1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 72



Only Noblemtl

Episode 72 – Game Pocket Ready for Launch

The newly hired art team members have started coming to work.

The three people, Ko Seong-beom, Kim Han-sol, and Oh Hyeon-ji, were assigned to AD Choi Han-il and learned the work process.

No, it would be more appropriate to say that we are reimagining our work processes.

Because it was an unusual organizational structure with an art director but no art team, there was no division of labor or process.

Now, there is someone who can translate Hanil Choi’s drawings on graph paper into pixels. Thanks to this, AD Hanil Choi has more time to think about the bigger picture and can manage the visual assets needed for the game more systematically.

The art team worked under the supervision of art director Choi Han-il, with Ko Seong-beom creating concept art to capture the game’s atmosphere, and Kim Han-sol and Oh Hyeon-ji focusing on creating pixel images to be used in the actual game.

Hyun Woo-seok, who had been helping Choi Han-il with more art work than programming, also decided to continue his work without completely giving up on art.

“I guess I’m destined to live like a bat, bouncing around between coding and dots. But what if I can’t do either one properly?”

“Think about it the other way around. If you can do both at a high level, you’ll be a very unique person in the game industry. You don’t have to worry too much right now. If you keep making games, the direction will come naturally.”

Perhaps, when the era of transition from dot graphics to 3D graphics comes, Hyunwoo Seok will eventually have to choose one side.

But there was no need to decide that in advance. Even though I know the general flow of the game, I don’t know perfectly how each individual should best create a career within it.

Hyunwoo Seok is also just starting out as a game developer. It is still important for him to gain more diverse experiences and find his true path.

As the art team settled into the company, there was also some adjustment in the programming group’s workload.

Most programmers have done some dot graphics work to some extent, but now that work has shifted to the art team.

From the programmers’ perspective, the workload has been greatly reduced as they are busy coding.

Of course, they should like it, but surprisingly, the programmers secretly felt regret.

Even without that, I felt like there was a different atmosphere in the company when the art team members joined.

“hello!”

“Ah···, hello.”

The first meeting where the art team members meet with the company’s people.

A lot of the programmers were hesitant and couldn’t even say hello properly.

As seniors at work, people who should have been confidently welcoming their juniors were instead feeling embarrassed.

I guess that’s what it is.

All eleven of our company’s first batch of programmers were men. I’m a man, AD Choi Han-il is a man, and two out of the three dispatched employees at Myeongseong Electronics were men.

Until now, Starbeat had been staffed entirely by men, except for Accounting Manager Song. But now, two female employees have joined the company.

Among the programmers, when they see Kim Han-sol or Oh Hyun-ji, their speech and actions become stiff and they become like robots.

From the first day, Hyun Woo Seok treated Kim Han Sol like a stranger and even joked around with him, but that was a really special case for Hyun Woo Seok.

Among the programmers, the oldest one, Dae-Ryong, was the most awkward. He was very nervous even when Oh Hyun-Ji greeted him.

“Sir, were there any girls in your department when you were in college?”

“There wasn’t any.”

“Not even one? Then do you have a younger sister or older sister at home?”

“I am the second of three brothers.”

I don’t know the details of Agent Go Dae-ryong’s life, but I feel like I know it even though I don’t.

After going to boys’ middle school and high school, he went to engineering school, then to the military, and then to a computer company and then to a game company.

It’s not surprising that I act like that, since I’ve only been in groups with men from my teens to my late twenties.

Manager Song was married and an accountant, so we rarely had to collaborate.

In contrast, Kim Han-sol and Oh Hyun-ji are in the art department. They directly participate in game development and work together.

When talking to the bright and cheerful Kim Han-sol, things were a little better, but when talking to the cold-looking Oh Hyeon-ji, I could only reply and not properly talk to her.

It seems like a problem that time will solve.

I think it’ll take a while.

“Ah, it’s spring.”

Manager Park, who had just finished hiring art staff and now had some free time, stirred his mixed coffee and spoke.

“That’s right. Spring is really spring. It’s a bit embarrassing to say this while working at a game company, but honestly, it’s a bit of a waste of weather to play games inside.”

Manager Song of the accounting team also spoke while sipping coffee nearby.

“Come to think of it, CEO, I think the company’s sales tend to decrease in the spring and summer compared to the winter, right? Because people go out a lot and go on outings.”

