1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 105



Only Noblemtl

Episode 105 – Two Names

We stayed up all night and almost finished Stage 0 of the MD version of .

Managing Director Nishikawa stayed up all night and fell asleep on the hotel sofa. He seemed to be sorry to go home, although he couldn’t do anything for me.

I fell asleep at my desk without knowing when, woke up, roughly finished what I was developing, and showed Executive Director Nishikawa the Stage Zero I had developed all night.

The graphics are rough, the physics engine is missing, and there’s still a lot of work to be done, but the shape is there.

“All this in just one night… I’m really surprised!”

“As I said, I already have a grasp of the Mega Drive system. In addition, since I only just started developing , I still have a lot of the structure and code in my head.”

“But the graphics are a bit distorted. I’ll have to retouch this part.”

AD Choi Han-il frowned as if he didn’t like the character that seemed to be slightly pressed down on the screen.

“And I drew some sketches of new character ideas.”

The sketchbook he handed me was full of men of all shapes and sizes wearing various clothes, including gi, trench coats, kimonos, school uniforms, and military uniforms.

I handed Nishikawa my sketchbook and asked him.

“What do you think? I’m thinking of replacing one of the playable characters with a Japanese one.”

“Huh? So that’s what you were sketching yesterday? I thought you were just going to introduce a new enemy.”

Managing Director Nishikawa was surprised.

“Yes, I think it would be good to have at least one Japanese character. There are times when they turn to the protagonist’s side, like the bosses in the second edition, but wouldn’t it help sales if there was a character that Japanese people could empathize with more?”

“I guess so. But do you think you can really make a new character and fit it in within a month?”

“I plan to go that far. If Mega Drive sales increase thanks to , our games will eventually sell more as well.”

“Absolutely…! I will definitely do my best to make this game a mega hit.”

Managing Director Nishikawa grabbed my hand and spoke with eyes full of determination.

“I am truly ashamed. You are working so hard for the Mega Drive… But the people at Sega don’t know your sincerity. I will apologize once again on your behalf.”

“No. It’s not something you should apologize for, sir. Anyway, we also got a chance to sign a contract at the end of the month, so we’re just trying to make the most of this opportunity and do our best.”

As I spoke with a smile, Managing Director Nishikawa lowered his head and held my hand more firmly.

We took a quick shower and went down to the restaurant to have breakfast at the hotel and discuss the new character.

“So, are we going with a total of five characters?”

“That would probably be difficult, if only because of the capacity. It would be difficult to reproduce an arcade game exactly, so adding a new character would be impossible, even for me.”

“Then who else would you exclude···?”

“For now, I’m thinking about leaving out Hong Gong-woo. He’s also the least popular character in Korea.”

“Oh, thank goodness! I was worried that Suzy might fall out!”

Director Nishikawa, who had never hidden the fact that he was a fan of Suzy’s character from the beginning, smiled and cleared his throat.

“What do other people think?”

“But even if we take out Hong Gong-woo, I think a power-type character should take his place. The balance of the four main characters is already like that.”

“That’s right. We need to think about that too. It’s probably a bit difficult to readjust all the character stats from scratch.”

“Considering the remaining time, I think it would be better to stick to the concept of Hong Gong-woo’s transformation and make some modifications rather than trying to force something here. It would be too risky to completely recreate the character’s traits.”

I nodded too.

“Then it would be best to make the appearance as similar as possible. If I had to choose from the sketches, would this be it?”

“It’s Gakuran (a Japanese school uniform for boys)! It suits you. I guess it’s because it’s an age when your blood boils. I guess you can also draw the friendship between Korean and Japanese swordsmen.”

Director Nishikawa nodded at the high school student character in uniform that I was pointing at.

Hong Kong-woo happens to be wearing a Chinese collar shirt, and Japanese men’s school uniforms are of a similar style.

Sometimes I get goosebumps when coincidences like this happen when I didn’t expect them at all.

It seems like good games already have new ideas planted within them.

“Then we can make Hong Gong-woo look a little younger, reduce his muscle mass a little, and just add a school uniform top.”

“Yes. I think the visuals will be fine. As for the action, just change it from wrestling to karate.”

Once the concept was established, new characters were quickly fleshed out.

Now all that’s left is to decide on a character name…

I’ve already thought about this.

I said to Managing Director Nishikawa.

“Sir, how about we name this character ‘Isamu (勇)’ after you?”

“Yes, really?”

“Your name, Isamu, means ‘brave’, right? If you’re a swordsman, you can’t leave out courage.”

“If that were really possible, it would be a great honor for me.”

“If you hadn’t had the courage to recommend us to Sega, we wouldn’t have had this kind of luck. Now that I think about it, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to properly greet you. Thank you so much for your efforts.”

When I bowed my thanks politely, the people at the company also bowed their heads.

“I am the one who is most grateful. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

Managing Director Nishikawa also bowed his head toward us.

