Game Development Giant

It was already the 27th when Jester received the news from Tamahide Yoshiro. He had just checked into a hotel in Chicago and was preparing for tomorrow's trial meeting.

The call came from California. Tamahide Yoshiro couldn't find Jester after calling the headquarters. Then the California headquarters asked about the specific information and then passed it on to Jester.

"In less than two and a half days, all 100,000 GP handheld consoles were sold out! Now Sega is fully engaged in manufacturing GP handheld consoles, and it is very possible to ship more than 500,000 units within a month!"

Hearing the news, Jester couldn't help but clenched his fists and waved his arms vigorously. This was the best news for him, and the popularity of GP handhelds could also alleviate his pain to a great extent. The financial pressure, at least the OEM fees for Sega, does not need to be diverted from the headquarters funds.

You must know that the OEM cost for a total of 45,000 arcade machines for the three games is not a small amount of money.

Putting the news aside for the time being, Jester poured a glass of water, sat on the sofa, and flipped through a copy of "Super Balotelli" written about him by a game planner who had just entered the company before he left California. "The modification plan of "The Plan" was written in great detail, and there were many things in it that Jester had ignored beforehand.

In this revision plan, the new planner first pointed out a big shortcoming of this game - it is not American enough and is too cartoony.

The reason is also explained in the plan. Americans prefer a harder style.

The young designer named Cypher Dabowater said in this opinion that since the image is designed to be a western sheriff, why not move the entire story to the west? Rather than in an unreal world that I don’t know what to call?

What Jester copied was the original plot of Super Horse. This plot was honestly unattractive, but Jester subconsciously felt that Super Horse did not win by the story, but by his groundbreaking gameplay, and It’s really fun, who cares what the whole story is about.

But in this revision plan, it is clearly stated that Jester's idea is wrong and irresponsible. Even the designer who just joined the company used Jester's most common saying, 'We must do the best. The game's implicit accusation is that such a design is irresponsible to players.

Then, the young designer wrote an outline of a story of his own design.

In essence, this designer's story is not much better than the previous ultramarathon plot copied by Jester, the same hero saves the beauty.

But he changed the cliché plot of rescuing a princess from an evil dragon into a story about a father, a police sergeant, who goes to rescue his daughter who was kidnapped by a big bandit to become his bride.

But this change makes the whole story logical and vivid.

It is also easier for players to have a sense of immersion.

You know, this kind of storyline with a hint of a Western tough guy and a touch of fatherly love is much more popular in the United States than those plots about warriors, dragons, and princesses that have been ignored for a long time.

Jester is extremely satisfied with this.

Then, the young designer made many modifications to many of Jester's settings that he considered more Western.

For example, the background of the entire game has become a Western style, and when using the soundtrack, Western-style music should also be used to match it.

The water pipes all over the place were replaced with mines that can be seen everywhere in the west. This is also in line with people's previous impression of the west as a gold mining land. The castle that often appeared at the end of the level was replaced by a tavern with a strong western style. In the tavern, there are lurking bandits who can be seen everywhere in the chaotic west.

Something that obviously does not conform to the western style, the Mushroom Man, is replaced by the Red Dead Redemption under the big bandit, the turtle is replaced by the scorpion that can be seen everywhere in the western desert, and the piranha is replaced by the cobra.

Then the rewards of various mushrooms seem a bit out of place in such a world view.

Therefore, the enlarged mushroom was changed to a mining pickaxe, which has the same effect. It can be used to eliminate bricks, but the enlarging effect is cancelled.

Change the fire flower into a revolver. Sheriff Balotelli does not have a pistol at the beginning. After getting the revolver, he can use it to shoot. After all, how can a Western-style game lack a revolver? You know, the revolver is almost a symbol of the West.

Something that is too imagistic like Super Star is not concrete enough and can be changed to strong liquor. After Sheriff Balotelli consumes strong liquor, he will enter a drunken state. This state is the same as eating Super Star.

The life-increasing mushroom was changed to a voodoo secret medicine, and even the monster settings of the voodoo wizard were added.

