Recaps

Lin Lixin announced that W3C would make the World Wide Web’s HTML and HTTP standards freely available, then rushed back to GAMENOVA to begin NovaSwift’s next physics game. He chose Cut the Rope and explained to Sam why intuitive physics could make such games appealing, leaving them ready to develop the project.

• Lin Lixin told the conference that W3C would provide complete documentation for HTML and HTTP without fees or barriers, then said he had to return to making games.
• Lin Lixin left Dr. Jim and Jobs at Stanford to handle conference matters and took Carmack back to GAMENOVA headquarters.
• Lin Lixin selected Cut the Rope as NovaSwift’s second game, describing its rope-cutting puzzles, candy, and collectible stars.
• Lin Lixin brought Sam onto the project, and Sam questioned why the game needed physics.
• Lin Lixin agreed that physical phenomena were complex but argued that physics felt natural to people, making physics games appealing.

Lin Lixin built a homemade coin-and-cord game from discarded materials, and he and Sam spent the afternoon playing it. Lin Lixin proposed adding video-game-only mechanics, leaving Sam excited by the possibilities.

• Lin Lixin gathered cardboard, cotton thread, thumbtacks, and tape to build a game while Sam helped.
• Sam reminisced about the years he and Lin Lixin spent tinkering together at their rented place near the University of Southern California.
• Lin Lixin showed Sam how to release cords so a suspended coin would fall into a paper cup, and Sam solved the first level.
• Lin Lixin adjusted the cords and cup to create new levels, and he and Sam spent the afternoon designing and solving them.
• Lin Lixin suggested adding bubbles, air blowers, conveyor belts, and themed worlds to a video-game version, and Sam grew excited about the idea.

Sam arrived at the office eager to show Lin Lixin a cardboard-box level, and Lin proposed building a visual map editor for the Nintendo Switch. They realized players could share custom levels through the console’s communication cable, leaving Lin considering how the feature could drive the game’s popularity.

• Sam spent a restless night thinking about his cardboard-box game and arrived early to show Lin Lixin the level he had made.
• Lin Lixin demonstrated how to arrange the box’s springs and guides, then persuaded Sam to help with development by pointing out his talent for designing levels.
• Lin proposed creating a drag-and-drop visual map editor that would let players design their own levels.
• Sam noted that the Nintendo Switch lacked networking, but Lin pointed out that its communication cable could let players transfer levels between consoles.

Lin Lixin planned a nine-world, 225-level game built around progressive tutorials and open-ended puzzles, then set out to use Om Nom as the basis for its visual style. He decided he needed a very young child as a reference and identified Katherine Schwarzenegger as a possible model.

• Lin Lixin gave Sam the level plan, explaining that the Cardboard Box world would teach players through progressively harder challenges.
• Lin Lixin demonstrated how a single puzzle could have multiple solutions, and Sam recognized the approach as emergent design.
• Lin Lixin left Sam to experiment with the editor while he focused on drawing Om Nom and the game's visual style.
• Vivian arrived with NAND chip research reports and heard Lin Lixin say he wanted a child one or two years old as a reference.
• Lin Lixin spotted a Contra poster behind Vivian, remembered that Arnold Schwarzenegger had a young child, and decided to recruit Katherine Schwarzenegger for her debut.

Lin Lixin designed Om Nom based on Katherine’s babyish features and arranged for Game Freak to develop the character’s animations. He then commissioned Nickelodeon to produce Om Nom Stories and planned to approach candy and fast-food companies to promote the character.

• Lin Lixin sketched Om Nom after observing Katherine, then asked Schwarzenegger to bring her in for voice work.
• Lin Lixin completed Om Nom’s concept art and 3D white model in two days, then assigned the remaining animation work to Game Freak.
• Lin Lixin met Nickelodeon president Laybourne and proposed a live-action and animation hybrid series called Om Nom Stories.
• Laybourne agreed to produce a version of the series for Nickelodeon’s attempt at original programming.
• Lin Lixin left to meet with Jelly Belly and Burger King about candy and kids’ meal partnerships.

