Rebirth of America, this is my time

It will be very common in the future for video games to have plots. In other words, if a game does not have a plot, it is like a bird without wings, a monkey no longer steals peaches, and Little John no longer talks about Tongliao. Looking around, nothing seems right.

But in this era, abandoning the plot is the norm.

This is not because the engineers’ skills are not up to standard and they are unable to write popular game plots; nor is it because the manufacturers of software and hardware are too stretched to allow designers to present complete game stories in front of players. It is purely because of storage A 'new' thing like a chip is too expensive!

When the consumption power of the general public cannot keep up with the development of technology, castration, castration, and castration are the only things designers can do. This is the helplessness of designers and the limitations of the times.

Since this is a hurdle that cannot be bypassed, then Ethan...

Just accept it.

However, after he expressed his thoughts, the sadness on Evelin's face not only did not dissipate, but she shook her head with a wry smile, sighed, and said: "I have thought about cutting off the plot. I’ve even done it, but the idea just wasn’t feasible.”

The girl turned over the manuscript in front of her, picked up the pile of plots, and said: "After cutting off the plot, the size of this game is still 64KB. There is no problem in making it into a cassette, but the cost of purchasing memory chips alone is Eighty dollars. When a game costs so much to make, how much does it cost? One hundred and fifty dollars? One hundred and twenty dollars? One hundred dollars?"

"Even if we don't make money on these games, people still can't afford them!"

"After cutting off the plot, 64KB is still too big. We must compress the game content again! Only by reaching 40KB can the cost of this cartridge be controllable!"

"When the size of the game is 40KB, based on the retail price given by the storage manufacturer, the cartridge manufacturing cost of this game will be $20. In this case, when it is released with the home console, we Only in this way can we continue to obtain profit margins, because the production cost we previously reserved for the game was twenty-one dollars."

"Snake can be solved with 1KB of storage, and Minesweeper only consumes 4KB of storage without random maps. These storage technologies are very mature. If we jointly purchase them with Apple, the price will be even It will be so low that ordinary people can hardly imagine. They can set aside at least eighteen US dollars for the production space of the "Alien" game. If we use Intel's storage, then our expected revenue for each machine should be about eight US dollars. If we do not use Intel's If we store it, we should be able to reduce the cost by 20% and ensure a profit of ten dollars."

"In other words, 40KB is the limit size of this game. If it gets bigger, all we can do is watch it lose money!"

Evelin's tone was very serious.

This fact also made Ethan ponder.

Although in the future, selling machines at a loss will be the consensus in the video game industry, those who can really spend money selling machines are those with deep pockets. Take Microsoft, for example. When they were burning money to build XBox, they already had two cash cows: office suite and operating system. The same goes for Sony, which is fighting a console war with them. Before they promoted PS, they were already in consumer electronics. There is a lot of money to be made in the field.

But even so, they are still very painful, and Ethan...

To be honest, Ethan dared to burn, but the money-making speed of Destiny Game could not keep up with the current speed of burning money.

When the price of memory chips remains high, even if he holds 100 million in cash, they cannot sustain it for long. As for maintaining business by releasing new games? Ethan has tons of ideas in his head anyway? This idea is wonderful, but the problem is still the same. When the price of memory chips cannot be lowered, the more excellent games you copy, the more you will lose.

After all, this is 1978.

Not 1983.

The gap of nearly five years allows Ethan to trample all his friends and businessmen wantonly, but at the same time...

Hardware costs will also give him a headache.

Therefore, continuing to compress as Evelin said became the only option.

In this way...

"Then we can only cut the levels."

Ethan looked serious and flipped through his sister's manuscript. After he found the level production drawings and the related production size, he made a decisive decision——

"The first level must be retained because it is the first battle after the protagonist comes to the alien planet. We must create an alien world that the players can see."

"All the card-breaking designs in the second level have been cut off. Firstly, the gameplay of this level is similar to "Star Wars", and secondly, the upward shooting that moves left and right also takes up too much space."

"The downward exploration in the third level will continue to be retained, but all the effects of the cutscene will be deleted. Just read the picture with a black screen. Don't use anything like 'you are going down', 'you feel a cold wind', 'you smell a stench' Text effects and elevator sounds.”

"The entry card in the fourth level has also been deleted. This thing is originally a copy of the second level."

"The underground cave in the fifth level is retained, and it is a must for the encounter between players and "Alien"."

"The pursuit in the sixth level is also retained."

"The final battle of the seventh level is also left behind."

"Oh, by the way, if you can save the opening narration, it's best to save it."

When Ethan transformed into a leather-clad man, he wielded a machete with clear thinking and ruthlessly split the designed game with precise skills. The original seven-level and fourteen-minute game process was instantly reduced to only five levels and nine minutes.

According to Evelin's rough calculation, a 40KB storage chip should be able to win it.

