Chapter Summaries

Pixel War expanded to more states as Lin Lixin guided The Sims toward accessible gameplay, assigning minigame development to Activision. After women’s magazines rejected his promotional proposal, he spotted the short-lived fashion magazine Attitude as another possible partner.

• NEXUS began setting up Pixel War servers in multiple states, and some players traveled to new servers to gain an early advantage.
• Lin Lixin told Will that The Sims needed fun, accessible career minigames rather than perfect realism, while the team continued building the main game framework.
• Lin Lixin asked David and Activision to design career-based minigames, and David agreed.
• Lin Lixin sent a promotional proposal to women’s magazines, but Ms., off our backs, and Bay Area Women's News rejected it.
• Lin Lixin noticed the defunct fashion magazine Attitude while searching for another promotional partner.

Lin Lixin met with publishing director Glass to discuss why PilotCommunications had discontinued its teen magazine, "Attitude," and proposed supporting its original vision by combining it with GAMENOVA's upcoming game. He showed Glass an unfinished game prototype and invited him to try it.

• Lin Lixin asked Glass why "Attitude" had ceased publication, and Glass explained that the magazine had lacked promotion and that continuing it would have cost too much.
• Glass recalled that he had cared deeply about "Attitude" and believed its first issue could challenge "Seventeen," but had decided to focus on PilotCommunications' music magazines.
• Lin Lixin praised the magazine and suggested combining it with video games, but Glass worried that tying it to "Rocksmith" would change its identity.
• Lin Lixin clarified that he meant a new game GAMENOVA was developing, switched on the NX, and showed Glass an unfinished pixel-character wardrobe prototype.
• Lin Lixin invited Glass to try the prototype.

Lin Lixin showed Glass a dress-up game demo and invited Barbie creator Ruth Handler to discuss a partnership with Mattel. Ruth saw how Barbie designs could expand the game’s appeal, and Lin introduced an additional feature he called the Outfit Code Sharing System.

• Glass tried the demo and recognized its potential, but noted that few women owned a NovaXeno.
• Lin Lixin revealed that he had invited an expert and welcomed Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel and creator of Barbie.
• Ruth explained that she had become a devoted NovaBo player after discovering Story of Seasons during retirement.
• Lin showed Ruth the demo, and she recognized the potential for a collaboration combining Barbie’s fashion designs with GAMENOVA’s reach.
• Lin introduced the Outfit Code Sharing System and said it was also what he wanted to discuss with Glass.

Lin Lixin arranged for Attitude to feature clothing codes from The Sims: Urbz and planned to promote the magazine with Madonna. GAMENOVA launched The Sims: Urbz with optional NEXUS access, while the network expanded its services and Robert prepared to install two NovaXeno units in his company lounge.

• Lin Lixin proposed adding player-designed clothing and sharing codes to Attitude, with GAMENOVA promising funding and promotional support.
• Glass suggested Madonna as the singer Lin Lixin meant, and Lin Lixin planned to invite her to appear on Attitude’s next cover.
• In October, Celebrity Barbie announced a Madonna-themed product line, while GAMENOVA unveiled The Sims: Urbz with optional NEXUS access.
• NEXUS added monthly Pixel War leaderboards, the Civilization Workshop, and improved multiplayer support, while subscription renewals began easing its hardware losses.
• Robert arranged for two NovaXeno units and monitors to be delivered after his daughter Yuli and employee Sean persuaded him to buy them for the company lounge.

Sean beat Yuli at Command & Conquer until she stormed off, and Robert summoned him to his office. After learning that The Sims: Urbz came with a Madonna doll and record, Robert ordered Sean to leave work early to get it.

• Sean defeated Yuli at Command & Conquer, making her give up and sulk by herself.
• Robert noticed Yuli's upset mood and told Sean to come to his office after lunch.
• Sean entered Robert's office, where Robert asked whether he knew The Sims: Urbz.
• Sean explained that the game would be released on Black Friday and that its deluxe preorder included a Madonna Barbie and record.
• Robert ordered Sean to leave work immediately, and Sean agreed.

