Game Development Giant

This is Jester's third day back in Costa Mesa, and Mars Entertainment () was officially established.

Jester's mother closed the supermarket that was doing well and merged it into Jester's newly established entertainment company.

This was not Jester's intention, but his mother's volition. According to her mother, although the business of this supermarket was not bad, it was too tiring.

Moreover, these past few days have also brought too much impact on Jester’s mother.

In terms of the proportion of area it occupies, the sales and profits of her supermarket, which ranks among the top in Costa Mesa, are only a few tenths of those of the five arcade machines here.

Therefore, Jester opened up the bottom floor of the original supermarket as a dedicated game trial area for Mars Entertainment.

Although there are only five lonely "American Cube" arcade machines there now, Jester believes that it won't be long before he can add more and more fun games.

And as the company's reputation grows, this place will inevitably become a holy place in the minds of players.

The office was located on the second floor of the supermarket. His mother originally wanted to rent it out on the third floor, but Jester stopped it. There are now few people, so the third floor will not be used temporarily, but that does not mean that it will not be used in the future.

In fact, Jester's plan is to use the second floor as a software development area and the third floor as a hardware development area.

"Mark, take a look at this agreement."

In the office of Mars Entertainment, there is a line of writing printed on the wall behind Jester.

Make the best game!

Mark Saini sat on the sofa, raised his head and glanced at the words on Jester's wall, and a smile appeared on his lips involuntarily.

This is also his ideal.

Then he looked at the not-so-thick agreement that Jester placed on the coffee table in front of him.

"Game development director?"

Seeing the contents of the agreement, Mark Saini showed a playful smile, and then continued reading.

"Five percent shares!"

Mark Saini suddenly raised his head and looked at Jester with a somewhat shocked look. He didn't understand why the other party would give him such a high share. If an ordinary small company came to him, he would give him 5% of the shares. I wouldn’t even look at it, but this company…

This agreement has clearly stated that the copyright of "American Cube" belongs to Mars Entertainment, and Jester also uses this to become a shareholder, monopolizing 70% of the entire Mars Entertainment.

The remaining 25% is owned by Jester's parents.

Jester's father serves as the hardware development director of Mars Entertainment, while Jester's mother is responsible for the company's financial and personnel management.

Of course, the three-story supermarket that originally belonged to Jester's mother was officially assigned to Mars Entertainment.

After this, the 5% stake is quite a lot. After all, according to the current momentum, "American Cube" is likely to be a game with profits exceeding 100 million US dollars. 5% is 5 million. !

And in the whole process, I just helped assemble a few arcade frames with a screwdriver!

Poach yourself at a cost of at least five million?

Mark Saini shook his head. He still knew himself. He felt that he was not worth five million at all.

He put down the contract and was about to say something. He didn't want to refuse to join Mars Entertainment, but he felt that the treatment given by the other party was too high and he deserved it.

But Jester spoke first.

"Mark, I'm buying your future. I think your talent is worth the price!" Jester looked into Mark's eyes and said every word sincerely, "I hope we can make the best game together. Let’s create an era of our own! We want to make home consoles, arcade machines, and handheld consoles, and we want to tell the entire United States that you are wrong, video games are not dead at all!”

Mark felt his eyes itching at this moment.

A soldier dies for his confidant. Although Mark didn't know this sentence, this was his mentality at this time.

He nodded heavily, said nothing, and put away the share transfer agreement in his hand.

Then, he took out a thick stack of white paper from a black leather bag beside him, which was densely filled with writing or various illustrations.

Then Mark Saini handed it to Jester and said: "When I went to San Francisco, didn't I say I would give you a surprise when I came back? This is it. This is a game I designed recently. I have completed a game." For the most part, the rest is mainly program implementation, but I haven’t had time to do it yet.”

Seeing Mark Saini's confident expression, Jester took it over curiously.

"Um!?"

Seeing that the name of the game written at the beginning of the file was ‘Avengers’, Jester had no impression of this game.

So it's a brand new game?

"Action pass? Jeet Kune Do? Side-scrolling?..."

Then Jester continued to read, nodding constantly while watching.

It's a lot like "Double Dragon", very much!

This is Jester’s feeling after reading this design plan by Mark Saini.

The same hero saves the beauty, the same plot of fighting against evil forces, the same using Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do as the core element, and the same ability to pick up props on the ground to attack the enemy. The only difference is in the character settings and moves. Settings, location settings are different.

Mark Saini's design is more user-friendly and more complete.

For example, in the original "Double Dragon", a is to punch forward, and b is to kick backward. This is actually very inconvenient in operation.

In fact, when Jester played Double Dragon for the first time, his biggest feeling was, who are these people who would make such an anti-human design?

But the "Avenger" designed by Mark Saini is very complex with human habits. A is to punch, B is to kick, press AB together to take off, and the direction of the attack is controlled by the direction keys.

Moreover, Mark Saini's character design is more in line with American aesthetics. The two characters this time are not two gays, but a man and a woman. The woman is still a blond girl with big boobs. In the design Dingshang is the younger sister of the abducted male protagonist's girlfriend, and is also the male protagonist's junior sister.

The location becomes a fictional place called Sin City. \u003cos company is currently working on their "Hot Blood Series" in full swing, and may not have any plans to develop it yet. Then Jester will definitely think that this is a copycat game by Mark Saini.

Although in the eyes of Jester, a person who has seen countless scroll fighting games in later generations, this game still has many functions that can be added, but this is only the first game, and there is no need for him to say it so early.

