The 25-year-old star producer

Japan, Tokyo Metropolis Shinagawa Ward.

Sega Japan Business Division.

Hayao Nakayama personally drove Gerald, who had traveled a long way, to the local welcome hotel.

The following morning, Gerald, still jet-lagged, forced himself to go straight to Sega headquarters.

"Mr. Lawson, I've long admired your reputation. Chairman Lin has always boasted about your abilities to us."

Just call me Gerald.

Gerald shook hands with Hayao Nakayama before being led on a tour of Sega's headquarters building.

Unlike Gamenova's elite model, Sega is more like a traditional family business, with a large number of employees and numerous departments.

But this gave Gerald a fleeting illusion of returning to Fairchild Semiconductor.

"It's quite a coincidence, Mr. Gerald. Sega is also currently planning to send several experts to the United States Sega establish a new department."

After all, Gerald was one of his own, and seeing him was like seeing Lin Lixin, so Hayao Nakayama didn't hide much from him.

"A new department?" "Yes, the Segatechnical Institute, abbreviated as STI."

Although Hayao Nakayama had a heavy accent, Gerald still understood what he meant.

Sega Technical Institute sounds like a research-oriented department.

"Research department? Why not do it in Japan?"

"Ha ha..."

Hayao Nakayama gave a few helpless, bitter laughs, and scratched his head.

"After the Sonic the Hedgehog project, we realized just how big the gap is between us now."

"Yuji Naka... oh, he's the person in charge of the Sonic the Hedgehog project. He worked for Chairman Hayashi for a while before, and he suggested to me that he wanted to go to Sega in the United States for further studies."

He hopes to be exposed to advanced video game knowledge during his studies.

Hayao Nakayama's serious expression now showed a rare hint of helpless smile.

He knew perfectly well what Yuji Naka was planning.

He really thinks he's Lin Lixin's top disciple, planning to go to Sega in the United States to further his resume. "But then I realized his suggestion does make some sense."

"So I suggested we simply set up a department, aiming to combine outstanding local talent from Japan with fresh blood from the United States."

Even though Sega is now Gamenova's junior partner, they cannot give up on continuous improvement.

Lin Lixin can't keep dragging them along forever; he still needs to cultivate his own team to be able to prepare for the future.

This was the development strategy that Hayao Nakayama established immediately after Lin Lixin left.

With the buzz surrounding Gamenova and the successive releases of blockbuster titles like Metal Slug and Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega doesn't need to worry about cash flow, at least in the short term.

We must seize this opportunity to quickly build a team strong enough to counter Nintendo.

"This is indeed a good approach; we often look for inspiration and technological breakthroughs within the Japan gaming industry."

Gerald nodded, seemingly agreeing.

The video game cultures of the United States, Europe, and Japan are three completely different systems.

The relationship between the United States and Europe is somewhat better due to cultural similarities, but Japan is truly a completely different system.

Many works that are wildly popular in North America, where everyone seems to idolize them, turn out to be mediocre in Japan. Take "Momotaro Dentetsu" for example.

To be honest, Gerald really didn't understand what was so fun about this thing.

Not to mention the various technical differences.

Panasonic, Sanyo, NEC, Sony, Canon, Sharp...

Japan is indeed a giant with an incredibly strong foundation in the consumer electronics industry.

Only by knowing itself and its enemy, and allowing technology and talent to flow freely, can Gamenova truly grow into an invincible demon king.

"That's right, but what really made me make this decision was another outstanding talent at Sega."

Hayao Nakayama's tone carried a hint of pride.

Having developed over the years, Sega has its own "family heritage".

"Oh? What do you mean?"

His suspense only piqued Gerald's curiosity. "Haha, it's quite an interesting story. His name is Mark Cerny, yes, a genuine United States, and from Los Angeles."

Hayao Nakayama smiled and took the initiative to introduce Gerald.

"After Atari Games went out of business, he joined Sega."

Mark Cerny, a rather Legend and interesting figure, gained fluency in Japan during his time at Sega, while also acquiring a thorough understanding of the Japan game market.

His experiences working for Atari Games and Sega made him a talent with a deep understanding of both companies.

In addition, his skills were indeed excellent, and Hayao Nakayama always paid close attention to him.

"Mark Cerny..."

