Game Development Giant

"I'm not feeling enough pleasure!"

After trying out "Bejeweled" in the development hall on the second floor, Jester frowned, and then he could only sigh helplessly - operating it with a joystick felt more refreshing than using a touch stick before. The screen or mouse are much different.

"Boss, what's wrong?" Dabili, who had just been selected as the leader of the development team of "Bejeweled", saw Jester's appearance and thought that there was something wrong with his own production, so he couldn't help but worry. asked.

"no."

Jester shook his head and said, "It has nothing to do with you. It's because I made a mistake at the beginning of the design. I didn't notice that this game is not suitable for operating with a joystick. The pleasure is greatly reduced."

"No way!" Dabili looked at his boss with some confusion. This game became instantly popular throughout the company as soon as it was produced. Basically everyone who played it praised it, and there was something surprising about it. Dabbili was very surprised. From the boss's tone, it seemed that he had played this game before? This is impossible. After all, they have just finished the alpha version of this. Could it be that their boss had done it before?

"Using a joystick to operate can only be said to be okay. This game mainly tests your eyesight. You can make judgments at the moment you see it, then select it instantly, and then eliminate it. This can reflect the greatest pleasure of this game, and using a joystick can Unless they have very fast hands, most people can’t control the joystick as fast as their eyesight.” Jester said as he murmured to himself, “Can you change the joystick of “Bejeweled”? What about changing to a mouse?”

Although the mouse was first invented in 1964 by Dr. Douglas Engelbart, winner of the Turing Award in 1997, who was working at the Stanford Research Institute at Stanford University, which is today the Stanford International Consulting Center, it was really It was only in the past year or two that it became known. This is thanks to Xerox, which allowed Steve Jobs to visit a technical demonstration of their new system. This demonstration made the most outstanding copycat of this century fall into an inextricable shock. In his eyes, Xerox The graphical operating system and mouse that the company demonstrated to him are the future of computers, and what Apple is doing is a piece of worthless shit.

Then after Jobs returned to Apple, Apple, a company that had a tradition of copycats for 30 years, suddenly found a treasure. It immediately poached more than a dozen engineers from Xerox, and three years later, copycats released their first product. Computer with mouse, lisa.

Xerox had previously launched their first computer, the star8010, with a graphics operating system and a mouse. This was also the first time that ordinary people came into contact with a mouse. However, because the price was too expensive, sales were not very good. Although In this way, the mouse still caused a certain sensation because of its convenient operation.

It was under this circumstance that Apple's Lisa came out and quickly seized the market with its low price. When the upgraded version of Lisa's Macintosh computer came out, it shocked the world. Finally, Yixue was competing with Commodore 64 Shame on the Apple II that failed miserably.

The success of the Macintosh is due to the combination of graphics operations and the mouse, because the combination of the two is so easy to use. You don't need to learn those complicated operating languages ​​at all, you only need to be able to click the mouse.

Basically, Apple was synonymous with fools at that time, and truly skilled programmers simply disdained to use Apple.

Of course, times are evolving, and bad money drives out good money. In the era before Jester was reborn, Apple had already occupied the mainstream of fashion and became a high-end product that everyone was flocking to.

This is putting the cart before the horse compared to now.

"Mouse?" Dabbili also heard what his boss was saying to himself just now. In his mind, he was simulating the scene of playing this game with a mouse. He had also used Apple's Macintosh computer. The mouse was indeed very comfortable to use. Simple and fast, this simple brain simulation surprised Dabbili. He seemed to find that his boss's proposal was very good.

"It seems good!" he said.

But Jester shook his head. In his mind, the shape of an arcade machine paired with a computer was too weird. As a beauty addict, he subconsciously rejected this design plan that had no aesthetic sense unless There is no other way.

So...how about using a pseudo-touch screen?

Pseudo-touch screen means a touch screen that is not a touch screen. Jester is not very clear about the specific technology, but he remembers that Nintendo launched a similar toy on FC. Players can use a dedicated controller to touch the screen. The controller is used to operate the game. This actually has the same effect as a controller. The buttons are used to generate electrical signals to complete the control.

To put it simply, it is possible to design a 10x10 or 8x8 control board. Each small grid will generate an independent electrical signal after being touched, so that the game program can identify it and control the elimination.

Jester briefly told Dabbili his idea.

Dabbili is just a college student who has just graduated from college. He only joined Mars Entertainment because of his strong love for video games. He is extremely good at programming, but like Jester, hardware is not his specialty. He can't tell The pros and cons of this idea.

