How can you make someone so addicted they're practically dying?
There are two types of people in this world who are best at answering this question.
One type is chemists.
The other type... is game developers.
"So small?"
Sam was taken aback when he saw Lin Lixin's rough demonstration drawn on paper.
With Gamenova's current hardware capabilities, it's already capable of creating some very large and exaggerated maps.
With the seamless large-scale map technology they had mastered many years ago, creating an exaggeratedly large world is not a difficult task.
Especially a work with the theme of "gang warfare".
Obviously, the more people and the more lively the atmosphere, the better.
For example, you could create a complete map of nightclubs, like in " MJ's Moonwalker," where you could move around freely.
Wouldn't that be better? However, Lin Lixin clearly had a completely different idea.
Based on the several diagrams he drew, it's easy to see that the entire level consists of only a few small rooms.
But Lin Lixin must have his reasons for doing this.
"Yes, that's how small it is. We need to ensure that the level is fully loaded into memory the moment the player enters the game."
He explained, his gaze sweeping over the enemy symbols he had drawn on the paper, and quickly estimated the expenses.
"Besides that... we also need to figure out a way to implement a very troublesome new technology. No, that's not right, it should be said that we need to go back and use the old technology."
Lin Lixin thought for a moment and wrote a line on the paper.
[Streaming Loading]
Then, he crossed out the line with a pen.
Seeing him do this, Sam blinked, and roughly understood what Lin Lixin meant.
"You want to deprecate streaming?"
The so-called streaming loading is actually not a new technology. With very limited memory and other hardware capabilities, it is impossible for a game to load the entire map into memory at once.
If this problem cannot be solved, the world of games will ultimately have an upper limit.
The only way to raise this threshold is to build up hardware.
However, the emergence of streaming loading perfectly solved this problem.
It's not like the scene-switching technology they used in the Legend of Zelda.
If we're talking about its perfect application case, it's actually the flagship title that Lin Lixin prepared for Sega — Sonic the Hedgehog.
In an environment like Sonic's, where movement is extremely fast, continuously and dynamically loading new maps from the front becomes a necessary method.
Abandoning streaming loading means that Lin Lixin has voluntarily given up the possibility of large maps.
Having paid such a high price, it's no surprise that they won't come away empty-handed.
Thinking of this, Sam's eyes suddenly lit up, and he guessed Lin Lixin's idea.
"Seamless loading!"
Such a small map can be loaded silently without the player noticing. The entire map doesn't require disk loading at all; it's cached in memory from the very beginning.
The advantage of doing this is, of course, that there's no black screen!
Whether starting a new game or arriving at a new scene, there is no noticeable loading time.
"Hey, that's how it is."
Lin Lixin snapped his fingers.
"However... besides loading, it has another crucial ability."
What is it?
"Seamless reset."
Lin Lixin slowly uttered a few words.
"Seamless reset?"
"Yes, do you remember ' Dragon's Lair '?"
"Of course, I just played a game." Sam nodded.
As a predecessor to be compared to, the research work for " Dragon's Lair " was naturally arranged well in advance.
However, apart from Sam, the old assassin, the others were all brutally beaten.
Only a young, gun-wielding guy like Carmack could play this kind of game that purely tests reflexes.
" Dragon's Lair is difficult, but it can keep players playing for a long time. Why do you think that is?"
"Hmm..."
Sam pondered carefully, recalling the gaming experiences of several players with vastly different playstyles within the company.
After a long pause, he found a relatively convincing answer:
"If I had to pinpoint it, it would be the hook, the feeling that you'll definitely be able to pass it next time... and the extremely mini level design, with only one QTE per node, meaning if you fail, you just have to start over at that node."
"Not bad."
Lin Lixin gave a satisfied compliment.
Dragon's Lair, despite its numerous awful quick-time events (QTEs), is a magical game that's incredibly addictive once you start playing. It has so much to teach you. The rapid response to QTE events is both a weakness and a strength.
The reaction time window is extremely short; a slight mistake can lead to instant death. However, it allows for a quick restart at the current point. Within this extremely short retry time, every failure provides immediate feedback, and one's growth is clearly visible.
That's where his true value lies.
"We want to recreate this mechanism in ' Hotline Miami '."
After Lin Lixin's explanation, Sam finally understood what he was going to do.
