Gaming Was Not an Isolated Industry

By the time Lin Lixin finally returned to Gamenova after a lot of trouble, Yu Suzuki and Cerny had already turned the arcade into a complete mess.

Nova Arcade.

A large group of engineers were tinkering around several test platforms.

Sparks from welding occasionally flew out.

This is the norm for arcade game studios.

Rather than game companies or technology companies, arcade studios often resemble mechanical factories.

Among the crowd, Lin Lixin immediately spotted Cerny and Yu Suzuki, who were hunched over their workbench, drawing something on graph paper.

"Thank you for your hard work, both of you."

At first glance, Cerny's chin was covered with a fine beard, clearly indicating that he had been busy here for the past few days and hadn't had time to groom himself.

Yu Suzuki is in a similar situation.

"Hmm... Hmm? Lin, you're back."

Cerny looked up and saw who it was, then snapped out of his reverie. "Well, I went to sort out the music issue. How's the progress?"

"It's not complicated, Chairman Lin. We've already completed the low-frequency vibration platform."

Yu Suzuki continued.

Led by him, the group arrived at one of the testing platforms.

It has been connected to a test circuit board.

Lin Lixin tried to stand on it, while Yu Suzuki went to the side and operated the knob to start releasing the signal.

The vibration frequency is not high, and the amplitude is not particularly large.

However, because the sensation travels straight up from the soles of the feet, it is very intense.

For a moment, Lin Lixin even had the illusion that an earthquake had struck.

It's not intense, but it's not completely unnoticed either; the tuning is just right.

It turns out that Yu Suzuki wasn't only capable of doing the kind of grand, sweeping things; rather, he simply preferred to do those kinds of things.

"We have mature designs for the air cannons and the scrolling lights; we just need to do some simple integration. Basically... it's all done," Cerny explained as he stepped forward.

"However, the development department doesn't seem to be making any moves. Aren't they planning to start the game's development support?"

"A game? Oh, because this project isn't very big, I can handle it myself, so I didn't bother them."

Lin Lixin waved his hand and stepped down from the platform.

Beat Hazard is certainly not a particularly large-scale work.

The original "Beat Hazard" was only 30MB in size.

Keep in mind that this is a product from the year 2000 onwards; to have this kind of capacity is simply unbelievable.

That's understandable, though.

Because rather than being a game, Beat Hazard is more like a playable music player.

Compared to other music games, its biggest feature is its ability to freely read local music files.

The game generates enemies in real time based on the rhythm of the music, which also affects enemy density and the player's attack power.

In other words, each piece of music offers a distinct yet harmonious experience. Choosing this title as Gamenova's first move against Sony seems perfectly appropriate.

However, despite its sophisticated sound, the core gameplay of this game is actually quite simple.

Ultimately, it's just a super-enhanced version of "1942".

It's a typical bullet hell shooter game, but with some rhythm game elements added.

"To be honest, the only thing you guys need to worry about with this game is probably not finding enough high-energy tracks."

Lin Lixin smiled, went to the office, randomly picked up a development machine, and started working.

He had already completed the music spectrum analysis-related work, such as FFT, long ago.

Now all you need to do is integrate this system into the game and design the mapping content for different frequency bands.

For example, low frequencies symbolize large enemies, while mid frequencies symbolize ordinary enemy aircraft and affect the number of bullets, etc.

Finally, add a top-notch light pollution effect, and you're all done.

Of course, to handle such a massive barrage of comments, the choice of chip must be carefully considered.

The high-frequency 32-bit processor Athena definitely needed to be used. In addition, Lin Lixin added two extra DSPs to process various signals.

Finally, there's the latest high-speed memory model from the lab.

This lineup was proven valuable back in the Ace Combat era, so it's perfectly capable of being used in a 2D flight shooting game.

It's simply because of the limitations of the times that Lin Lixin needed to slightly reduce the number of bullets.

He also has a very simple and straightforward solution to this.

Are there fewer bullets?

Add a trailing light effect directly to the bullets.

It doesn't need to be too long; just a tiny bit can quickly and dramatically improve the visual effect.

The previously scattered bullets have been transformed into a single, continuous line, making the situation even more exaggerated than before the bullet quantity was limited.

Yu Suzuki stood silently in front of him, watching Lin Lixin finish the optimization.

Cerny, who was standing nearby, was also watching.

As a double senior agent who had worked for both Sega and Gamenova, Cerny was very familiar with both sides. He looked at Yu Suzuki, seemingly guessing what he was thinking.

"What do you think? I do think Suzuki -san, you could try putting some effort into these aspects occasionally, instead of relying solely on hardware."

