Game Development Giant

At that time, Blizzard had just been established, and they could only survive by relying on some game OEMs.

But they still have big ambitions, and they have carefully planned several big projects. In addition to "Lost Vikings", a creative platform action game that uses three characters at the same time, they also planned a game.

The American version of the game is called "Black Thorn", the European version is called "Revenge of the Eagle", and the Japanese version is called "Revenge of the Black Thorn".

This is a game for a console platform. Jester can’t remember exactly which platform it was developed for. It was probably for a certain Sega platform, probably Sega MD. It was in this game that Blizzard adopted motion capture technology.

Obviously, given Blizzard's size in the industry at the time, they probably weren't the first to adopt it.

Therefore, although Jester has not heard of anyone in the industry using it, it may be because he is a little ignorant, or there may be other game companies that will introduce this technology into game development in the near future. In fact, in When early motion capture technology was used in games.

The movements of characters captured through motion capture are actually very awkward in the eyes of viewers.

It is far less natural and smooth than the previous method of retraction.

It requires manual correction.

As far as Jester knows, among the later domestic game development companies, at least at the turn of the century, there were many game companies with lofty ambitions. That period was also an era when excellent domestic games appeared frequently. , some domestic development companies purchased expensive motion capture equipment.

It is roughly equivalent to the technology in Europe and the United States in the early 1990s. The images captured at that time were not smooth enough and required manual adjustment.

Of course, although the motion capture is not as high as hand-drawing. In this era, however, after the use of motion capture, the workload has been reduced too much. What used to require five artists to complete may now be completed by one.

This is of course a small thing for Jester. He himself forgot about the motion capture device because he rarely participated in the development of action games. However, someone proposed this idea as a guide for the development of this technology in the latter two. How common is Jester in game development work. Naturally, he will shout for his protection. \u003cThe development team is slowly accumulating technology in cg development.

Accumulate experience to become a major CG manufacturer in the industry in the future.

This time at the E3 exhibition, the 3D fighting scene demonstrated by Mark Saini was the first work that Jester's newly established CG development team could produce, and in any era The development of cg is a very time-consuming and labor-intensive matter.

Just like Blizzard Entertainment, the world's largest CG manufacturer in later generations, when they made the opening CG for the expansion pack of "World of Warcraft", it took several years. A clip of just three to five minutes would cost more than 10 million U.S. dollars to produce.

Of course, the cost of doing CG now will not be as high as it will be in later generations, but the cost will definitely not be low.

and. Blizzard's ability to become the world's largest CG manufacturer didn't just fall from the sky. You know, all game manufacturers do good CG. But many of them are outsourced, and Blizzard is different, their cg. From perfecting the script to various modeling, and even motion capture, including hand-painting, it was all done by Blizzard.

Of course, the reason why Blizzard's technology in this area is so high is because they have been extremely focused on the production of CG since Diablo 2 in the late 1990s. At that time, the cutscene CG produced by Blizzard in Diablo 2 reached It has reached the top level in the industry, although there is still a certain gap compared to Square, the world's largest CG manufacturer at the time.

However, with the complete failure of Square's investment in CG movies, they had no choice but to merge with Enix, and the title of the world's largest studio was completely lost to Blizzard.

Of course, these expenses are only a drop in the bucket for Mars Entertainment.

After the show.

The reporters were quite satisfied with this press conference, which was mainly about painting cakes. No matter which side of the media it was, they all got what they wanted most. Just when Kazunori Yamauchi was about to leave with his senior brother, he saw When he was looking to see if he had enough time to attend the next press conference, he discovered that he had actually received an invitation.

The inviter is Jester Lee, who in Yamauchi's mind is the best game designer in the world. He felt that during the interaction just now, Yamauchi's answer was very satisfactory to him, so he wanted to publish it before After the meeting, meet him alone.

However, this made Fukushima, the senior brother of Kazunori Yamauchi and the team leader of Kazunori Yamauchi who came to the United States this time, a little embarrassed.

