" Will, Carmack, pack your things, have a quick brainstorming session, we'll go to the arcade later."
Lin Lixin gave a greeting, then looked at Sam.
"Get Industrial Light & Magic to start work; don't delay the project schedule."
Although the Lockheed situation took several days to resolve, it wasn't a complete loss.
In addition to acquiring a large number of core technology patents used in motion-sensing arcade machines, the White Knight Project also brought Lin Lixin an unexpected gain.
copyright.
Just like signing Jabbar and Jordan in Gamenova's classic sports game Double Dribble, any game that involves real-world objects must consider copyright issues.
Vehicles in racing games, weapons in FPS games, athletes in sports games, music in rhythm games...
Similarly, this new game also has this need.
Upon entering the conference room, Lin Lixin picked up a pen and quickly wrote a line of elegant letters on the whiteboard.
Ace Combat
"Ace... fight?" Carmack repeated it, a catchy name that immediately told you it was an action movie.
"Could it be...?"
Will clearly had a better understanding of this. Considering Lin's various actions over the past two days, something he'd briefly mentioned in a previous project flashed through his mind.
"Air Combat?"
"Hey, that's exactly it."
Lin Lixin grinned.
"When you were working on ballistic calculations, didn't you say you wanted to create a realistic military-themed work? Now the opportunity has come your way?"
"That's true, but this... is going too far."
Will's lips twitched slightly as he finally understood what was going on with all these recent events.
After all that fuss and trouble, it turns out it was just to make an Air Combat game??
Hmm... that's definitely the style Gamenova would have.
"Hehe, that's what arcade games are all about – a platform where you can go all out!" Don't underestimate the commercial potential of arcade games compared to other sectors.
But for a game company like Gamenova, arcades are definitely a field worth exploring.
Whether it's conducting experiments or simply showing off skills.
This was true of Rocksmith, it was true of Rock N' Roll Racing, and it's true of this new project, Ace Combat.
That's right, the next arcade game that Lin Lixin is preparing for novaarcade is this absolute king of Air Combat games.
Just like its name suggests, it is definitely the ace in the hearts of many players.
"I remember Will, you used to work on Air Combat games before you joined Gamenova, right?"
Lin Lixin recalled the movie " Raid on Bungeling Bay " that Will had produced.
Players pilot an armed helicopter over enemy islands, destroying all enemy buildings.
This work can be considered Will's introduction to the field of " Urban Dynamics," and it can be regarded as a classic.
"Yes, but that was a long time ago."
Will scratched his head sheepishly. Time had passed, and Will had long since shifted his research focus away from those things.
His current main focus is on game AI, data simulation, and reality simulation.
Lin Lixin has always taken this in stride and even admires it.
Whenever Will thinks about this, he feels a sense of unreal Mew.
Being able to get paid and do whatever you like at your job—isn't that awesome?
"In short, what we're going to do this time is the simulation you've been longing for: how to reproduce the texture and feel of reality as accurately as possible. That's the key to this project."
"Flight shooting game?"
Carmack asked, his tone suggesting he already knew the answer, tinged with anticipation.
For the past two days, he's been tinkering with the "lightweight scripting language for web pages" that Lin Lixin had instructed him to use.
It's interesting, but compared to making games, it's definitely a rather tedious thing.
Besides his perfectionist demands, Lin Lixin also wanted him to participate in this project to help him relax.
"Yes, but not a traditional shoot 'em up." This game genre is also a long-standing contributor to Gamenova's success.
When I first emerged from the arcade, it was thanks to the excellent shoot 'em up game, 1942.
"We want to make a 3D, motion-sensing Air Combat game."
novaarcade.
"Boss, I got the stuff!"
Although Atari is an outdated old brand, its legacy contains many good things.
Take this Atari-ST computer, for example.
To be precise, it's the program running on it.
When Lin Lixin first thought of the concept of Air Combat games, he recalled a cool gadget he had seen two years ago.
That year's CES was truly vibrant and full of life, a veritable constellation of Stellaris.
It wasn't just Gamenova that released the Novaradeon, the world's first truly universal graphics card; other companies also came up with their own innovative gadgets. For example, Amiga's new PC, Silicon Graphics's workstations...
Of course, besides Gamenova, the most impressive thing at the time was the life-size replica of the fighter jet in the Atari section.
Life-size fighter jet model!
That was something Atari created to demonstrate the performance of the Atari-ST computer.
A flight simulation program is running on it.
And this thing in front of us is, of course, the same thing from back then.
Okay, this isn't the version that was originally exhibited; it's a version recreated by a hardcore enthusiast using an Atari-ST.
After all, that thing is at Atari headquarters, and it's no longer part of the Atari Games department.
Gary stood excitedly to the side.
