1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 44



Only Noblemtl

Episode 44 – Passionate! Game Development

“Sir, you’re here early?”

“Huh···!?”

I opened my eyes, startled by the sound of someone calling me.

“You didn’t come early, so you must have gone in already?”

“Uh… Hello, Manager Song. What time is it now?”

I asked, yawning heavily.

“It’s 7:53 in the morning. Have you been working all night?”

“Yes, I got tired of coding.”

“But why don’t you sleep at home and come early in the morning?”

“Once you get into it, you can’t stop. Do you know that feeling? Time slowly passes, and the completed game is running in your head, while at the same time, on the other side, it’s decoding and spewing out code. The codes are pumping out all at once, but your fingers can’t keep up. You’re in a state of hyper-awakening, so you don’t even know you’re tired. And when that time is over, it just spreads out like this.”

“No. I have no idea.”

Manager Song spoke with bright eyes. On the other hand, I had a hazy, vacant look in my eyes because I had used up too much energy last night.

“Did you call home?”

“Yes, after eating dinner last night.”

“So you haven’t eaten anything since last night? Until now? While working all night?”

“Oh… is that so? Hearing that makes me hungry.”

“Go to the bathroom and wash up. There’s a nice restaurant nearby that serves breakfast.”

“Morning, it’s fine. Let me check how much work has been done.”

“Wash your face first. Hurry up!”

“yes!”

I was overwhelmed by the aura of Manager Song, so I quietly went to the bathroom, washed up, and headed to the restaurant.

Behind the buildings on the main street, there were old, low buildings. The alleys were like spider webs. I followed Manager Song and squeezed through the narrow alleys that were barely wide enough for two people to pass.

The shabby restaurant was bustling with people since morning. Luckily, there was an empty seat, so I was able to sit in the corner. I didn’t even have to order, and the food came out as soon as I sat down.

Rice with soybean paste stew. Thick rolled eggs. Delicious kimchi and a few side dishes. I was so hungry that I ate the rice in a hurry.

“Please eat my food too. I’ll come after eating breakfast.”

Manager Song only ate a little bit of the scrambled eggs, and I ate most of the rest. I felt a little embarrassed because he ate so well, even though he didn’t want to come.

“You eat well even in a place like this. I grew up eating only good food, so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to eat in an atmosphere like this.”

“Why? It’s so lively and nice in the morning. Thank you for telling me about a good breakfast restaurant. I should come here often.”

“A good restaurant? That’s a funny word. A good restaurant. Is that a popular word these days?”

“Oh, that’s just what I said. Anyway, thank you for waking me up and bringing me out. Otherwise, I would have been hungry all along.”

“You’re doing it to make a living. How sad would it be to work without even eating? You do the most work at the company.”

Manager Song looked at me with truly pitiful eyes.

Do I look like a character that Manager Song feels a little sorry for?

No. My work is fun, and I can do whatever I want, so I’m really happy.

“When you go to work, be sure to call home again. I’m sure they’ll be worried.”

“Manager Song is just like my mother.”

“It’s not that she’s like a mother, but she’s a mother.”

“Oh, then what about the child···?”

“My mother-in-law takes care of me while I work. We live with my in-laws. We originally planned to move out, but after having a child, I wanted to keep working, and so on.”

“iced coffee···.”

While eating, I chatted with Manager Song about various things. These were things I would never have known from a personnel record card.

Thanks to working all night, I got to know a little about Manager Song, a side I hadn’t known before because I was busy working. It feels like the reward for staying up all night coding last night has doubled.

After eating a hearty meal and returning to the office, I reviewed that I had made all night.

Even though there was a stick figure baseball player standing in a really roughly made background, the baseball game was playable.

“The graphics are really roughly made.”

I just didn’t feel like testing it out, so I added some details to the background using a graphics program, and I also added some designs to the baseball players’ caps and uniforms.

It felt much more plausible than before.

Only then did I start testing the game.

I’ll take the lead.

The screen looked a bit empty because there was no UI design yet.

Our team’s leadoff hitter and the opposing team’s starting pitcher stood. The players’ abilities were roughly created using a random function.

The camera is in the catcher’s field of view, making the batter look bigger.

But the ground angle is a bit awkward. First, fix the camera. Check one thing.

I thought the pitcher was ready, but he threw the ball right away. The animation was also made hastily. I swung the bat reflexively without even knowing the direction.

The moment the ball hit the bat, the camera changed to a drone-like camera that captured the entire field, and the ball soared high into the sky.