“Well, I don’t think game company sales are particularly related to the season. But I think the amount of time spent playing games will decrease compared to before.”

In Korea, where the four seasons are distinct, the weather has a great impact on our lives. It is impossible to check game play time in an era without the Internet, but the time spent at home will definitely decrease compared to before.

“But you don’t have to worry at all. Portable game consoles are coming out now. If the weather is too bad to play games at home, you can go outside and play games.”

I didn’t really start it with that in mind, but it’s a season where there are a lot of outdoor activities.

It still takes some time until the A1 arcade system is developed, and the Osung Electronics transplant work is not a new work.

There is a bit of a gap in between, and it seems like Game Pocket will fill that gap.

Even Myeongseong Electronics was more dedicated than expected to develop the game pocket.

First of all, I saw that Starbeat made a lot of money compared to its size and weight class, and even hosted large-scale events.

Also, Hyunmyung Electronics, which is far ahead of Myeongseong Group in terms of business rankings, has recently been aggressively entering the video game market.

Since even Osung Electronics was preparing for the game business, there was now no reason for Myeongseong Electronics not to enter the game business.

In addition, portable game consoles are smaller than home consoles, so they are less of a burden. From Myungsung Electronics’ perspective, it was a good situation to try to get into the game business.

There are so many good things happening, but if it weren’t for Jiseok, I would have missed it without knowing about it.

While Myungsung Electronics was developing the game pocket hardware, I worked with Ji-seok to refine the game pocket version of .

The portable Game Pocket has even lower specs than the Gemix, and its RAM capacity has been minimized to keep the price down.

Naturally, the game data also had to be squeezed to the max to make it as slim as possible.

The player ability data was also reduced in size by combining the detailed data, such as accuracy and power in hitting, into one.

Instead, the game’s speed has been increased to make it more exciting, and playtime has been shortened compared to console versions to make each match more enjoyable.

I modified the game by adding the physics system that Ha Ji-seok was working on every day, and we checked the code line by line, not allowing even the slightest unnecessary detail.

One of the things I really appreciate as a CEO is that I don’t have to motivate my employees separately.

Ha Ji-seok originally liked game development, but since Game Pocket was one of his own ideas, he participated in its development even more enthusiastically.

“Huh? Hey, but wait a minute. Ji-seok, when is your midterm exam?”

I suddenly remembered something and asked Ji-seok. To my question, Ha-ji-seok just blinked and didn’t answer.

“What? Are you having midterms these days?”

“No, it ended last week.”

“Hey, then you should have told me. I would have made arrangements to keep you from coming to work.”

“Hey, I’ll skip work for something like that. It’s important. Just do well on your college entrance exam.”

Ha Ji-seok went back to modifying the code as if nothing had happened.

Is it bad if motivation is too strong?

I think I’ll have to force this guy to study during the summer vacation by sending him to a training camp somewhere. He could probably become the top student in the country if he took the college entrance exam with programming, but that’s not how the college entrance exams work in South Korea.

As the game progressed, the game pocket hardware also took shape.

The engineers finalized the design based on the prototype that Lee Ki-cheol had temporarily created, and also completed testing the control unit.

At first glance, they all look like the same cross key and A/B button, but depending on the design and material used, the operability and durability can vary greatly.

Durability was especially important to me. Since portable game consoles don’t have replaceable pads like home consoles, if even one of the control buttons breaks, you can no longer enjoy the game.

Although Myeongseong Electronics also handles after-sales service, the situation where a single button breaks and needs to be repaired is very stressful for gamers.

“Even if the case is a little cheaper, the durability of the control parts should be guaranteed. Avoid rubber that wears out quickly. Even minor issues like poor contact can be fatal on a portable game console.”

I ordered it with more emphasis on durability than specs or speed.

This is our first hardware release and the first product we’ve made in collaboration with Myeongseong Electronics.

If the game pocket breaks down soon, it can tarnish the good image it had until then.

So, whenever I had a Game Pocket meeting with the engineers at Myeongseong Electronics, I would become nervous and sensitive without realizing it.

As someone who had only worked with game software my entire life, I had many shortcomings when I tried to create hardware for the first time.

The design had to be done by calculating the size accurately down to the millimeter, and there was a big difference in production cost depending on whether one part was inserted or removed.

It was not something to be underestimated for being a palm-sized game console that could only play built-in games.

Fortunately, the will of the engineers at Myeongseong Electronics to create something new was strong, so the game pocket gradually became more complete.

