Late autumn.
The Christmas season is just around the corner.
Even the most productive sows should now focus on their escort duties.
After all, Gamenova can't be like 3do and Atari, which can't even provide a decent support system.
Headquarters.
With Mark Cerny and his hardware team pushing forward at full speed, although the actual device has not yet been released, the development machines available for the development team have been completed.
Unlike other manufacturers, Gamenova's development kit is not just a development board or a simple enhanced prototype.
Thanks to their complete integration of the upstream and downstream industry chain, the hardware department directly assembled several workstation PCs.
It includes CD/DVD burning, numerous GPIO serial ports, and comprehensive hardware parameter monitoring.
When Lin Lixin rushed back to the company, he saw a group of people gathered around a table, playing with... modeling clay.
It looks like they've been doing this for a long time.
The Table was cluttered with all sorts of oddly shaped things. Some of them actually looked quite decent.
But most of them, at first glance, even evoke an indescribable feeling.
It's like a clay sculpture from Lovecraft's book; just looking at it is enough to give you a headache.
Some have long, narrow bodies that are unbelievably long enough to exist in Euclid, and are covered in tentacles that defy all logic.
Some are as if they were generated completely randomly, as if they were products of God rolling dice.
If these aren't putty, then this is probably the site of some kind of voodoo ritual.
After a brief moment of mental confusion lasting less than a second, Lin Lixin quickly realized what was happening.
They are probably discussing the feasibility of Spore Spore.
"Lin! Do you want to give it a try? I think I'm starting to understand the beauty of sandbox games."
Sam was holding a lump of yellow clay in his hand, trying to shape it.
With just one glance, Lin Lixin instantly found a home for the pile of "products" on the Table.
Those guys who look decent must be Will's or Sid's creations. These two are naturally steady, or rather, reserved, and although their ideas are always wildly imaginative, they are thorough realists when it comes to actually doing things.
As for Sam... he completely let loose.
He regarded the elasticity of clay as a miracle of creation, creating a species that should never belong to this universe.
"... Tell me, what's the purpose of all those flagella on this thing's mouthparts? Is it for escaping its prey?"
Lin Lixin picked up one of the things that looked like a brush.
"Hmm... because he's handsome. It's nothing, Lin. Sandbox games are all about letting your imagination run wild, aren't they?"
"That's true."
Lin Lixin nodded helplessly.
This is the beauty of the sandbox system.
Anyone can design the unique product that comes to mind.
What's even more amazing is that these things can actually be used in actual gameplay.
They might even be drawn to games because of their unique design, their mischievousness, or their unexpected survival advantages. This experience of having one's imagination recognized and appreciated by the game is the most valuable thing.
"Alright, now that I'm back, we can get started."
Lin Lixin sat down in front of the development station, looking at the excited crowd.
After spending too much time in overly bureaucratic Japan, he actually missed the atmosphere at headquarters.
"Wait a minute, Lin, we still have a technical problem to solve."
Will, holding the clay he had just rolled up, approached Lin Lixin.
"Remember the sandbox gameplay we talked about? Then I thought about it, and we can not only let players freely combine parts, but also mimic the texture of clay and design a... sculpting system."
"Let players customize the appearance of their creatures?"
"Yes, but I haven't found a way to achieve that yet. We can't possibly cram a whole set of textures into every shape."
Will gestures to the clay in his hand.
His idea was simple.
If players could freely sculpt clay in the game like they do, the entire sandbox system would be even more fun. "So my idea is... to put a 3D modeling software in the game, don't you think that's cool?"
3D modeling is no longer a novelty.
By incorporating some of their designs into the game, you could probably create a character creation system with an extremely high degree of freedom.
Upon hearing this, Lin Lixin's lips twitched.
"I think you're making the same old mistake again. Are you planning to make players read a hand-sized modeling manual before they even start playing? The answer is definitely... fucking nope! We need to simplify."
He turned to the workstation in front of him, pondered for a while, and then began to write something.
Before long, a thing that was clearly a character creation demo was born from his hands.
While perfecting the basic functions, Lin Lixin began to explain:
"You have to imagine yourself as a baby who can't even read, Will."
Upon closer examination, Spore's character creation system actually has a very impressive feature.
