1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 48



Only Noblemtl

Episode 48 – Nevertheless

“I enjoyed reading the interview in . The ambition was great. It was impressive. I wrote an article about it in the January issue, but I think I should have written it more enthusiastically.”

Lee Cheon-jin, who has made a huge mark in the history of Korean software, is praising me. This doesn’t feel real.

Lee Cheon-jin is the creator of , the representative word processor of Korea. I also wrote all my reports in Naratmal during my college years.

That’s not all. I also made the first love letter I ever wrote to my girlfriend using a KWP document. My girlfriend hated it because it was insincere, but I thought it was cool.

Oh, by the way, I remember seeing an article that said that the first store to sell Naratmal 1.0 was Seunsangga.

Still, it’s really amazing to meet you here like this.

“Did you set up a company here?”

“Oh, it’s not quite a company yet. My friends and I got together to create a proper Korean word processor, but since we’re all working from home, we’re not making any progress. I just borrowed it for a little while.”

“Gamdol, it was only about a week or two ago when you first came here? You brought rice cakes because you were new. The rice cakes were delicious. But did you have a favor to ask of me?”

“Do me a favor?”

“Yes, right now, three of us are working on a word processor called Naratmal. I’m in charge of the overall design and planning, while the other two friends are mainly in charge of input/output processing and programming. However, the graphics processing part is a bit lacking. Since Namjoon is developing games, I thought he might be better than us, so I thought I’d ask him to help me out.”

“Yes, of course. Of course I should help you.”

“Really? Oh my, thank you. For being so generous. Actually, I wrote in that I was going to revise and improve the word processor that has been released so far and release it in March, but I was a little frustrated because it kept getting delayed due to graphic processing.”

“A word processor is not just about listing and editing text, so graphic processing is important. What you see on the screen becomes the document.”

“That’s right. It was harder than I expected.”

“Let’s talk about the details later. Should we eat first? I’m hungry.”

“Would you like to go out for a meal together? I’ll pay.”

“No, how can you get food when you’re just meeting someone for the first time? I have to buy it.”

“Don’t worry. Our Gamdol has a lot of money. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go quickly! You have to oil your stomach to make your head work!”

I had a meal with Lee Gi-cheol, Lee Cheon-jin, and the members who created the national language.

While eating at a nearby restaurant and chatting away, I really felt like I was walking into history.

After eating, I went back up to Seun and checked the code of the Naratmal word processor, looking at the parts I was supposed to be in charge of.

“I think I can do it in 2~3 days. But I also run a company, so it might take a little longer. At the very least, it won’t take more than a week.”

“I would be so grateful if you could do it for me. Thank you very much. Um, but we can’t give you a reward right now… Could you wait until sales start and the money is collected? I know it’s shameless.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to pay me any compensation.”

“But even so.”

“I also run a company right now and have to write a lot of documents, so I really need a word processor like this. In fact, we help each other out.”

“Oh, word processors in companies too. I never thought about that.”

“In the future, computers will become essential in every company office. Word processors will become the most basic of the basics for office use. So, in the next version, it would be better to further strengthen the table and graph functions so that they can be easily utilized in companies.”

“I really think so.”

“And can I ask you a favor?”

“Of course. Go ahead. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

“We are making games but we are sorely lacking in Korean fonts. The computer Koreanization is getting worse and worse as we go along. I would like to make many cool and pretty fonts that fit the game’s atmosphere. Can you help us?”

“Oh, of course. While creating the national language, we realized that we do not have a word processor and that fonts are insufficient. We would be happy if you could cooperate with us.”

“And there’s one more thing. You say it’s not a company yet, but you’re going to start a formal software company later, right?”

“Well, I don’t know yet. This is just something we started because we got along well with each other as friends, so we didn’t have any grand plans.”

“I’ve seen that computer companies that started out like that have been very successful. I’ll help you with your graphic processing issues, so please let me invest in the company once it’s officially incorporated. That’s my request.”

“Yes? But if you were to invest, I think I would be the one asking for the favor.”

“You promised, right? You must never forget it. You two are witnesses.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but if the country is doing well and I establish a company officially, I will definitely contact you. Mr. Namjoon, you shouldn’t say that you can’t invest at that time.”

“I will definitely invest. I am doing it because I need to.”

Lee Cheon-jin and I made a firm promise to each other.

