Recaps

Lin Lixin explained how "The Sims: Urbz" had found success with casual players despite its limited gameplay depth, and hinted that GAMENOVA had another Christmas project in development. He began preparing a custom numerical coprocessor to support a highly addictive game that would promote the NEXUS network.

• "The Sims: Urbz" continued selling steadily, attracting young women and other casual players to GAMENOVA's consoles.
• Steve interviewed Lin Lixin and praised the game's clothing system and character routes, while Lin described it as a minigame collection designed for its core audience.
• Steve asked whether GAMENOVA had another Christmas surprise, and Lin refused to reveal details.
• Lin Lixin decided to use a low-budget, addictive game to showcase the faster NEXUS network and began arranging a custom "Super Numerical Coprocessor" for the NovaXeno.

Lin Lixin visited Infocom and told Caneghem he wanted the studio to revive the Zork IP with an idle-game spin-off. The chapter ended with Lin revealing that the game’s number range would reach 1 followed by nineteen zeros.

• Lin Lixin visited Caneghem at Infocom and asked how the studio was doing.
• Caneghem explained that Infocom was restoring Zork while he and veteran employees salvaged the studio’s abandoned IPs.
• Lin Lixin said he wanted to revive Zork with a spin-off called Zork Idle.
• Lin Lixin explained that idle games depended on enormous numbers and could not work within the limits of the NP or NX’s 16-bit environment.
• Caneghem guessed that a 32-bit coprocessor would raise the limit to about two billion, but Lin Lixin revealed a number equal to 1 followed by nineteen zeros.

Lin Lixin developed a large-number processor and led Infocom in building the incremental RPG Zork Idle. After three days of intense work, he left to test the nearly complete game, which received enthusiastic early-access reviews.

• Caneghem was stunned when Lin Lixin explained that Zork Idle would support numbers as large as 9,220,000,000,000,000,000 through software techniques on 16-bit hardware.
• Vivian gave Lin Lixin a custom chip for calculating large numbers, and he brought his prepared design document to Infocom.
• Lin Lixin set the developers a one-week deadline and drove the team into developing Zork Idle, while Caneghem and the others rallied behind him.
• After three days, Lin Lixin had completed most of the game's core framework and left to run tests, while exhausted Caneghem collapsed at his desk.
• ElectronicGames reported that Zork Idle was undergoing an internal closed early-access test and praised its gameplay and art.

Eighteen-year-old Linus worked on a 3D model using his modified PC and NovaEngine, while delayed game releases in Finland made the University of Helsinki depend on a disc courier called “Backpack.” Linus initially rejected Backpack’s latest games, but the ZORK IDLE box caught his attention because he remembered the original Zork and its unusual technology.

• Linus used his NovaEngine license and a NovaRadeon card to create a simple 3D model on his modified PC.
• Backpack visited Linus to sell imported GAMENOVA discs, but Linus said he was not interested in video games.
• Backpack insisted that one new release might interest Linus and pulled out a box labeled ZORK IDLE.
• Linus recognized Zork and recalled studying its Z-Machine, ZIL, and MDL, then realized the box advertised a sequel.

Linus bought GAMENOVA’s new Zork game and discovered that it used an included coprocessor despite looking like a simple text-driven game. After trying it, he found that actions ran automatically, while its crafting and combat systems were far more complex than he expected.

• Linus noticed the included enhancement chip and wondered what the game needed such large numbers for.
• Linus started the game and found a plain interface with a naming step and a survival quest to cut wood.
• Linus followed the tutorial and discovered that selected tasks, such as woodcutting, progressed automatically without further input.
• Linus learned that the game had complex automated RPG combat and crafting systems requiring him to gather and assemble materials.

Linus found that ZorkIDLE’s real-time waiting and offline progress fit seamlessly into his development routine, and he became increasingly attached to leaving it running. As its resource totals grew through ever-larger units, he discovered how thrilling the game’s escalating numbers felt.

