Game Development Giant

But is an American animation team suitable?

Jester thought about the Pokemon made in American style, and then couldn't help but shook his head. However, after all, this was what he had imagined, so it would be better to let them make a clip for him to take a look at. If he really wanted to If it doesn't work, then there is nothing we can do.

So, Jester called Illusion Studio.

Vision Studios has also been developing extremely rapidly in recent years. When Lucas wanted to sell his Pixar studio two years ago, Jester also got the news. Originally, he wanted to sell it under the name Vision Studios. The acquisition had already been discussed with Lucas, but at this time, Jobs, who had just been driven out by Apple like a lost dog, also took a fancy to Pixar Studio.

As we all know, Jobs had a good relationship with Lucas. When he told Lucas that he also wanted to buy Pixar, Lucas rejected Jester's offer.

Even if Jester raised the price by 50%, Lucas remained unmoved. Unfortunately, Jester had several big projects to do at the time and could not spare more funds, so he just Maybe he gave up temporarily, but Jester also knew that even though he gave up at this time, it didn't mean that he didn't have a chance. As far as he knew, during the period when Pixar Studio produced "Toy Story" and waited for its release, , Jobs wholeheartedly wanted to sell this studio that would only eat up his money. Unfortunately, no one took a fancy to the 'junk' in his hands. Jester felt that it would be better to acquire Pixar at that time, and it might require a little more money. However, similarly, if you acquire Pixar at that time, you can reap the rewards immediately.

After the popularity of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", Vision Studios also produced several animated films. It is also very famous in the United States. It is basically one of the best animation companies in the industry. However, even large animation companies are in the same situation. After receiving a call from Jester, the operator on the other end of the phone asked who was his boss and immediately called Here comes the manager of Fantasy Studio.

Jester briefly explained the situation on the phone, and Illusion Studio also said that there was no problem and they would immediately send someone to make a clip to see if the character met Jester's standards.

Mars Entertainment Japan Branch recently received a request for game development from a third-party game company - as a third-party game development company, to develop a game. There is no need to declare to Mars Entertainment. It only needs to meet the requirements of Mars Entertainment after the development is completed. Of course, there are several situations where this kind of declaration may be required. The first is insufficient funds and hope to get support from Mars Entertainment. This kind of The situation, content and planning of the game will naturally be left to Mars Entertainment for evaluation. This time the applicant was a company called tecmo. Their previous product "Angel Wings", a football game based on the comic and animation of the same name, sold very well on Dreambox. Although Dreambox's platform share is not too high, it still sold more than 40 units. The quantity of 10,000 copies. It was an unexpected surprise, but this time the game company called tecmo, while developing "Angel Wings II", also wanted to develop their second game at the same time, which is a difficult ninja-themed game. game.

The protagonist of this game is called Hayabusa. He is a highly skilled ninja, and the entire game is about telling his story.

The person in charge of the review is Hideo Kojima, who has no game inspiration recently. So Jester asked him to be responsible for reviewing the game development plan when he had nothing to do. And Jester naturally recognized Hideo Kojima's vision.

Now Hideo Kojima is flipping through this game called "Ninja Gaiden" and the protagonist's name is Ryu Hayabusa. While watching, he has a look of surprise on his face, but he is obsessed with this project. , from time to time I see many supplements that may be made by developers after they finish writing. In these supplements, one word is constantly mentioned, difficulty.

It can be seen that this will be a very difficult game.

Hideo Kojima likes difficulty. The difficulty of his "Metal Gear" is not low, but Hideo Kojima also agrees with what Jester said. Only the kind of difficulty that makes people want to challenge can be difficult. It's a good difficulty, so difficulty is very difficult to master. If you don't master it well, it's very likely that you will be cast aside by players.

A game should be simple rather than too difficult.

This was Jester's original advice to those who were new to the game, but at the same time Jester also said that if the difficulty can be controlled well, it would be very useful to improve the quality of the game and the player's stickiness. , but these are the icing on the cake, something that provides help in times of need. For a game, this cannot be used as the main selling point.

