Velan Studios, a Troy-based game development studio co-owned by RPI alumnus Karthik Bala ’97, has been announced as the developer behind a remake of the Nintendo 64 game Star Fox, now available on the Nintendo Switch 2. 

Karthik Bala ’97 and his brother, Guha Bala, co-founded Velan Studios in 2016 in downtown Troy. A decade later, the studio is bringing the beloved Star Fox back to players. Developed using Velan’s in-house VIPER engine, the game features gameplay running at 60 frames per second and cinematics rendered entirely in real time. “We’re extremely proud of what we’ve built in collaboration with Nintendo,” the studio said. The project marks Velan’s second major collaboration with Nintendo, following Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit in 2020. 

Before Velan, the Bala brothers founded Vicarious Visions, the game development studio behind major titles like Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, and Tony Hawk. 

“It’s truly inspiring to see what our amazing RPI students accomplish after they graduate,” said Will Gibbons, Dean of RPI’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. “And now the team at Velan helps our current gaming students imagine their own career paths, as a core part of the thriving gaming industry here in the Capital Region and beyond.”  

Bala’s work is one example of the impact RPI graduates continue to have across the gaming industry. The Institute is home to the Department of Games and Experiential Media, a flagship program known for cutting-edge work in gaming research and education, producing graduates with a unique blend of technical and creative skills.  

As Velan continues to expand its presence in downtown Troy, RPI students and graduates remain connected to a growing local game development community, with opportunities to learn from and collaborate with professionals just steps from campus.