While donating some of my talent to the development of a historic word processor, I gained a partner to develop a Korean font needed for game development, and even had the opportunity to invest in the language of the nation.

The year 1989 started off very well in many ways.

***

I stopped by the Samil Building on my way back to the company after collecting the diskettes of the language I was developing.

The office interior construction was now in its final stages. It seemed likely that the new office would be occupied around the same time as the hiring of programmers.

The Myeongseong Electronics conference room that we are using temporarily is too small to accommodate all the new people even though it is an executive conference room, but fortunately the timing was perfect.

When I went up to the office, they were putting up vinyl everywhere and doing the finishing touches. The smell of chemicals coming from a new house was strong.

At the entrance lobby, an emergency staircase brought from Saetbyeoljeom greeted me.

“Thank you for your hard work, Manager Choi.”

“Oh, sir. You’re here.”

“Because I’m passing by nearby. Should I finish it this week?”

“Yes, most of the important work has been completed and is now being finalized. Please take a look around.”

There was a reason why the interior construction didn’t take long. 80% of the office space was made into a single open space. The remaining 20% ​​was used as a conference room, a break room, and a game room.

“It’s so neat and tidy. It’s much more sophisticated.”

I tore down all the partition walls that had previously divided the office space. I laid a new, bluish floor and replaced all the old-fashioned panels that had been reminiscent of a teacher’s office ceiling with fluorescent lights shining through them.

That alone made me feel like I had skipped 20 years in time.

“As per your order, we covered the fluorescent lights with covers and added orange fluorescent lights here and there. When we turned on only the orange lights at night, it didn’t feel like an office and felt really cozy. I also wanted to come and work.”

“Lighting is really important, but no one seems to care much about it. The office is just filled with fluorescent lights. It can be a little dark, so we’ll put a personal light on each desk. I ordered a pretty multi-angle moving light made in Italy. Did you find a suitable partition?”

“No. There aren’t many places that sell partitions, and I don’t have a pretty color in mind, so I’m making them separately. I think that’s almost finished by now.”

When I first visited the Myungsung Electronics office, I was shocked.

Each organization had their desks placed in a ‘ㄷ’ shape, creating rows like a school ward. There were several rows like this in the same space. However, there were no partitions to divide the space, so it was a completely open space.

The open office trend that is popular in Silicon Valley was already being practiced in Korea in the 80s. Of course, it is only open, but it feels very different from their open offices.

Although it was a fairly large space, it felt stuffy because there were so many desks crowded together.

In addition, even when I had to concentrate on my work, there were too many distractions around me. Phones kept ringing here and there, typewriters were ringing, meetings were going on, people were chatting, and even my boss was yelling at his subordinates to do it again.

If I think about sitting there and coding… it’s so horrible.

I lived in the 80s, but I didn’t work at a company, so I didn’t know it was like this.

When I look at classrooms 30 years from now, with 50 students per class, will I feel the same way I do when I look at Office in the 80s?

Even though we’re back in the 80s, not everything has to be 80s. The office and the work style are things I can’t compromise on.

So I decided to create a space that I liked as much as possible within the limits of what I could achieve.

The reason we completely blew up the space was to use the space as flexibly as possible. Until the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, a game didn’t have dozens of people working on it for years.

Of course, there are masterpieces in this era, but they are nothing compared to the AAA games of the 3D era.

So the development project is also completed quickly. I finished in just one month. Since it is not an internet game, there are no live service issues after release.

In that situation, rather than dividing the development project into Development Team 1 and Development Team 2 indiscriminately, I wanted to organize the teams so that the team size could be increased or decreased at any time depending on the situation, and I also wanted to design the space to be as flexible as possible to accommodate this.

First of all, the desk.

The office desks that most companies currently use are too small for my standards. Programmers, in particular, must use computers, but if you put a large 90s computer and monitor on them, the desk will be full.

But the conference room desk is too big and heavy. While I was worrying about furniture, Manager Song came up with an idea.

“Then how about the dining table?”

“A table?”

“Yes, if you look carefully at the table, you might find one that is the right size.”

“Is that a good idea?”

From that day on, Manager Song and Manager Park searched through furniture stores diligently to find a two-person dining table that was sturdy, simple, and of the right size. They also found a metal chest of drawers that seemed to have been tailored to fit perfectly.

