"As an optional collectible, Yoshi must collect Apple throughout the levels to hatch the egg hidden inside..."
Lin Lixin's hand, which was compiling a list of collectibles, suddenly paused.
"Oh? What a coincidence."
The game's main character has now been replaced by Clefairy from Pokémon, and surprisingly, this design has been retained.
He even had to find ways to further strengthen the system.
The reason is simple: the upcoming second generation will feature an egg-hatching system as its main new mechanic.
As a teaser title, this egg-hatching and collection mechanism is surprisingly suitable.
In fact, in the original timeline, Yoshi's Universal Gravitation was not a particularly well-received game.
Putting aside its interesting concept, it can only be described as mediocre.
Many things feel underwhelming, and the overly rigid level design fails to fully reflect the gravity system.
"The most important thing is the level design and the control of the feel; hmm, that definitely needs to be carefully considered."
" Yoshi's Universal Gravitation " is an excellent predecessor and also a perfect error correction notebook. It clearly points out a feasible path while also exposing many problems that can be improved.
After much deliberation, Lin Lixin decided to go to the Hardware Department again.
Adjusting the feel goes beyond the software level alone; it requires a combination of hardware and software.
As soon as he arrived, Lin Lixin noticed the changes here.
Mark Cerny was assigned to the workstation next to Gerald, Gerald mentored him almost entirely and involved him in the entire project.
In the past, although we would occasionally invite engineering teams from SGI or other subsidiaries to assist with development, this was a rare occurrence.
It's clear that Gerald is very satisfied with Cerny.
"Sorry to interrupt your private meal, guys, we have something we need to take care of."
"Alright, that's all for today. This afternoon, digest everything we've discussed. If you're free tomorrow, come with me to Micronova. There's not much you can learn about semiconductors here."
Gerald gave him a few earnest instructions before setting aside his own work and looking at Lin Lixin.
"Is it a gravity sensor module?"
"Not exactly, but it is indeed related to it." Lin Lixin thought for a moment and continued.
"The game's framework is pretty much complete, but the feel of it is really strange; it feels light and floaty, with a strong plastic feel."
He placed the testing platform in front of Gerald, indicating that Gerald should try it himself.
The test demo contains no extraneous content; it consists only of a map with most of the map elements.
Since it has not yet been installed and deployed, the vibration module is connected to the test board via a ribbon cable.
Gerald picked it up and tried turning it over.
A stone rolled down the U-shaped ramp, and a roll of turf was laid out along with it.
It must be said that these elements are all very cleverly designed.
With just these simple things, real-world behavior and game elements are truly interacted.
This is an intuitive design that naturally creates a strong sense of immersion.
only...
After a brief test, Gerald understood what Lin Lixin meant by "poor feel." Indeed, it was a lot of fun to play.
But I couldn't feel anything at all.
The real world and the game world generated input, but did not produce an output that aligned with intuition.
Images, sound effects, and character behaviors are all outputs, but they don't match the results Gerald's brain expected.
The entire tilting process felt like manipulating a piece of paper; without the visual aid of a picture, one couldn't perceive any "tactile sensation."
"I understand what you mean, otherwise... how about we integrate a vibration motor into the cartridge?"
After much thought, Gerald put forward his own idea.
When elements in the scene interact, try to activate the vibration motor via the data port to make it vibrate.
This results in much stronger interactive feedback, enough to mask any lack of intuition.
This is something he learned when he visited Sega to learn about their arcade technology, and now he can put it to good use.
Sega arcade machines often used vibration to create the so-called "feel".
"It shouldn't be complicated. The new GPIO we designed for the NPC includes a complete power supply protocol. Although it will affect battery life, we just need to control its usage and intensity, and theoretically it should be fine." Vibration motors aren't anything new.
As early as the early 1980s, prototypes of vibration motors had already begun to emerge in the market.
Today, small, integrated, high-efficiency vibration motors have long been developed and are mature.
To put it simply, it's just a motor with an eccentric mass block installed.
When rotating, centrifugal force pulls the entire device to sway, thus achieving the vibration effect.
It's like an old but powerful washing machine.
"That's indeed a good idea, but the hard-won reduction in power consumption and cost will likely be reversed."
Lin Lixin nodded; the plan did indeed have some feasibility.
Although its shortcomings are obvious, Yoshi's Universal Gravitation is essentially a creative little game that relies on gimmicks.
Mark Cerny listened silently to their conversation, his gaze falling on the testing platform, which he picked up and examined for a while.