Lin Lixin, Gerald, and Vivian assessed NovaSwift’s hardware and concluded that a disc drive would make the handheld too power-hungry, costly, and bulky. Lin Lixin chose ROM cartridges for its casual-game focus and said he and Vivian would solve the storage problem, leaving NAND flash as a promising option.

• Gerald showed Lin Lixin and Vivian NovaSwift’s test board and identified storage as the main remaining hardware challenge.
• Lin Lixin proposed a miniature disc drive, but Gerald explained that its power use, added cost, heat, and size made it unsuitable for the handheld.
• Lin Lixin decided NovaSwift would focus on casual, lightweight games rather than matching the NX’s top-spec library.
• Lin Lixin chose ROM cartridges and said he and Vivian would address their capacity limits using Micro-Nova’s NAND flash research.

On Black Friday in snowy Lexington, a smaller-than-usual crowd gathered outside the superstore, though GAMENOVA’s new release, The Sims, had drawn eager fans. Robert, Yuli, and Sean waited for the store to open, and the chapter ended as it opened at six in the morning.

• A blizzard and post-crash anxiety kept many shoppers away, while the mall manager noticed that GAMENOVA fans made up much of the waiting crowd.
• Robert questioned why people would brave the cold for a game as he waited with Yuli to collect their preordered copy of The Sims.
• Sean arrived late through the heavy snow and joined Robert and Yuli, eager to get the new game.
• Sean wondered whether The Sims’ simulation gameplay and possible focus on female players would suit his tastes, but decided to trust GAMENOVA.
• The superstore opened at six in the morning.

Sean visited Robert’s house with Yuli to try The Sims: Urbz, a new GAMENOVA game set in a modern city. After exploring the deluxe edition’s extras, Sean became absorbed in customizing his character before the game had properly begun.

• Sean collected his three deluxe editions of The Sims: Urbz and accepted Robert’s offer of a ride to his house.
• Yuli eagerly examined the deluxe edition’s Madonna record while Robert settled down with the included magazine.
• Sean and Yuli started the game and saw its colorful urban title screen and heard its electronic music.
• Sean took over character creation and spent more than ten minutes adjusting his character’s appearance and clothing.

Lin Lixin explained that The Sims: Urbz’s apparently pointless questionnaire used placebo choices to give players a sense of control and help them identify with their characters. After Sean began a guided janitor storyline, Yuli encouraged him to pick a defiant dialogue option.

• Sam asked Lin Lixin why The Sims: Urbz had a questionnaire that only granted starting items, and Lin Lixin explained that meaningless choices could create an illusion of control.
• Lin Lixin used Skinner’s pigeon experiment and games’ placebo mechanics to explain how players learned to associate coincidental actions with rewards.
• Lin Lixin said the questionnaire’s questions helped players identify with their characters, even though its actual effect was only to grant an item.
• Sean chose the default janitor start, and Chris Saiso ordered him to clean the windows.
• Sean moved to choose the obedient dialogue response, but Yuli stopped him and suggested he try the second option instead.

Sean and Yuli discovered that The Sims centered on earning money through minigames and building relationships with NPCs, while a magazine clothing code let them import a designer outfit into the game. The chapter left GAMENOVA’s Christmas sales recovering, with a new wave of women and girls buying The Sims, NovaXeno consoles, and NEXUS subscriptions.

• Sean tried cleaning windows in a simple bird-dropping minigame, earning sixty dollars, while Yuli became increasingly interested in playing.
• Sean and Yuli unlocked the tailor shop and learned they could pay to design outfits, but Sean’s drawing drove Yuli to take the controller.
• Robert suggested entering a clothing code, and the code loaded a stylish long dress into the game.
• Yuli found the matching code in a clothing showcase magazine and urged Sean to buy the outfit, but he had spent all his in-game money.
• As Christmas approached, shoppers returned to stores, and women and teenage girls began buying The Sims, NovaXeno consoles, and NEXUS subscriptions.

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.