You know, the press conference he is going to later is from Nintendo.

He has received very definite news from within the company. At this conference, Nintendo will release a handheld machine. You know, this is the first time Nintendo has released their handheld console since they announced their launch of the home game console market. of new hardware.

In Japan, Nintendo still has a large number of fans.

Therefore, for European and American journalists, Nintendo is considered a worthless product that is tasteless and a pity to throw away, but this is not the case for Japanese media at all.

But Fukushima is still somewhat decisive.

Although he also expected that Jester Lee took the initiative to meet with Yamauchi Kazunori, he was probably out of love for talents and wanted to recruit them, but Fukushima also felt that if he could really join Mars Entertainment, it would be very difficult for him. For my junior fellow student, it is indeed much more promising than working in a magazine.

Therefore, Fukushima only thought about it for a few seconds, then agreed, explained a few words to Kazunori Yamauchi, and left on his own.

For Kazunori Yamauchi, being able to meet his idol alone is indeed a dream. He is not a player who likes to remember the name of game designers, but he can remember the name of everything. All of them are well-known in the industry.

Jester is one of them.

In a lounge, Kazunori Yamauchi saw Jester who was reading documents on the sofa.

After Jester saw Kazunori Yamauchi coming in, he put the documents in his hands aside and stood up to greet him. Kazunori Yamauchi was a little flattered. Japan is a highly hierarchical society. People like him just now How could a small employee who had just graduated and joined the company be qualified to receive such benefits from a giant in the industry like Jester Lee?

"Don't be restrained. I also heard that your previous answer was in line with my wishes, so I want to see you alone now that I'm a little free."

Jester stretched out his hand and asked Kazunori Yamauchi to sit down. Seeing that Kazunori Yamauchi still had a reserved look on his face, he smiled and said a few words casually, hoping to relax the other person's mood. Sure enough, Jester's two random words still have some effect.

After hearing this, Kazunori Yamauchi's expression really softened.

"I saw before that you have your own opinions on game analysis, and I think you are not too old. You must have just joined the job? Why did you think of being a game editor? Didn't you apply for a job at a game company?" After Jester saw Kazunori Yamauchi's expression softening, he smiled and asked a question seemingly casually.

Regarding this issue, Kazunori Yamauchi naturally has no doubts about him.

He just thought for a moment and then told the reason why he came to be an editor. Jester also listened silently. After listening, Jester just smiled.

Then he asked seemingly casually.

"Do you want to make your own game?" When he said this, the smile on Jester's face was still extremely flat.

Kazunori Yamauchi didn't think that a small character like him was worthy of Jester being a lobbyist himself. Maybe a big shot like Jester felt that he might have some insights or talent in this area and wanted to confirm it. .

Of course, Yamauchi Kazunori is not a fool. As an adult with a sound mind, he certainly knows how rare such an opportunity is.

So, after hearing Jester ask him this question.

He immediately got into high spirits.

"Of course I have. As a die-hard game player, how could I not want to make games myself?"

Jester didn't pay attention to the change in Yamauchi's expression. After hearing Yamauchi's answer, he just nodded calmly and said, "So, what is your favorite game type?" Woolen cloth?"

"Racing."

This time Kazunori Yamauchi gave his answer almost without thinking. His favorite game type is racing.

"good."

Jester nodded calmly, and his next question came out immediately: "So, what do you think is the most important thing in developing a racing game? In other words, what do you think is the most important thing? Which job is the most important thing in a racing game?"

This question is indeed a bit difficult to ask a person who is just a player.

Yamauchi Kazunori's reaction after hearing this question was not beyond Jester's expectations. There was a confused look on his face, obviously he was thinking about it.

And Jester was not too anxious, he was also quietly waiting for Yamauchi Kazunori to finish thinking.

Almost five minutes passed like this. Yamauchi Kazunori was still frowning and thinking, but Jester spoke first at this time.

"Say whatever comes to mind. I want to hear your opinion." (To be continued...)