"Are you really a beginner?"
Vivian looked hesitantly at Lin Lixin, increasingly suspicious that he was pulling her leg.
Even she would have needed to put some work into such a polished design.
"It's all thanks to your help. Without you clearing things up for me, this game wouldn't exist."
Lin Lixin had come with a purpose in the first place, so naturally, he delivered a resounding bit of flattery.
"Don't thank me. I only explained some of the most basic introductory material. Getting this far is really impressive."
Vivian hurriedly waved her hands, her gaze returning to the screen.
"So this is what video games are like..."
"Do you like video games, Vivian?"
"Me?" Vivian paused. "I don't know. I've only played Tetris and 1942. If this is what video games are, then I think of course I like them."
Lin Lixin nodded lightly, fished two coins out of the coin box, and dropped them into the coin slot again.
Compared with dry conversation, connecting through a game better suited the way gamers socialized.
"Why did you choose your current major?"
He knew Vivian's main focus was computer graphics, but only after talking with her in depth did he discover that she had never really had any exposure to video games before.
How had someone who cared nothing about video games ended up on a path so closely tied to them?
"Hmm..." Vivian maneuvered her fighter to wipe out a squad of enemies and considered for a moment. "If I had to give a reason, these cutting-edge technologies pay pretty well?"
"How so?"
"Graphical operating systems, graphics card drivers... Those are all cutting-edge technologies right now. I'm currently doing some part-time graphics optimization work for a small company my advisor introduced me to."
Lin Lixin hadn't expected Vivian to have already reached this stage. For a student still in school, she was already an outstanding talent.
"Impressive. Graphical operating systems will definitely be a hot field in the future."
He knew very well what a terrifying giant Bill Gates, still a young man under thirty, and his Microsoft would grow into.
In less than ten years, Microsoft would surpass IBM, the Big Blue giant, to become the world's largest software company.
And version 1.0 of Microsoft's trump card, the Windows operating system, had already been officially announced last year.
Only a year remained until Windows 1.0 officially went on sale.
As for Apple, another of the future big three in operating systems, its Mac operating system would also launch this year.
At this point, the father of the Linux kernel, Linus-Linus Benedict Torvalds-was still just a fifteen-year-old kid.
Choosing to enter the graphical operating system industry at this point in time was undoubtedly a wise decision.
"I still prefer the path of video game development," Lin Lixin said, deftly coordinating with Vivian to destroy an elite mob. "Creating happiness is a pretty cool thing."
For Lin Lixin, someone who had transmigrated into this era carrying all his knowledge of the future, he would certainly succeed even if he went into those other industries.
If there was anything that kept him firmly on this path, aside from his golden finger that matched his field of expertise, perhaps there was only one thing-faith.
Lin Lixin was a kid who had grown up around the millennium. From the Famicom and Subor to little Flash games, then on to the golden age of PC and mobile games, video games had long since run through his entire life, all his memories.
"I'm planning to start a game company," he revealed his purpose. "I originally wanted to ask whether you'd consider joining us, but it looks like you've already decided on your own path."
"Join you?" Vivian froze, not having expected Lin Lixin to extend an olive branch to her.
Boom!
Distracted, she slipped up with the controls and was blasted into a ball of fire.
Lin Lixin happened to be lost in thought for a moment too, and followed her straight into the collision.
Vivian took a deep breath, suddenly understanding why Lin Lixin had invited her to play with him.
She slowly stood and bowed slightly.
"I'm sorry, Lin. Although I really like video games, entrusting my future to a field the market has no confidence in is still a little..."
Although Vivian was warmhearted, she wasn't reckless.
The impact of the Atari Shock had been so great that even an outsider like her had heard about it long ago.
The North American gaming market, once worth $3.2 billion, had now plummeted to nearly $100 million, and was still shrinking at an accelerating pace.
No matter whose perspective one took, this was undoubtedly a sunset industry about to step into its coffin.
Hobbies and dreams couldn't put food on the table. Vivian understood that very well.
Lin Lixin nodded. Although Japan, across the ocean, was currently enjoying a long, soaring run in the industry, much of that was thanks to the advantages of its advanced consumer electronics technology at the time, and its net foreign assets, which far exceeded America's.
Using that example to persuade Vivian probably wouldn't accomplish much.
To convince her to join his team, love for games alone wasn't enough. He would need a little material push too.
Lin Lixin took a business card out of his pocket, with a phone number printed on it.
It belonged to Meyer, who had previously wanted to buy his Tetris prototype.
Now that the copyright issue had been settled, selling arcade machines had become a viable direction.
"Sam, stop playing. I've got an important job for you."
Interrupted by Lin Lixin while still locked in fierce battle with Neil, Sam reluctantly made his way behind the counter.
"No, producing them ourselves definitely won't work."
After hearing Lin Lixin's plan, Sam rejected it outright.
"Custom boards and EPROMs alone would cost over ten thousand. Add in five hundred to a thousand per cabinet, plus the expense of compliance testing and certification..."
He counted on his fingers, making a rough estimate.
"We'd have to put at least tens of thousands, maybe even over a hundred thousand dollars into production costs. Even if you plucked me bald, I couldn't come up with that."
"Not even small-batch production?"
"No."
Sam shook his head, but then his eyes lit up as though something had occurred to him.
"But we could use a contract manufacturer! There'd be a minimum order quantity, but the costs would be much lower. If we found buyers in advance and they were willing to pay part of the price upfront as a deposit, we could get it done without spending much ourselves."
Hearing Sam's idea, Lin Lixin perked up too.
Right. He had been so caught up in figuring out how to plug the hole in their production costs that he had forgotten contract manufacturers were an option.
"Then roughly how much would each unit cost?"
Sam pondered for a moment, then slowly gave an approximate figure. "Fifteen hundred dollars."
For a small arcade machine with modest specs, that price was definitely already at the very top end.
Selling this thing would take some work.
Looking at the phone number in his hand, Lin Lixin walked over to the landline and dialed.