Throughout his career, Sam has always seemed to fall short within Gamenova, but if he were placed in any other game company, he would be a top-tier executive who would be highly regarded.
"Flow?"
"That's right."
To achieve flow, continuity is absolutely essential.
"It's easier said than done."
Lin Lixin sighed helplessly.
The hardware of the 80s... oh no, I mean the 90s was just too weak. Don't be fooled by the fact that Hotline Miami is a top-down 2D game; its incredibly fast-paced experience and completely seamless gameplay are simply beyond the capabilities of today's processors.
Even someone as powerful as Athena only has a frequency of 80MHz.
Sam was clearly aware of this as well; he stroked his chin and began to point out the biggest problem facing this system:
"To reset the entire level, we need to destroy everything—doors, enemies, enemy AI, interactive objects, etc.—and then re-instantiate them. We also need to try to restore the player's state and send them back to the initial position..."
Even with such a small map, the workload is so heavy that it would be difficult to complete with limited processor frequency.
Why was " Dragon's Lair " able to achieve this?
That's because there's Reagan Dragon's Lair.
There is no location information, no scene, and no objects.
It's just an animated video.
The so-called "starting over" actually just means replaying an animated segment.
Ultimately, there won't be any difference; QTE is still the same QTE.
Even if a restart were to occur immediately, the amount of data that needs to be managed would be very small. "That's true."
Lin Lixin neither confirmed nor denied the statement.
To solve this problem, you either need to develop faster memory or find a way to increase the processor frequency.
However, the former requires a new architecture, which would cause the current SDRAM system to collapse more quickly, which is not beneficial to Micron's development.
It is unlikely that there will be a significant breakthrough in increasing processor frequency in the short term.
Both seemingly viable paths are actually impassable.
Not to mention that the roll-up hardware itself is a path that Lin Lixin strongly disapproves of.
What's suitable is best; sufficiency is above all else.
Making players pay a premium for performance overkill is simply too greedy.
"What if we used two Athena pieces? Two pieces together would be stronger, right?"
"Not really."
Lin Lixin shook his head. "The amount of data can be processed; the problem lies in speed. Adding two processors won't solve this problem... Hmm?"
He paused mid-sentence, then his eyes lit up.
Hey! You know what, it might actually work!
Without explaining further to Sam, he rushed out of the office and stood before Mark Cerny, with Sam, whose curiosity had been piqued, following closely behind.
They really need to talk to Cerny, the new architect, about this.
"Seamless loading and resetting is required? If so, even two Athena units probably wouldn't be enough."
Cerny shook his head, rejecting the proposal.
The problem is the same as Lin Lixin described; speed is a major weakness.
"Don't rush, Hotline Miami is a pure action game with a very small RPG component. The only difference is the mask you choose before each level starts."
Lin Lixin explained.
"I know that, but even so, the other data in the map will also..." "No, no, no."
Lin Lixin interrupted him, waving his hand.
"What I mean is, we don't need to transmit... player data; each level is independent."
Cerny's eyes suddenly flashed.
While his technical knowledge may not be as advanced as Gerald's, his thinking is absolutely unparalleled.
He understood after just one simple explanation from Lin Lixin.
"Will it work?"
"I guess... it should be possible, but I need to do some technical verification first."
The two looked at each other and nodded, everything understood without a word.
Sam, who was listening nearby, looked at the two of them with a puzzled expression.
"What kind of riddle are you playing? Stop keeping me in suspense and tell me." Lin Lixin shrugged before explaining:
"The second Athena is not used as a coprocessor to assist in information processing, but rather..."
"Backup!"
Cerny took the initiative to continue the conversation.
"We need more than just two Athena chips; we also need two sets of memory. While the player is playing, the levels are already backed up and cached in another set of chips."
It's like sewing the baseboards of two arcade machines together, except that everything except the necessary independent parts is shared.
If a player dies accidentally, the game will immediately switch to a backup.
Because the level itself is a complete rollback, and the characters are identical except for the mask chosen at the start, even using a completely separate backup doesn't feel out of place from the player's perspective.
Programming for players.
No matter how the process is implemented or how terrible the architecture is, as long as the final effect presented to the player meets expectations, then it is a perfect solution!
When you finish clearing the current floor and need to switch to the next floor, the game actually begins preloading the new map data into memory and starting the backup chip as the player controls the character to walk into the stairwell.