Although Hideo Kojima likes this project very much, Mars Entertainment does not belong to him. As a reviewer, he naturally has to shoulder this responsibility. Otherwise, after investing, the game will be lost. This is not a failure. Does the boss trust me?

After thinking for a long time, Hideo Kojima couldn't make a decision.

He lit a cigarette and walked around the house while smoking. This game tecmo required a lot of investment. They even asked Mars Entertainment to provide technical support because they also wanted to make an in-game CG. But they did not have the technical accumulation in this area. After smoking three or four cigarettes in a row, Hideo Kojima still did not make up his mind. He felt that the job his boss gave him was not easy to do, and it was far less easy and interesting than developing games.

Since he couldn't make a decision, Hideo Kojima simply passed the problem to Jester and asked Jester to solve it.

He directly sent the plan to Jester via fax.

When Jester came to the company in the morning and got the plan from the administrative staff, he just read the first line and was immediately attracted. This was not because of the specific content, but because of the plan. The name of the game is too famous in Jester's mind.

"Ninja Gaiden", in the era before his rebirth, this game was known as the best action game in the world, bar none. However, "Ninja Gaiden" at that time was remade by Itagaki Tomonobu after taking over. Developed, it has nothing to do with the current "Ninja Gaiden" of the same name. Perhaps the only similarity is that whether it is "Ninja Gaiden" twenty years later or the current "Ninja Gaiden" They all use difficulty as their biggest selling point.

At this time, Jester even thought of Itagaki Tomonobu. If I remember correctly, Itagaki Tomonobu should have only joined tecmo in the early 1990s. He joined as a graphics programmer, but he studied law in college. , Jester remembered this correctly, but Itagaki Tomonobu continued his studies in school after graduating from college, maybe he studied for a master's degree. He didn't know what his master's degree studied.

The first game he developed independently had to wait until around 1995. Jester didn't remember exactly which year it was, but it was a very famous allusion in the video game circle. At that time, Itagaki Yoshin accepted the help of Sega's am2 development team, learned how to make games in the am2 development team, and then produced a fighting game.

This fighting game was made by Itagaki Tomonobu using his favorite game "Tekken" as a template. At that time, Itagaki Tomonobu called the game he developed "Life or Death", and Itagaki Tomonobu also sent the game to Namco Gong Na, I hope Namco will give his game a review. After all, the reference object of his game is Namco's "Tekken".

As a result, Namco dismissed the game as garbage.

This comment made Itagaki Tomonobu instantly furious. He is an extremely conceited and proud person. Of course, he could not swallow his hard work when someone insulted him with such contempt. Then Itagaki Tomonobu formed a deadly feud with Namco. And, later, when Itagaki Tomonobu became a sullen face and became famous, someone asked him, what are the five games you hate the most?

Almost without thinking, Itagaki Tomonobu blurted out.

"The five games I hate the most are Tekken 1, Tekken 2, Tekken 3, Tekken 4 and Tekken 5."

Of course, these are not the only anecdotes about Itagaki Tomonobu. He has had disputes of one kind or another with many people and does not take anyone seriously. He once evaluated the "Devil May Cry" series and was disdainful of Hideki Kamiya. Gu, it seems that his "Ninja Dragon" also inherited the countless innovations made by Hideki Kamiya in 3D action games in "Devil May Cry", but according to the sulfuric face, that is: "Kamiya is just a game that has not been developed in nine years. He’s just a guy who has made no progress at all.”

If you make disdainful remarks, only someone with a sulfuric expression can say them without restraint, but they seem so natural.

But Jester calculated the time and realized that Itagaki Tomonobu should still be in college. It was impossible for him to go to Waseda to find him now. Moreover, with his arrival, the world had already changed. Maybe Itagaki Tomonobu would not be there at all. Will he embark on the road of game development? I remember that Jester read the official report about him. When he was in college, he didn't have any hobby in gaming. His idea at that time was to graduate and become an excellent lawyer.