Sid and Lin Lixin arrived at the room where they usually held brainstorming meetings.
"You go first, this isn't urgent for me."
"Good."
Sid nodded and took a floppy disk out of his pocket.
Without a cover image, it's clearly not a formal work.
However, there was some text temporarily written on it.
[ Pirates!!]
A concise and meaningful name.
"I found this yesterday while tidying up the old studio; it's a little game I made myself back then."
Sid handed it to Lin Lixin.
This thing was created before he joined Gamenova.
At that time, he thought about this game all the time.
However, after joining Gamenova and taking over the Civilization project, the matter was dropped.
As we all know, once a project is put on hold for a period of time, it becomes very difficult to pick it up again.
Once you lose that sense of flow, it's almost impossible to recapture that initial passion.
But yesterday Sid accidentally found it again, and after thinking it over, he took it back.
" Pirates!?"
Lin Lixin raised an eyebrow.
That's quite a coincidence.
His original plan included Sid Meier's game in his full-scale entry into the PC gaming market.
Pirates!! is the true predecessor to the 2004 remake of Sid Meier's Pirates!.
An excellent work that should have been released back in 1987.
It is also one of the originators of open-world games.
The influence of this game can be seen in later titles such as Uncharted Waters Mount & Blade.
Even today, many manufacturers are still trying to create modern versions of Pirates!.
However, most of them, like Sea of Thieves, are not particularly surprising works and simply blend into the crowd.
" The Pirates! " is one of the representative works that is full of Sid Meier's personal design philosophy.
Players only need a few minutes to learn the controls, yet they can tirelessly invest hundreds or even thousands of hours in the game.
"Let's find a C64 to take a look; it's actually quite well-made."
Sid encouraged him with a suggestion.
Even though he had almost forgotten what the project looked like.
They have no shortage of any kind of equipment here, and of course, they have popular platforms like the C64.
Insert the floppy disk and wait for it to load.
After a Sid, slightly tense wait, the game's title screen finally appeared before the two of them.
Typical DOS games have a very limited number of colors.
Even the background was completely black, without any images.
This was a very common configuration in the DOS game era.
Welcome to the Pirates!!
[Let's return to the golden age of Pirates! ]
Rough, electronic-sounding 8-bit music is played through the speakers.
Having gotten used to CD-quality or even Hi-Fi-quality sound, it's really a bit disorienting to hear this kind of sharp and piercing music for the first time.
There is still a significant difference between 8-bit style music and true 8-bit music.
Sid seemed to realize the roughness of the music, and his cheeks flushed slightly.
"Hey, what's so special about that? This thing was probably made around '86 or '87, right? By the standards of that time, it was already quite sophisticated."
Lin Lixin, on the other hand, takes it all in stride.
When Moore's Law was still in effect, even works from last year cannot be judged by today's standards.
Although there are no visuals yet, the concept is already very interesting.
Players can even choose their own origin.
Was he an United Kingdom Pirates!, a France Pirates!, Netherlands Adventure, or Spain rebel?
It's clear that Sid really loves this subject and has done a lot of research.
Keep in mind that this is the end of 1989.
Pirates! aren't as popular as romance or war films, which are currently experiencing a golden age.
John Depp had only been in the industry for a short time and was far from becoming the famous Jack Sparrow.
On the contrary, Pirates! were an outdated subject in the 1980s and 90s.
The filming costs are high, the filming is difficult, and the audience may not necessarily accept it.
With CG technology still in its infancy, Hollywood must be insane to make Pirates! movies.
If they had that kind of funding, they'd rather make a cyberpunk film like Blade Runner or Star Wars film.
This is a space opera.
It's impossible to create Pirates! -themed entertainment works during this period without a deep passion for them.
"You can even set a family name? Let me think... I'll call it Lin De."
What followed was a whole host of meticulous settings.
From their strengths to all sorts of other things.
This perfectly aligns with the information-spreading methods unique to this era.
Of course, this is also a reflection of the unfortunate circumstances of our times.
Even if Sid wanted to incorporate more modern designs, it would be impossible on a weak platform like the C64.
It starts with a simple little game.
It should be a boarding action between the two ships, with Mr. Lin, played by Lin Lixin, and the enemy ship's sailors facing off with swords on the deck.
