Lin Lixin and Gerald exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing simultaneously.
" Sam, you're a fucking genius! Hurry, we need to get the booster pack technology sorted out before the King of Fighters project launches."
Lin Lixin immediately pulled out the blueprints and began planning the scheme, while shouting to Sam, " Sam, go back and bring Carmack over! We need to speed things up!"
"Good!"
Sam was overjoyed that his casual suggestion would actually work, and he rushed out the door towards the apartment.
Gerald also took action immediately.
NovaBo itself does not have the ability to read multiple floppy disks, but it has a reserved peripheral interface.
According to the agreement formulated by Lin Lixin, they could have developed an external floppy disk drive to give NovaBo this capability.
Although the cost cannot be reduced at all, its emergence can solve the problem that has long plagued GAMENOVA.
capacity!
If the image quality is poor, they can compress the image quality and reduce the resolution.
If performance is insufficient, they can use multiple processors to distribute the load.
If the sound effects are not up to standard, an enhancement chip can be added to the cartridge.
Only capacity will hinder them at every turn until a technological breakthrough is achieved.
Now they have a roundabout way to achieve their goal.
Sell the game separately!
"If this plan really works—" Lin Lixin sketched a rough draft while typing on the computer with one hand, "It won't just be applicable to fighting games."
"I see."
Gerald nodded and directly found an open platform in the parts library. This board, which already had a Z80Y pre-soldered, was perfect for this kind of development.
If this technology succeeds, they could even extract the map itself.
A game is a game, and resources are resources.
Just like in the Legend of Zelda.
If the technology works, they could even make each dungeon as large as the original Zelda game.
All you need to do is package the dungeon onto a separate floppy disk.
The only thing that can limit its full potential is its price.
"An additional floppy disk drive will probably cost at least another hundred dollars."
Gerald roughly estimated the production cost.
This includes miscellaneous expenses such as the contract manufacturer's fees, labor costs, transportation, and warehousing.
This thing will likely end up costing more than a fully-featured top-of-the-line handheld like the NovaPocket.
Not to mention the series of additional expenses it generates.
Do I have to spend several times the price to enjoy the full experience of a game?
"Lin, regarding players' willingness to pay—"
"We can negotiate the price of the additional driver; it's just a matter of subsidizing it a little more."
Lin Lixin nodded. "We've already invested so much money in the hardware for NovaPocket and NovaBo, one more won't make a difference. As for whether players will buy into it—that depends on the game's quality."
Ultimately, players don't dislike spending money to buy games.
Even if it involves paying for extra content, people aren't necessarily that resistant.
What will truly incite public outrage is that the quality does not match its price.
If the DLC is like Blood and Wine in the Witcher 3, Spaced Out! in Oxygen Not Included, or Yuri's Revenge in Red Alert ----
If it's DLC of this quality, it won't cause any backlash; instead, it will give the game a second life and elevate it to a higher level.
But if they're all just expansion packs like those in the Sims 4, which aren't even as feature-rich as mods, or nation tree expansions in Hearts of Iron IV that offer no new mechanics—
Selling something like this at full price? Getting scolded is the least of their worries.
Lin Lixin, on the contrary, was not worried about this at all.
The extra 1MB of storage space, besides accommodating new characters, offers a huge amount of room for gameplay.
"If this technology succeeds, at least until NAND and optical disc technologies are developed, we won't have to worry about capacity issues."
"Lin, Satoshi has replied."
Sam, holding up the landline receiver, shouted to Lin Lixin, who was not far away.
"Coming!" Lin Lixin replied, looking at Brandon Lee, who was performing a high-speed flying kick that was difficult for the camera to capture. "You've worked hard. After you finish recording these derivative moves, take a rest for today."
Although the action design of " The King of Fighters " does not pursue realism as much as " Street Fighter ", it focuses on flashy moves.
However, it cannot completely detach itself from reality and indulge in unrealistic fantasies.
The foundation of aesthetics is to conform to intuition.
Lin Lixin quickly walked up to Sam and took the receiver.
" Satoshi, have you found him?"
"Yes, Mr. Lin, I have not failed you!"
Although Satoshi's tone was tired, he was very excited.
He looked at his colleague, who was in his early 18s, and handed him the receiver.
" Koshiro. Lin's phone call."
He took a deep breath and solemnly accepted the phone.
"Mr. Lin, it's me, Yuzo Koshiro."
Yuzo Koshiro's voice carried a maturity beyond his years, but he was still an 18-year-old youth, and his tone still couldn't quite hide his emotions.
"Hello, Mr. Koshiro, or should I call you YK-2?"
YK-2 was the virtual ID that Yuzo Koshiro used after graduating from high school. "I've heard a few of your compositions, and to be honest, they fit our new work very well in style."
In Lin Lixin's memory, Yuzo Koshiro's true career peak was during the Sega MD era.
The soundtracks for works such as * the Super Shinobi * and * Streets of Rage * were composed by him, or rather by An, the studio he founded in the 1990s.
Created by Scientific.
Unlike the simple and clear music loop structure in Street Fighter, the music in the King of Fighters does not need to be distracting or distracting to the player.
This allows it to freely create more emotionally rich and stylistically intense pieces.
It transformed from a large amount of funk and jazz into an ultimate Frankenstein's monster that encompasses rock, metal, electronic, pop, and more.
In order to find this kind of passionate and classic style, Lin Lixin naturally entrusted the task to Satoshi of the Japan Office.
"I've already sent the song requirements to Satoshi, you should already know that, right?"
"I understand, and I will definitely create a work that will satisfy you!"
"Then I wish you all the best in your writing. Let Satoshi answer the phone."
Satoshi Tajiri took the receiver and immediately continued his report, "Hayashi, Mr. Kenji Kawai should be in place later. He'll contact you then."
"Okay, the music is all up to you now, do a good job."
Lin Lixin smiled; it seemed things were progressing more smoothly than he had imagined.
He turned to look at Brandon Lee, who was still recording action references, and remembered another matter he had arranged earlier.
"By the way, have you found the idol I'm looking for?"
"Well—" Satoshi Tajiri scratched her head a little embarrassedly, "It'll be ready soon. I'm talking to their managers right now."
Sometimes, Satoshi Tajiri really felt that she might never be able to figure out what Lin Lixin was thinking.
He simply couldn't understand why, when developing a fighting game, they would hire a female celebrity who was famous for her figure and a newly debuted female idol.
But Mr. Lin must have had a deeper meaning in doing this!