Castlevania ----
Kojima sat at his newly assigned workstation, looking at the detailed design document in his hand, and felt a headache coming on.
This was the first time he had ever attempted to cram an entire grand Gothic story into a 2D video game with a file size of only 1MB.
Although I have directed many 9mm short films in the past, that is completely different from video game design.
However, since Lin Lixin trusts me, I must go all out!
He quietly peeked out from between the partitions and looked at the other people in the office.
The developer Will was engrossed in a sea of code, his fingers flying across the keyboard, completely oblivious to the world around him.
The man named Sid sat back in his chair, shaking his head from time to time and deleting everything he had just written.
It's less of a development department and more of a creative lab.
Everyone is busy with their own things.
There were no deadlines looming over their heads, and no bosses giving orders.
Kojima looked at the document in his hand.
Aside from this document, Lin Lixin didn't give him any other requests, letting him do as he pleased.
this----
It's like a dream come true!
Kojima dreams of having an environment where he can freely express his creativity.
Sam carried a heavy cardboard box to the hardware department on the third floor of the company.
"Bang"
The cardboard box crashed to the ground, Tackle sound interrupting Lin Lixin and Gerald's discussion.
"Phew—that's about it. I've practically emptied the bookstore."
Sam wiped the sweat from his brow and reached into the box filled with books, randomly pulling one out.
Semiconductor Device Manufacturing Process
"As per your request, most of the semiconductor-related information is here."
"Well done, that was a big help."
Lin Lixin's eyes lit up, and he quickly carried the box of books to the table, sorting them out one by one.
"You—are you planning to learn this on the fly again?"
Gerald's eyelids twitched as he looked at the semiconductor-related textbooks.
Lin Lixin's unconventional style of doing things was not something he had just witnessed for the first time.
"Otherwise what? We don't have the resources to poach established semiconductor companies right now."
If possible, Lin Lixin would prefer to buy Toshiba outright, thus solving the NAND flash memory and DRAM problems once and for all.
The problem is with the memory.
Although Gerald has extensive technical knowledge in hardware, it is mostly about assemblies. When it comes to microscopic things like semiconductors, he can be said to know nothing.
Vivian simply didn't have the extra manpower to handle this part of the research.
This task naturally fell to Lin Lixin again.
"If we want to develop our 16-bit machine, memory technology is a must-solve. As for storage—there's another technological path we can explore compared to NAND flash memory chips."
Although NAND flash memory technology is still far from being realized, there is one thing that has already emerged.
Have you ever heard of CDs?
"Disc?"
Gerald repeated the word, not immediately understanding what Lin Lixin meant.
This is understandable, after all, CD technology has only just entered the consumer market and is far from being widely adopted.
In particular, the lack of standardized file formats leaves it completely undeveloped in the software ecosystem.
Even so, its hardware technology is already relatively mature.
"That's right, a CD."
Lin Lixin suddenly pulled a round disc out of his pocket. The disc reflected images like a mirror, and colorful light could be faintly seen.
"This is a Sony disc that I asked Satoshi to buy in Japan."
Gerald took the disc and glanced at it for a few moments.
This thing is only a little over one millimeter thick, and its diameter should be just over 10 centimeters.
This size is even smaller than a floppy disk.
"How much capacity does this thing have? More than a floppy disk?"
It's important to know that floppy disks already have a capacity of 1MB, making them, aside from expensive mechanical hard drives, the cheapest high-capacity storage medium available at the time.
Switching to a completely unfamiliar new technology requires a comprehensive overhaul, from the architecture and storage format to the compression algorithm.
In Gerald's view, the amount of work involved has already exceeded the benefits of iterating storage media itself.
"If the benefits aren't too significant, I think keeping the current booster pack system is more cost-effective."
"Um----"
Lin Lixin pondered for a moment, then reached out and took back the light, flimsy CD, twirling it a few times on his finger.
"This thing is only 1.2mm thick and 12cm in diameter, but—it has a capacity of 700MB."
"Take the young master?"
Gerald nearly choked on his own.
700MB? Are you serious?
This is on a completely different level from floppy disks; it's practically cutting-edge technology.
What does 700MB mean?
This is more than enough to hold all of GAMENOVA's games and add-ons to date.
To put it more bluntly, it's enough to store thousands upon thousands of games on the Atari 2600 all at once.
A stack of CDs can contain all the video games from ancient times to the present.
"It's that absurd. In my opinion, CD-ROM technology replacing floppy disks is an inevitable trend."
Lin Lixin paused.
While optical disc technology is powerful, it has one major hurdle to overcome.
patent!
Neither Philips nor Sony would easily license their CD-ROM patents to them.
Even if they were authorized, they couldn't directly use this specification specifically designed for music storage.
How to store, address, and layer data is all a blank slate.
but----
Blank spaces often represent opportunities.
"We must do it, and we must do it faster than anyone else!"
Before Sony and Philips have had a chance to figure out the best, they need to develop their own document specifications and patented technologies to circumvent the patent barriers of the optical disc giants.
"I see----"
Gerald knew very well what 700MB meant.
If this technology can indeed be implemented on next-generation consoles, even as an external device similar to an extended floppy disk drive, it would be revolutionary for other game developers.
This capacity means they can freely add as many detailed animations, sound effects, and CGs as possible to the game.
Even from a gameplay perspective alone, every 1KB increases the amount of code that can be stored.
"However, we have absolutely no experience in optical disc technology. If we want to overtake others, we will probably need to spend a lot of time on research and development. By then, if Nintendo or Sega catch up, our first-mover advantage in 16-bit consoles will be gone."
There's one more thing Gerald didn't mention.
cost.
Every type of storage medium requires a corresponding read driver.
A CD/DVD drive isn't necessarily cheaper than a floppy disk drive.