Lin Lixin and Sam tested the first Cut the Rope demo, but Lin Lixin felt it lacked a reason to keep playing. He realized the game needed optional star collectibles, added them to the map editor, and Sam began using them to guide players through levels.

• Lin Lixin finished coding the first three main stages and joined Sam in testing the demo on a NeXT Computer.
• Sam cleared a level with the joystick, but Lin Lixin found the experience unsatisfying despite the working mechanics.
• Lin Lixin recognized that the levels were missing stars, optional collectibles that could add variety and motivation.
• Lin Lixin updated the map editor to place three stars in every level, and Sam began repositioning them as clues to the intended routes.

Lin Lixin used a set of test levels to show Sam how collecting stars could make a game more compelling. He explained that an unfinished challenge stuck in Sam’s mind because of the Zeigarnik Memory Effect, after Sam spent the night trying to collect an impossible star.

• Sam asked Lin Lixin why the stars were called optional, and Lin Lixin sent him home with a test cartridge to try.
• Sam played Lin Lixin’s adjusted levels and discovered that collecting three stars gave each level a clearer goal.
• Sam spent the night clearing nearly every level with three stars but repeatedly failed to collect the last star in one level.
• Lin Lixin told Sam the star was impossible to get and explained the Zeigarnik Memory Effect, which made unfinished tasks more memorable.

Om Nom’s Stories became a hit with children on Nickelodeon, prompting Jelly Belly and toy makers to launch candy and plush toys featuring Om Nom. By the time Cut the Rope finished development, Om Nom was already popular across the country, and the game went on sale Friday afternoon.

• Hunter watched Om Nom’s Stories during an ad break and was captivated by the little green monster.
• Children began asking their parents for an Om Nom, leading parents to seek pets or other ways to appease them.
• Jelly Belly launched its new candy under the Om Nom Candy name, and officially licensed Om Nom plush toys appeared in stores a week later.
• Om Nom’s popularity spread ahead of Cut the Rope’s release, with children carrying plush toys and pretending to feed them candy.
• Cut the Rope: Om Nom Stories appeared in game stores and retail supermarkets on Friday afternoon.

Hunter went to his local game store expecting to play Command & Conquer, but Cut the Rope had captivated his friends and filled the store with noisy children. After beating the champion John in Battle Control Online, Hunter won the NovaSwift John had just bought, leaving with his first gaming console.

• Hunter arrived at the game store and saw children clamoring for GAMENOVA's new Cut the Rope game.
• Vincent invited Hunter to try Cut the Rope, but Hunter called it childish and asked his friends to play Command & Conquer instead; they chose to keep playing Cut the Rope.
• Hunter defeated an opponent in Battle Control Online and recognized his opponent's companion, Mike, as the holder of the No. 1 Mew Discoverer Medal.
• Hunter recognized the defeated player as John, a celebrated Street Fighter champion, who demanded another match and wagered his new NovaSwift if he lost again.
• Hunter's light tanks outmaneuvered John's forces in a pincer attack and won the rematch.
• John lost the NovaSwift he had just bought, and Hunter left with his first gaming console.

Hunter accepted a NovaSwift despite not being able to take it home, then arranged to visit Vincent so he could play. At Vincent’s house, Emma beat Hunter at Street Fighter, and he eagerly played Cut the Rope on the handheld.

• Hunter accepted the NovaSwift, then worried that he could not afford cartridges or take the console home.
• Vincent invited Hunter to his house to play Street Fighter after Hunter pretended he wanted to battle him.
• Emma recognized that Hunter wanted to play Cut the Rope and challenged him to Street Fighter instead.
• Emma defeated Hunter 2-0, and Vincent handed him the handheld while he continued playing against his mother.
• Hunter became absorbed in Cut the Rope and earned all three stars on a level.