After a long pause, he suddenly scratched his head and timidly spoke:
"Lin... um, I... I also have an idea." Although he was always hailed as a prodigy with extraordinary talent elsewhere, he was still somewhat apprehensive when facing Lin Lixin.
It's like facing a boss whose stats are all question marks and whose health bar never drops.
"Oh? Tell me about it."
Lin Lixin raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.
Seeing the encouraging look in Gerald's eyes, Cerny swallowed hard before continuing:
"Why not just... create an activity-based quality block?"
He found a rare blank space in his notebook, which was filled with dense notes, drew a horizontal line on it, and then blackened a square on top of it.
"A push rod or rack with a counterweight that allows the counterweight to move left and right, and can also be locked by the rack when necessary."
Upon hearing this, Lin Lixin and Gerald were both taken aback and exchanged a glance.
You know what, it might actually work out surprisingly well.
The feedback isn't obtained through vibration, but rather... a shift in the center of gravity.
How can we make the tilt intuitive? This seems like a suitable answer.
When tilted to the right, players will clearly feel that the center of gravity of the entire handheld console has shifted to one side, and vice versa.
When not in use, the counterweight can be fixed in place simply by engaging the rack and pinion with the motor.
In this way, power consumption is greatly reduced, while also achieving a linear vibration that would be impossible in this era.
The kind of linear motor with HD vibration that we'll see in the future is simply beyond the capabilities of current industrial technology.
However, the machining precision is perfectly sufficient for such a simple mechanical structure.
"Let's do it this way! Let's work hard to get the samples out in the next couple of days, and if the tests go smoothly, then we'll implement it."
Throughout June, Gamenova remained completely silent, making almost no further moves.
The programming wave sparked by "screeps" is still gaining momentum.
New players are joining the game almost every day.
However, the server load was surprisingly manageable. The reason, of course, is that early players are gradually reducing their online time.
However, they didn't just quit; they've already written robust code that ensures the factory will continue to operate smoothly even if it's offline all day.
Some experts have even created factories capable of self-replication.
As long as no other big shots intervene, even if he just stays offline for several days, it won't hinder the normal development of the game.
Honestly, at this stage, many people who come here are no longer doing it for "making money to supplement their household income."
Many people come here just to join the fun, leaving the base lying around without writing anything, and spending their days wandering around visiting other people's factories.
This, on the contrary, gave those technically skilled big shots and wealthy bosses a sense of superiority, making them play even harder.
Sometimes, even a team fight can trigger a spectator spectacle that can fully load the server.
In other words, Screeps is not a true MMO; otherwise, even with advanced technology, Gamenova wouldn't be able to support a network world of this scale.
In any case, although we didn't get any new first-party games from Gamenova this summer, there was still plenty of fun to be had.
It wasn't until July, on Independence Day, that Gamenova finally ended its period of dormancy.
As is well known, Gamenova always drops a bombshell when it's quiet. This time was no exception.
However, this was not unexpected; in fact, it was quite surprising.
8 PM, prime time.
Gamenova's new marketing campaign has arrived as scheduled.
Tom Cruise, wearing his signature Ray-Ban sunglasses, sat in his seat.
The camera gave him a Close-Up of his face.
He was staring intently ahead, and you could see the muscles in his hands working hard through the corners of the image.
It's like piloting a fighter jet.
But as the camera zoomed out on Hitchcock, the viewers in front of their televisions realized that he wasn't piloting any kind of plane at all!
He was holding a small game console in his hand, and the screen appeared to be the classic Gamenova game "1942".
Amidst a towering burst of flames, the game's boss was reduced to ashes. At the end of the game, Tom Cruise casually tossed his handheld console into the air.
The originally silver-black handheld console tumbled in the air and turned pearl white.
A foot wearing a signature leather shoe spins on its toes on a stage-like surface.
The camera pans up, Michael Jack, wearing the same white suit as in " Smooth Criminal," catches the handheld console and starts playing with it.
Then came Madonna, Schwarzenegger, Harrison...
Each person chose their own representative color, and also had a corresponding 8-bit handheld game.
Such a lavish promotional lineup is simply unbelievable.
Looking at the whole world, there is probably only one company that has the ability to bring half of Hollywood to its side.
[novapocket-compact!]
[The NP Pocket Compact Edition is now available!]
Enjoy a 10% discount with your GameNova All-in-One Card.
A new model! But... why is it an 8-bit machine??