The ball rose as if it was going to hit the camera, grew bigger and bigger until it was almost the size of a basketball, and then fell down. The result was a foul out.

It turned out pretty realistic, just as the director had hoped. But since there’s no thread on the ball, it doesn’t feel like a baseball. Let’s add thread to this production. Check two.

From the next batter onwards, I kept the pitcher’s motion in mind when hitting. However, I kept feeling like something was off when I was hitting.

Did I make the hitting zone too wide? I think I need to refine the ball trajectory and hitting judgment a lot more so that I can feel like I’m hitting the ball as a batter. Check set.

There were still a lot of things to adjust, but it still felt like a baseball game was in order. As I continued to check off the list, the staff gathered behind me and started watching the game.

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Since earlier. What is this game, sir? Is it our company’s next game?”

“Yes, it’s a baseball game I made last night. The temporary title is . What do you think? Does it look good?”

“Yes, it looks fun.”

Manager Park and Manager Song nodded. Manager Oh was gone for a meeting.

“Manager Song, do you like baseball?”

“I sometimes watch what my husband puts on, but I don’t really know.”

“What about Manager Park?”

“I like baseball.”

“Then would you like to give it a try?”

“Can I really do this?”

Although he said that with his mouth, Manager Park was giving me an earnest look in his eyes, as if he was begging me to please do it.

“Oh, I’m shaking. I wonder if it’s okay for me to do something like this….”

Since it was made overnight, I haven’t made a two-player battle mode yet. I showed Manager Park how to use the keys and watched him do it from the side.

“Ohh …

“The animation is not good enough, so the pitcher throws the ball quickly. Swing it a beat faster.”

“Ah, somehow. One beat faster. One beat faster. One beat···!”

Exactly!

“Huh? Huh···?”

The only sound effect included in the game. The sound of the bat hitting the target resonated strongly when struck.

The camera changed and the ball hit by Manager Park flew straight toward the outfield. However, the ball did not disappear even after it passed the stands, but continued to fly until it eventually disappeared off the screen.

[ Home Run! ]

“Out-of-the-park home run! I hit an out-of-the-park home run! Sir, did you see that just now? Manager Song, did you see that? Huh?”

Manager Park was so excited that he was jumping around in his seat like a little child.

Oh, but that. It’s not an out-of-the-park home run, it’s a bug…

Manager Park liked it so much that I couldn’t bring myself to tell him this.

“Me···, nice home run! Manager, do you have any sense?”

“Sir, this game is no joke. I think it’s going to be a home run when it’s released. I have a feeling it’s going to be a hit.”

As I looked at Manager Park, who I like, smiling brightly, I added another checkpoint in my mind.

– Check for a bug where the ball keeps flying. This needs to be fixed.

Manager Park swung his bat hard in the hopes of hitting another home run, but that luck never came again. However, Manager Park could not forget the excitement and feeling he felt when he hit a home run all day long.

“Oh, you’re here, Agent Oh? I was playing a baseball game earlier. Oh, there’s a game that the CEO is making right now. It’s a baseball game, but anyway, that’s not important. I was testing it earlier, and I was able to hit an out-of-the-park home run just by feeling the ball flying…”

Is that what it feels like to hit a hole-in-one in golf?

For Manager Park’s sake, I must keep the fact that the out-of-field home run was a bug a secret until the end.

The test results showed that there were more than a few things that needed to be fixed for sophisticated play.

I thought I could save time in planning, but it’s always different from what I thought when I actually started making it. Still, since most of it is minor modifications, I thought I could make a single-player game in 2-3 days.

I quickly documented the changes without forgetting them. The baseball game was supposed to be the third, but it may be released first.

“Manager Park, are there a lot of applications from developers?”

“Yes, I go to the post office every day to pick up application forms. People of all ages, from middle school students to people in their 40s, are applying.”

“Except for the most ridiculous applications, please summarize the career history and self-introductions of each applicant. I guess I should start preparing for the developer interview soon.”

Developing a game on your own is fun, but you need people to speed up the development process. What kind of people will come in?

I’m already looking forward to it.

***

“Yes, yes. I understand. We will try to handle it quickly.”

The office of the computer magazine .

One of the reporters hung up the phone and sighed. Another reporter next to him asked,

“That thing again? ?”

“Why are you asking when you already know? Seriously, how many times do you get calls? If you don’t do a special feature on in the next issue, I’m ready to throw rocks at the office right now.”