Moreover, the young designer also pointed out that the bosses and scenes designed by Jester were too single. In this aspect, more detailed settings can be made. For example, different boss battles can be used to embody Sheriff Balotelli. Different progress in saving his own daughter.

For example, the first level is about a black-hearted mine owner hiding in a mine. After getting information from him, he went to the Indian tribes living here. These Indian tribes have been bribed by the big bandits and have become their lackeys. Accomplices, so monsters like Indian warriors can also be added. After obtaining information from the Indian tribe, Sheriff Balotelli came to Voodoo...

Moreover, even for the sake of spoof, a hidden level about the Martians in Area 51 can be added.

Jester watched silently, with a look of surprise on his face. This modification almost upgraded the original copycat version of the super horse he designed by a whole level.

He could even imagine the craze that this game would cause after its release.

In this revised copy, the designer also added a 2p candidate that Jester had forgotten the last time he made the settings, a young policeman named Paolo Maldini, who was the employee of Chief Balotelli. partner.

There are hundreds of modification suggestions such as the above in this copy, with more than tens of thousands of words. All opinions are based on Jester's previous "Super Balotelli" setting draft as a framework for further improvement. Westernizing modifications.

Jester read it very carefully and seriously. He read it twice in a row before closing the copy, and then saw the designer's name written at the beginning of the copy.

Cypher Dabowater.

This is a person that Jester has never heard of, but there will be millions of game practitioners in the future world, and it is impossible for him to have heard of all of them.

But just from the other party's modifications to his settings, it can be seen that this is a very talented designer.

And Jester also has some understanding. He also entered a blind spot in his previous design. He always believed that the classic ultramarathon was unsurpassed and he should not make too many modifications. But he read this modification opinion Later, Jester discovered that was not the case at all.

There may not be much that can be changed about Ultramarathon in the framework of how the game is played, but there are many better ways to improve it.

For example, this young designer named Seve Dabowater used his western-style Sheriff Balotelli as the core and centered around his identity to design a supermarathon that has nothing to do with the original one. game.

Except, of course, the way the game is played.

At this time, Jester couldn't help but become a little curious about this young designer named Seve Dabowater. He had decided to get in touch with him after he went back. If his ability was good enough, then Mars Entertainment's third The three core R\u0026D groups should also be formally established.

After all, there are a lot of people in 'Scavenger' now. If so many people don't participate in the core research and development of the game, but only do some debugging in the later stage, firstly, it will cause a waste of personnel. Secondly, their level will not be good if this continues. It may improve quickly.

Time is still very tight for Jester. After all, what he is going to fight is a monster united by most of the Japanese gaming industry.

Moreover, Jester felt that it might be a good idea to hand over this unrecognizable ultramarathon to this young man named Seve Dabowater.

Then, Jester looked at the modification plan and pondered for a while. He crossed out the first few words of "Super Balotelli" and then wrote a new name, the new name of this game.

"Superintendent Balotelli".

In fact, this was another mistake Jester made at the beginning of the design, because the ultramarathon had a great impact on him, even his name was no exception. Even though he had modified his character design at the time, Still couldn't help but add the prefix super.

The prefix "Super" is used for Super Horse because Nintendo has previously released a game called "Mario Bros.", so it added the word "Super" in front of it.

This name stands for "Super Mario Bros.", which is the sequel to "Mario Brothers". Later, because it was convenient for Chinese people to call them, the latter brothers were removed. In addition, the presence of Mario's younger brother Luigi was too low. , so it’s just called “Super Mario”.

In fact, Super Horse is a sequel, not the first game, but the gameplay of Super Horse has changed a lot, so not many people will regard "Mario Brothers" and Super Horse as the same game.

But the problem is that the image of Sheriff Balotelli has only appeared for the first time, and he has used the name "Super Balotelli", which is quite nondescript.

And the more Jester thought about it, the more he felt that the designer named Cypher Dabowater had done a very good job with the modifications. After such modifications, the entire game not only became a linear RPG, not a one-stop game like the original version of Super Marathon Once again, we are constantly creating castles, and there is nothing new at all. Such modifications will greatly improve the sense of immersion.