The controls were very simple, even giving Lin Lixin a feeling of returning to Street Fighter.
Moving forward and backward, blocking attacks—it's a mini-game that tests your strategic thinking and reflexes.
It took Lin Lixin about half an hour to finally let go.
It is indeed a demo; many things are not yet finished.
But it's already clear that Sid has put a lot of thought into this.
Players can take on the role of a merchant, engaging in maritime trade, or lead a fleet in an exhilarating naval battle.
They can sail freely in the Caribbean Sea, go to any port, attack any country, and plunder merchant ships.
There are no mandatory task designs or tutorials; players can choose what they want to do entirely on their own.
He could become a ruthless and evil Pirates! captain, turning the Caribbean Sea into his own territory.
They could also escort merchant caravans and wipe out all the Pirates!.
A game with a very good foundation.
Unfortunately, due to the limited capabilities of the DOS, most of the content was presented through text and rudimentary visuals.
"Interesting."
Lin Lixin nodded and looked at Sid beside him, "So you mean—you plan to finish it?"
"Yes, but not on C64."
Sid pursed his lips. "I want to remake it on Hermes! I want real naval battles, real combat like in Ace Combat! And all the things that couldn't be done in the past!"
"That's more like it! That's exactly what I was thinking."
Lin Lixin laughed, "I was originally planning to talk to you about this too. GAMENOVA's entry into the PC gaming market, you and Will are the most important..."
Main force.
With the current hardware capabilities and GAMENOVA's top-notch technical expertise, Lin Lixin is genuinely looking forward to seeing just how far this game can go.
"There's no time like the present. There's still a quarter until the Christmas season, so let's get the project started today."
"Really? That's great!"
Sid immediately perked up.
He had always been very interested in this project, but due to GAMENOVA's strategic planning, he had never had the opportunity to get involved.
It doesn't matter if it's a small-scale experimental project; basically, they can do whatever they want.
However, a proper flagship work is not something that can be easily approved.
" Theme Hospital is still using the Bullfrog name; we need to have a decent flagship title of our own."
This is also one of Lin Lixin's design choices.
Theme Hospital is a work with an extremely strong color style, so strong that it can support an entire complete series.
It's not necessarily a good thing for such works to be branded under the GAMENOVA name.
It would be better to just pull the Bullfrog out of the water.
Once a series of distinctive works such as Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper were released, Bullfrog's personal style was able to be established.
This is what is known as brand building.
Lin Lixin's goal is to make the name "Bullfrog" immediately come to mind when players think of parody simulation games.
GAMENOVA itself aims to create grand, epic works that maintain the pioneering spirit of high-investment blockbusters.
A work with such a strong fantasy style as " Pirates!!" is naturally an excellent choice.
"The kernel as a whole doesn't need any changes; it's already perfect. However, I think the pace could be faster?"
Lin Lixin briefly summarized his experience from the game.
To be honest, this was indeed his first time playing the DOS version of " Pirates!!".
Compared to the truly legendary remake from 2004, this Pirates!! is indeed still quite immature.
However, the design philosophy that Sid wanted to express through this game is already quite complete.
It possesses a complete dynamic world system, where the entire world is evolving and developing.
Unlike many games where only the protagonist's location is active while time is frozen in other areas.
What's most commendable is its exaggeratedly fast pace and strong positive feedback.
This doesn't mean it's as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog or Metal Slug.
It's a fast-paced game where players are almost never idle, always having something to do, and getting immediate feedback on everything.
Discover your objective, engage in combat, plunder rewards, grow stronger, continue your Adventure, and discover more objectives.
This is a very short feedback loop.
Almost every few minutes, players will experience a thrill in various ways.
It plays like an arcade game.
But this is a simulation game.
In an era before the concept of "meat pigeon" even existed, few works could achieve such exaggerated and strong feedback.
Not to mention it's also a simulation game.
Simulation games often overemphasize realism, requiring players to devote a significant amount of energy and time to managing the details.
But Pirates!! cut that part out.
Cut out all that boring time.
Players won't actually drift aimlessly at sea for half an hour.
Instead, the sea was filled with ships.
As soon as they get close, a thrilling and exhilarating naval battle of the Golden Age can immediately unfold.
That is, exchanging cannon fire and engaging in romantic boarding maneuvers!