“What do you think, since the game was even on the 9 o’clock news? Where’s the editor-in-chief yet?”

“I don’t know. You’re really close with CEO Jeminan. You two eat together, go to the sauna together, and do all sorts of things together, right?”

“Hey, it’s coming. It’s coming.”

As the saying goes, even a tiger will come if you call it, and the editor-in-chief of came into the office at that moment. His face looked like it was going to die. He roughly loosened his tie and sat down at his desk, lighting a cigarette.

“after···.”

The office air became heavy as the long puffs of cigarette smoke. Everyone was pretending to work and keeping an eye on the editor-in-chief, when the editor-in-chief spoke loudly.

“Hey, what do we do now?”

Everyone just looked at the editor with a questioning expression, and no one opened their mouth.

“I just got the first week sales figures for the February issue. Guess what the results are? The first week sales are lower than . Does that make sense? Huh? How can sales be lower than theirs? Does that make sense?”

The reporters lowered their heads and kept their mouths shut.

When published an interview article with Seo Nam-joon, not only programmers but also ordinary people with some interest in games and computers were buying copies of .

Everyone knew the cause, but no one spoke up.

reporters naturally knew about . Reporters had been paying attention and preparing articles since the demo version came out, but the editor-in-chief cut them all out.

“That’s it! Get the strategy article ready right now! It’ll be next month’s special feature! Completely Dissected! That’s the title of next month’s special feature.”

“Yes? Then what about the special feature that we were originally preparing? It’s about halfway done now…”

“Then why don’t you wrap it up properly and turn it into a feature article? The next special feature will definitely be . If you miss the flow this time too, how are you going to show off your face as the best computer magazine in Korea?”

The reporter who was preparing the special feature sighed inaudibly, but the other reporters thought to themselves that they were relieved. Also, if the magazine went out without the article, they would not be able to withstand the backlash from the readers.

“Everyone, thoroughly research , write articles, and put them on my desk. Find out everything about the game. Look through every nook and cranny of the hidden stage! And get interviews with people. I heard they’ve now entered the Jewoo Electronics and Myeongseong Electronics dealerships. Go to the dealerships. And no matter what, get an interview with Seo Nam-joon. Find out what action games and sports games are, no matter what! The readers have the right to know! Move quickly!”

“yes!”

The reporters started moving again. The previously stagnant atmosphere changed in an instant.

Although it was a bit late, is the best-selling computer magazine in Korea. It still had plenty of opportunities to make up for it.

“It’s actually a good thing. Since would have sold more in a month, there would be more people reading the strategy articles. Then the March issue would have sold a lot more as well. It’s actually a good thing. It’s a good thing.”

The editor hypnotized himself by smoking cigarette after cigarette. He forgot that he had passed over because he had failed to recognize the game that would turn Korea upside down.

He was just waiting for the right time for the sales of to increase. If they just put out a special feature on in the March issue, it will return to its original position.

While the editor was manipulating his own memories, the phone rang. It was none other than President Kim Ho-seung.

“Yes, Mr. Kim. Oh, will be coming out soon, right? A special feature? Hahaha, well. A special feature is a bit difficult, but let’s try to cut out at least one thing. Huh? If it’s not a special feature, you can cut down on the ads? Huh! Then let’s do that. I have to go out again, so I’ll hang up now.”

The editor ignored Kim Ho-seung’s flustered voice and hung up the phone. He roughly put out the cigarette he was holding.

‘I guess I should start distancing myself from Gemini. I raised him a bit, but now he’s even interfering with the knights and acting like a lunatic. You idiot.’

Although the advertising fees received from Geminian were substantial, and the entertainment received was even greater than the advertising fees, the most important thing was still the sales of the magazine.

It was the first time since its founding that was pushed out by . It was a huge shock to the editor.

“Editor!”

As soon as I hung up the phone, a reporter came running in, out of breath.

“What’s going on? I’m out of breath.”

“I just heard some incredible, incredible news. Just now!”

“What’s going on?”

“It looks like Hyunmyung Electronics will enter the video game business!”

“In wisdom? How? Making a game console with MSX like Zeu? Going with MSX2?”

“No, I’m in contact with Nintendo.”

“What? Nintendo? Then?”

“It looks like the Famicom will come to Korea!”

“Ugh···.”

The editor of was speechless for a moment.

At a time when Starbeats is appearing like a comet and Nintendo is trying to distance itself from Gemini, Nintendo is officially entering Korea.

A tectonic shift was taking place in the Korean computer game market.