If he hadn’t stopped by the arcade on his business trip, if he hadn’t come to our company, if he hadn’t recommended us to Sega.

Of course, we could have gone to Sega with the game and said we wanted to become a third party. However, it would have been very difficult to demonstrate the game in front of the president right away and even get a publishing contract, albeit conditional.

This was possible because of Nishikawa’s courage and tenacity in recommending us, despite being criticized by others at work.

It was my humble token of appreciation to name the Japanese character that replaced Hong Gong-woo ‘Isamu’ after him.

“Then I’ll come back in a month with the finished game.”

“Please contact me anytime if you need anything.”

I returned to Korea after a business trip that only lasted two days and one night, but felt like a week.

Two Mega Drive Development Kits, along with a Super Mega Drive.

The four of us were so deeply asleep during the short but intense flight that we didn’t even realize the plane had landed. After barely getting our luggage and leaving the airport, we headed straight to work.

“I’ve only been here for a day, but the streets of Korea feel unfamiliar.”

“Akihabara was really awesome.”

The business trip to Japan wasn’t just about negotiating with Sega.

It was a meaningful business trip that allowed us to briefly look at Japan, which has the most developed electronics industry and gaming culture in the world, and to see what mountains we need to overcome.

It was an unforgettable day filled with admiration and competition, friendship and fighting spirit.

“Hello! Here we are.”

“Huh? Sir! Did you come straight to the company?”

People who expected us to come to work tomorrow were surprised but greeted us warmly.

“How was Sega? Is the company full of arcade machines?”

“No. It’s so plain that you can’t tell what kind of office it is. I guarantee you that our office is a hundred times better.”

“That’s true. But Akihabara and the Sega arcade were no joke.”

“Akihabara? A game center?”

“You’ll hear the full story later, but gather here. We’ve brought you a really cool gift: the Mega Drive Development Kit.”

“Oh my?!”

As I took out my Super Mega Drive and laid out its contents on my desk, people immediately gathered around my desk.

I didn’t need delicious Japanese sweets or the latest Japanese electronic products.

For the folks at our company, it was a huge gift to be able to see, touch, and work with a development kit that could create Mega Drive games.

As I looked into the bright, shining eyes of those people, I felt like I had finally returned home.

***

“Brother, tell me more about your trip to Japan.”

“How was Akihabara?”

“There was actually an entire building full of Sega games?”

When Team B captain Park Geon-hyung came home from work and entered the boarding house, the other members of Tobagi gathered in his room as if it was natural.

Park Geon-hyung got a boarding house in Daehak-ro after joining Starbeat.

At first, I didn’t know where to find a boarding house in Seoul, so I just tried to find a room in Sinchon. But then Mr. Park Chung-shin, the head of the HR team, told me that Daehak-ro was closer.

When Park Geon-hyung found a boarding house in Daehak-ro, naturally the other members of Tobagi also found boarding houses in the same house or nearby.

In the boarding house, which was a renovated hanok, everyone gathered on the veranda at 7 a.m. every morning to eat breakfast together. The boarding fee was 150,000 won per month, including 20,000 won for laundry.

In a two-person boarding house, Park Geon-hyung shared a room with Hyun Woo-seok. It was the largest room in the boarding house, excluding the master bedroom.

This room became a hideout where the members of Tobagi would always gather after work.

When we work at the company, we are all busy with our own work, but when we get off work and lie down in our rooms, we gather one by one and talk about the company, work, and games.

Park Geon-hyung is now a full-fledged office worker, but he still feels like a college student.

The other people I shared breakfast with in the boarding house were all college students. Whenever I heard them talking about midterms, meetings, and getting a job, I would suddenly feel distant.

“Brother, I think I have a meeting with a female college student this time. Do you want to go with me?”

Sometimes, college students would invite office workers like Park Geon-hyung or Hyun Woo-seok to meetings. Park Geon-hyung would go out once out of curiosity and never go again, but Hyun Woo-seok would often join the meetings and come back to play.

When he returned to his boarding house, Park Geon-hyung would sometimes get confused as to whether he was a working adult or still a student.

When the members of Tobagi gather in a boarding house like now and chat, there are times when I suddenly get the illusion that this is a dormitory room and that it’s still the time when was being made.

“Japan was… really amazing. In many ways.”

Park Geon-hyung told me in detail about Japan that he had not been able to tell me at work. Although it was only for one day, I felt so many things.

The meeting at Sega in particular was truly shocking.

“What did the Sega people think? What did they say after seeing the game? They said it was fun, as expected?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. He said it was okay.”

Park Geon-hyung couldn’t answer truthfully and just gave a vague answer. This was because CEO Seo Nam-joon told people not to talk about the meeting in detail.

Although he doesn’t know Japanese very well, AD Choi Han-il translated important context here and there, so he was able to follow the meeting more or less.

Before going into the meeting, Managing Director Nishikawa had told me that the atmosphere would not be very good.

