Skywalker Ranch, Marin County.
Industrial Light & Magic staff have been gradually starting preparations in recent days.
To ensure it met the requirements, Lucas also specially set up some simple scenes in the studio.
This wasn't the first time they'd built a sailing ship.
Back when Lin Lixin approached him during the " Pirates!!" era, they had already created some ship props.
Now it's simply a matter of taking it out and reusing it.
As for the development team, they've been incredibly busy these days as well.
To create an excellent mystery game, the designers need to use more brain cells than the players.
In particular, as per Lin Lixin's request, the entire ship had a total of 60 passengers of different backgrounds.
Connecting so many characters together and designing a compelling and mind-bending story requires considerable writing skill.
A merchant ship carrying 60 people disappeared on the vast ocean.
When it returned to the dock years later, everyone on board was dead. Both players and designers must figure out what exactly happened in the process.
Just thinking about the whole thing sends chills down my spine.
Maintaining this network of relationships involving as many as 60 people became the first major challenge the entire development team needed to address.
It is not a traditional RPG game.
The death of any seemingly insignificant NPC must be treated with utmost care and scrutiny.
A group of people were gathered around a huge planning board, using thumbtacks and red string to arrange the sketches and text on it.
This is an attempt to clarify the entire network of figures.
Social relationships are complex, multi-dimensional structures.
Adding another person doesn't mean simply filling in the gaps in their background.
When adding a new person, we need to consider their social circle on the ship and their relationships with others.
At first, it was fine, since there were only a few people, including the captain and the first mate, so it was easy to make arrangements.
But as the number of people grew, the complexity of maintaining this network also began to increase exponentially. Hair loss was already visible on the carpet, with people of all ages sparsely identifiable.
Lin Lixin is alright; as long as he treats this thing as a kind of structure, his super brain will automatically organize it.
Although the preliminary preparations were difficult, they were at least progressing steadily.
During his lunch break, Lin Lixin followed Lucas out of Infocom's office building.
They had more important things to do.
After traversing the vast Skywalker Ranch, Lucas led the two into a magnificent building with a dome.
As soon as Lin Lixin entered the room, he was startled by the distinctive smell of ink and old paper.
Looking around, apart from a short-pile carpet and a few single sofas, the entire room is filled with bookshelves.
This is the Skywalker Ranch Library.
The design features two levels, with the second level having an open central section that is directly illuminated by the overhead dome. Only the surrounding walkways are preserved for finding the books needed, making it a standard yet equally magnificent design.
Whether it's the first floor or the second floor, the walls are filled with built-in bookshelves.
The various books were arranged in a dense, orderly fashion. It's clear from the markings that these were not merely for show.
The people at Lucasfilm probably come by and look through the files every day when they have nothing else to do.
My philosophy is... a good storyteller must first and foremost be a good researcher.
As Lucas spoke, he casually pulled out a book on folklore studies, flipped through a few pages, and showed them to Lin Lixin.
Many elements can be seen in the film IPs under Lucas's direction.
"If we're planning to create a world, then I'm sure I can meet your needs here."
It contains not only research classics from various disciplines, but also a large amount of film and television archives and film materials.
Including Lucasfilm's own film archives, ILM Industrial Light & Magic's technical data, Skywalker Sound ' technical data and sound library records, and various files he obtained from who-knows-where...
Lucas was right; this place is a true treasure trove.
"I should have come here sooner."
Lin Lixin looked around in surprise and stopped in front of a large pile of semiconductor technology documents.
This place is comparable to some university libraries. Although it's not as spacious and comprehensive as top-tier universities like USC, UCLA, and MIT, and doesn't have as many academic items, it's very targeted.
It's practically a paradise for filmmakers and gamers.
"I'm really looking forward to your video game museum."
Lucas was referring to the game collection library that Lin Lixin had built at Activision.
Today, thanks to the efforts of a group of people, not only are there tens of thousands of games on Atari, but even earlier games like the Miluohua Odyssey and Fairchild Semiconductor's Channel F are available.
Just a few walks there are enough to give you a glimpse into the magnificent history of video games.
So much has happened in just 20 years.
Twenty years have been condensed into circuit boards and game cartridges.
"You're right. If we ever get the chance, Gamenova should definitely build our own museum. It would be so cool."
No wonder Master Lu knows how to enjoy life.