Hunter secretly received a Cut the Rope prize cartridge while Om Nom’s Stories and its merchandise helped the game’s success grow. Sam’s crude Mario copy frightened Lin Lixin with a jumpscare, inspiring Lin Lixin to plan a psychological horror game.

• Hunter found a Cut the Rope cartridge and prize letter from Nickelodeon, then hid them from his parents when Emma and Vincent were still nearby.
• Vincent discovered that Hunter had left his handheld at his house and decided to return it the next day.
• GAMENOVA handed Cut the Rope’s IP management to Game Freak, continued airing Om Nom’s Stories on Nickelodeon, and arranged for Mattel to produce toys.
• Sam showed Lin Lixin a crude Super Mario copy, and Lin Lixin triggered a bloody-face jumpscare by entering a pipe.
• Lin Lixin decided Sam’s prank had given him the idea to make a psychological horror game, leaving Sam worried about revenge.

Lin Lixin searched Atari's archived games for inspiration for a zombie-themed horror game, but found little value in the crude Haunted House and was appalled by a torture game. After destroying its cartridge, he reconsidered where to look for horror-game inspiration.

• David found the Atari game Haunted House, and Lin Lixin played through it, judging its graphics and gameplay too crude to offer much useful reference.
• David showed Lin Lixin Porky's and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, explaining that their violent content had caused controversy.
• Lin Lixin played The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and condemned its torture-based gameplay as sick and deranged.
• Lin Lixin snapped the cartridge and said violence could be part of gameplay but should never be its goal.
• Lin Lixin considered splatter horror and realized the real masters of thrills might be across the ocean.

Lin Lixin used an unfinished Japanese horror film, "Sweet Home," to pitch GAMENOVA on a 3D horror game about a special police unit investigating a mansion during a zombie outbreak. He settled on the name "Biohazard" and planned to develop the game for the NX.

• Lin Lixin asked Satoshi Tajiri to obtain a screener of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's upcoming horror film "Sweet Home."
• A few days later, Lin Lixin and Sam watched the unfinished film, which ended abruptly at its climax.
• Lin Lixin proposed adapting the haunted-mansion premise into an American-style horror game, and Sam liked the idea of a police squad facing zombies in a mansion.
• Lin Lixin proposed making the game in 3D for the NX and chose the name "Biohazard."

Lin Lixin assembled a Hollywood cast and crew to film Resident Evil 1's promotional video, with Schwarzenegger, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford taking the lead roles. The shoot began with Wesker leading Alpha Team to investigate Bravo Team's disappearance, and Lucas arrived with realistic zombie-dog props.

• Lin Lixin gave Schwarzenegger sunglasses and sent him to hair and makeup for his role as Albert Wesker.
• Carrie Fisher arrived to play Jill Valentine, while Harrison Ford prepared to play Chris Redfield.
• Lin Lixin explained that the crew would begin filming the opening scenes while Sam continued negotiating over the location.
• The actors and Lucasfilm crew started filming under Lin Lixin and Kojima's direction.
• Lucas arrived with the props team and their completed zombie-dog models.

Lin Lixin bought a Gothic Revival and Victorian mansion in Denver to use as material for a new game, then planned renovations to make it into a maze-like, cemetery-filled setting. He left Trevor to design the changes, including reduced lighting, blocked windows, and a fuse-box mechanism.

• Mrs. Handler showed Lin Lixin photographs of Denver estates, and he chose an older Gothic Revival and Victorian mansion.
• Lin Lixin explained that he was buying the property to gather material for a new game, not to live in it.
• Lin Lixin instructed Trevor to turn the garden into a cemetery and reroute a corridor to make the mansion more maze-like.
• Trevor suggested reducing the lighting and replacing some windows with decorative facades, and Lin Lixin praised his ideas.
• Lin Lixin asked Trevor to design a mechanism for adding a fuse box to the mansion’s electrical system.