Compared with the games of later generations that often took two hundred hours to get started, at this moment, the process of "Alien Contra" that Ethan got is actually a bit short, but...

Concentration is the essence!

From Ethan's point of view, this kind of drastic modification is actually normal. After all, when making plans in his previous life, the most common thing he encountered was adjusting the plan according to the current situation, but Evelin was a little sad.

Staring at the draft that had been drawn for more than a year, she blew her nose.

The thin voice made Ethan raise his head and asked with a smile: "Are you sad?"

"No."

"You're going to cry if you talk nonsense."

This joke made Evelin raise her head and tried hard not to look at her work.

The sad look also made Ethan sigh. He could understand his sister's mood.

Evelin spent a lot of time making these things that were cut off. This was her hard work. More importantly, the reason for being cut off was not a failure in production, but that the general public could not afford it.

It's hard to accept that you have to bear all the consequences even though you clearly didn't make a mistake.

"Oh Evelin, this is my problem." Ethan took the initiative to take responsibility, "If I hadn't made mistakes when designing the game, then none of these problems would have arisen."

"This is my fault and I apologize."

Ethan raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

Evelin ignored him.

After a stalemate for a while and no response, Ethan changed his attitude and said: "Oh Evelin, don't worry, although I have made some deletions to the game, the deleted content can still be seen by players. Yes, your hard work will not be in vain."

These words made Evelin stop looking at the sky, and when she cast an unexpected look at Ethan, Ethan continued: "It's like you made multiple versions of our home console. Likewise, we can also make several more versions of video games."

"Next, the game that will be released with the console is called the 'Basic Edition'."

"That's five levels and nine minutes."

"In the future, we will release a 'complete version', which is the one with seven levels and fourteen minutes."

"We can sell it when memory chips are cheap, and we can sell it in arcades."

"In this way, players can see the entire game as it is."

This plan made Evelin's eyes light up.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.

But before she could reveal her surprise, Ethan spoke faster and continued: "After the full version is released, in a few years we will be able to release a 'collector's edition' that combines our hand-drawn maps when designing the game with yours." The design manuscripts produced during the production of the game are compiled into a book and sold together with the game.”

"Let the players see our hard work."

"In a few years, for example, for the fifth or tenth anniversary of the release of the game, at that time, we can also make a commemorative edition with the production thoughts of the entire game. For example, when I was designing this game How painful it is, for example, how reluctant you are to give up when making a game. We are unwilling to cut the complete game, but Intel is not a good person..."

"If people still have a good impression of this game at that time, then we can make a 'reset' based on the technology at that time, give the entire game a big upgrade, and then create a two-player mode. Let those players who like games recharge their faith!”

Ethan couldn't control his mouth as he talked, because cutting leeks like this-ah! It’s so cool to think about becoming a family with the players!

As he told the story, Evelin, who was still a little sad, went from surprise to surprise to confusion in just one minute. When Ethan stopped without saying anything, there was only shock on her face.

"Oh - Ethan - you really are a genius! A genius in business!"

The girl raised her eyebrows and commented loudly.

"Oh - thanks for the compliment."

Ethan rubbed his hands and accepted it happily.

And when he was still about to say something, Evelin had already turned down her face, "Get out!"

"Hey." Ethan, who knew he was going to be in trouble, didn't hesitate and went out happily.

The two of them entered the house when it was dark. When they came out again, the east side of Palo Alto was already turning white. Although it was already dawn, they had no intention of going to work. They simply took a shower and began to rest.

After they woke up and filled their stomachs with some food, Evelin went directly into the study to delete levels, while Ethan was taking apart the consumer version of the console and designing its appearance. .

Although Ethan had never studied design in his previous life, he had seen Pig Running. He knew that the square box Evelyn made for the consumer version of the console lacked industrial aesthetics, so he drew on the excellent ideas from his previous life and pressed the buttons towards the box. The side of the panel was cut diagonally.

Suddenly, Sony’s classic PS4 ladder design appeared on the sketch.

This design has two advantages. First, Evelin has made all the function keys of the entire console on the same surface. Modifying only this side will not only not affect the functions of the machine, but also allow players to see the entire console at a glance. Secondly, the design of the machine is that the original flat interface will affect the player when picking up the cartridge. When the cut-out appears, the user can have a point of strength when changing games.

In addition, Ethan also referred to the design of Nintendo’s classic console FC and made card slots on the left and right sides of the console to allow players to hold the controllers instead of scattering them aside.

Although Evelin is busy modifying the game every day and has no time to talk to him at all, making a shell for the console is already something Ethan can do. After all, the "Snake" arcade machine in the era of poverty and poverty He rubbed the outer shell with his own hands, and he also made the outer shell of "Pac-Man" with his own hands.

He may have slacked off in the past two years, but it is best to resume craft work.

Just as Ethan was working hard to move forward for his future, the summer of 1978 also quietly left. As September 1st came, Paramount, which had been depressed for several months, held a new product launch conference to display to the outside world. Two games of its own - "Star Trek" and "Jack the Ripper".

