The concept was scrapped, and the hero was changed to a bear based on one from Diddy Kong Racing with a backpack, with the latter inspired by Mayles' trip to Japan.
It first came to life as an idea from Tim Stamper, and then it resulted in a full game influenced by the Animal Crossing and Story of Seasons series.
After Nuts & Bolts, Mayles did work on the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and on Kinect Sports.
Mayles also served as the creative director for 2018's Sea of Thieves;[5] one of the in-game songs is named in his honour.
[citation needed] His younger brother is video game artist Steve Mayles, who also worked at Rare from 1992 to 2014.