Gerald paused, then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Is he the creator of the Atari Games ' Marble Madness '?"

This was truly a lucky accident; I came all this way specifically for him.

Gerald recently received a request from Lin Lixin to design a gravity sensing module, so he began the material-gathering process.

The intriguing game "Marble Madness" naturally caught his eye. The perfect combination of the trackball and pinball movement, along with the ingenious level design, made it a unique and enjoyable game.

It was also the world's first video game to use stereo sound and was written in C Language instead of assembly language, and the first game developed using the Atari System 1 board.

In every sense, Marble Madness is a game that deserves careful analysis and study.

So, in order to see if he could find out any technical details, Gerald simply went directly to Gary, who was in charge of the airport reception department, and asked him about it.

The answer was that its designer, Mark Cerny, is currently studying at Sega.

"Yes! That's him!"

Hayao Nakayama nodded.

Around 1985, Mark Cerny really made a name for himself with "Marble Madness".

Keep in mind that he was only 20 years old at the time; he was truly a prodigy.

Is he at Sega headquarters right now? Can I talk to him?

"Sure."

Gerald was led into the reception room by Hayao Nakayama to wait.

Before long, he saw a typical young white man walk into the room with a hint of nervousness.

Hayao Nakayama very tactful; after his assistant arranged some tea and refreshments, he left, leaving the two of them alone.

"Mr. Gerald, I've heard so much about you."

Mark Cerny is just over 24 years old, but he has been working for many years and is not as impetuous as young prodigies like Yuji Naka who are just starting out.

"Mark, you're younger than I thought. You must have been only... 20 when you made ' Marble Madness '?"

"Hmm... that was probably just a stroke of good luck, after all, my first two games were only so-so."

Mark Cerny smiled and nodded slightly; that period was indeed the most triumphant time of his life.

"This is hardly good luck..."

Gerald was rather exasperated by his humility.

When was 1984?

The Atari Shock is plunging the gaming industry into a deep recession. While arcades haven't been as severely affected as consoles, it's still a massive, all-encompassing collapse.

The fact that he can make a name for himself through his work at this time is enough to prove his strength.

after all...

Gerald himself was one of those dreamers who started a game company around that time.

The difference might be that others succeeded while you failed.

Who were the people who survived the Atari Shock?

Lin Lixin needs no introduction; he's already at the top.

Sid was one of them, braving the aftermath of the Atari Shock and making a fortune in the seemingly saturated genre of flight shooting games.

Caneghem and his * Might and Magic *, Sirtech's * Wizardry *...

These examples are vividly presented before us.

Those who managed to make a name for themselves during the Atari Shock were all exceptional talents of their time.

"I was also working on game development during that time, at Videosoft, my own company, but I never managed to make a single game before it went bankrupt." "Uh... I'm very sorry."

Mark Cerny then realized that his words had been completely tackling Gerald's minefield, and he felt a little embarrassed.

"It's alright, that's all in the past. Now my identity is the chief architect of Gamenova, not a producer."

Gerald waved his hand, indicating he had long since let it go.

In game development, Gerald is one of the closest people in the world to it, yet also one of the furthest.

"So tell me about yourself, how did you end up working in Japan?"

"Hmm..."

Mark Cerny for a long time before giving his answer:

"Japan in the 1980s was the kingdom of games. Back then, if I wanted to study game design, this was the only place I could go. To be honest, I did learn a lot here."

"For example?"

Although this seemed different from the purpose of his visit today, Gerald still felt a surge of curiosity.

"For example... I've learned to think and judge from the player's perspective when designing." "Hmm? What do you mean by that?"

Simply put, it's a difference in style.

Mark Cerny pondered carefully, trying to come up with the most fitting description.

"Creators' excessive desire for personal expression can lead them to neglect the players themselves in their pursuit of self-expression."

This development model has both advantages and disadvantages.

The good thing is that the producer has the highest level of control over the game itself and can convey the content they want to create to the greatest extent.

The downside is that it can easily fall into a stream-of-consciousness, self-indulgent state, ignoring the player's feelings.

In this way, once a game is released, there are only two possible outcomes: it becomes a huge hit... or it flops.

Clearly, Gamenova has perfectly made every game a success.

However, other studios that don't have error notebooks for reference could easily ruin themselves if they continue using this model.