But he still had reservations and said: "This idea is good, but I personally still think that the mouse you first proposed, boss, is the most suitable for the operation of this game, unless we can directly press these colored pixel blocks on the screen. , otherwise it wouldn’t be more convenient than a mouse!”

"Okay, I'll go to the hardware department to ask later. If it's feasible, I'll make a test product each to see the effect."

Jester was also undecided. The reason he didn't want to choose was not because of the mouse operation, but just because of the appearance. As a person from later generations, he really didn't want to make an arcade machine with a mouse that would be used by Internet trolls in the future. Make excuses for yourself.

However, Jester is not very optimistic about his idea.

Whether it is a control panel with one hundred grids or sixty-four grids, it is too cumbersome for the player. This is really contrary to his original intention of designing the game-the happiness in simplicity.

Later, Jester tried out the Alpha versions of "Bubble Bobble" and "Zuma". These two games, which were not very different in nature, were no better at using the joystick in the arcade than he was. I was not good at playing on the computer in my previous life. It was very easy to operate and it was very refreshing when I eliminated it. However, these two games are different from "Bejeweled". "Bejeweled" only requires a fixed checkerboard grid. But these two require different levels.

As for the levels created by these new designers, Jester's feeling after playing them can only be said to be average, not outstanding. However, judging from the changes in several levels, we can see their progress in design. , which can be regarded as having merit.

But it doesn’t matter. Jester still remembers a lot of levels of this elimination game in his mind. It’s not difficult to pick out a dozen of the most representative ones, and these levels have many similarities in design. I believe that as long as these talented designers have seen their new designs, they will naturally be able to find shortcuts for designing similar levels.

All in all, Jester is satisfied with the development process of these three games, and is also very satisfied with the abilities of these newly recruited designers.

As for the development of hardware, it is also very smooth, especially for arcade machines.

Samples of the preliminary eight-bit arcade board have also been taken out, which is currently being used in the game development department to develop the three elimination games.

However, this is not the final product. It can only be said to be a castrated version of the universal substrate they are making. According to Jester’s father, the final product will take about two months to complete. This is actually very fast. 8-bit arcade machines are basically very mature in design, and Jester's father recruited elites from Atari and other arcade manufacturers, so it was naturally not difficult to make them.

However, the debugging required for a new substrate is very cumbersome, and there are still many design compatibility issues that need to be resolved. Being able to complete it within two months is considered very fast.

However, we have encountered some difficulties in the research and development of home machines. Everything else is fine. What Jester said is that we must have more powerful picture processing capabilities than the Nintendo FC to allow these hardware elites from Atari to It is extremely difficult for them, but it is not that they cannot solve it.

They can solve the hardware compatibility problem, they can also solve the circuit architecture problem, and they can solve it even if the processing power is twice as strong as that of FC. The problem is that the price is too high.

"Is Intel's quote so bastard?"

Jester was furious when he heard the reply from Matthew Marcus, the former chief designer of the vcs7200 project, who he had hired from Atari.

The lion opened his mouth. The PPU that Jester wanted was specifically designed to process graphics, that is, an image processor. It actually cost five million US dollars in research and development, and it also cost 20 US dollars per chip. At least The most intolerable thing about purchasing two million chips is that the copyright of this chip still belongs to Intel.

"Do you really think that Intel can't make a PPU if I leave you?" Jester was furious and cursed Intel continuously. Then he asked Matthew Marcus, "What about other chip manufacturers? ?Texas Instruments? Where's Motorola? Where's Qualcomm?"

"Texas Instruments is not very interested in our project, and they are currently gathering elites to work on some special project. They don't have much time to help us with research and development in the near future. If we insist on it, they said it won't be possible until the end of the year at the earliest. , but this conflicts with your request to release it by the end of the year. Motorola is not interested in it directly, but they promised that if we have a design plan, they can OEM it, and the price is not high... As for Qualcomm you are talking about..." said While here, Matthew Marcus frowned, thought carefully for a while, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I haven't heard of it."

At this time, Jester realized that Qualcomm, which will be known as the world's three major semiconductor companies along with Intel and Texas Instruments in later generations, has not yet been established. It will not be until July next year when Irving Jacobs and his seven It took two friends to establish this company that will have a profound impact in the future, especially in the mobile field. Now, they are not even liquid.

Time is running out!

Jester knows how cheap the PPUs in Nintendo FC are.