• Linus left ZorkIDLE running while he worked, switching between woodcutting, firemaking, and mining as tasks finished.
• After closing the game for the night, Linus felt restless the next morning without its progress bars and music beside him.
• Linus loaded six hours of offline progress, assigned Astrology to idle, and returned to development with his unease gone.
• Linus made ZorkIDLE part of his daily routine, checking his gains and setting skills to idle before bed.
• After two days, Linus watched his supplies reach increasingly large units and felt exhilarated by the swelling numbers.

Linus overheard students discussing ZorkIDLE and realized he wanted other players to compare his progress with, but the rankings would not load from Europe. Using the University of Helsinki’s network, he created a relay that connected the game to GAMENOVA’s servers, and his name began climbing the regional rankings.

• Linus overheard students discussing ZorkIDLE and tried to show off his progress, but they declined his invitation to play.
• Linus returned to his room and discovered that the rankings would not load because NEXUS service did not cover continental Europe.
• Linus used his technical skills to access the university’s backbone network and arranged a connection to GAMENOVA’s servers.
• A week later, students at the University of Helsinki began using Linus’s relay to load ZorkIDLE’s rankings.
• Linus’s name appeared on the regional rankings and climbed noticeably each day.

After Zork Idle’s polarized reception and rumors about Lin Lixin’s influence, he decided to answer critics by making a game for a broader audience. He settled on a console kart racing game for NovaXeno that would prioritize fun over realism.

• Lin Lixin dismissed magazines claiming he had fallen from grace and told Sam that games mattered more than media reviews.
• Lin Lixin decided to make a mass-market game with technological innovation rather than respond to the rumors through public relations.
• Lin Lixin identified family-oriented games as a gap in GAMENOVA’s lineup and considered making a racing game.
• Lin Lixin told Sam the new NovaXeno game would be kart racing, designed to push accessible fun to its limit rather than pursue realism.

Lin Lixin explained his plan for a family-friendly, chaotic racing game to Sam, who suggested using popular GAMENOVA characters to create NOVA Kart. Lin Lixin assigned Satoshi's team to prepare character art and went to ask Gerald to make a steering wheel controller.

• Lin Lixin described how a racing game focused on fun and combat could appeal beyond racing enthusiasts, and Sam recognized it as a playground disguised as a racing game.
• Lin Lixin said the game should suit players of all ages and considered asking Satoshi or Ubisoft to create a lighter visual style.
• Sam suggested selecting popular characters from the GAMENOVA All-in-One Card Sales Statistics to make NOVA Kart, and Lin Lixin agreed.
• Lin Lixin told Sam to have Satoshi's team prepare character materials using 3D-to-2D rendering, without making 3D models.
• Lin Lixin headed upstairs to ask Gerald to make a steering wheel controller for the game.

Lin Lixin and Gerald tried to build a motion-controlled steering wheel, but their prototype’s accelerometer proved far too imprecise. After Lin Lixin rejected Gerald’s ultrasonic-positioning idea because it recalled the costly, flawed Power Glove, he spotted a possible low-cost solution in the NX controller.

• Lin Lixin asked Gerald to help develop a motion-controlled steering wheel for kart racing.
• Gerald assembled a crude prototype while Lin Lixin wrote software to display its input data.
• Lin Lixin saw that the prototype’s readings were overwhelmed by noise and realized the necessary MEMS technology was too advanced for them to produce.
• Gerald proposed using ultrasonic positioning, but Lin Lixin rejected the idea after recalling the Power Glove’s high latency, low precision, and steep learning curve.
• Lin Lixin looked at the NX controller and suggested he had found a way to make the peripheral cost only a few dollars.

Lin Lixin abandoned MEMS-based steering controls and used 3D printing to prototype a purely mechanical steering wheel attachment for the NX controller. Gerald recognized that the device converted the joystick’s side-to-side movement into rotation.

