Gamasutra has learned that Fernando Velez, a longtime game developer and cofounder of independent studio VD-Dev Games, has passed away due to heart failure.
The news was brought to our attention by posts on VD-Dev's Twitter and Facebook accounts memorializing Velez, who cofounded the studio in 1991 with artist Guillaume Dubail.
Dubail tells Gamasutra that Velez suffered heart failure on June 10th, and despite medical care and surgery he passed away on June 22nd. At the time he had been working on Rise, VD-Dev's latest project, in his role as lead programmer at the studio.
The studio's name was inspired by Velez and Dubail's surnames, and in the course of his career there Velez (who began programming on the ZX-81 when he was 13) contributed to everything from the Amiga game Jim Power to the Nintendo 3DS game IronFall: Invasion.