In order to obtain such a cheap PPU, Hiroshi Yamauchi signed a contract with Ricoh at the beginning of its development for at least three million units. You must know that at that time, there were only three million home game consoles in Japan!

In the United States, labor costs are several times higher than in Japan. It is definitely impossible to get a lower price than Nintendo, so I must surpass it in performance. Therefore, the one used in the original vcs7200 It didn't meet his expectations.

Jester left the hardware development department and returned to his office, thinking about it all the way. He didn't even start the initial project for "Snowman Brothers" that he was going to do.

Now his mind is full of thinking about how to solve the problem of the PPU he wants.

For a game console, image processing capability is the most important thing. Without one, if this problem is not solved, everything else will be in vain.

"It would be great if Nvidia and ATI were available now. I wouldn't have to worry about the graphics processor..."

While thinking about it, Jester suddenly slapped his head and stood up from the chair. He suddenly remembered that in his memory, Nvidia was founded in 1992, and now its founder is the "two bomb founders" 'Arms expert' Huang Renxun should still be studying for an electrical engineering degree at Oregon State University, and he will graduate this year, and He Guoyuan, the founder of ati...

Now I am still an immigrant who cannot find a suitable job in Canada!

Jester remembered the series of books he had read about the world's top Chinese entrepreneurs, which introduced many Chinese entrepreneurial stories in detail. Among them, He Guoyuan's story impressed the most because he was born in poverty and because he started from scratch. He founded ATI from scratch and eventually built ATI into the world's best graphics display chip company.

In 2006, He Guoyuan sold ATI, which he founded, to AMD for US$5.4 billion.

In Jester's memory, He Guoyuan founded ATI in 1985. Now he was just a Hong Kong immigrant who couldn't find a job that satisfied him. It wasn't until 1985 that he couldn't bear it when faced with the problem of marriage, so he got angry and My friends established ati.

Then why don't you go find him yourself?

He should still be looking for a job in Toronto. In my impression, when He Guoyuan was the general manager of Hong Kong Wang Computer Company in the 1980s, his annual salary was US$500,000. But because his salary was so high, he could not even work in Canada. There was no satisfactory job to be found. At that time, it was impossible for a Chinese with no background to get the super-high salary of a professional manager of US$500,000 in a white-dominated society.

It was against this background that He Guoyuan spent one-third of his savings, a total of 300,000 Canadian dollars, to start his business.

Now that you know that the other party is in Canada, and you know his name and Hong Kong immigration status, it will be much easier to find him - if you find him, the problem of your image processor will be solved, and you can also have it. For a company that will dominate the world of graphics display chips for at least twenty years, why not?

The only thing left is to call the headhunting company. Let the professionals do the professional things. No one can do everything in the decathlon. This has always been Jester's point of view.

Putting aside the matter of his home PPU for the time being, Jester pulled out a stack of paper from the table, which was densely written with a lot of handwriting and a lot of sketches. This is "Snowman Brothers" that Jester has been working on these days. The design draft includes image, gameplay, story background and levels.

There are still only two snowmen, red and blue, and there are no more optional characters like in "Snow Brothers 2". After all, Jester also needs to leave new things for the sequel, and he can't put all his ideas in You ran out of money in the first game. If you run out of money, how can you defraud fans of their money in the future?

After reading the entire design draft from beginning to end, there were generally no omissions. Jester picked up the phone and called Darbili from the design team, asking him to find the ten best ones and set up a design team. , come and make a brand new game with him, a big game.

Dabili agreed excitedly. He had already heard the rumors about those people who followed Mark Saini, and also heard some news from their mouths. According to those people, what Mark Saini was doing It is an unprecedented, great, and landmark game, but they are very strict with their mouths. No matter what you ask them, you can't get the exact news from their mouths.

But every time I see their triumphant applications, it's enough to make people like Dabili grit their teeth who have no chance to participate.

This makes Dabbili very envious, even though his boss Jester Lee improvised three elimination games with the same concept as "American Cube" during his speech. They are also very creative and very fun to make. But this is just a small game, as can be seen from the size of the game, and the one that Mark Saini is designing, I heard from colleagues inadvertently, is at least 200 kb!

Dabbili has never seen a game with a size of 200 kilobytes. Even the epoch-making "Defender" is not that big.

And this time, my boss also said that he would start a big game plan. In the eyes of his boss, a big game would definitely not be worse than the development director's big game?

What a rare opportunity! Dabili thought so.

"Starting a company is really one thing after another, and there is no time to do other things." Jester hung up the phone and kept complaining. Now he is still facing the most important thing of his company. , that is, I don’t have a distribution network of my own yet.