But even though the game demonstration was great, the image of Sega employees giving the game a cold review is still vivid in my mind.

Captain Park joined Starbeat and every game he released, including , Game Pocket, and , became a huge hit. He received numerous fan letters and there was always a shortage of space when he held events.

When reporters from not only game magazines but also major daily newspapers came to the company to interview the CEO, we all felt proud. When we went to Seun Shopping Mall or Yongsan Electronics Market, Starbeat employees were always VIPs.

Wherever people who love games gather, Starbeat is always welcome. In Korea, that was the case.

But when I went across the ocean to Japan, the company shamelessly criticized , which they had put all their effort into making.

“Those people don’t really think the game is that bad, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

The CEO who actually made the announcement in front of the people seemed to be indifferent. However, Park Geon-hyung was shocked by the fact that Sega had so openly ignored Starbeat, whether it was sincere or not.

Park Geon-hyeong realized how safe the environment created by Starbeat in Korea was when he went to Japan.

I was full of pride and confidence, but in reality, I was just playing in the flower garden that CEO Seo Nam-joon had created.

“It’s too late now. Everyone, go back. I’m tired too. I need to get some sleep.”

“Okay, bro. Then see you tomorrow morning.”

After sending the other members back, Park Geon-hyung also went to bed. He was clearly tired, but strangely, he couldn’t sleep.

He glanced at Hyunwoo Seok, who was sleeping next to him, then quietly got up and turned on the computer. Then he launched , which he had created during his early days.

Park Geon-hyung and the other members of Tobagi put their heads together to create a shooting game where the enemy is fixed and cannot move.

What would Sega people say if they saw this game?

If I were in your position, what would I have answered to their questions?

My legs were shaking so much, I wonder if I could even stand properly.

“Brother, what are you doing instead of sleeping?”

“Oh, sorry. Did I wake you up?”

“Why this game all of a sudden? It’s so annoying. You’re going to make it again anyways.”

“Oh, right.”

Hyunwoo Seok frowned, perhaps because of the monitor’s glare or because he didn’t want to look at the old game.

Park Geon-hyung opened his mouth.

“Woo-seok, I’ve made up my mind.

“Huh? What?”

“I decided to drop out.”

“Have you made up your mind?”

“Yeah, I found out after going to Japan. I thought I was pretty good at it, but it turns out I wasn’t at all.”

“Hey, what are you talking about? What on earth did you see in Japan, hyung?”

“It’s true. And when I think back on my college life, I’ve learned and grown more in the half year I spent here than in the three years I spent there. There’s no comparison.”

“That’s true. I think so too.”

All members of Tobagi were currently on leave of absence. The maximum number of consecutive semesters allowed for a leave of absence from school is two.

If I had to go back to school, I thought I could cram as many classes as possible into my schedule, attend classes at school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and work at the company on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

But after visiting Sega, it seemed that I would never be able to catch up with or surpass them that way.

No matter how great CEO Seo Nam-joon was, he couldn’t do everything by himself. It would be so painful if Starbeat couldn’t grow further because he, who held the position of captain, couldn’t support them properly.

I had to completely get rid of the label of ‘college student’ that still lingered somewhere in my heart.

It was the same with .

“Woo-seok, we’re talking about . Should we change the name?”

“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”

“Is it because of the name? I feel like we’re a bit tied down to the games we made when we were immature. We have to make games with completely different technology and perspectives than back then. I feel like we’re still tied down to that framework.”

“Hey, is it because of the name?”

“Anyway, the name is important. It’s symbolic. If we keep calling it , I think it’ll stay rooted here.”

“Um… I don’t really care. I don’t know what the rest of the members will think. After all, this is our game.”

“That’s right. But not anymore. This is a Starbeat game after all. We have to make this game with that mindset.”

Hyunwoo Seok looked quietly at Park Geonhyung’s face.

I could feel his stubbornness in never changing his mind once he made up his mind.

“Brother, you’ve made up your mind. Do you have a name in mind for the follower?”

“This is about attacking an alien base on the far side of the moon that we can’t see.”

“Yes.”

“So, the dark side of the moon, the dark side of the moon. How about shortening that to ?”

“Dark Moon, Moon Force, Dark Moon, Moon Force… I feel like the atmosphere is more distinct.”

Hyunwoo Seok also nodded, saying that he liked it.

“I have to tell the CEO tomorrow that I’m going to change the title to . I hope he won’t say anything bad about it.”

“I don’t know. But I think is definitely cooler.”

“right?”

Only then did Park Geon-hyung smile. After deciding on a path, his mind felt much more at ease.

It was heartbreaking to think of his parents who were happy that he went to a good college, but his thoughts were unwavering.

That night, Park Geon-hyeong fell into a deep sleep.

In his dream he saw the back of the moon.

It was so quiet, so desolate, so sad, so beautiful it almost brought tears to my eyes.