After a few days at Skywalker Ranch, Lin Lixin didn't learn much else, but the architectural style there did give him a lot of inspiration.
Compared to a pure resort and film studio like Delta, if he had more land, he could come up with many new ideas. As he casually remarked, Lin Lixin had already found what he was looking for.
Records from the Uncharted Waters.
This includes naval histories of various countries, information on the East India Company, and of course, numerous trade records.
"You even have something like this? That's quite unexpected."
Lin Lixin casually glanced through it with interest, then tossed aside the buzzing experience bar in his head.
"That saves a lot of trouble."
He had thought he would have to make a special trip to the National Archives in London to find those maritime court documents.
Surprisingly, Lucas had quite a few here as well.
While its existing stock certainly can't compare to those of professional libraries, it's still an astonishing size for a private library.
"I started gathering information when I was working on the ' Pirates!!' project, and this is all I have so far. Most of the materials are still in Spain and the United Kingdom."
Lucas approached him and similarly pulled out several books.
"This may not be enough, but it's enough to let us know where to start. I know a few professors and collectors in this field; in fact, they'll probably be in California this week." As a Hollywood mogul, a billionaire, and one of the world's most famous filmmakers, Lucas's network is far larger than one might imagine.
He's practically the embodiment of a user with the "Face Fruit" ability.
Even if he didn't know him, Spielberg would.
If neither of them knows each other, then there's always Lin Lixin.
Just these three people together, plus Maikou and Jobs, that group is probably enough to connect people from most of the world.
"Are there any more of these accident investigation reports? The more the better, that's exactly what we need."
Lin Lixin flipped through the documents and suddenly stopped on a roll of investigation reports.
Files from the United Kingdom East India Company era.
A merchant ship, built in 1796, with a displacement of 712 tons, was registered in London.
This is a merchant ship that disappeared at sea and was rediscovered by other ships on the ocean after a year of drifting.
When they were discovered, there were no survivors left on board.
According to the registration list, there were more than fifty crew members at the time of departure. Lin Lixin turned the pages with great interest.
He thoroughly enjoyed the exhilarating feeling of unraveling the mystery step by step.
This driving force of curiosity is precisely the core of reasoning games.
Turning the page reveals a simple record of the ship's structure.
Like many merchant ships of that era, it was nothing special.
However, the investigators found the remains of several crew members on board, as well as evidence of severe food shortages.
Based on the clues, it can be inferred that they had already slaughtered and eaten all the livestock kept on the ship.
The hull itself showed no obvious damage, which is perhaps the key reason why it was able to remain almost intact for such a long period of unattended operation.
Insurance investigators ultimately classified the entire incident as a result of food shortages and loss of navigation leading to disorder on board.
Ultimately, the captain, under pressure, committed suicide in the captain's cabin.
A group of completely crazed sailors were left behind, fighting each other to the death.
The ultimate winner remains unknown; all that is known is that he was likely also severely wounded and perished along with the others not long after. The bodies on the ship were incomplete; the vast majority had probably fallen into the water.
Based on the existing clues alone, it is impossible to fully deduce everything.
Next page...
That's it?
That concludes the information.
There's a sense of absurdity and haste in it ending abruptly.
This is clearly a case of investigators just going through the motions, making a hasty conclusion after only a cursory check.
"What if someone poisoned it? What if it was Pirates! attack? What if a traitor planned to seize the ship? Just like that, it's gone?"
Lin Lixin, refusing to believe it, looked at it several more times.
Something was definitely wrong.
"This dog with missing chapters..."
"Don't dwell on it. That's how it was back then. Criminal investigation methods and tools were relatively backward. It's already rare to find a case file of this caliber." Lucas said, seeing Lin Lixin still muttering to himself as he pulled out several volumes of structural data on sailing ships.
"Too."
Lin Lixin pursed his lips, gathered up a large pile of documents, and then followed Lucas back to the first floor.
After reviewing these official documents, he could easily understand how Lucaspope had created such a brilliant work.
According to his own account, at the beginning of the project, he consulted a large number of 18th and 19th-century navigation records and accident investigation reports.
The core concept of Return of the Obra Dinn was born from the investigation records in the documents, which were in fact large-scale puzzles.
A ship reappears after being missing for many years, but everyone on board is dead.
As an insurance investigator, you have to find out exactly what happened.
So the question is, how do you make the process of solving a case gradual and engaging enough, instead of just dumping the entire crime scene on the player all at once?