Save the archive.
Sid Meier was so angry that his eyebrows shot up, and he immediately made a backup.
His eyes then glanced at the "Disaster" tab in the top options bar.
"You bunch of troublemakers, I've been curious about this thing for ages, today I'll use you as a sacrifice!"
He didn't care what was written on it; he just read it all.
Choose everything you can: fires, floods, tornadoes, plane crashes, earthquakes.
"Why is there a 'monster' here? What is that thing?"
Regardless of what it is, these troublemakers deserve it.
[Monster attack!]
A giant, unidentified life form has been sighted in the water.
It will be attracted to highly polluted areas and destroy everything in its path.
As the pop-up notification appeared, a monster resembling Godzilla from the Japan film emerged from the river that runs through the city and headed straight for the industrial area.
When Bill arrived, he saw a mess on the screen.
Everywhere were burning ruins and broken walls.
There's also a Godzilla rampaging through the city.
Bill had never expected this scene.
"This is the new SimCity you were talking about?"
When Sid Meier was rambling on about a bunch of messy budget bills and city plans, he thought it was an extremely serious strategy game.
"Uh... that's not how it is."
Sid Meier then snapped out of his daze and covered up his embarrassment with a cough.
He reloaded the save file and showed Bill the map overview.
"It's like—how should I put it—it's somewhat similar to playing a mayor and managing a city?"
He tried to find the perfect description to describe the game.
Without realizing it, he had spent a full two hours on it without even realizing it.
Sid Meier even had a feeling that even if he had another 20 hours or 200 hours, he still wouldn't be able to finish playing this game.
He looked at the overview map window.
Even now, the magnificent city only occupies a small portion of the entire map.
My initial feeling was correct.
This game really doesn't have any clear objectives for him to complete.
There are no obstacles to overcome.
But he always felt like there was never enough work to do.
It's literally impossible to finish.
"It's hard to describe exactly what happened to you. I just wanted to get the city functioning properly."
Sid Meier's gaze fell on the three-color histogram in the lower left corner.
Is it obsessive-compulsive disorder, or some inexplicable force driving him?
The harder he tries to keep these three values in balance, the more he has to do.
Endless, yet unstoppable!
Purely for fun.
Sid Meier frowned slightly, feeling as if something was about to surface in his mind, but he couldn't quite grasp it.
" Bill, I think I have an idea for a new game."
"That Pirates! game?"
"No, at least not entirely."
He shook his head. "I can't give you a definite answer right now; it's about a completely new work."
SimCity touched a chord in his mind, but he still needed a catalyst for the idea to truly take root.
Bill nodded, seemingly understanding.
He wasn't good at game development; he mostly helped Sid Meier with the company's miscellaneous tasks and accounting.
This good friend of mine, whom I met at Texas Instruments, has an unbelievable talent for gaming.
A work that receives such high praise from him must be something extraordinary.
"Let me try it out."
"Um----
", Bill drawled out.
After a brief trial, he seemed to understand Sid Meier's meaning.
This is truly a game that's hard to describe in words.
You need to be patient, immerse yourself in it, and play around with it for a while before you understand.
Sid Meier seemed to realize that Bill wasn't truly engaged and offered a reminder.
He knew his buddy well.
From the very beginning of our acquaintance, he wasn't a very reliable person.
Perhaps influenced by his past experience in the Air Force, Bill particularly enjoys flight shooting games and doesn't seem to care much for slower-paced titles.
"Okay, I'll try it out when I have time. It's really quite fun."
Bill gave a perfunctory reply, shaking his wrist, "Seriously, its controls are way too complicated. My hand is already a bit sore after playing for a while."
"Hmm, that's true. I was so engrossed in playing that I didn't notice, but now that I've calmed down, I do feel a bit tired."
Sid Meier nodded.
Every time he wanted to build something, he had to switch to the left-hand building panel, select the project, and then switch back to the map, moving around laboriously.
The game's controls are indeed not very user-friendly.
"GAMENOVA's first time making a PC game, so their unfamiliarity with the control scheme is understandable—"
He suddenly stopped speaking and met Bill's gaze.
The two of them thought of the same thing at the same time.
mouse!
Not long ago, when that thing was launched at various GAMENOVA partner stores, they were quite puzzled.
Because this thing is really incompatible with NovaBo.
Although there are two games, Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire, that have been officially released on NovaBo.
However, apart from a few titles like Wolfenstein that are compatible, most games in the original game lineup are actually less comfortable to play with a controller.
At the time, everyone thought this thing was an elite peripheral like Hitbo. Although we bought two, we just left them unused.
After all, Sid Meier is a proper professional game developer, and a mouse would actually reduce his work efficiency.
Fortunately, the interface is universal, and after some troubleshooting, Sid Meier was able to re-enter the game.
"Hiss... this seems to be the correct way to play."
What used to take ten or more seconds can now be completed almost instantly.
Drag to the left to select, then hold down the left mouse button and drag on the map to easily draw a road.
Thinking back to their previous games, Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire, the two suddenly had an absurd idea.
Is it possible that GAMENOVA released these three games to promote mouse-based gaming habits?
" Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire are definitely games that meet this demand; SimCity just happens to be a game that caters to this need."
Bill pondered for a moment and then offered his opinion.
"Ding-dong"
Just then, the doorbell rang at the company entrance.
Bill was looking for an excuse to leave, so he simply got up and went to open the door.
"Hello, this is Microprose. Sir, are you looking to buy a game or commission its development?"
"Hello, is Mr. Sid Meier here?"
Lin Lixin bowed slightly in greeting and took out a business card from his pocket.
This future the Godfather of video games, who would later be considered one of the two titans alongside Will Wright, was someone he desperately wanted to acquire.