Hollywood, Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic.
How are you feeling?
George Lucas leaned against his desk and asked Lin Lixin beside him.
Several technicians were operating the computer; the screen displayed a GUI interface and some basic software.
The image clarity isn't particularly high; aside from the surrounding toolbars, there's only the main work area in the center.
Although the resolution is average, it is still clear that this is a simple, worn, and rustic wooden goblet.
The Holy Grail as described in the Bible.
Okay, this is certainly not something Lucas and his team are planning to do with anything superstitious.
It's actually the iconic artifact from the movie " Raiders of the Lost Ark 3," which was released just last year.
In the movie, the Holy Grail possesses immortality and healing abilities, as well as supernatural powers.
As intended, it wasn't the gold cup studded with jewels and diamonds that one might intuitively expect, but rather a simple wooden cup.
Because of its smooth, curved shape and unique texture, this thing has become a classic test model for modeling software.
It's like the monkey head and teapot of later generations.
The Industrial Light & Magic team modeled it.
It has a small number of faces and low precision, but it is already a rare and valuable thing in this era.
Thanks to the extensive modeling work outsourced to them in the Need for Speed project, and the workstations equipped with brand-new engineering-grade graphics cards, the entire Industrial Light & Magic team has made remarkable progress in the field of 3D modeling.
"Not bad, but it's a pity it's only suitable for movies. It would be difficult for games to run such a high-precision model in real time."
Lin Lixin nodded, even showing a hint of envy.
That's the good thing about movie CG.
Everything is rendered in advance, so there's no need to worry about the performance pressure of real-time rendering.
No matter how high the precision of the model, as long as Lucas and his team render it in advance, the final version presented to the audience will be smooth enough.
Unfortunately, games require real-time performance, so they can't be played like movies.
"At least with the gradual popularization of graphics cards, we can be more daring in our gaming in the future."
Lin Lixin sighed, looking at the wooden cup in the picture. "The texture is quite realistic. Did you use our new PBR piping system?"
"Yes, it's a brilliant idea."
If we're talking about major breakthroughs in computer graphics and CG visual effects recently, the multi-layered textures used in Need for Speed are undoubtedly number one.
Its emergence has completely changed Industrial Light & Magic's workflow in modeling.
The entire CG team has now been specialized into several different studios.
Some were responsible for roughing out the model, others for carving and polishing, and still others for coloring.
The emergence of multi-layered textures has fundamentally changed the original coloring logic.
Now they can use models with lower polygon counts to create effects that are actually more gorgeous and realistic than models with higher polygon counts.
" Richard, show Lin our material library."
"Yes, sir."
The young man named Richard Van der Wendt received the order and quickly began operating the workstation.
Before long, a window resembling a file management system appeared.
It already contains about ten different stickers.
"This is the material library we're building up, including textures and normal maps, as well as some common metallic sheens."
Lucas explained to Lin Lixin.
"Although the quantity is still small now, I believe that as time goes on, this material library will become more and more complete, and we will be able to prepare the appearance of the model in a much faster and more flexible way than before."
"Huh? You've industrialized so quickly, that's impressive."
Lin Lixin stared at the screen in astonishment.
It must be said that Lucas is indeed very talented in this area.
While they were still experimenting with building new texture functionality into the game engine, Lucas had already implemented it ahead of time in a very green-skinned way.
"We call it the Material Library ' project, and the current person in charge is Richard. By the way, he was your alumnus."
"Van der Wend?"
Lin Lixin nodded thoughtfully.
In California, there are only two top-tier schools, and they are locked in a fierce, life-or-death struggle, both in terms of football and their renowned alumni.
One of them is UCLA, California State University, Los Angeles renowned for its outstanding graduates.
The founding trio of Blizzard, the Activision CEO during the Kotick era, and the YouTube CEO all graduated from this school.
He has won at least seven Nobel Prize since the beginning of his 33-year career.
The other one, of course, is University of Southern California.
Unlike UCLA, which is more academically focused, University of Southern California's absolute core is its film school.
As for notable alumni?
I won't even mention the directors and actors in the film and television industry, the "father of computer viruses," or the CEO of Warner.
The sheer value of GAMENOVA alone is enough to prove its worth.
Even if you don't become a legendary figure by studying at this university, you can still become a remarkable expert.
Richard van der Wendt, standing before us, is clearly one of them.
but----
As Lin Lixin looked at the textures of the materials on the screen, they seemed increasingly familiar.
Early computer graphics were very rudimentary; projects like Magic Bull's were pretty much the same.
It's fun, but the graphics are really nothing to brag about.
If future generations of children saw this, they would feel a strange sense of dread, let alone play with it.
This is the same thing.
