Game Development Giant

"it's beautiful."

After comforting the woman and child, Jester and Li Jianxi stood side by side, overlooking the entire Victoria Harbor from the huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

Jester, who had been silent until now, sighed, and then turned his gaze to Li Jianxi, who had a somewhat solemn expression.

The future head of the Samsung Empire frowned slightly. Obviously, his current situation was not as leisurely as it seemed. At this time, he was still able to travel and relax. Something must have happened within the company.

But if the other party didn't tell him, Jester couldn't take the initiative to ask. It would be too taboo to do so.

After a while, Li Jianxi retracted his gaze overlooking Victoria Harbor. He looked at Jester, with a look of hesitation on his face, and then asked: "Mr. Li, you just came back from the mainland. I I would like to ask you what you think of the mainland now."

"President Li." After hearing this, Jester did not answer directly. Instead, he turned around and took a glass of red wine from the wine rack on one side. He poured two glasses and handed them to Li Jianxi. Then he took a sip before speaking. He said, "You are a sensible person. I don't need to talk about other places. You just need to know that in mainland China, it is an uncultivated market with a population of 800 million. Even if one person only buys one pound of sugar from you a year, That is also the sales volume of 800 million kilograms of sugar. As a businessman, you should understand what this means."

Li Jianxi did not speak after hearing this, but nodded.

“Last week, I proposed at the company’s board of directors to build a Samsung Electronics factory in Tianjin. I originally learned that my brother was also interested in investing in mainland China. I thought there would be no big problem if the proposal was passed. But..." Before Li Jianxi finished speaking, a trace of anger flashed in his eyes, but even if he didn't need to finish, Jester knew that Li Jianxi's brother definitely did not agree to his proposal.

The competition for the position of Samsung heir is similar to the ancient party struggle. There is no question of right or wrong, only buttocks.

With such an open conflict, the situation of the founder of Samsung must be getting worse. Jester thought about it and said, "President Li, how has your father's illness recurred recently?"

Li Jianxi nodded, with a hint of worry in his words: "Yes, not long after I came back from the United States last month, my father received emergency treatment because of poor breathing. I heard from the doctor that my father has advanced lung cancer. , how long he can persist depends only on his own will."

"Don't worry." Jester knew that Li Bingzhe passed away at the end of 1987, so even if he was critically ill now, there would be no danger.

"Then I'll lend you your kind words." Li Jianxi nodded solemnly without saying too much.

Jester did have the intention to deepen cooperation with Samsung. When he thought of the game console manufacturing factory he was planning to build, he suddenly had an idea.

After carefully asking about the situation of Samsung Construction, Jester revealed his purpose.

"Chairman Li, I am planning to build a large-scale electronic products industrial park in mainland China, mainly engaged in the production of game consoles, but the contractor has not yet been determined. As you know, the prices of American construction companies are too high, and the level of mainland China I'm not sure and can't take risks, but I'm anxious to put it into production in a short time, so I want to ask, if Samsung has been manufacturing electronic products for so many years, if you were to undertake the construction, what would be the annual output of the first phase of the project? How long will it take to build a large-scale electronics industrial park with three million units?"

After hearing this, Li Jianxi thought for a while, seemingly making comparisons. After five minutes, he finally spoke: "Mr. Li, Samsung has never participated in the construction of such a huge project at once, but according to my previous command Judging from the experience of the Daejeon Electrical Appliances Factory, if the number of construction personnel can be guaranteed and the construction of the main project is carried out suddenly, production can be carried out in at least half a year, and it will take a year to complete the entire project."

Jester was silent for a while after hearing this. He was actually a little dissatisfied with the speed. He was about to ask a few more questions, but unexpectedly Li Jianxi spoke first.

"Actually, Mr. Li, if it is just the construction of general manufacturing plants, except for a few dust-free workshops that the mainland may not be able to build, from my understanding, there will be no problem in the mainland, especially for investors like you. , the mainland's attitude towards your factory is to complete it as a political task. If you use a mainland construction unit, it may be more efficient." As he spoke, a smile appeared on Li Jianxi's face, and he also took a sip Red wine, and then continued, "But in terms of design, you may need to find a Japanese planning designer. Whether it is our Samsung or the mainland, they are somewhat incompetent in the planning and design of such a very large industrial park project. To be honest, Mr. Li, large industrial parks like ours at Samsung are also designed by the Japanese."

"Thank you." Jester nodded to express his gratitude.

When leaving, Li Jianxi's three daughters were still clamoring for the latest three electronic pets that Jester had just released in the United States. They cried if they didn't give them to them, but Jester didn't have any in his hands now. , and had no choice but to promise that he would be sent to South Korea immediately after returning to the United States, and then gave up.

When Jester returned to Los Angeles, it was already fifteen days after he left. The mainland had just held the 35th National Day military parade. Originally, Jester was also invited, but due to his schedule, In a hurry, he did not return to the capital to participate, but his grandfather and his sister-in-law were lucky enough to attend the ceremony. Jester did not feel much regret about this. After all, he had seen the last two military parades in later generations that were far more powerful than this one. .

