Game Development Giant

Since he couldn't understand what Jester was talking about from the name, Mark Senni simply asked directly.

"What does blocking mean?"

Jester suddenly remembered that the system he was talking about was a well-known system among later generations of fighting game players, especially those in the Street Fighter series. It was impossible for Jester to know about it in this era, so Jester Te also smiled sheepishly and explained.

"To put it simply, blocking is used as a verb here, which means blocking. In fighting, you can understand it as a blocking system." Jester said it simply. Regardless of the setting of this system, , both are very difficult to complete, and it cannot be explained clearly in just a few words.

Mark Cerny also likes to practice boxing, and he also likes to watch Bruce Lee movies. When making "Avengers", he even discussed various fighting techniques with fighting contests of various genres. He even When writing the setting of this fighting game, I retrieved some information from that time and read it carefully several times.

Therefore, when Jester talked about this blocking system, he had some understanding.

"However, this system is still relatively difficult to produce. I mean that such a proposal requires a lot of consideration in terms of judgment and timing. For example, in a fighting game, there will be an upper attack, a middle attack, and a lower attack. Differentiation, and even the advancement of jump attacks, all of which need to be used to make a reasonable block judgment procedure, which is not a simple matter." For Jester, he also said some things he knew, More details will require continuous discussion and research within the development team.

"Of course, the bloking system can be completely immune to damage after a successful block. This setting is too strong. Even if it requires high players to complete this block, it will also produce a huge imbalance. , so I think we need to develop a restriction system for this system. If the block fails, it will enter a defenseless state. In this state, the character controlled by the player will suffer more damage, or It is easier to be hit in a row..."

In terms of fighting games. Jester talked with Mark Saini for a long time, and it was only in the end that Jester really had nothing to say that Mark Saini gave up. After all, Jester was not all-powerful.

"Phantasy Star" can be regarded as Jester's last big move to conquer the Japanese market before the end of this year. Although the sales of the previous two games are very good, they are far from being able to open the Japanese market. Jester still values ​​​​this game from Naka Yuji very much.

In fact, there are many types of games that Yuji Naka is suitable for producing. In Jester's memory, he has shown outstanding gaming talent in any type of game. He is not only an extremely talented game producer, but more importantly. He is also a top programmer. You know, such an identity is very rare. Many talented game designers have many very creative and imaginative ideas, but after all, they are not the same person as the program. There will inevitably be deviations in understanding his thoughts, so. The completion is not that satisfying.

But if a producer is a top-notch program, then he can reproduce his ideas as perfectly as possible.

For example, Yuji Naka said before starting production this time, there are a lot of CG cutscenes and three-dimensional game scenes and monster scenes. These are not difficult on the art side. The difficulty is that the program has limited functions. , to complete this idea.

If someone else had written such a proposal, Jester might have rejected it on the grounds that research and development was too difficult, but when he saw Yuji Naka’s application, he had an idea why not let him give it a try. You know, at Sega back then, Yuji Naka was the main programmer of the "Phantasy Star" development team.

The performance of dreambox is not inferior to ms.

In fact, the current game CG is completely different from the game CG understood by later generations of players. In Jester's memory, in the history he is familiar with, the first part of "Ninja Dragon" by the "Taker" should be the first game. cg, but it is no longer the case. In previous arcade games, Jester had people make similar game cg.

Moreover, the Trouserless Demons are recently starting to set up their game development department, and Jester also asked people from the Japanese branch to contact them. Generally speaking, the two parties have a good discussion, and the other party is very grateful to Mars Entertainment for its proactive invitation. , but this is ultimately a Japanese company. According to Tamahide Yoshiro, although they have the idea of ​​​​cooperating with us, it is obvious that they are still waiting for Nintendo's call.

In fact, Jester isn't too worried about this. Nintendo doesn't pay much attention to those newly established game companies. In fact, it can't be said that video games are now gaining momentum. For example, the boss of Capcom saw so many companies overnight. There are many people who want to join this industry to make money after becoming famous and rich.

