1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 136



Only Noblemtl

Episode 136 – The Perfect Twist

When I returned to Korea, there was chaos.

It looks like there was a scene on TV news where I was playing with Mike Jackson.

As soon as I got back, a hearing was held in the living room of my house.

“What happened, Namjoon? Was there a plan in advance? Why didn’t you tell me before you left? You don’t have to keep it a secret from us, right?”

“Everyone was shocked because even the group’s public relations office had no idea about this. What on earth happened?”

“I really didn’t know it would turn out like this. Mike Jackson suddenly picked up my game on the spot. I swear. But I bragged to my youngest on the phone… Didn’t you hear?”

“Wisdom?”

“No···, I thought you were just teasing me···.”

You were so jealous when I called you, but I guess you didn’t really believe what I said.

Are you saying that I looked like someone who lied to tease my little brother?

I later told them more shocking facts so that they wouldn’t be shocked again.

“What?! A music video for a game? And you’re filming it in Korea?”

“Yes, I’m talking to Sega right now, and I think he’ll be visiting Korea secretly soon. So, Dad, when Mike comes to Korea, can he get some help from the Myungsung Group secretary’s office?”

“Of course. If Mike Jackson is your friend, Namjoon, he’s also a guest of our Myeongseong Group. You can’t treat guests sloppily.”

If Mike Jackson and his film crew secretly entered Korea to film a music video, there were many things to take care of, from various procedures to lodging, transportation, and meals.

It would be a great help to us if the music video comes out, so we should help them film it comfortably.

There was already a perfect location for the filming.

Right on the set of the movie .

Now that filming for has been completed, it would be perfect to shoot a music video with Gyeongseong Street and Umi Hall as the background.

Since the lead actor of also filmed the CF for , he is already acquainted with the film company.

I feel sorry for the film company, but I have to tell them that I need to borrow it for a few days to film promotional material for to be used in the US.

It would be a problem if the word leaked out and reached the ears of an entertainment reporter.

This incident is security-critical for many reasons.

I’m thinking of surprising Mike Jackson and game fans by incorporating games into my music videos to create a new visual style, but if it makes the news, it’ll be a waste of time.

If people flock to the filming location, not only will it be difficult to film the music video, but safety issues may also arise.

The only good thing is that there is no social media these days, so even if someone recognizes Mike Jackson, the authentication photo won’t be spread in real time.

Not having internet is helpful in times like this.

As soon as I got to work, I was flooded with requests for interviews from various media outlets, including computer magazines and newspapers.

I documented the CES performance and then distributed a selection of photos and videos I had taken to the press.

was still the top game in Korean arcades, and while it was also driving the popularity of the Mega Drive in Japan, it was also a huge hit in the United States through promotional efforts.

Achieving the Korea-US-Japan triple crown is just around the corner.

If sells over 500,000 copies for the Mega Drive in the US and about 20,000 arcade machines, we can completely establish ourselves in the US market.

If sells over 1 million copies on Mega Drive in Japan and the United States combined, it will become the first million-seller among Mega Drive titles.

The Mega Drive initially struggled with a lack of game software, and despite selling over 30 million consoles thanks to the hit Sonic, it ultimately failed due to a lack of game sales.

If we can become the ‘first million-selling game’ title for Sega Mega Drive, it could become more than just a game, it could become a symbol.

Right now Starbeat is one of Sega’s pretty good third-party publishers, but if it becomes a million-seller, its position will change.

Of course, the profits from becoming a million seller are huge, but if we achieve this, we will become the new face of MD and will be able to receive full support in the future.

If the MD version is a symbol that will clearly imprint our company on Sega fans, the A1 arcade cabinet is a cash cow that will increase the size of our company several times.

In the US, it is sold as a completed game cabinet, so naturally the price is much higher than when only the A1 board is sold.

The actual price will have to be determined when manufacturing with Myeongseong Electronics, but assuming it is around 5 million won, if 20,000 units are sold, sales alone will amount to 100 billion won.

Of course, this is only the sales amount, and our actual money will be much less. There are various costs, such as export logistics costs, commissions for Myungsung Trading and the Davis couple, and production costs to be paid to Myungsung Electronics.

But if I tell you that you can make an additional 100 billion won in sales in the US alone through exports without putting in a lot of effort with a game that has already been developed, other businessmen will probably think of me as a liar or a fraud.

The game industry is an industry with enormous added value, if only ‘fun games’ could be made.

The problem is that making a game that’s that fun is incredibly difficult.

I was in contact with Sega and Mike Jackson as a triangular arrangement, while at the same time preparing our first game cabinet with Myungsung Electronics.

Myungsung Electronics has been pushing for larger color TVs since last year, and has also accumulated considerable CRT technology. Of course, it is true that it is inferior to the best CRT technology such as Sony’s Trinitron, but Myungsung Electronics also has its own advantages.