There are a lot of things that I need to deal with after this return.

The first sale of the Pokemon electronic pet machine in the United States once again caused a sensation. This toy was almost designed for lonely children. Not only did it attract a large number of children, especially girls, in the first place, but it also Their parents were somewhat surprised to find that this simulation video game of slowly growing a pet can not only relieve their children of loneliness, but can even increase their love.

Although it's not Christmas yet, countless parents are still willing to spend money to buy one for their children, just like buying a kitten or puppy to raise, and the price of ninety-nine dollars is not too expensive.

Just like that, the previously prepared inventory of one million units of six styles was sold out in just ten days. There were constant calls from all over the United States asking for restocks, with hundreds of people calling every day. Players go to the few or three Fengxing flagship stores and agent outlets across the United States to inquire whether new products have been delivered.

Even in some private transactions, the price of a Pokemon pet machine has been raised to one hundred and fifty US dollars, and it is still priceless.

Especially those buyers from Japan, as long as you have a brand new Pokemon pet machine, they will buy it without hesitation, even if it has been opened and there are no obvious scratches or damage on the outside, then they There will be no hesitation.

Because electronic pets are so popular in Japan now.

"Some old customers who bought our arcade machines have been calling us in the past few days. They asked us to release the abandoned version of "Avengers". They also said that this is the request of those players, those in New York. Players who have experienced the first two levels of "Avengers" at trial sessions or in our flagship store have said that they have lost any interest in other games and now they dream of playing our "Avengers"." Adam Edgar smiled and talked about the situation of Fengxing Publishing during this period. He knew that Jester would be back today, so he rushed to Mars Entertainment to report the situation to Jester.

"After using the method you mentioned before, boss, the sales of the second issue of "Game" not only did not decrease, but also increased a lot. Our second issue sales have already reached 330,000 copies. Pre-order us The number of users of the annual magazine has also increased from 30,000 to 90,000. Moreover, we have received nearly 10,000 letters from players in the past half month!" Adrian also felt comfortable after finishing the second issue of "Game" They have learned a lot and are very excited about the rising magazine sales. Recently, they have also been approached by game manufacturers for advertising. Some game manufacturers even want to pay them to write a soft article praising their games.

However, Adrian rejected the idea of ​​writing soft articles without hesitation. He agreed with what Jester said when he discussed how to develop "Game" before. In the initial stage, reputation is more important than revenue. After the word-of-mouth goes up, there will naturally be no shortage of income. Of course, if the games of this game company are really outstanding, then Adrian is not opposed to writing a praising article, but after trying out that manufacturer After providing the demo version, Adrian threw it directly into the trash can.

Jester then listened to reports from several core R\u0026D teams.

Seve Dabowater, the young designer who previously transformed the Super Balotelli designed by Jester based on the classic version of the Super Marathon into a Western style, has the fastest development process, especially when their R\u0026D team After receiving technical support from Mark Saini, we are already in a leading position in terms of progress. The entire level design has been completed and the programming is halfway done.

After Jester played the trial version of their previous levels, although there are still many bugs in some places, it is a version that has not been debugged after post-processing. This is forgivable, but he feels that the rhythm is still It's a bit lacking, or the experience of this development team, especially the experience of Seve Dabowater as a producer, is still lacking.

Of course, there are reasons for this. He said before that he would check this work, but in fact, because he was too busy during this period, he only gave some of his own opinions and opinions on the initial level setting. In addition to experience, there was no full follow-up.

This is also considered his mistake.

However, he felt that although this work was not good enough, it was for him. He used "Contra" as the standard for judging side-scrolling shooting games. In fact, even in the previous world, , in terms of side-scrolling shooting games, no other game can reach the height of Contra.

If Jester were to design it, he felt that the core element of a side-scrolling shooting game is the sense of rhythm.

The pace must be fast.

Just like Contra, you have to make the players move every moment. Through various settings, whether it’s enemies or mechanisms, you just can’t let the players stop, you have to make them rush forward in one breath. If you don't move, you will die.

But the game that Jester tried out did not give him such a sense of urgency. The character he controlled had a lot of free time where he was completely safe. In other words, the creator was not designing the levels. When playing, it puts enough pressure on the players to make them nervous, make their palms sweat, and make them more immersed in the game.

Although he was not very satisfied with Seve Dabowater's Sheriff Balotelli, Jester still did not show it. He praised the other party and praised him for doing a good job. In Jester's eyes, , it is not easy for an inexperienced newcomer to achieve this step with just some help from him that is not too important.

An excellent game designer has grown up through countless lessons. He now has many good game settings in his mind, but this is his. He has played these games, and he has seen these games. What does it look like, so when he first started making it, he actually had a very, very specific idea of ​​what this game would look like.

