The second generation's trump card

"That's settled then. I've been incredibly busy these past few days. You'll have to handle the rest yourself."

For geniuses like Hans Zimmer, just like Carmack, excessive restrictions can actually hinder their performance.

It's better to let him figure it out and tinker with it himself, giving full play to his initiative. He might even have some unexpected gains.

I've never seen you not busy on any given day.

Hans Zimmer nodded, already starting to plan how to begin the preparations.

Now that he is the "Technical Director of Music at Gamenova," he naturally has to shoulder this exceptionally heavy responsibility.

"What's going on this time? The second generation of Pokémon? I've been hearing about it for ages."

As an IP with an influence that has reached unprecedented heights, even people who know nothing about games have definitely heard of it.

Not to mention that Hans Zimmer was an exceptionally avant-garde guy to begin with.

"Hey, you're really well-informed."

Lin Lixin raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed, we've been keeping fans in suspense for over half a year; it's time to present this grand gift." The Pokémon IP is one of Gamenova's most important franchises.

Perhaps the direct profits that games can generate have already reached a point of fatigue.

However, the various peripheral and derivative added values it generates are like a money printing machine, constantly creating inexhaustible Fortune.

Even during peak seasons, their business performance can rival that of the semiconductor industry.

"Do you need me to compose some music? I'm on fire right now."

Having worked on the Pirates!! project, Hans Zimmer is now eager to start his next project so he can continue playing with fun, interactive music.

"Hmm... that's not necessary. The music for Pokémon is rather unique, and you're not really suited for it. However, you could be the music director."

The second generation of Pokémon, codenamed Pokémon Gold and Silver, did indeed see significant improvements in its music.

"In fact, we started composing the music for Pokémon Gold and Silver several months ago, with our branch in Japan handling the task."

To be precise, it's Junichi Masuda from Game Freak.

He contributed a unique style to the Pokémon series, and he really has to be in charge of the sequels.

"You'll see when the time comes. Excuse me, I need to talk to Jay... I mean, Cerny about some hardware stuff." Lin Lixin was planning to get his hands on something big.

gamenova, Development Department.

Mark Cerny, who has been in office for a while, has pretty much settled into the rhythm of life at Gamenova.

The office atmosphere was completely different from Sega's, and the large group of pure game enthusiasts made him feel comfortable everywhere.

He preferred spending time in the development department, chatting with the producers, rather than being cooped up in the hardware department.

They can talk about anything from game philosophy to psychology, and sometimes even veer off into international affairs.

This is Cerny's own rule.

In his view, working in isolation is a very unhealthy practice.

To design truly excellent hardware that meets everyone's needs, you must go deep into the grassroots and get along well with players and developers.

Otherwise, even the most advanced configuration will only be an unsustainable castle in the air.

"Oh, everyone's here?" Lin Lixin saw the group chatting away as usual, sharing their experiences and insights from the "Pirates!!" project, and he almost couldn't bear to interrupt them.

This is truly a course on the essence of game design!

All of you here are influential figures in your respective industries, leaders in your fields, and the Godfather of your specialties.

To hear such a group of people gather together and share their insights on game development is a rare opportunity that you can't even get at a top university.

Unfortunately, Lin Lixin's stats have already skyrocketed, and listening to these conversations has resulted in severely diminishing marginal returns on experience points.

"Then let's not change locations. I'll just talk to you here."

Lin Lixin pulled out a chair at his workstation and sat down.

"The Pokémon Gold /Silver project is about to start, and Satoshi has recently submitted the final document."

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces lit up with excitement.

This is a big deal!

"Then the first thing, Cerny."

Lin Lixin looked at Mark Cerny and continued, "How's the RTC clock microchip I asked you to develop coming along?"

When they created the NPC handheld console, which focused on various expansion chip features, they launched several projects at once.

"Clefairy's Universal Gravitation", "Our Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand", and various sensors that may be used in the future.

This includes the RTC real-time clock.

As the name suggests, it's a device used for automatic timekeeping; simply put, it's a digital watch used to provide reliable time for the device.

This is a prerequisite for a core new mechanic in Pokémon Gold and Silver.

"Oh, of course, it was finished a long time ago, and it performed even better than expected."

Lin Lixin's requirements were not high; it didn't need a high operating frequency, or even if it was measured in seconds or minutes, it didn't matter.