Its reasonable size, decent picture quality, and above all, its sturdy durability and relatively low price make it competitive enough.

“We are working together again like this. When I see you, you are like a watering hole. You are constantly giving me new ideas and work.”

“I think that if you just work hard, things will just follow one after another. I’m also really happy that I’m doing something that’s helpful to Myeongseong Electronics.”

“No matter what, can you be as happy as I am? Hahahaha! Do you know that our Myungsung Group presidents have something called a Star Club?”

“Star Club? No. It’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”

“This is a gathering of CEOs of affiliates of the Myungsung Group who work with Starbeat. It started with us, Myungsung Planning, and Myungsung Capital, and Myungsung Trading joined this time. Other CEOs are also making a fuss to join our club. However, it’s impossible. It’s a club where you have to make a certain amount of contribution to get in.”

The president of Myeongseong Electronics nodded with a smile.

“Oh, by the way, if you are exporting the finished product to the US, you will need to take out marine insurance. Myeongseong Insurance will be the new club member, right?”

As the company grew step by step, the number of affiliates of Myungsung Group that it cooperated with also increased.

While the company was preparing to export music videos, game cabinets, and other items to the U.S., internal game development, which had been on hold in preparation for CES, began to pick up again.

We decided to take all the feedback we got at CES and incorporate it into the game.

CES was a double-crossing event that provided a platform to showcase upcoming games while also providing valuable advance feedback.

“Modern seems to need a lot of revision. Additional characters need to be created, but the current state of character balance doesn’t seem to be very good.”

“At CES, most people only chose Kim Do-kwon, Gentleman, and Dallinger. When asked, many said that they looked familiar and that the other characters looked a bit weak.”

“Watching her play, it seems like Suzy is the weakest when it comes to using tools. Characters without long-range attacks seem to need more improvement in areas like speed.”

Many of those who visited the booth were as interested in as they were in , but Modern still has a long way to go.

Fighting games are all about strong characterization, compatibility between numerous characters, and power balance, but even with only five characters, many problems have been exposed.

I felt like I needed some more criteria to differentiate the characters.

“Since this is an era where barbarism and science coexist, the characters are divided into two groups. One is the physical group, and the other is the scientific group. The physical group, who maintain their animalistic wildness and train their bodies to the limit, and the scientific group, who believe in the power of science and develop powerful tools and do not hesitate to modify their bodies.”

“Then, since Suzy’s character would collapse if she were to add muscle to it, it would be right to set her as a science student and give her a more powerful weapon than she has now.”

“That’s right. And the important thing here is that the distinction between physical and scientific is separate from the distinction between good and evil. It’s not that the physical is good and the scientific is evil. It’s just a matter of each character’s environment, personality, and beliefs.”

Although story isn’t that important in fighting games, there is still a basic storyline.

As characters are important, each character needs its own narrative that is tailored to the overall storyline.

The characters are divided into good and evil, and they are in conflict and endless struggle throughout the story.

In addition to the good vs. evil dichotomy, I decided to add another distinction between the physical and scientific factions.

Fighting games usually become more and more focused on popular characters as the series progresses, and to solve this problem, they add a lot of new characters, which then leads to a vicious cycle where the balance collapses.

However, if you add in the element of conflict between a physical character and a scientific character, it becomes easier to create new elements of conflict based on this later on, and to distort the relationships between existing characters.

Even though they are on the same good side, they can split due to differences in beliefs, and sometimes they can join hands with evil people. They can be physical and then become scientific, or they can be scientific and then turn physical again.

Additionally, character categories have been created, making it easier to capture and visualize characteristics when developing characters.

I decided to add this new element of conflict to the characters and relationships in and develop it step by step.

, which is trying to become a mainstream game in the arcade and console game markets, needs more effort than other games.

Since had already gained enough popularity and was past its peak, there was some time to release .

“The game will be released first with . If comes out too soon, the lifespan of may be shortened. , which is a completely different genre, will be released first.”

Timing the release is also important to maximize revenue for each game.

I decided in the development meeting that I would release first.

Captain Ko sighed in relief, and Captain Park nodded with a nervous face.

brought a demo of Stage 1 and part of Stage 2 to CES. The setting of choosing a basic weapon system at the start and being able to change or upgrade the weapon system during the game was well-received.

However, there were many responses saying that they were confused because there were so many types when choosing for the first time.

The weapon system has been intuitively reorganized to include a narrow-range but powerful linear laser cannon, a less powerful but diagonal bullet, and space mines that inflict damage in the surrounding area like a shotgun.

is a shooting game that unfolds in various backgrounds and viewpoints over four stages, and as it gets more and more difficult, it stimulates the gamer’s spirit of challenge.