Jester, who comes from a later generation, knows that a game company without its own distribution network can only be a game studio, and far from being called a game giant.

Now I can still rely on the quality of the game to overwhelm publishers, but what about the future?

The renaissance of video games is inevitable. Even if you don’t have yourself, there will still be Nintendo. At that time, publishers and players will have countless choices, and the situation that I saw in the marketing of "American Cube" will never happen again. ——As a game development company, I relied on the enthusiasm of players to buy, and used those sales companies to struggle to support the difficulties during the collapse of Atari. In such a blank period of video games, this time it was almost a blank wolf. operation.

In essence, this operation of mine was putting the cart before the horse by taking advantage of the right time, place, people and people, and it will never happen again in the future.

Therefore, you must form your own publishing company, so that you can firmly control your own destiny and earn the maximum profit in the game industry.

Thinking of this, Jester's eyes became more determined and his fists clenched tightly.

You must build your own distribution network.

Letting the right people do the right things has always been Jester's principle. In terms of marketing, he may have seen some cases from later generations, but he is essentially not good at this. He doesn't know how to do the market. How to analyze the general psychology of users, etc., but he knows that there are many people in the world who are good at doing these things. All he has to do is to find them and let them work for him.

Of course, in the United States, where business competition is extremely fierce, there are specialized agencies that do this kind of thing, so you don't need to worry about it yourself. This is a headhunting company.

Jester had previously called a well-known headhunting company on the West Coast and asked them to help find He Guoyuan in Toronto, Canada, and Huang Renxun who had just graduated from college in Oregon. This time Jester called the other party again. .

The person who answered the phone was a middle-aged man with a patient voice.

Jester didn't waste any words. He stated his requirements directly: "The best ones are young, passionate, brave enough to challenge difficulties, good at marketing, and willing to join a company that is not yet big, but has great prospects." If you are a marketing expert who creates the future together, if he is really outstanding, I can give him partner treatment."

"Are there any educational qualifications or gender requirements?" The middle-aged man asked some questions that Jester had not mentioned in his previous remarks.

"No." Jester said straightforwardly. He knew that marketing does not have high requirements for academic qualifications and gender. He knew that there were many female marketing experts, including CEOs of famous companies with only middle school education. They are all very good at marketing. In this industry, talent is more important than anything else.

"Okay, we will send you the list you need as quickly as possible via fax." After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he asked Jester again if he had any other requirements. After receiving a reply of no, he said Say goodbye and hang up the phone.

Jester, who had just finished doing this, had no free time. He still had a lot to do.

For example, the two first major games to be launched on his home console-"Super Mario" and "Contra".

Now his home console has not yet been completed, let alone the development machine based on the home console. Essentially, he cannot produce these two games at all.

But he can still carry out detailed pre-design for these two games just like he did for "Snowman Brothers". Judging from the parameters of the home console that he gave to the home console development team, the effect of completing these two games is completely No problem at all.

Moreover, if the PPU you want can be completed, then your picture quality will reach the level of Sega MS. This kind of picture will completely crush FC.

What I want to do is to make Super Horse and Contra that are more fun, more interesting, and have better graphics than the ones in the original world!

However, when Jester had just finished the level design sketch for the first level of "Super Mario" on scratch paper, the fax machine in his office started beeping.

Jester walked over and took the fax and saw that it was the headhunting company he had called to consult before. They had sent over the preliminary list.

There are dozens of names on the list, and behind each one is a brief description of the individual's age, education, and experience.

Jester glanced roughly from top to bottom. To be honest, he didn't know who to choose among so many people. Looking at the introductions of these people, they were all very good, and all of them were marketing geniuses. But he knew that he couldn't make his own decision just by looking at the evaluations given by these headhunting companies. He didn't know how much went into it. Moisture, more or less half-truths and half-false things.

Suddenly, Jester stopped looking at the two names. These two names seemed familiar to him, as if he had heard them somewhere.

Both of them are women, both young. One is only 30 years old, has a master's degree in marketing from the University of Maryland, and is now the director of a project at Att Company. The other is only 26 years old, but is a graduate of Harvard University. He has a master's degree in economics and is now working as a management consultant at Bain \u0026 Company. He is a middle-level employee of a large enterprise.

"Margaret Whitman, this is...Carly Terry..."

Jester whispered these two names, and then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he remembered who these two people were.

ps: Thank you for giving me some recommendation votes.

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