In Japan, there are countless new studio-style game companies established every day, and most of them are people with no future. Under such circumstances, even if Nintendo wants to pay attention, it cannot.

At this time, the phone on Jester's desk rang.

Picking it up and listening, it was called by Tamahide Yoshiro from the Japanese branch. Jester looked at the time and saw that it was about night time in Japan. On the phone, Tamahide Yoshiro's tone revealed a hint of admiration. It seems that Jester has accomplished something great again.

"Boss, I really want you to be serious. New Japan Project has been having difficulty with its cash flow recently, and news has come out that it will apply for bankruptcy protection." On the phone, Tamahide Yoshiro's tone made everyone marvel.

This is something that Jester asked Tamahide Yoshiro to pay attention to more than a month ago, which is to always pay attention to the recent situation of New Japan Planning. Once there is any trouble, he must report it to him in time. Tamahide Yoshiro was somewhat disapproving of this.

But I didn't expect that just over a month later, Jester's words were really taken seriously, and the company was really in crisis.

Another name of New Japan Project is SNK, which is the abbreviation of its Roman pinyin. The founder is Takado Yoshihiko. He has a deep grudge with Capcom’s founder Kenzo Shigemoto. However, SNK developed at the beginning. It was much smoother than Kenzo Shigemoto's Capcom. Before the 1980s, SNK had several games released and attracted widespread attention from players.

Unfortunately, the past few years have been extremely unfavorable. The sales of several consecutive games have been poor, so that the research and development funds invested cannot be recovered. Takado Yoshihiko has also been collectively forced to leave by the board members.

Now there are only two options left for Yoshihiko Takado. Use the company's only remaining working capital to pay off the previous debts, and then let the company slowly wait for death. The other option is to fight to the death. The worst case scenario is that the new game fails again, and the company dies directly.

As the founder of the company, Yoshihiko Takado has a high prestige, but it is impossible for other members of the board of directors to have no say at all. They also have the ability to confront Yoshihiko Takado. In the eyes of Yoshihiko Takado, his tone is slowly killing him. It would be better to die in a more spectacular way.

In his heart, he is actually very optimistic about the new game they are developing. He feels that this game called "Athena" has the ability to bring the company back to life.

However, the confrontation within the board of directors is now deadlocked, and Gao Tang Yoshihiko doesn't have many better solutions for the time being.

Over the phone, Jester gave his instructions to Tamahideyoshiro.

"You should contact Takado Yoshihiko immediately. He needs external support now. At this time, if your conditions are more stringent, I think he will probably agree without hesitation."

Tamahide Yoshiro is in Japan, and he has a more detailed understanding of the current situation of New Japan Project than Jester. He also agrees with Jester's words, because the current New Japan Project has really reached its peak. The final battle of life and death.

Takado Yoshihiko was indeed very depressed now. He sat behind his boss's chair and kept inhaling one cigarette after another.

Although he is now angry that Eikichi Kawasaki, the partner who co-founded New Japan Project with him, contradicts him, what is most difficult for her to accept is that it was founded by Kenzo Shigemoto, whom he had always looked down on before. Capcom, however, is thriving.

I heard that the sales of their games are good in North America, but since they became famous with the release of the "Rage" arcade machine in 1985, they have been going downhill, except when they signed a cooperation agreement with Nintendo last year. In addition to the transplantation of one of my own arcade games, which sold more than 500,000 copies, the investment in the development of several other games was basically wasted.

In the smoke-filled office, Takado Yoshihiko was still thinking hard about how to deal with the upcoming board meeting. He heard from his insider that his partner was ready to get serious this time. He thought of the time when he founded New Japan Project At that time, Kawasaki Eikichi and Takado Yoshihiko, who had worked closely with me, did not feel any nostalgia in their hearts, but only felt bored.

"what to do?"

This is the only thought in his mind at the moment, and it is something that he cannot solve no matter what. Do you want him to give up the New Japan Project that he has worked hard to create for so many years?

This is something that Yoshihiko Takado cannot accept no matter what. (.)