Lin Lixin inspected the mansion with architect George Trevor and discussed how to improve its confusing layout and frequent loading-door transitions. He hired Trevor to oversee renovations for Umbrella Corp., then welcomed Sam, Carmack, Ben Gokey, and Lucasfilm crews to begin surveying and modifying the estate.

• Lin Lixin explained to Trevor how map divisions and door animations shaped exploration in games like Castlevania and Biohazard.
• Lin Lixin adjusted the mansion's planned routes and entrusted Trevor with renovation and outdoor construction work for Umbrella Corp.
• A week later, Sam arrived in Denver with Carmack, Ben Gokey, and Lucasfilm's camera and props crews after the outdoor filming wrapped.
• Lin Lixin directed workers to place dog statues in the hall, dig by the fireplace, and seal the basement's original staircase.

Lin Lixin showed Carmack and Ben Gokey the mansion he wanted to recreate as a game environment, and they discussed how the NX could handle its scale. He proposed using pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera positions, leaving the NX to render only characters and monsters.

• Lin Lixin welcomed Carmack and Ben Gokey and arranged for the 3D team and development machines to move into the mansion.
• Carmack warned that the mansion's entrance hall alone would strain the NX's graphics card, despite the disc having enough storage for the building.
• Ben Gokey suggested reducing textures and polygon counts, including simplifying the staircase and simulating its detail with normal mapping.
• Lin Lixin proposed giving up first-person 3D and using fixed camera positions with pre-rendered backgrounds.
• Lin Lixin explained that depth maps would handle character occlusion while the NX focused its processing power on characters and monsters.

Lin Lixin and the team developed the mansion game's visuals and horror techniques while Kojima scouted camera angles. After Lin Lixin secretly arranged for the mansion's power to go out, he sent Sam into the dark building to find three fuses.

• Carmack followed Trevor through the mansion to study the route Lin Lixin wanted to design.
• Kojima scouted fixed camera angles and discussed making the game more cinematic with Lin Lixin.
• Lin Lixin and Carmack refined the mansion's textures, and Lin Lixin explained jump scares and psychological horror to Sam.
• Kojima bought an old flashlight, which Lin Lixin modified and gave to Sam at sunset.
• Lin Lixin told Sam the mansion's power was out and tasked him with finding three fuses scattered inside.

Sam explored the dark mansion to collect fuses and restore power, but Lin Lixin’s resource constraints and oppressive corridors frightened him until Lin startled him into fainting. A week later, filming for Biohazard was nearly complete, and Carmack showed Lin Lixin a rendered animation beside a half-skulled head.

• Sam navigated the mansion’s dark corridors, found a fuse in the bathtub, and rationed his flashlight batteries as he searched for the others.
• Sam reached the basement with the last fuse and battery, restored power, and fainted when Lin Lixin suddenly spoke beside him.
• Lin Lixin explained that managing limited resources helped create tension, then helped Carmack carry Sam to bed.
• A week later, Bill Paxton and Kelly finished filming a scene in which Barry rescued Jill and delivered the “Jill sandwich” line.
• Lin Lixin went to the development area, where Carmack showed him a completed animation beside a head with half its skull exposed.

Lin Lixin oversaw the production of a high-powered graphics enhancement card for the NX, while GAMENOVA unveiled a star-studded Biohazard promotional video. The trailer left Hawk eager to preorder the game until its $99.99 price shocked him.

• Lin Lixin approved the Biohazard footage and planned to use a dedicated graphics enhancement card to bring PS-level visuals to the NX.
• GAMENOVA aired a promotional video showing Alpha Team searching for Bravo Team near Raccoon City and discovering a mansion after zombie dogs attacked.
• Hawk recognized the famous actors in the trailer, including Arnold Schwarzenegger as Wesker, and concluded Biohazard was a mature zombie game for the NX.
• The trailer revealed Biohazard's release date as July 4, 1988, and advertised a limited-time price of $99.99.
• Hawk, who had been planning where to preorder Biohazard, froze in disbelief at its price.