In fact, the biggest change has occurred since then. This game, like "Dawn", tells a complete story in a complete world view.

In this way, we need to be more selective in the development of peripherals. Whether it is comics, animation, novels, or even TV series and movies, this is all feasible. With the incredible super that this game will definitely bring, If you are very popular, you will basically not lose money.

The most important thing is that the influence of Sheriff Balotelli's image can be further increased.

Jester, who became more and more excited as he thought about it, looked at the time. It was already past twelve o'clock in the night. Although he still had many thoughts about Sheriff Balotelli, he thought that tomorrow would be the first important event for Mars Entertainment. There was absolutely no room for error in the trial session, and Jester closed the copy of the modification copy in his hand with some reluctance.

Although he was not yet sleepy, Jester still stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes. He had to recharge his batteries for tomorrow's trial session.

The second day.

Jester, dressed in casual attire, arrived at the Chicago Convention Center that he rented very early.

The decoration inside started three days ago and was completed yesterday afternoon.

A total of three hundred arcade machines with three new games were lined up one after another, and Jester also asked the Origin Design Team to come up with a trial version of "Snowman Brothers" at the last moment. There were twenty-five levels in total, which included most of the How to play "Snow Brothers".

However, because it was too late to release the trial version, there was no time to customize large quantities of arcade machines, so Jester once again used his old method of promoting "American Cube" and built two machines by hand. All of them were brought to this trial session at once.

These two "Snowman Brothers" are also regarded by him as his trump card.

It's only 7 o'clock in the morning, and the scheduled opening time is 8 o'clock sharp. Although it's still more than an hour away, there are already many players from all over the United States gathered outside, including men and women, ranging in age from children to 30s and 40s. Adults have everything, including a lot of media.

These players held up signs in support of Mars Entertainment and kept shouting slogans of support. Amidst the noise, they waited for the opening of the trial session.

Mark Cerny did not come to Chicago with Jester. The development schedule of "Avengers" is very tight, and Origin has almost completed the development of its fourth product since the establishment of the company. This makes 'the-king' The team formed by Mark Saini, who selected the best from all the designers at the beginning, was naturally reluctant to do so.

Although these people also know that the development difficulty of the game they are making is much greater than the four games designed by the Origin team.

If the research and development is successful, it will cause a much greater sensation.

But they were still a little unwilling, so motivated by this emotion, the research and development of "Avengers" progressed very quickly, and the production of the first level was almost completed.

Carly is renting warehouses and setting up logistics centers in large cities in several states on the West Coast, and has no time to come to this trial meeting. Margaret Whitman is also looking for a location for a flagship store, and has only just been busy. Adam Edgar, who had completed the acquisition of Sid Meier's company called Microprose, had time, so he followed Jester to Chicago for this trial meeting on behalf of Fengxing Publishing Company.

Jester also got good news from Adam Edgar. Sid Meier agreed to Adam Edgar's proposal that you join Mars Entertainment, and then Mars Entertainment will give you this for $100,000. proposal to acquire the company.

Microprose, a newly established company, has only released a few works, none of which are considered successful, and may not be worth a hundred thousand dollars at all, but Sid Meier is priceless in Jester's eyes. .

This one hundred thousand dollars was well spent in Jester's eyes.

Moreover, in Jester’s memory, Sid Meier’s Microprose company became famous in the gaming industry through flight simulation games. Before this masterpiece that shocked the industry, Microprose had been making flying games, and it had also accumulated a lot of fame with several good flying games.

It just so happened that the development of "Dawn" would be officially started after the development of "Snow Brothers" was completed, so Jester also had the idea of ​​​​letting Sid Meier join the Origin Design Team to participate in the development.

As the opening time approached, Jester chatted with Adam Edgar and some other staff as they checked each machine to prevent any malfunctions after the trial meeting officially started.

At this time, Adam Edgar also admired Jester's vision even more. He met Sid Meier with his own eyes and had several in-depth discussions with him. Only then did he realize that Jester asked him to do it. What a genius this designer who is already in his thirties is.

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