The game "Star Trek" is similar to "Star Wars", but the gameplay is slightly different. The gameplay of "Star Wars" is to masturbate, while the gameplay of "Star Trek" is to avoid meteorites.

Like "Star Wars", the spaceship controlled by the player can only move left and right horizontally at the bottom of the game, while the endless starry sky at the top of the screen will constantly spit out meteorites.

If the spacecraft controlled by the player is hit, they will lose one life. When all three lives are gone, Game Over will appear on the game screen.

If that's all, then this game can only be described as garbage. There is no market for such clumsy plagiarism. Therefore, in Paramount's design, in addition to avoiding meteorites, players also need to help those who are drifting. Spaceship in outer space.

Those spaceships will appear from the top of the screen together with the meteorites. When the player controls the spacecraft to touch them, they can save the lives on them and get ten points.

At the same time, the player's spaceship team will also grow.

For example, if a player saves three spaceships, the player control area at the bottom of the game will display four spaceships aligned in pairs. This change in volume will make it more difficult for players to avoid meteorites. However, Paramount engineers also left a way out for players.

Every once in a while, the rescued spaceship will leave because it has been repaired, fundamentally achieving the achievement that video games cannot put players into a certain death situation.

"Wow, this design is quite interesting."

Ethan, who was watching the press conference, gave his own evaluation.

"If you want to score points, you have to accept the increase in the difficulty of the game, and if you want the game to continue indefinitely, you have to endure the pain of not getting a single point."

"The engineers at Paramount have ideas."

"good."

Although the background of this game is similar to "Star Wars" and the gameplay is very similar to "Windfall", how can it be possible to avoid such things as artistic creation?

That kind of behavior is copying but not completely copying.

After introducing "Star Trek", Paramount released "Jack the Ripper". Perhaps it is because this name is notorious in history, or it may be that this guy has been bound to killing, so Paramount The game with this theme is designed as a confrontation game.

In a map full of bunkers similar to that of "Pac-Man", the player plays Jack the Ripper who will appear at the bottom of the map. He needs to travel through the entire map to reach the exit on the other side.

In this process, the player needs to avoid the police scattered on the map. Once the Jack the Ripper controlled by the player and the police face each other face to face, that is, they appear in the same space without a bunker, the other party will chase the player. There are two ways to escape...

The first is to use coquettish movements to avoid the patrolling police. The police have four states. One is a frontal avatar, which means he is looking down. The other is a side avatar. Looking to the left means looking to the left. The right side means looking to the right, and one is the back avatar, which means looking above. When their judgment status is so clear, players with a God's perspective will definitely be able to show off;

The second is to directly attack the police and shoot them.

Yes, this game can kill people.

Just press the confirmation button on the arcade, and Biu's voice can bring out a bullet. Although this process has a delay that is visible to the naked eye, the first shot will definitely hit in the case of a sneak attack.

However, once the player chooses to kill, the police on the entire map will instantly change mode, from the original fixed-point patrol to the pursuit of sound, and they will also shoot and kill the gangsters.

Of course, this hunt only lasts for one map.

After the player passes the level, everything will be restored as before.

When Ethan saw this, he immediately started talking.

To be honest, he thinks the inspiration for the game "Jack the Ripper" is quite good.

The concept of maze and shooting is really interesting. Like MGM's "Tom and Jerry", it is a product designed and produced with care.

"With special codes, the creative industry cannot be monopolized."

Ethan cursed and asked Ballmer to pay more attention to Paramount's sales trends.

However, just when Ethan estimated that the electronic arcade machine of "Jack the Ripper" could sell 10,000 units and that their Destiny game had a strong competitor, Paramount's electronic arcade machine had only been on sale for a few days. Well, a big news hit the front page of the New York Times.

[The New York Police Association issued a statement saying-"Jack the Ripper" is a disgusting video game! Paramount is trying to spread their dirty ideas to every corner of America! 】

Note: ① As for what is written in the article, the behavior of users buying a console and receiving games has a strong influence on the times. In our day and age, you can’t get free games when you buy a game console from Hardcore, Sozi, or Hell. That’s because the game console has been promoted for many years and has a very solid target group. At that time, all console manufacturers Everyone has to give away games. The Milover Odyssey, the world's first home console, gave away games, Atari also gave away games, and even the stingy Nintendo also gave away games. This year happens to be the 40th anniversary of the release of the FC. In July, the Guardian wrote a special report on the 40th anniversary of the FC, which mentioned that Nintendo directly gave away "Donkey Kong" and "Donkey Kong" to players for free when promoting the machine. Those games of "Duck Hunt". Under Minoru Arakawa's leadership, they even gave away 600,000 copies of "Mario" in North America. Giving away games was the only way to market the home console product when it was pioneering. I didn't write it wrong.