There were also regrets during the development process.

The fan-shaped design that resembled a baseball field drawn by AD Choi Han-il was not only difficult to make, but also not suitable for holding in hand and playing the game, so it was eventually abandoned.

Besides, Game Pocket wasn’t just going to make Golden Sun Flag. There were going to be other games coming out with similar formats, so it was better to adopt a more universal design.

In the end, the game pocket became rectangular, with rounded corners to give it a softer feel. The area around the central game screen was designed like a scoreboard at a baseball stadium, to maintain the concept of a baseball stadium as much as possible.

“The new design is clean, but it’s still a bit disappointing. If it had come out like the original idea, it would have been a really cool game console.”

“That’s right. I feel sorry too. But I can’t do everything the way I want.”

AD Choi Han-il also felt regretful, but while there are areas where there is absolutely no compromise, there are also areas where greed must be put aside.

If we take more time, we might be able to refine it to something similar to the original concept, but if we delay too much, people will forget about and the Return of the Stars.

Since missing the timing means missing everything, I gave up my excessive greed and shaped it into a form that was most optimized for commercialization.

As I prepared the game pocket, May, the queen of seasons, passed by quickly like a spring breeze.

I also started preparing marketing for the release of Game Pocket.

“We will first publish a development journal-style article detailing the development process in game magazines. Since we are working with Myeongseong Electronics, the Myeongseong Electronics PR team is preparing articles to be published in daily and economic newspapers as well.”

“So, are you not planning on doing any advertising this time?”

“No, that’s not true. It’s a very important project. In fact, I’m thinking of doing it on a much larger scale than before. With TV commercials.”

“When I was there, they hardly ever advertised in newspapers. Now that I’ve left Myeongseong Planning, they’re finally doing TV commercials.”

AD Choi Han-il made a joke with a slight sigh.

“It just so happened that way. Now that I think about it, AD, you’ll be meeting people from Myeongseong Planning as clients.”

“Yeah, I think it would be a little awkward for me too. It would feel like I would have to sit across the table from you during meetings.”

Choi Han-il has now adapted to being an art director at a game company rather than an advertising company art team member, but having worked at an agency for a long time, it must feel a bit strange to be a client.

Myungsung Electronics left the marketing of the game pocket completely to me, and I brought Myungsung Planning into the company to produce TV commercials.

After hearing about the product, Myeongseong Planning soon came back with the first TV commercial idea.

Manager Park began to explain the advertising creative.

“As the Game Pocket is a portable game console, we plan to actively showcase that aspect. We have planned two commercials in total, one for students and one for office workers.”

“What are the contents of each?”

“First, let’s look at the student’s side. The child is playing on his Jemix at home. But the mother pushes the child to go out and play with his friends instead of just playing games at home. The child leaves with a gloomy expression, but when he gets outside, he smiles brightly again. Then he takes out the game pocket and plays a baseball game with his friend.”

This was followed by an explanation from the perspective of office workers.

The story was about office workers who are too busy with work to have time to play and take out Game Pocket from their bags after work to have fun.

“hmm···.”

It wasn’t particularly bad content.

But it was an advertisement that was so obvious that it didn’t deviate one bit from expectations.

The advertisement was too bland and boring because it emphasized the functionality of a portable gaming device too much.

In short, we had no edge of our own at all.

“How is it?”

Manager Park looked at my expression and asked with a nervous face. It seemed like he had already read my mind.

“Boss, how about we try a different approach? This feels too game-like and doesn’t really resonate with me.”

“You don’t like game ads because they feel too console-like?”

Manager Park couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“Yes, just as the games we make are different from others, our advertisements should be completely different from others. I want to completely break away from the mold of game advertisements where children come out and play games and laugh. In a very unconventional way.”

“I’m not sure exactly what you mean by ‘unconventional’, but do you have any similar examples?”

“So, for example, something like this.”

I flipped through the magazines in the conference room and found an ad and opened it up.

It was an advertisement where a famous actress was eating chocolate while smiling and holding onto the lapel of a man’s coat.

This advertisement left such a deep impression on people that it was talked about for a long time. The model in the advertisement was also a youth star who swept through an era.

“Game console commercials… like chocolate commercials?”

Manager Park’s eyes shook greatly at my words.

I thought you’d gotten used to my methods by now.

The reaction was that he had never even dreamed of this.