part of my own personality. He’s not just a fictional creation. I definitely have a ‘refuse-the-map’ side to me. It’s an ingrained part of who I am, for better or for worse.”
Foddy chimes in, noting Cuzzillo’s tendency to choose the hardest settings in games and turn off any assistive features.
Character Development and Game Evolution
Like many game characters, Nate began as a simple stick figure with a block for a head. Foddy and Cuzzillo went through numerous early versions—around nine or ten—before settling on the concept for Baby Steps, which Cuzzillo describes as initially “very bad.” Foddy adds with a deadpan, “We were looking for something that had legs.”
Foddy’s previous games often revolved around the theme of seemingly pointless suffering, a concept also central to Baby Steps. This theme continued with a prototype where players controlled a character’s individual feet to move them around. After a couple of days, this blockman evolved into a helicopter pilot, a temporary stand-in, taking several more years to evolve into Nate and six additional years to complete the game.
“The idea was to have a character who was unprepared and out of shape,” explains Cuzzillo. This design allows players to project their feelings of inadequacy onto Nate, according to Foddy. “We also toyed with the idea of a cute, lumberjack-type character with a small backpack, inspired by one of our friends—who, thankfully, will never know he was our muse,” Foddy reveals with a hint of humor.
The game’s title, Baby Steps, was inspired by a suggestion from Frank Lantz, chair emeritus at NYU’s Game Center, where both Foddy and Cuzzillo now teach. At that time, the main character was envisioned as a giant baby, a concept that evolved but still influences the game, from environments resembling a child’s play area to a giant woman cradling Nate in an uncanny scene.
As they tested the game with friends, another facet of Nate’s personality emerged: his stubborn pride. “This aspect of toxic masculinity began to surface as we observed certain friends play,” Foddy notes. This observation led to a scene where another character, Mike, contemplates jumping off a cliff after climbing it.
The exploration of masculinity in Baby Steps is nuanced, focusing solely on Nate’s experiences without involving women, which Foddy finds refreshing, especially in an era where men’s issues are often unfairly blamed on women and feminism.
One consistent love in Nate’s life is fruit. Throughout the game, tantalizing pieces of fruit are placed in nearly unreachable spots, challenging players to exert significant effort for a comedic reward: a close-up of Nate indulging in the fruit, followed by him shouting its name into the wilderness.
“We needed an object to place atop various obstacles,” Cuzzillo explains with a straight face. Why choose an increasing array of esoteric fruits? He clarifies that rewarding the player directly would contradict the game’s philosophy. “So, what if the reward is for Nate? What if it’s something he adores, allowing players to vicariously enjoy his pleasure?” The concept was solidified the day they recorded the first vocal takes for these scenes, finding the humor heightened by the player’s efforts and Nate’s exaggerated enjoyment.
The inspiration for the unusual camera angle—a wide-angle lens shot from above the forehead—came from trainspotter Francis Bourgeois. “We were exploring this during the initial lockdown, intrigued by the cultural expressions born from extreme boredom,” Foddy explains. “These fruit-eating sequences emerge just when the player feels as unhinged as Nate does while enjoying the fruit.”
Baby Steps continually returns to a central joke: you might dislike Nate, but if you’re playing, you share some aspects with him. After countless hours on the mountain, the game concludes with Nate approaching a cabin and, after several hesitations, asking to be let in from the cold. The game suggests there’s nothing further to explore, though a final hidden scene exists for those persistent enough to seek it. For me, the true ending came when Nate learned to ask for help, a moment that was unexpectedly touching.
Reflecting on his first commercial game, 2019’s Ape Out, Cuzzillo admits to mixed feelings about its worth. “I wasn’t sure it was worth the climb,” he says. However, his perspective on Baby Steps has evolved positively, finding deeper appreciation for the game and its intricate portrayal of Nate. “I understand it much more now after finishing. I’m realizing all the levels the game operates on. Nate is a microcosm of the entire game, simultaneously mocking and sincere.”
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Fatima Clarke is a seasoned health reporter who bridges medical science with human stories. She writes with compassion, precision, and a drive to inform.