By simply finding a mature RTC as a reference, it's easy to replicate.

Cerny rummaged through his drawer and pulled out a chip that was only slightly larger than his fingertip.

A button battery was embedded in it.

"Even without a main unit power supply, this thing can conservatively operate for ten years." "Very good."

Lin Lixin nodded.

"The game needs to be compatible with both the older NP cartridges and the newer NP cartridges."

"Of course, that's no problem."

Cerny readily agreed.

The two devices are essentially interchangeable; the only difference is the structure of the storage particles.

However, Lin Lixin's words made him realize something unusual.

Everyone else present also recognized it.

"Does NP... also need a transplant?"

When developing a new game, Gamenova always directly challenges the strongest platform currently available.

The NP, on the other hand, is a previous generation model that has already been replaced.

If we wanted to create a truly worthy masterpiece for this IP, frankly, it would be completely unsuitable for an 8-bit handheld console like the NP, which has very limited architecture and capabilities. "Of course! Not just NP, we'll make NB, NX, NS, and NPC too."

Although there is a huge difference between 16-bit and 8-bit, it is not to the point that the differences are completely irreconcilable.

Thanks to the storage improvements brought by NAND flash memory, it is now possible to produce products with capacities far exceeding those of traditional NP chips.

The days when 151 Pokémon fill up the storage space are long gone.

Given this condition, Lin Lixin naturally wouldn't give up.

This is also a crucial part of the Pokémon strategy.

"If we don't make it available on all platforms, then all that effort that guy put into Pokémon Center will have been for nothing, right?"

He had been laying the groundwork for this moment long ago, when he was working on the Pal Park and GTS at the Pokémon Center.

The case is now solved.

"All versions of Pokémon compatible"

Those words from back then have now become a tangible reality.

All versions... it's not just about the Gold and Silver and Red Green generations... With this system, they can even transfer data from the Red Green floppy disks on the NB Console to the Gold and Silver cartridges on the NS handheld.

Transcending hardware, versions, and time.

It truly connects the entire Pokémon world.

If players want a more refined gaming experience, they can choose to use a powerful 16-bit device, whether it's an NX console or a NS handheld, to have a next-generation gaming experience.

If you're on a tight budget, or if you're looking for the long battery life that NP series is known for, you can choose to sacrifice graphics and sound effects to play the 8-bit version.

To achieve this goal, they need to develop dedicated versions for different platforms.

This workload...

Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

Even someone as skilled at coding as Carmack showed a hint of worry.

With such a small development team, are we really going to outsource everything and find Sega or other partners to help?

Can this still be considered their own creation?

However, if they don't outsource and try to polish it to a satisfactory standard on their own, they can forget about making it in time for this year's Christmas season. Forcing them into a project will ultimately result in something like. et, which brought down the Atari empire.

Fans, whose appetites have been whetted, have been waiting for years.

Once a reputation is damaged, the backlash can be unbearable.

"Hmm? What are you guys thinking about? Why are you all so quiet?"

Lin Lixin noticed that the atmosphere was getting a bit awkward and was somewhat puzzled.

"Lin... the workload... I'm afraid we won't be able to keep up."

In the end, it was Cerny who took the initiative to explain.

He worked for Sega for many years and has a clear understanding of the workload involved in a project.

"Oh, I thought something was wrong."

Lin Lixin shook his head helplessly.

"In the past, this would have been quite difficult; it would have taken several teams to complete. But..."

At this point, he suddenly changed the subject, "Didn't I happen to be on a business trip to Japan at the beginning of the year? I talked to Satoshi about this at the time."

Upon hearing this, Cerny knew what time he was referring to.

Around February, when Lin Lixin came to Sega to take charge of the Sonic the Hedgehog project.

He missed Lin Lixin's lecture at that time due to personal reasons and almost cried his eyes out at home.

In the blink of an eye, I never imagined I'd become a core member of Gamenova.

It truly makes one marvel at the power of time!

"At that time, I was thinking about how to solve this problem. While writing development tools for Sonic the Hedgehog, I suddenly realized the solution."

In fact, this is a workflow from the future.

Game development is done using workstations, dynamically calling SDKs for different platforms as needed, and compiling and packaging the project into versions for the corresponding platforms.

"So... it took me a while, to be precise, until last month, before I finally finished it."

Lin Lixin's lips curled into a smile as he looked at the bewildered crowd.

"Now we only need to make one version."