• Lin Lixin decided to make a purely mechanical controller attachment after MEMS microelectromechanics failed to solve the problem.
• Lin Lixin visited Charles Hull at 3D Systems and invested in the company’s SLA rapid-prototyping technology.
• Lin Lixin examined the SLA-250 and called Carmack to arrange work on NovaEngine’s support for STL files.
• Lin Lixin returned to GAMENOVA with a resin-printed attachment and clipped it onto the controller’s joystick.
• Gerald realized the attachment used a gear, toothed rack, and finger rings to turn joystick movement into rotation.

Lin Lixin resolved GAMENOVA’s racing-game controller problem with simple plastic steering-wheel attachments and arranged production in time for NOVA Kart’s Christmas release. Vincent secretly bought NOVA Kart and steering wheels to give his mother for her birthday, then wrote a wish to Santa.

• Lin Lixin showed Gerald how a toothed rack could turn a controller into a steering wheel and asked him to prepare small and large versions for production.
• GAMENOVA announced that NOVA Kart would release on Christmas Day, just as children’s Christmas wishes were being featured in the media.
• Vincent asked Hunter for advice on a birthday present for his mother, and Hunter suggested preordering NOVA Kart.
• On Christmas Day, Vincent received the game and two steering wheels, then hid them and wrapped them as gifts for his family.
• Vincent wrote, “Dear Santa, I wish-” at his desk.

Vincent celebrated Christmas with his family, receiving a NovaPocket and games from his parents before they played Nova Kart together. Emma and Vincent began racing while Kent left to visit Vincent’s uncle.

• Vincent opened Emma’s gift and discovered a NovaPocket, then opened Kent’s gift to find several game cartridges.
• Vincent gave Kent a medal calling him the best dad and gave Emma a Nova Kart disc and steering wheel kit.
• Kent and Emma realized they had bought a duplicate copy of Nova Kart that Kent had planned to put in Vincent’s stocking.
• Kent left under the pretense of visiting Vincent’s uncle so Emma and Vincent could play the two-player game.
• Emma explained the engine classes, and Vincent chose 50cc before picking Arcanine while Emma picked Guile.

Emma and Vincent played GAMENOVA’s new 3D racing game, Nova Kart, with Emma winning race after race while Vincent enjoyed the game despite losing. Vincent thanked his mother for the Christmas present, and his journal revealed that he planned to give Hunter the second copy of Nova Kart.

• Emma and Vincent raced in Nova Kart, using its steering wheel peripheral and competing against AI racers.
• Emma mastered the track and repeatedly beat Vincent, even as the game gave him stronger items when he fell behind.
• Vincent told Emma that Nova Kart was the best Christmas present he had ever received and said he wanted her to be happy.
• Emma hugged Vincent but refused his request to let him win a race.
• Vincent wrote that he was grateful to GAMENOVA for the game and planned to give Hunter his second copy of Nova Kart.

Lin Lixin reviewed Nova Kart’s strong sales and inspected the NovaSwift handheld prototype, then decided it needed a launch game. He summoned Christopher to headquarters and named Hill Climb Racing as the first project in a planned physics trilogy.

• Lin Lixin saw that Nova Kart had sold over eight million copies in its first week and told Sam there was no need to rush Ubisoft’s track data back.
• Lin Lixin examined the elite steering wheel designs and asked Gerald to look for ways to improve them.
• Lin Lixin inspected Gerald’s working NovaSwift prototype and learned that Vivian’s NAND production line had reached commercially viable yields.
• Lin Lixin decided NovaSwift needed a launch title and called Christopher to bring him three projects at headquarters.
• Lin Lixin named his planned series the Physics Trilogy and wrote Hill Climb Racing on the development department’s whiteboard.

Lin Lixin proposed Climbhillracing, a stripped-down casual racing game for NovaSwift built around vehicle customization rather than the demanding features of Rock N' Roll Racing. He explained the approach by composing a deliberately even, seamless piano loop, and Kojima recognized that it was designed to repeat without a noticeable beginning or end.

