The development of hardware has brought about a technological explosion far beyond games.
Beyond the gaming world, and also within the office, the architecture of development is undergoing dramatic changes.
It is virtually impossible for one person to simultaneously master complex code algorithms, hardware, music, art, networks, numerical design, and many other aspects.
Unless there's a cheat code.
The era when one person, a cup of coffee, and a PC could create a world is over.
"I remember when we were developing the Legend of Zelda, the two of us handled all the level designs. "Sam looked at the busy crowd and felt a pang of emotion.
Once upon a time, video games were something on the verge of being swept into the dustbin of history.
Lin Lixin smiled but didn't say anything more.
Once 3D technology matures, a large number of modelers and motion designers will inevitably join the fray.
Programmers can never be perfect in every aspect.
Lowering the development threshold and allowing more developers with average technical skills but outstanding ideas to join the development team is an inevitable trend.
Lin Lixin looked at the somewhat shy Kojima.
In this regard, The Kojima Productions of the Future has done a very good job.
Instead of adhering to fixed and rigid job plans, we should recruit a wide range of talents.
In addition to the necessary positions, talents from various fields such as film and architecture have also participated.
Talent should be the sole criterion for promotion, and education should be tailored to individual needs.
Lin Lixin is now trying to follow a similar path.
All of this is based on one essential condition: a low barrier to entry for development.
" Sam, do you remember the game engine I mentioned to you before?"
"Hmm... like a jigsaw puzzle, packaging all the mature modules together for developers to use?"
"Yes."
Lin Lixin's gaze swept over everyone present, lingering on Carmack for a moment.
idSoftware, or rather Carmack and Romero, were pioneers in this field.
Following the Wolfenstein, id Software launched the DOOM Engine in one fell swoop.
And this thing, along with its next-generation Quake Engine, marked the beginning of game engines truly getting on the right track.
To be honest, Lin Lixin is a person living in the future, even though current technology allows him to easily write the desired functions even using assembly language.
But whenever I think about future development tools like Unity, Unreal Engine, or even RPG Maker that are completely ready to use out of the box, I can't help but feel uncomfortable.
Why write a hundred lines when you can write it in one?
They could have used this completely meaningless repetitive labor to do something more meaningful.
"Once the Civilization project is completed, we will begin formal development of this tool."
Lin Lixin's gaze was sharp, and he made the final decision on the matter.
"So—this table design is also an attempt by you to simplify the development process?"
Sam stared at the form in his hand, his heart pounding with shock.
Although I have been working hard to catch up and constantly learning these new things.
But whenever he looked up, Lin Lixin always seemed to be in the lead, leaving them far behind.
"Well, I guess so, but its main purpose is actually for something else."
Lin Lixin's somewhat serious attitude vanished suddenly, and he chuckled.
"What?"
" Gerald left a ROM slot on the NovaXeno, guess what it's for?"
Lin Lixin mysteriously kept everyone in suspense, then casually pulled a small, pre-packaged storage chip from his pocket.
This thing only has a capacity of tens of KB, which is completely different from the hundreds of MB of optical discs used by NX.
"Well?"
Sam paused, frowned, and began to think, trying to connect everything Lin Lixin had just said. "Is it... an expansion pack? Like the expansion floppy disk drive used on notebooks?"
This was the most suitable explanation he could come up with.
Optical disc drives are not as cheap as floppy disk drives, and even if another expansion drive were developed, it would be difficult to replicate the success of an expansion floppy disk drive.
Moreover, the capacity of a CD drive is incredibly large, it's 700MB! What game in the world can't fit in 700MB?
The expansion pack technology first used in " The King of Fighters " was essentially due to the limited capacity of floppy disks, which could not display all the content they wanted.
The money earned from selling character packs was a complete surprise.
Even Sam didn't expect this thing to be so reliable; it's practically a money-printing machine.
The sheer number of character packs for " The King of Fighters " alone has already generated considerable profits for them.
Bingo!
Lin Lixin snapped his fingers and grinned. "It is indeed an expansion pack, but it's not quite what you expected."
How so?
I call it Mod{, which is short for Modification.
"Mod----"
Sam repeated the word, which sounded very natural, trying to understand Lin Lixin's meaning. "Is it a modification to the game content itself?"
"Hmm—not entirely. You could think of it as a previous supplement pack, that's fine too."
"Then what's its use?"
"This isn't for us."
Lin Lixin smiled even more broadly.
"Not for us? That's for—NoWay—"
Sam seemed to suddenly understand what was going on; his eyes widened abruptly, and he jumped up from the stool.
If he's right, then what Lin Lixin is about to do is truly terrifying.
Don't let Sam's current role as a mascot in Gamenova fool you; aside from handling accounting and a bunch of paperwork, he's rarely of any use in the development work.
But he is a proper academic and a geek.
Sam has a long history of tinkering with games.
"F**k! F**k! Is this for players? A custom interface?! F**k!"
A channel that allows players to freely modify in-game mechanics, content, and even add new features.
The scariest thing is that this was a route officially opened up by the government.
This means that players don't need to go through the trouble of reverse engineering the game's source files, nor do they need to try to understand what those obscure contents are for.
Everything will be made public by GAMENOVA itself, allowing players to access it at will.
Sam's eyes trembled as he stared at Lin Lixin in disbelief.
When he saw Lin Lixin's smiling face, he knew his guess was correct.
"Hmm----"
Sam sat back down in his seat, stunned, and when he looked at the document on the table again, he had a completely different understanding.
This is not just about simplifying the workload of the development department----
This saves even the players a lot of work!
By simply filling in a few fields and modifying some text descriptions, you can easily add a completely new Civilization or leader to the game.
Good heavens!
What's going on? Evolution didn't include me?
Sam suddenly felt like his brain wasn't working properly.
5