When forming a project team, for example, if you need 4 people, you can just put 4 desks together. Then, the new team arrangement is complete when the developer just moves the computer and his/her drawer.

And I decided to create a partition slightly lower than eye level around the desk to divide the space. This seemed like the best way to provide flexibility to deal with rapid changes, a sense of open space, and the stability of having one’s own space.

“So it’s a kind of transforming office.”

Manager Choi, who heard my plan, commented in one word.

It would be perfect if we had modular office furniture that could be easily expanded or contracted depending on the size of the team.

Although it is common in the 21st century, unfortunately, such system furniture was difficult to find in 1989.

And I plan to use the six-person table all by myself without making a room. I can work on the computer and then gather at my desk for a meeting if necessary.

I looked at the empty space and imagined the desks and computers placed just as I had imagined, with partitions in modern colors.

I sit in a corner, and people gather one by one. When the game project is over, we disperse and join other parts, and when the plan changes in the middle, an additional desk is added to the team, and sometimes the number of people increases, and sometimes it decreases.

People were depicted working and moving, as if time was being sped up in a movie. The space kept changing as the desks and partitions were arranged according to the people’s movements, and the image of the space constantly changing played out in real time in my head.

How many fun and diverse games can we create here with new programmers?

What kind of life will new people lead in this company, and what will they learn and feel?

I’m sure everyone is just as excited as I am, but those days won’t be smooth sailing.

That’s the process of making a game.

Rather, there are more days when we fight because of differences in opinions, are stressed out because of budgets and schedules, and lose sleep over sales performance and evaluations.

Who said that?

Love is not that the person is good, but that the person is good in spite of that.

Game development seems the same to me.

Game development is not necessarily fun and happy. It is a rough and painful process that must be endured endlessly, but game development is still good.

“There will be a lot of people like me here from now on.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the still empty office.

A few days later.

All interior work has been completed.

Starbeat finally liquidated his three-room apartment and began moving into an office.

At the same time, new programmers were hired. The first thing they did was move furniture and computers.

“Mr. Ko Dae-ryong? Nice to meet you. I am Manager Song Mi-sun from Accounting. Please leave your bag and clothes in the conference room over there, put on your gloves, and follow me.”

“Huh? Oh, yes!”

Programmers who had been excited about their first day at work put on gloves and hurriedly rode the freight elevator to move desks, chairs, partitions, cabinets, chests of drawers, computers, and monitors into the company.

“Okay, hurry up!”

“Where do I put this desk?”

“First, bring them all to the office one by one. We’ll collect them and rearrange them later.”

“But isn’t that a table? Why are there so many tables?”

“This is our company desk. Please move it first.”

Even late into the night, programmers, like feeble poets, sat in front of their computers, mulling over a single line of code, moving heavy furniture.

Of course, I was among them.

“Wow, this table is heavy.”

“You ordered one for six because you thought the CEO would use a large one.”

“I feel stuffy when my desk is small and I can’t think. What should I do?”

“Sir, you can’t move now.”

“Oh, I’ll do it!”

“No. There are a lot of people here, so please move to another desk.”

At first, the programmers rushed over to me in a panic when they saw me moving the furniture myself. But soon, they were too busy trying to control their trembling limbs to pay any attention to me.

I put down my desk, chatted with the building manager, and came up, where I was surprised to see the office.

“Why are the desks all bunched up in the middle like this?”

“That’s what you told me to do earlier, organizing the desk….”

“I bet you guys are all like Tetris people···.”

Since the desks come in various sizes, such as 2-person, 4-person, and 6-person, if you want to rearrange them, you should make space in between to make it easier to take out the desks and move them.

They arranged the desks in the middle of the office, tightly packed like Tetris, forming a perfect square.

“Since it’s come to this, everyone, please come up to the desk and sit down. Let’s take a commemorative photo. Manager Park, please take a picture of us.”

Of the eleven programmers, including two interns, ten, excluding Haji Seok, who had gone to school, sat down at the desks they had gathered together, wearing work gloves.

I sat cross-legged on the floor.

“Okay, let’s take a picture. One, two, three!”

People who only know games and coding.

People who don’t hesitate to simulate hundreds of games on their computers, but live very simply in the real world.

Nevertheless, they are all precious people who are now with me.