• Will questioned why NovaSwift's launch game was another racing title, and Lin Lixin said it would be unlike the company's previous racing games, though it shared a feature with Rock N' Roll Racing.
• Lin Lixin used the arcade cabinet's vehicle customization screen to explain that he wanted to build a casual game around that feature.
• Carmack worried that NovaSwift could not handle a port of Rock N' Roll Racing, but Lin Lixin clarified that he was not adding features and instead wanted to subtract unnecessary demands.
• Lin Lixin said the game needed neither 3D graphics nor high-resolution textures or elaborate music, then played a simple, soothing melody on the piano.
• Kojima recognized that Lin Lixin had composed the piece with an even rhythm and no obvious climax or ending so it could loop seamlessly.

Lin Lixin explained how minimalist controls, unobtrusive music, and clear feedback could help players enter a state of flow in Hill Climb Racing. Sam realized that Tetris had given him that same immersion from the beginning, and he reaffirmed that he would always choose to play it.

• Lin Lixin described flow theory and explained how Hill Climb Racing could use clear goals, immediate feedback, and simple controls to keep players immersed.
• Lin Lixin argued that casual games should strip away unnecessary elements so players could focus on the controls and forget everyday distractions.
• Sam recognized Tetris as the game that had first made him lose himself in play.
• Sam recalled playing Tetris at Lin Lixin's room and said he would make the same choice again, even after hundreds or thousands of restarts.

Lin Lixin assigned Christopher to build an accurate 2D physics engine for Hill Climb Racing while GAMENOVA prepared to release its new handheld, the NovaSwift. A massive advertising campaign introduced the $139 16-bit system and left players eager for its launch.

• Lin Lixin explained that Hill Climb Racing required precise collision detection and assigned Christopher to develop a custom 2D physics engine.
• In January 1988, GAMENOVA began a major advertising campaign for the NovaSwift ahead of its release.
• Emma watched a NovaSwift advertisement showcasing its four-inch screen, simple controls, and compatibility with NovaPocket cartridges.
• The advertisement taunted Nintendo with the slogan “SWIFT DOES WHAT Nintendont” and announced the handheld’s $139 price.
• GAMENOVA promoted a NovaSwift launch title personally crafted by Lin Lixin and spent $30 million on publicity.

Robert learned that the NovaSwift was difficult to buy, then purchased Sean’s spare for Yuli at a premium. After trying Hill Climb Racing, he was impressed by the console’s fast loading and simple controls.

• Robert worried whether Yuli would like Hill Climb Racing and asked Sean about the NovaSwift.
• Sean explained that the console was backordered and revealed he had a spare unit.
• Robert bought Sean’s NovaSwift for $200 and planned to give it to Yuli.
• Robert turned on the console, was impressed by its fast loading, and examined Hill Climb Racing’s simple controls.

Robert completed the tutorial and began playing the racing game, while Lin Lixin’s design subtly guided his attention and motivation. After upgrading his engine, Robert made his first run and decided to keep playing to earn more coins.

• Robert crashed his little red car off the tutorial cliff, then restarted and completed the tutorial after braking in time.
• Lin Lixin’s tutorial design used the failure to refocus Robert’s attention and draw him toward the game.
• Robert explored the menus, upgraded his engine to level 5, and saw that later upgrades and stages offered clear goals.
• Robert started a run, found that his upgraded engine made the car much more powerful, and nearly lost control without enough traction.
• Robert traveled almost 500 meters, checked his results, and prepared to start another run for more coins.

Robert became so absorbed in Hill Climb Racing that he lost an entire afternoon, then went to buy a Nintendo Switch and caught Sean placing an order. At GAMENOVA, Sam celebrated the NovaSwift’s success while Lin Lixin focused on promoting Zork Idle, expanding the Nintendo Switch lineup, and checking on Chief Qiao.

