Choosing a Plan
Staring at him by three pairs of eyes filled with curiosity—and perhaps a little malicious— Takuya rubbed his temples.
These guys really think creativity is like cabbage, something you can just grab a couple of pounds of from the supermarket?
However, Yu Suzuki's words did hit the nail on the head.
Hardware serves software.
If a new console doesn't launch with a game that perfectly showcases the features of a 3D analog stick, then this expensive dual-axis potentiometer will be seen by players and third-party developers as a flimsy and inexplicable burden.
Just like if the Nintendo 64 didn't have Super Mario 64, its uniquely shaped Trident handle would probably be thrown into the trash.
Since the goal is to demonstrate the charm of "linear operations"----
Several images flashed through Takuya's mind in an instant: a purple figure soaring freely in the air, or a lithe figure wielding twin pistols and tumbling through an ancient tomb.
"Alright." Takuya lowered his arm, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Since you want a challenge, I'll give you one. But let me make it clear first, don't blame me if you can't handle the code."
"I love perverted demands." Yu Suzuki toyed with the marker in his hand, his eyes shining with an eerie light.
"Then it's settled." Takuya gripped the doorknob again and opened the door. "By the time I slam the proposal on your desks, I hope your hair is still as thick as it is now."
After saying that, he strode out of the development room, which was filled with the hum of cooling fans.
A faint, gloating laugh came Yuji Naka behind him, "Suzuki- senpai, I think he's implying you'll go bald."
"Shut up and get to work."
Back in his office, Takuya didn't rush to start writing.
He poured himself a cup of coffee, stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the bustling streets of Tokyo.
Takuya took a sip of bitter coffee, and the gears in his mind began to spin rapidly.
To make that expensive analog joystick seem worthwhile in the eyes of tech enthusiasts like Yu Suzuki and Yuji Naka, mere words wouldn't suffice.
There must be a product that can directly drive the concepts of "freedom" and "micro-management" into their minds like nails.
That expensive analog joystick can't just be a decoration; it must be the key to the "new world."
What is the New World?
It's like the red-hatted plumber that Nintendo defined in Super Mario 64 in its previous life, running freely in front of Princess Peach's Castle, tiptoeing past with a light push of the joystick, and dashing forward with a heavy push.
This seamless control over movement speed and direction is the true soul of 3D games.
That's textbook-perfect play.
Takuya's fingers unconsciously traced the rim of the coffee cup.
Obviously, directly hijacking Crystal Dynamics ' Tomb Raider is the easiest way.
If Lara Crawford had appeared in the world a few years earlier, performing precise jumps and climbs with the aid of a joystick, it would have absolutely blown everyone's mind and attracted countless eyes.
Or simply let Hideo Kojima start developing Metal Gear 2; the wall-hugging slow movement and peeking reconnaissance controls are practically tailor-made for analog sticks.
Hideo Kojima has been preparing for this for a long time and can start anytime.
Both of these models can effectively utilize the joystick in 3D game scenes.
The problem is that these games can only be developed for home consoles, and the only platform available for development at present is the beta version of the Model 2 board.
That's an arcade machine design.
What's important in arcade games? Quick, fast-paced gameplay, direct enjoyment, and high coin-operated rates.
Are you suggesting players spend half an hour solving puzzles or watching ten minutes of cutscenes in an arcade?
The boss would just smash the machine.
If the goal is to coincide with the Model 2's debut, racing games would be a safe choice.
After all, the depth of the accelerator and the angle of the steering wheel naturally align with the logic of linear input.
Takuya quickly rejected this idea.
This can be left to Yu Suzuki's development team to work on at their own pace, since they already have experience with VR Racing.
What about air combat?
Full 3D environment, six degrees of freedom.
Push the stick to climb, pull the stick to dive, push lightly to correct the course, and push hard for high-G maneuvers.
It sounds like a perfect match for an analog joystick.
Takuya frowned and took a sip of his slightly cold coffee.
no.
While current 3D polygon generation capabilities have made significant progress, rendering a rich and varied ground environment is still too challenging.
Modern air combat games either involve swatting mosquitoes at a pure blue background at 10,000 meters altitude, or bombarding a bunch of blurry mosaic textures on the ground.
Not only is the visual style monotonous and boring, but the high-speed movement and frequent camera rotation are practically nauseating for players who haven't yet experienced the 3D era.
If players throw up after playing a new console for ten minutes on launch day, then the reviews of the new game will be hard to predict.
There must be a game that can showcase the depth of 3D space, make the delicate control of a simulated joystick the backbone of the core gameplay, and at the same time, prevent players from feeling dizzy.
The image in my mind shifted, and two joysticks appeared in my field of vision.
Since it's a dual-joystick setup, how could we forget about that?
Takuya grabbed a pen and quickly wrote down a few words on the paper: <VirtualOn> (Virtual On).
That was a classic Sega game, where giant mechs glided at high speeds through virtual space, with beam rifles and melee lightsabers clashing.
Players hold a joystick in each hand, pushing and pulling to control the mech's forward, backward, and rotational movements; the feeling of controlling it is simply a man's romance.
If Sega didn't make this game, they would be doing a disservice to the Sega.
But as soon as his pen touched the paper, he stopped.
wrong.
Takuya closed his eyes, his fingers making a grasping motion in the air, simulating the operation of Virtual On.
Push the left stick forward, then push the right stick forward for a sprint.
Double bar outward bend – jump.
Internal defense.
This control logic does rely on dual joysticks, but it relies on "direction" and "combinations," not "force."
In the fast-paced, Super Robot Wars of Virtual On, life and death hang in the balance in milliseconds.
Players need absolute and immediate feedback.
Pushing the lever is full speed, returning it to center is an emergency stop.
What if we switch to a virtual joystick?
Imagine that an enemy cannon is firing at you, and your instinct is to make a quick, lateral dodge.
As a result of nervousness, the finger did not push the analog stick all the way down, or the angle of the push was slightly off by a few degrees.
What should have been an instantaneous burst of lateral thrust turned into a slow, meandering glide, much like taking a leisurely stroll after dinner.
"Boom!"
Game Over.
The delicate linear travel of the analog joystick becomes a fatal weakness in digital logic games that require instantaneous reactions.
That soft, mushy feel doesn't give players the sense of security that a satisfying "click" is all it takes to get the ball in place.