When he heard Lin Lixin instruct him to get this thing done, he already knew what the new project was about.
A flight simulator arcade game!
Standing before Lin Lixin, Gary really wanted to recite a line: "I, Gary, have wandered the arcade world for half my life, only regretting that I have never met a wise ruler."
Having dealt with both Atari and Namco, these two groups of scoundrels have finally made it big.
I thought the boss was just going to reorganize the business as a side project.
It now seems that the boss is truly very interested in the arcade market.
This is absolutely a powerful shot in the arm.
"Wow, I have to admit, Atari does have quite a few top-notch products."
Lin Lixin glanced at the bunch of peripherals connected to the computer.
I must say, it actually looks quite decent.
In addition to a realistic flight joystick, it also features a separate throttle lever.
If Lin Lixin and his team hadn't directly created Doom and graphics cards—two things that attracted almost all the attention— Atari could have really drawn a lot of people to stop and linger.
The image resolution isn't high, after all, it's from two years ago.
In early 1987, 3D technology was still in its infancy. Atari, however, had already produced a truly impressive 3D visual experience.
To be precise, it's a 3D wireframe graphic.
Lin Lixin tried operating the joystick to make the screen move.
The refresh rate isn't high, resulting in the classic 8-bit era of screen tearing and sharp pauses between each frame.
The pixels are also very blurry; you can only barely distinguish the distant snow-capped mountains and some nearby scenery by relying on the colors.
However, the sense of space is surprisingly good.
"Can this thing even be made?"
Lin Lixin waved the realistic joystick in his hand and looked at Gary.
Now that there's a proper arcade division, Gerald no longer has to worry about everything.
It's really not appropriate to dump every little, trivial project on someone else.
Gamenova's current strategy is to cultivate elites and gradually transfer peripheral businesses to several subsidiaries.
"Of course!" Gary patted his chest and immediately agreed.
This type of project is not particularly complex; the engineering team worked on it for a few days and it was successfully implemented.
"Boss, should we just ask Lockheed engineers to come and collaborate? We can do it, but it would be difficult to achieve their level of precision."
Leave professional tasks to professionals.
In terms of interactive devices for aircraft, Lockheed, a company that makes fighter jets, is indeed superior to them.
Whether it's technical expertise or experience.
"Hmm... that's certainly possible, but it can only be used as a reference."
Lin Lixin frowned and pondered for a moment, then nodded.
Realism is a very ambiguous indicator.
Just as Will insisted, sometimes realism needs to make certain concessions to gameplay.
Excessive realism can actually negatively impact gameplay and diminish the overall experience.
Of course, this theorem is not universally applicable. For simulation games, which Will loves, the higher the realism, the better.
For example, titles like DCS World and Microsoft Flight Simulator Digital Combat Simulator World.
But Ace Combat is not suitable.
Before the simulation, it's first and foremost a fast-paced action game, a flight shooting game.
Excessive realism can actually make the thrill of combat feel tedious.
"Our goal is for players to enjoy the game, not to train pilots..."
After saying that, Lin Lixin suddenly paused,
"Oh? You know what? How about this, we'll make both sets and sell them as optional extras."
He suddenly remembered when he was working on " Rock N' Roll Racing ".
The Team Lotus initially purchased a large quantity of cars directly from them, just so that drivers could have the opportunity to experience the feel of the actual cars outside of the racetrack.
The same principle applies to pilots.
High-precision flight simulation programs have always been something that major airlines and defense companies dream of. "I'll talk to Tailaipu about this myself later; maybe we can use this opportunity to boost the stock price."
Capitalists are not retail investors easily swayed by market sentiment. They cannot see the commercial potential, and even with Gamenova's involvement, there will only be a slight fluctuation.
The shrinking of the military industry market is a fact that everyone can see.
Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic.
Looking at the F-16 fighter jet exterior design drawings and accompanying commercial licenses sent by Lin Lixin, Lucas was completely bewildered.
"Lin... went directly to Lockheed and obtained official F-16 licenses just to make an Air Combat game?"
A quick flip revealed a license document for the design of the F-117A attack aircraft.
Now, as Lockheed's major shareholder and savior, Lin Lixin wields unexpectedly much influence.
Through Lockheed authorized agents, he could easily obtain licenses for various models.
It's important to know that this model didn't become formalized until the late 1990s in the original timeline.
For example, the Lockheed aircraft in War Thunder were licensed through Lockheed Martin's commercial license. A more famous case is EA's Battlefield 4, where EA and Lockheed Martin even faced off in court multiple times over the issue of F-35 copyright infringement.
Modified? Renamed? Exploiting legal loopholes?
In response, Lin Lixin stated:
"Young Comrade Tailaipu, bring me the blueprints; I need them very much."