As you progress through the game, the thick armor that protects you and the powerful firepower that defeats enemies gradually disappear, and there is also a slightly philosophical proposition that you become closer to yourself.

In the midst of the desperation to protect humanity, the hope of victory gradually fades, and it becomes difficult to even protect one’s own body, but one has no choice but to move forward.

Because if I give up, humanity’s last hope will disappear.

But there was something that bothered me throughout : the ending.

I re-examined the final scenario of . In the end, the protagonist succeeds in killing the alien commander and destroys the enemy’s moon base power plant by planting a bomb.

However, since the protagonist’s spaceship had already been destroyed, the protagonist was unable to escape from the base and died along with it.

“I get the feeling that it’s going to be a tragic ending, but isn’t it a bit harsh for gamers who have beaten the difficult game to the end?”

“But considering the overall mood of the game, I thought it would be best to end it with the protagonist’s sacrifice. That would make the game feel more tragic.”

“Wouldn’t it be more touching if the ending screen had a dramatic music playing along with the base exploding? I thought it would be a different ending from the one where the Earth is saved.”

The scenario was the result of Captain Park and Team B’s hard work.

I don’t think their logic is wrong either. This era had so many bizarre endings that an ending with such a tragic sacrifice wasn’t particularly bad.

But if you worked hard to beat the game and the ending is the main character dying, it would be a bit disappointing for the gamer.

It feels a little different from science fiction movies where the protagonist sacrifices himself to protect the Earth. In games, I become the protagonist and play the game.

However, I couldn’t just blindly oppose it.

If you don’t like the ending, it’s the director’s job to come up with a stronger, fresher, and better ending. You can’t just say no and dismiss it.

If you go the opposite way from the ending suggested by Team B, the scenario will be that the alien commander is killed after going through great difficulties, the space station is blown up, and the protagonist escapes and returns to Earth.

This is so obvious and bland that I think the original ending is better.

The final boss of is the alien commander encountered at the base control tower. He is a mechanical lifeform three times larger than the main character and his entire body is covered in a special alloy.

If there was an ending that would shock gamers even more when they finally won against the alien machine army that was trying to wipe out humanity…

Suddenly, the movie “Planet of the Apes” came to mind.

The main character crash-lands on a planet ruled by apes, and after going through many hardships, escapes from prison and tries to return to Earth. However, upon seeing the Statue of Liberty half-buried on a beach, he realizes that he is actually on Earth, leading to a shocking ending.

It is a masterpiece that is considered to have one of the greatest twist endings not only in the dystopian SF genre but also in the entire history of film.

If you were to revise the ending of , wouldn’t a twist like this be appropriate?

already had dystopian SF in its setting. The original ending had the protagonist destroying the enemy and then blowing himself up, adding to the tragedy.

However, if there is a shocking twist ending that surpasses even that tragedy, will become an even more masterpiece game.

When I thought of , an idea immediately came to me.

“How about this? We defeat the commander, but then we find out that the commander, who we thought was a machine life form, is actually a human being just like us.”

“Huh? So you’re saying it wasn’t aliens that attacked from the beginning?”

“In fact, they were originally the people who had developed a brilliant civilization on Earth. However, they recklessly dug up the Earth for resources and neglected the environment, so it became uninhabitable, so they abandoned Earth and went to another galaxy. When they returned after countless hours, the Earth had regained its original environment and people were living there again. So they invaded Earth to reclaim the land where their ancestors had originally lived.”

“So, are we fighting another human race all this time?”

Captain Park and Team B looked at me with shocked, dumbfounded expressions.

Aliens who suddenly appeared one day, built a base on the back of the moon, and attacked humanity.

The Earthlings, who had been at odds with each other, band together to build a spaceship to attack the aliens and eventually destroy their space base, but it turns out that they were actually humans who had originally lived on Earth.

In the end, it was we ourselves who attacked humans.

“The human coming out of the machine commander’s body says, ‘You didn’t win. We’ll come back.’ He says that we have the right to this Earth because it was our original home. Then he laughs at the protagonist and dies. That last laugh is made as bizarre as possible, almost like watching a horror movie.”

As soon as the ending idea came to me, I naturally thought about how to direct the final scene.

This will also make it easier to make a sequel to Dark Moon. I don’t know if this will become a series, but it’s better to leave it open than to just end it, for the future.

“I never expected this kind of ending… This is much more shocking and seems like a better ending.”

“Then let’s decide this. Up until now, we have been fighting fellow humans, not aliens.”

The new ending for has been decided.

A shocking twist ending that is completely different from the happy ending of or the straightforward ending of .

As game development continues, the game content seems to be maturing as well.

I quite like the changed ending.

can now rush towards completion.

1988 Retro Game Tycoon Episode 137