But for the same game plan, even if Jester writes it in very detail, in the eyes of other designers and in his own eyes, they are two completely different games, because no two people in the world can understand each other. it's the same.

Just like this time, Jester referred to the levels of Metal Slug and Contra and designed many mechanisms for the "Chief Balotelli" produced by his company. In his opinion, these mechanisms are all for It speeds up the pace of this game, but in the eyes of Seve Dabowater, this is not the case. He is too obsessed with the difficulty and concealment of these mechanisms.

The role of these mechanisms is indeed to embarrass players, but if Jester were to reject this game now and develop it from scratch, would it be okay to completely follow the rhythm of Contra?

Of course, but Jester wouldn't do that.

In Jester's eyes, the growth of his employees is far more important than making a classic game. Classic games are a lot on his mind, but excellent designers are not.

The reason why some designers can leave their names in history is because of their outstanding talents, which are far superior to their peers. In addition, they also worked their way out from setbacks one after another. No one can just do it casually. success.

Jester could indeed tell Cypher Dabowater that what you were doing was not good and that you should do it.

Indeed, Jester's current company's prestige is unmatched by anyone, and his game design theory has been cited as dogma by all designers in the company, but every designer with outstanding talent will have his own pride and his own Persistence, you can't get people like this to agree with your philosophy without letting themselves fall.

And, most importantly, Seve Dabowater's "Chief Balotelli" is not bad for this era. On the contrary, it is very good.

At least these few levels that have been completed are enjoyed by colleagues in the company.

The consensus is that this is a very good game.

As for the development process of another game "Balotelli's Adventure" with Sheriff Balotelli as the protagonist, it is very slow, but this cannot be blamed on the team led by Will Wright. After all, this Jester did not plan to launch an arcade version of this game, but directly made it a home console. However, the research and development of his home console was not over yet. During this time, Will Wright and his team were involved in the entire hardware research and development department. During the research and development process, we have an in-depth understanding of the performance of Mars Entertainment’s home game consoles that will be launched in the future.

But it cannot be said that there has been no progress at all. During this month, Will Wright and his 'Extreme' team were making more detailed settings based on the initial design plan provided by Jester, adding more Diverse scenes, bosses and monsters with different images, and more interesting levels. Only three new levels have been redesigned. Jester was very satisfied after seeing it. He didn’t know how it would be if it were actually made. , but at least Will Wright's designs are all centered around cartoon elements.

As for the development progress of "Dawn", it is not very fast.

Because the explosion special effects that Jester requested before are too difficult to complete. It is impossible for current CPUs to render particle effects, and it is impossible to rely solely on vector graphics technology. To complete the kind of explosion that Jester requested Realistic explosion special effects and realistic smoke clouds. In this era, the only way is to hand-paint.

Jester didn't want the abstract explosions of "Space Invaders" or the pixel-like effect of "Star Collision". He wanted something realistic, full of fire and smoke. The explosion special effects are also the most difficult aspect of the game "Dawn".

Yes, Jester knew that more than two years later, Sega's soul designer Yu Suzuki completed the arcade game "Fire Web", which used a completely hand-painted method to complete the explosion effect that shocked game industry players around the world. But the problem is that he doesn't know how Suzuki Yu accomplished it. He can't just ask Suzuki Yu to help him complete this effect? This is obviously impossible.

But luckily there was Sid Meier.

Sid Meier is a fan of flying games. He has been committed to the development of flying games at the game company acquired by Mars Entertainment.

For an air combat game, it is impossible not to consider how to achieve the explosion effect, so Sid Meier was also thinking about how to achieve the most realistic explosion effect a long time ago. He has considered many technical methods. , but the capabilities of current hardware are limited, and it is simply impossible to complete some of the effects in the design. After thinking hard, Sid Meier thought of whether he could produce explosion special effects by hand drawing.

However, Sid Meier later discovered that it was indeed feasible to produce explosion special effects by hand drawing, but because the workload was too great, his own company was simply unable to complete his idea.

However, joining Mars Entertainment this time and participating in the research and development of "Dawn" gave him the opportunity to complete his original idea.

In fact, this technology sounds simple, but it is very complicated to actually do it.

All the images of the evolving explosion effects are drawn by hand, and then the expansion and flash effects are synthesized through post-processing operations, and then displayed on the screen through a specific program, turning them into realistic explosion special effects and fire. , Yanyun has all the elements of explosion.

But the problem is that an explosion effect requires the artist to draw hundreds to thousands of evolving sketches. Although most of the explosion effects in the entire game can be used universally, there will always be a few, or even a dozen, that require different explosion effects. There are nearly 10,000 sketches that need to be drawn by hand. Even if Jace has deployed five more painters, the task is still frighteningly arduous. So far, only 50% has been completed.

ps: I can’t finish writing today. I’m in a hurry to go out and don’t have time to correct typos. I’ll come back and make up for it later.