It’s not too late to wait until the sequel.

Fighting to pass - this is a game type that has never been seen before, and Jester is also very aware of the craze that "Double Dragon" caused when it was released.

If this game is made according to Mark Saini's vision, this game will definitely usher in a new era of arcade machines.

Transition directly from still images to side-scrolling action.

This was also the glorious beginning of arcade gaming.

The problem is that this is a very difficult game to make. This is not a game like Tetris that can be solved by just one idea and by any reliable programmer.

This is a game that tests the hard work of the design team, including composition, soundtrack, attack determination, level design, AI and so on.

“Great setting!”

Jester first praised Mark Saini, then paused for a moment, preparing his wording, hoping to be able to refuse more tactfully, and said: "But Mark, have you ever thought about it? This is a huge game, and it involves a lot of things. The processing of images, sounds, and movements may have a capacity of more than 100 or even 200 KB after completion, which cannot be completed by just one or two people."

Mark Saini nodded. He did not deny Jester's statement, but also added: "A team of at least six people is needed, ten people are the best, and they must all be elites."

Jester saw that Mark Saini did not understand what he meant, so he added: "And this is a side-scrolling action game. There are not many game companies that can do a side-scrolling game well in this type of game."

Mark Saini nodded calmly. He heard what Jester meant this time, and he understood Jester, but he still did not give up his idea.

"Jace, side-scrolling games are not as difficult as you think. When I was working at Atari, many people participated in the production of such games. Many people I know have experience in this area. Moreover, this is really a very attractive game, and players can easily get into the characters - everyone has a superhero plot." Mark Saini's eyes were shining and his words were extremely sincere. .

"Mark, this is a very excellent setting, I don't deny this." Jester first raised the copy of the plan book called 'Avengers' written by Mark Saini in his hand, " But so far, our company is only four people, you, me, and my parents.”

Maxeni originally thought that Jester would find some reason to reject him, and he also thought about his words and prepared to deal with it.

When he was about to speak, he saw a smile suddenly appear on Dodger's face: "But if you really want to carry out this plan, you are my game development director, and I will accept all your suggestions." Support - So what you need to do now is to find the person you need, and then tell me how much money you need and how long it will take to complete it. But before doing this, you should go to my father and ask, What are the parameters of our next arcade baseboard, otherwise, how do you program it?"

Mark Saini was also amused by Jester's words. After he finished laughing, he said: "What excuse will you find to reject me in the future? I didn't expect... I have finished all the settings, including the levels. And so on. I even drew a lot of sketches. They may not be very good, but I can find a professional painter... It doesn’t take too long. From the time I find someone, it will probably take me at least four months. It won’t be more than half a year later.”

"Half a year? That means the end of the year? That's a good day, just in time for the Christmas sales! That's good." Jester nodded and added, "But I have to wait until those sellers are cut off by me, otherwise, I don’t have that much money either.”

Mark Saini said with some disdain: "A friend of mine who sells entertainment equipment told me that they can hardly sit still. In the past few days, if you continue to ship like this, I'm afraid those sellers will After eating it, your heart will be full."

"Haha!" Jester couldn't help laughing after hearing Mark Saini's words, and then pointed to a stack of documents he placed on the table on one side, and said in a cold tone, "I'm willing to admit defeat, this is They asked for it! And I have a big gift waiting for them here."

Since he sold those 60 arcade machines in big cities in California, he has completely detonated the market around these cities.

Everyone who has played "American Cube" has been attracted by its magic.

Fans of this game are spreading like a virus.

Those arcades that have these games are making a lot of money, and there are long queues every day, while those that don't can only watch with envy while others are making money crazily, while their own arcades are deserted.

Countless people who couldn't buy "American Cube" arcade machines from those vendors called him through the phone numbers he left on those arcade machines.

Jester's mother was so disturbed that she finally hired an operator temporarily.

But what Jester didn't expect was that just by relying on this method of ordering over the phone, in just three days, he actually received orders for a total of 900 units, not only from California, but also from some nearby states. , and the numbers are still rising.

And he has made it clear that he will only ship the goods after receiving the full payment. These buyers did not hesitate. In just a few days, Jester's account already had nearly five million US dollars. cash.

"Mark, do you know any friends in Japan? I want to set up a branch in Japan. There is not much business there in a short time. I just want to help me collect some information about Japan, especially in the gaming industry - after all, there is no business there. The market is hot, and I am certain that our future opponents will definitely come from there." Jester retracted the smile on his face and became serious.

Mark Saini also nodded, and he agreed with Jester's point of view.

As a game designer, he can naturally tell the awesomeness of those Japanese from games.

He thought for a while and said: "I have a few friends in Japan. This time Sega was able to find me and let me work in Japan because of the help of my friends in Japan. I can ask, but it shouldn't be a big problem. , after all, collecting information is not too complicated, and you don’t even need a college student—you only need a high school graduate.”

"Okay, give me the news as soon as possible." Jester said.

At this time, the phone on Jester's desk rang. Jester made an apologetic gesture to Mark Saini and answered the phone.

Listening to the call, Jester showed a sneer at the corner of his mouth, and then said unceremoniously into the receiver: "Let them wait first, I don't have time now."

Then, Jester hung up the phone directly.

He smiled at Mark Saini, with a hint of coldness in his smile: "Let them wait for a while!"

"Is the fat sheep coming?" Mark Saini's eyes also lit up.