Players reacted to the high price of Biohazard, while Lin Lixin explained the costly hardware behind it and planned the game’s music. He decided to combine the approaches of Masami Ueda and Makoto Tomozawa, composing key tracks himself and assigning the rest to N.M.B.

• Hawk balked at Biohazard’s $129.99 price but decided to trust GAMENOVA and buy it.
• Players criticized the high price, while Lin Lixin accepted that the hardware needed to run the original PS version of Biohazard made the game expensive.
• Lin Lixin considered the distinct musical styles of Masami Ueda and Makoto Tomozawa and decided to combine their strengths.
• Lin Lixin took responsibility for the title screen, safe-room, and ending themes, while N.M.B would compose the remaining tracks.
• Lin Lixin planned to contact MCA about recording another album.

Hawk used nearly all his money to preorder three copies of GAMENOVA’s Biohazard, convinced the game would become a valuable investment. After development wrapped, Lin Lixin revealed that he planned to turn the Denver mansion into a Biohazard-themed haunted-house attraction.

• Hawk went to the game store and found shorter-than-usual lines for Biohazard preorders because of the game’s high price.
• Hawk decided to spend his remaining cash and preorder three copies of Biohazard.
• Lin Lixin and Sam watched the development equipment leave the Denver mansion after the game’s production finished.
• Lin Lixin told Sam that Umbrella would resume work on the estate and that Trevor had prepared plans for a theme park.
• Trevor showed Lin Lixin plans to convert the mansion into a visitor attraction, and Sam realized it would be a haunted house using props made by Lucas.

Hawk eagerly unboxed Biohazard and discovered that the standard edition came with elaborate packaging and several extras. He started the game as Jill Valentine, and the opening cinematic led Alpha Team into the mansion, where the playable story began.

• Hawk received his three preordered copies of Biohazard and admired the bloodshot-eye cover and premium magnetic boxes.
• Hawk found the game and soundtrack discs, an S.T.A.R.S. ID holder, a poster, stickers, and an NX enhancement chip inside the standard edition.
• Hawk inserted the game disc, chose New Game, and selected Jill Valentine over Chris Redfield.
• Hawk watched the opening set in July 1998, as Alpha Team circled above Raccoon Forest and entered the mansion.
• The cinematic ended and Biohazard’s gameplay began.

Hawk began playing Biohazard and was overwhelmed by its detailed prerendered environments, eerie soundtrack, and cinematic camera angles. After finding supplies and investigating a bloodstain, he passed through a door into a cramped corridor, where he sensed danger ahead.

• Hawk was astonished by Biohazard’s detailed mansion dining room and realized the enhancement chip made the graphics possible.
• Hawk heard Lin Lixin’s unsettling soundtrack, collected an ink ribbon, handgun, and dagger, and learned that ink ribbons were used to save at a typewriter.
• Barry asked Jill to investigate clues while he examined a bloodstain and voiced concern that it might be Chris’s blood.
• Hawk opened the dining room door and endured a creepy loading transition before entering a narrow, dim corridor.
• Hawk felt alarmed by the corridor’s cramped layout and camera angle as he anticipated something dangerous.

Hawk played Biohazard and was terrified when a zombie killed Kenneth and attacked Jill, prompting him to eject the game. Already on edge, he mistook his cousin Tony Hawk in the kitchen for another zombie and screamed before realizing who it was.

• Hawk watched a zombie eat Kenneth and turn toward Jill, then hurried her back to Barry.
• Barry shot the zombie three times with his Magnum, and Jill reported that Kenneth had been killed by the monster.
• Hawk ejected Biohazard because he was too frightened to continue playing.
• Hawk heard noises in the kitchen and found a crouching figure that he mistook for a zombie.
• Tony Hawk turned around with ice cream, and Hawk recognized his cousin after screaming and falling over.
• Tony Hawk asked why Hawk had stopped playing, and Hawk laughed awkwardly rather than admit how scared he was.