Players may not realize it while playing, but it is definitely the result of careful consideration by the designers.
A little observation will reveal this.
Despite being called a character creation game, Spore doesn't use any "parameters" at all throughout the entire process.
Of course, the biological attributes provided by the various components will still be displayed.
The parameters here refer to the various data of the model itself.
Various data such as length, width, and surface angle.
These constitute the basic attributes of a creature's physical appearance, which the game completely ignores.
Players are essentially "molding clay" by directly manipulating the physical body itself.
Players may not even realize that they are actually adjusting parameters.
" Spore won't be like those simulation games of the past; its core is sandbox gameplay, making it a game suitable for children. In other words, it's positioned for ESRB-teens, 13+."
"You have to assume that all our players are children and design the system from their perspective."
"And children can't possibly understand those complicated numbers, well... it's hard to say."
Lin Lixin glanced at Carmack. Back when this guy joined Gamenova, he was a delinquent teenager who dropped out of school and played video games.
Although he's gotten a bit older now, he's still just a young man in his early twenties.
"Ahem, anyway, I hope our character creation system is as 'simple' as possible. I mean, simple for the players, but complicated for us."
"No matter how complex its underlying mechanisms are, once it's in the hands of a player, even a child, they can understand it within a minute of getting started."
As he spoke, Lin Lixin finally stopped his blind typing, which was almost blurring out of focus.
"Done."
Hearing the sound, Will came closer.
In the Kung-Fu Master it took to speak, Lin Lixin created a character creation system from scratch.
Despite being 2D, its functionality is very limited.
But it was scary enough already.
He wiggled his legs a couple of times, moved his chair closer, and tried operating the software.
When he selected the yellow clay on the screen, a nearly translucent overlay immediately appeared on it. It was something like a spine.
The nodes mesh together segment by segment, forming a spine.
There are plus and minus signs at both ends of the spine.
The moment Will saw it, Will instantly grasped how to use the system.
He tried selecting the plus sign.
Sure enough, an extra segment appeared in the spine, and the lump of yellow clay quickly lengthened, as if it had been kneaded.
The minus sign naturally means subtracting one section.
I tried it out casually, and the lump of clay quickly turned into a yellow stick.
"But this level of freedom seems a bit..."
Will frowned as he pondered, then subconsciously pushed the other joystick.
The section he selected suddenly became thicker.
In an instant, the entire strip of clay transformed into a spindle shape. "Huh? What the... freak! Brilliant!"
Will couldn't help but gasp in surprise.
He instantly grasped the true essence of the system.
Players can freely add or remove nodes, and adjust the thickness of the nodes.
Through these two dimensions, the freedom of the entire character creation system has actually become quite frightening.
While it's impossible to be as completely unrestrained as actually playing with clay or 3D modeling.
But that's enough.
More importantly, he understood why Lin Lixin was able to accomplish all of this in such a short time.
Because it was generated programmatically.
Yes, the yellow clay spindle on the screen is not a preset texture.
Instead, it is generated and drawn entirely programmatically.
The operation just now essentially modified various parameters of this texture. The program will then recalculate the skinning and render its visual appearance after the adjustments are made.
right!
Skin!
"It's like a skin! This node is its skeleton! With this system, theoretically we could even add..."
"Texture mapping, that's correct."
Lin Lixin nodded.
Proceduralization—that's the core secret of Spore.
They now have a dynamically generated shape.
If you want to further increase its flexibility without increasing complexity, there is actually another option.
Color and texture.
In a world of procedurally generated data, all of this is as easy as drinking water.
This is exactly what graphics libraries do: calculate the shape using parameters, and then apply textures and colors.
Thanks to the NovaFusion's impressive 32-bit graphics card, this fifth-generation machine can handle all of this in real time.
"Even in later stages, such as 3D, it will still be usable, and may even offer more flexibility."
"We don't need players to roll legs out of clay; instead, we can directly provide them with leg parts, offering enough freedom and numerous nodes to fit them in any position."
Even children can understand it at a glance, while maintaining a high degree of freedom.
This is true freedom.
More importantly, once this system is further improved, it could become a very interesting and powerful device in the future.
[spine]