Yu Suzuki has always had a strange obsession with arcade games.

He strives for absolute perfection, but rarely polishes the game itself, instead pouring development resources into the engineering team.

Cerny strongly disagreed with this.

"Didn't you used to be good at superscaling? Now that hardware technology has improved, why are you becoming more and more stubborn?"

"I see."

Yu Suzuki nodded without saying anything more.

He has truly learned a lot during the few days he has worked with Gamenova.

They also discovered many problems that they couldn't see in their own "kingdom" before.

What is the status of AM2?

In the past, before Gamenova took over Sega's mess, AM2 sometimes had more influence than the president. Even Isao Okawa and Hayao Nakayama couldn't simply order AM2 around.

In terms of both resources and influence, they are definitely in the top tier.

It's fair to say that at that time, Yu Suzuki was essentially the most powerful person under the board of directors.

This is also the most important reason why AM2 can disregard costs and recklessly develop all sorts of fantastical products.

am2 was like a small kingdom that Sega had internally partitioned.

Technological monopoly, resource monopoly, talent monopoly...

The core arcade technology of AM2 was so advanced that even other development teams within Sega couldn't access it.

Of course, this situation was basically resolved after Sage Lin swung his big fist down.

Apart from a few die-hards who still retain that uniquely Japan workplace mentality, Sega now finally looks like a modern corporation.

And Yu Suzuki, the Tyrant who couldn't even be controlled by the president in the past, is now finally willing to obey orders.

"Over-engineering and over-technological..."

Yu Suzuki rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He wasn't sure if it was from working overtime or his unstable emotions, but his head was throbbing.

In the past, he was the undisputed ruler of Sega; who dared to utter a single word of dissent against him?

I've been indulging in a false sense of perfection for far too long...

"Suzuki -san, do you know why I left the then-booming Atari to go to Japan and join Sega?"

Cerny spoke, his eyes remained fixed on Lin Lixin was still writing code.

"Back then, Japan was the absolute center of the global gaming industry. You had advantages that the United States gaming industry couldn't achieve, and I wanted to learn from you."

"Um..."

Yu Suzuki pondered for a moment.

He had heard Cerny mention these things before.

Cerny once pursued the unique "artistic quality" of Japan games. In those days when United States developers were all about geeks, not every company could take art as seriously as Gamenova.

Most people treat it as a programming project.

"Combining artistry with innovative gameplay, along with a player-centric design philosophy—that's what I love. But guess what I saw?" Cerny turned his gaze to the former "king" beside him.

"I witnessed an extremely harsh sweatshop environment. The minister had to give a speech every morning, and in our small office, there were even five different administrative ranks."

"At Sega, they place a strong emphasis on discipline and hierarchy... well, I have to admit that this structure does make a lot of sense in large collaborative projects, but..."

Cerny shrugged and didn't say anything more.

However, Yu Suzuki already understood what he meant.

He recalled the chaotic scene at Gamenova the day he arrived.

The dignified Chairman Lin was actually arguing with a bunch of subordinates while holding a MIDI key.

He imagined what it would be like for Hayao Nakayama or Isao Okawa to do, and immediately got goosebumps.

There was a developer in the development department who was also from Japan.

At the time, Yu Suzuki even chatted with the other party for a while longer.

It seems that when he was working at Konami, Lin Lixin took a liking to the portfolio that the other party submitted and poached him entirely.

As for the reason... it sounds incredibly exaggerated.

Surprisingly, it was because they "highly admired his cinematic way of thinking."

Furthermore, this guy named Hideo Kojima's position within Gamenova is "Game Director."

Game Director!

There wasn't a single position like that available throughout Sega.

Neighboring companies Namco, Nintendo, and Konami don't have it.

This guy spends his days playing video games and traveling around with his camera, occasionally hanging out with Hollywood directors and actors.

I heard that he was responsible for many of the amazing scenes in the Biohazard movie.

Thinking of this, Yu Suzuki let out a long sigh.

"The gaming industry is never an isolated phenomenon; it's not something that a few programmers and engineers can handle."

"Yes, this is also what Lin advocates: integrating talents from all walks of life, providing education for all, and ensuring that everyone performs their duties and fulfills their responsibilities."

Lin Lixin, who was coding, paused slightly upon hearing the conversation between the two people behind him, but quickly recovered. Yu Suzuki definitely needed this empowerment.

Only by firmly imprinting this design philosophy deep in his soul could he bring Sega's ultimate masterpiece to life.

Shenmue is such a work.

For this game, Yu Suzuki invited professionals from various fields, including architectural designers, Hollywood filmmakers, and animation talents, to join the project.

This is how the world of Shenmue was created.