Chapter 28: Sponsor Game
"Hey, am I being completely ignored here?" Four employees shot me cold glances, grumbled, and then returned to their work.
"Okay, then. I'll leave you to it."
The staff member who had guided me in the lobby nodded and returned to their seat.
What's going on here? I observed the employees at work amidst the awkward atmosphere of the development room.
In 2015, some massive projects would involve up to a hundred people, but back in the 1980s, the game development scene only required a programmer who coded, a graphic designer who created pixel art, and a director doubling as the team leader.
The remaining one was an assistant who worked on pixel art for backgrounds and items, or something like that.
"Hmm..."
I glanced at the programmer's coding screen for a moment, accompanied by a fake cough.
"The coding is messy... I can't even figure out how the flags and hit detection work."
Next, I turned my attention to the designer working on character pixel art.
On the monitor, a character in a gray military uniform with a black headband was making a determined expression.
"Is this a war-themed game? Well, ever since Rambo 2 came out last year, military-themed content has been popular..."
The person who seemed to be the team leader, closely watching my actions, called me.
"Hey there, Kang Junhyuk? Or should I call you Junhyuk? I'm Toyomoto."
"Ah, just call me Kang. Please feel free to."
"Alright then, Kang. Have you ever done game development? Or maybe you're familiar with our flagship titles?"
"Well, you've heard of Duck Hunt, right?"
All the staff members in the office turned their heads and raised their eyebrows. Well, who doesn't know that it was the first game to implement a shooting game with an electronic gun in a home setting, right? At that moment, a young man who seemed to be an assistant in one corner of the office spoke up.
"That's the one where Gunpei-san made the electronic gun famous. In reality, even a novice programmer could implement a game where ducks fly around using an electronic gun."
Geez, is this young guy openly belittling me? However, the team leader nodded in agreement with the young man's opinion.
"That's right, indeed. Gunpei-san's electronic gun was remarkable."
Ugh... I was the one who proposed that idea in the first place, and people can be so two-faced. I had no choice but to introduce myself, mentioning that I had served as a co-director on Super Mario Bros.
"Super Mario Bros., a masterpiece that shone with Shige-san's unique concept of side-scrolling and jumping."
Darn it! I also taught them the basic idea of side-scrolling! But well, the truth is that they were the ones who actually created those things. I couldn't take credit for much. Anyway, why is that assistant who's stuck in the corner so quick to counter everything I say? I managed to maintain my poker face and asked the staff.
"I'm not wrong. I've never released a game under my name; I've only served as a co-director. However, I'm here to provide technical advice, and if there's a problem that even I can't solve, I'll send Shige-san from the headquarters. Please understand. Is there anything else I can help with?"
"Ahem... Well, we understand what you mean."
The team leader cleared his throat and called out to Masaki, the programmer. Masaki, who was 28 years old, wore a loose-fitting T-shirt that emphasized his round belly. He pushed up his glasses and glanced at me, which didn't sit well with me, but I decided to bear with it for now.
"Hey, Masaki, explain the game we're working on and let's get some advice from Kang here."
"For now, take a seat over here."
I gazed at the game proposal document laid out on the office table. On the thick stack of paper, the somewhat flashy title "Never Die Soldier" was written.
"It's definitely influenced by Rambo. Just looking at the title gives me a sense of what it's about..."
As I showed interest in the proposal, a programmer named Masaki, wearing glasses and a somewhat serious expression, spoke to me.
"Let me briefly introduce the game we're working on."
"Do you really need to? I could guess."
As I expected, the game they were making, "Never Die Soldier," was a military-themed game where a special forces mercenary infiltrated enemy territory and swept through the battlefield.
During our conversation, I learned a few more things. First, the initial concept for this game, "Never Die Soldier," had surprisingly started with an idea from an assistant tucked away in the corner of this office. Unfortunately, the cheesy title seemed to be Masaki's own creation.
Around that time, it was common for programmers to also handle game planning, and they did so to push the limits of their coding skills and create games accordingly.
Of course, if a programmer knew their limitations and created a game accordingly, they could remove unnecessary elements from the planning stage and quickly create the game. However, it wasn't easy to come up with a unique gameplay experience.
"I'm actually a military enthusiast. That's why I want to make players feel the battlefield's excitement through 'Never Die Soldier,' but it's been challenging to implement the technology."
Masaki's technical advice was a very simple question about how to display a multitude of objects on the screen. It seemed like he wanted to portray the intense survival of a mercenary surrounded by numerous enemies.
So, I need to provide a simple answer.
"It's impossible."
"What?"
Masaki looked at me in disbelief as the answer came too easily from my mouth.
"If you're a programmer, you should be aware of the limitations of the Family Computer. Our family of consoles has been designed to handle any type of game with a custom CPU, but it's also responsible for sound processing. Therefore, devoting all its power to graphics processing is unrealistic. While we've equipped it with VRAM to assist with processing, it's only 2KB."
"So, isn't that why you requested technical advice from MinTendo? Shige-san's 'The Legend of Karin,' which was released last year, had various objects in a single map. Did MinTendo keep some secret technology hidden?"
"No, we've been creating games from the early days of our family of consoles, so our expertise has accumulated. We didn't unlock the device's performance limits or anything like that."
"Then, what about the movements of all those objects in 'The Legend of Karin'?"
"Well..."
I paused for a moment and then replied with a smile.
"It's an illusion. If you look at the combat maps in 'The Legend of Karin,' you'll see that even though it appears that enemies are constantly appearing, the actual number of enemies that the protagonist fights is limited. The rest are prepared to create an illusion of enemies appearing from the surroundings."
However, it seemed that Masaki didn't understand my explanation and looked completely lost. Oh well, this guy is really a programmer, isn't he? He doesn't seem to have a flexible mindset. I had no choice but to nod and provide another hint.
"Having a large number of enemies doesn't necessarily create the tension of a battlefield."
"Hmm? Then how..."
"You need to change your way of thinking. Isn't it the director's job to find ways to provide players with fun and tension using limited objects? For example..."
"For example...?"
"Stealth?"
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