But Lin Lixin always felt that its style carried a unique, grand, and epic flavor.
"Okay, all good things to you guys. The MentaIRa renderer update is being worked on by NG."
Unable to figure it out, Lin Lixin decided not to dwell on it any longer. He said goodbye to Lucas and prepared to leave.
He also has a major project to prepare for regarding the graphics card and the new system.
In preparation for this year's Christmas season, GAMENOVA has a project that can definitely be considered a major production.
Lin Lixin felt a pang of regret whenever he thought about the mega-project that was about to be launched.
If this pre-rendering technology could be used, I wonder how good the results would be.
Lin Lixin prepared many projects to promote the popularization of PCs, but for the United States market, probably none of them can compare to the following projects.
Car, gun, ball.
Now that cars are available, the widespread adoption of graphics cards is slowly progressing, and new broadband technologies have begun small-scale preliminary testing.
The next step is already quite clear.
When it comes to the top-selling PC games of the golden age, there are only two answers.
One of them is D0OM; FPS is definitely the ultimate answer for PC games.
The other is the last glimmer of Adventure games, namely Myst.
It was Legend that once topped the sales charts for a long time, even surpassing a title like "D00M" that perfectly resonated with the mainstream tastes of Western gamers.
Even Diablo and Doom couldn't beat its sales.
A super best-selling masterpiece that has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.
Wait a minute?
Lin Lixin was taken aback, his steps faltering as he looked back at the texture maps on the screen.
So it was you?
Richard Wend Mond was a technical artist at Industrial Light & Magic at the time.
He will be hired by Cyan Studios in a few years to become the co-director and art director of Riven, the sequel to Myst.
According to the original timeline, he should have already been recruited by Disney to work as the art director for " Aladdin " by now.
After Richard took over, the art style of Riven changed drastically from the original Myst.
Or rather, it's progress.
Unlike the monotonous and dry lighting effects of the Myst era, Richard a large amount of cinematic lighting in the Riven era.
The metallic reflection, the firelight, the shadows, the dampness in the air, the details of the shadows----
He pushed all of these to the extreme, almost to the point of being demanding.
As a sequel to Myst, Riven did not disappoint Cyan Studios.
Just two months after its release, sales exceeded one million copies, once again successfully topping the sales charts.
It remains the top-selling CD-ROM.
How terrifying is the influence of Myst?
To put it simply, without Myst, the PC probably wouldn't have had that transitional period where CD-ROM drives were standard equipment.
It was this work that gave Adventure games, which were on a downward spiral, one last chance to struggle and burst forth with extraordinary brilliance.
However, it also destroyed the Adventure game genre and completely ended the era of video games dominated by Adventure games.
Myst single-handedly made CD-ROM drives an essential PC component, greatly promoting their widespread adoption.
Before it, the existence of CD-ROM drives was always a very ambiguous concept for PC users.
What's the point of buying it?
It simply makes installing software a little easier.
After all, if you use floppy disks, you'd need at least ten disks just to install a Windows system.
If you plan to install some professional software, then you won't be able to put anything else on your Table; it will probably be completely covered with floppy disks.
The same software can sometimes be stored on a single CD.
Of course, at this timeline, with a large number of PC games available from Gamenova, the popularity of CD-ROM drives was still quite high.
Unlike today, where PC game companies generally still use floppy disks.
The original Myst was released on a CD, and it was a whole CD.
With a capacity of up to 650MB, that's terrifying.
So what did Myst do with all that storage space?
There are no 3D models, no 3D space, and no realistic lighting engine or physical simulation.
Instead, it was packed with 2,500 pre-rendered static scenes, a large amount of live-action video footage, and 40 minutes of background music.
Its implementation logic is very similar to that of the original Biohazard.
A static scene with a fixed camera and pre-rendered graphics.
By using a large number of images, they artificially created an exaggerated 3D spatial exploration experience.
It can be described as a concrete manifestation of the Power of the Greenskins.
Given its extensive puzzle-solving and Adventure content, in a sense, this thing could actually be considered a version of Biohazard.
A spiritual guide?
"Hey----that's a really good idea."
Lin Lixin rubbed his chin.
Independence Day has just passed, and we are only halfway through the year.
Starting Christmas preparations now seems a bit premature.
For the entire second half of the year, GAMENOVA had a completely blank period for first-party projects.
Although Activision continues to supply us with quality mini-games, they are ultimately not major titles.
Considering that year-end releases will most likely be dominated by PC, with other platforms playing a supporting role, it's likely that PC games will also be the primary platform for releases.
Now, releasing Myst seems like a very opportune moment.
" Lucas, I have a good idea."
Who says games can't use pre-rendered assets like movies?