• Robert struggled through repeated Hill Climb Racing runs until the accountant’s visit revealed that he had spent the whole afternoon playing.
• Robert went to the game store to buy a Nintendo Switch and found Sean there with a completed order form; the next day, Sean received a promotion.
• Sam celebrated the NovaSwift’s sales of over ten million units in its first month and praised Lin Lixin for Hill Climb Racing’s success.
• Lin Lixin told Sam to prepare publicity for the upcoming Zork Idle port, noting that the NovaSwift could help reach players who had never heard of the game.
• Lin Lixin said Activision should begin porting NB games to the Nintendo Switch, with Blizzard Studio helping, and planned to check on Chief Qiao.

Lin Lixin examined Steve Jobs's powerful but expensive NeXT Computer and challenged Jobs to explain why customers would buy it. Jobs left the meeting disappointed, but Lin suggested that NEXUS might create the demand the machine needed.

• Jobs showed Lin Lixin the NeXT Computer, equipped with powerful Motorola processors, custom graphics and audio hardware, and a magneto-optical drive.
• Lin Lixin asked how much the workstation would cost and how many Jobs expected to sell; Jobs estimated at least $6,500 and aimed for 20,000 sales.
• Lin Lixin questioned the NeXT Computer's market advantage, noting that customers could choose cheaper machines or add Windows to an IBM-compatible PC.
• Jobs said NeXT had the world's best graphical operating system, but Lin Lixin argued that its features did not justify the high price.
• Lin Lixin reassured Jobs that he wanted to make the computer more necessary by creating demand, and suggested that NEXUS might be able to help.

Lin Lixin explained the World Wide Web to Jobs and showed him Carmack’s working browser demo, built to display webpages using HTML and HTTP. By mid-March, NeXT computers and Neus Browser had gone on sale, and Lin had launched the world’s first website at info.neus.com.

• Lin Lixin explained the World Wide Web, webpages, and websites to Jobs.
• Carmack demonstrated a NeXT workstation program that displayed an HTML page, and Lin identified it as a browser.
• Jobs realized that browsers could make websites accessible across different platforms and saw NeXT as a system suited to creating and deploying them.
• In mid-March, NeXT computers went on sale with Neus Browser, alongside browser versions for floppy disks, NB, and NX.
• Lin Lixin built the world’s first website, which could be accessed on any platform at info.neus.com.

Sean used his new IT position to build Good123, a web directory that helped newcomers find websites, and its traffic quickly drew Lin Lixin’s attention. Lin Lixin arranged for NEXUS to link to Good123, giving the directory a prominent boost.

• Sean persuaded Robert to buy a NeXT computer and software so he could experiment with the World Wide Web.
• After learning HTML, Sean built Good123, a web directory that linked to NEXUS and promoted Robert Medical.
• Sean expanded Good123 with links to websites and placed a prominent Robert Medical sponsorship link on its homepage.
• A week later, Lin Lixin noticed Good123’s rapidly growing traffic and visited the site.
• Lin Lixin told NEXUS to add a Good123 link to its homepage, bringing the directory more exposure.

Lin Lixin prepared to establish the World Wide Web Consortium’s first headquarters at Stanford University and explain the need for open web standards. As he began his speech, Jobs, John Sculley, and Bill Gates sat together in the audience, where Jobs and Sculley argued over Apple’s fortunes.

• Lin Lixin recognized that the World Wide Web had made the internet accessible to ordinary people, but said HTML and HTTP still needed open, standardized documents.
• The W3C gathered at Stanford University for the opening of its first headquarters, and Lin Lixin took the podium without a prepared manuscript.
• Lin Lixin gestured for Jobs to leave backstage and take his reserved seat in the front row.
• Jobs asked John Sculley how Gassée was doing, then challenged Sculley’s claim that Apple’s approach was succeeding.
• Jobs contrasted Apple’s shrinking influence with Microsoft’s growth, while Bill Gates sat beside him and Sculley accused Microsoft of copying the Mac’s design.
• Lin Lixin began speaking after a burst of electrical noise, joking that his game-making career had somehow led him to the podium.