Chapter Summaries

Luo Nan tried Bloons Tower Defense and became absorbed in its simple balloon-popping gameplay, placing and upgrading towers as the rounds grew harder. He continued experimenting with tower combinations, eager to save enough money to deploy a Super Monkey.

• Luo Nan spent several minutes popping balloons by moving his cursor over the title-screen buttons before starting the game.
• The first level loaded, and Luo Nan examined the tower choices and placed two Dart Monkeys beside the winding path.
• Luo Nan started the round, watched the monkeys pop balloons, and upgraded one with a piercing ability.
• As tougher, faster balloons appeared, Luo Nan earned more money and built up his defenses.
• Luo Nan considered combining Tack and Ice Towers and saving for a Super Monkey as he grew increasingly engrossed in the game.

Lin Lixin watched Activision’s new browser-game platform overwhelm its publishing department, then turned to GameNova’s final major release of 1991. He chose Command & Conquer: Red Alert, an alternate-history Cold War game, and told Mike Morhaime it would be a standalone branch of the series.

• Bloons Tower Defense and Papa's Pizzeria became popular casual browser games on games.com while Activision struggled to process a surge of submissions.
• Lin Lixin checked the calendar and decided the development department had enough time to prepare a major Christmas-season release commemorating the Soviet Union’s collapse.
• Mike Morhaime reported on Blizzard Studio’s outsourcing work, Diablo DLC, and growing graphics team.
• Lin Lixin told Mike that GameNova’s next project would be Command & Conquer: Red Alert.
• Mike suggested contacting Mr. Lucas to begin filming, but Lin explained that Red Alert would be an independent alternate-history Cold War setting.

Lin Lixin outlined a Cold War strategy game built on the mature framework of Dawn of the Kyber Crystal, with multiple countries and extensive cinematic footage. He then sent the team to build the engine while he headed to Hollywood, as GameNova prepared to finish its final major NX project before developing a next-generation console.

• Lin Lixin explained that the new Cold War game would have two opposing camps, with multiple countries and distinct specialist units to choose from.
• Lin Lixin considered the limits of current optical disc drives and reaffirmed his plan to develop GameNova's next-generation console with greater independence in disc-drive technology.
• Lin Lixin told the Blizzard trio and the Westwood brothers to build the game engine, and they agreed.
• Lin Lixin said he would go to Hollywood to arrange full story cinematics for the game rather than brief video inserts.
• Lin Lixin decided to use the game to bring more live-action video content into the industry, whose interactive-movie wave had faltered after 3DO's decline.

Lin Lixin persuaded Lucas to expand the game’s live-action cutscenes and enlisted him to assemble a star-studded cast. As filming preparations continued, Lin Lixin left to find a solution to the project’s growing storage problem.

• Lin Lixin argued that extensive live-action sequences would make the RTS story more immersive, and Lucas agreed to pursue a cinematic approach.
• Lin Lixin asked Lucas to cast Hollywood stars including Harrison Ford, Linda Hamilton, Madonna Ciccone, Arnold, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, and Carrie Fisher.
• Lin Lixin suggested auditions in Eastern Europe for Soviet roles, and Lucas said he had promising candidates to consider.
• Lin Lixin left Hideo Kojima at the set and drove off to address the limited capacity of the project’s 650 MB disc.

Lin Lixin proposed releasing Command & Conquer: Red Alert in two versions that shared gameplay but offered different campaigns, then showed Mike how the existing engine could simulate flying aircraft without adding a physics engine. The studio left with a new storage-saving plan and a simpler approach to air units.

• Lin Lixin told Mike and the Blizzard team to abandon their effort to fit all of Red Alert onto one disc and proposed separate Allied and Red versions.
• Lin Lixin explained that both versions would include the full gameplay, multiplayer, and skirmish content, while their cinematics and campaigns would differ by perspective.
• Mike told Lin Lixin that the team planned to add a physics engine for aircraft, but Lin Lixin demonstrated that raising a plane's texture and adding a shadow could make it appear to fly.
• Lin Lixin advised Mike to avoid unnecessary engine complexity and focus on making combat feel satisfying rather than simulating flight realistically.

Blizzard’s developers struggled to create alpha-blending effects for the NX’s limited hardware until Lin Lixin demonstrated a CRT-focused dithering technique that simulated transparency in software. He left the team to apply the method and suggested they seek help from Nazca Studio as Hollywood began work on promotional material and cutscenes.

• Mike and Alan discussed how the NX’s limited hardware made the alpha-blending effects needed for the project difficult to implement.
• The developers considered asking Lin Lixin to design a dedicated chip, but Mike argued that Lin would reject the idea.
• Lin arrived, heard the problem, and demonstrated software dithering that used CRT blur to make overlapping colors appear naturally blended.
• Lin explained that the technique could turn the NX’s display limitations into an advantage and encouraged the team to use dithering in its pixel art.
• Lin suggested contacting Satoshi and bringing in Nazca Studio, then left as the Hollywood team prepared to produce promotional material and cutscenes.

Lin Lixin oversaw the filming of Red Alert’s Allied campaign opening and worked with Hans Zimmer to shape the Soviet theme into a heavy, industrial-rock version of “Hell March.” The distinctive chant and music began to take form, leaving Hans excited by a sound that suited the game’s over-the-top action.

• Lin Lixin reviewed the Allied campaign scene in which Stavros reported that Einstein had stopped transmitting, and Linda Hamilton appeared as Tanya Adams.
• Lin Lixin asked Lucas about Soviet faction actors, then left the set to discuss the music with Hans Zimmer.
• Lin Lixin explained that “Hell March” needed a forceful, industrial-rock sound rather than a conventional orchestral war score.
• Lin Lixin and Hans Zimmer built a demo with heavy snare drums, synthesized brass, bass, and distorted guitar.
• Hans Zimmer reacted excitedly when Lin Lixin added the chant and guitar melody, recognizing the sound as a fitting theme for Command & Conquer.

George secretly played Battlefield 1991 while his family was away, then mistook a television trailer showing a Russian invasion of America for real news and prepared to fight. His son Kent returned home and revealed it was only a prank.

• Lin Lixin decided that Red Alert should emphasize flashy, exaggerated Russian and American technology rather than historical accuracy.
• George secretly used the family laptop to play Battlefield 1991 and enjoyed several rounds as a sniper.
• A television trailer showed Russian forces invading American landmarks, and George became convinced the attack was real.
• George worried that his family was stranded at the store and began putting on his gear.
• Kent came home from military service and told George to chill because it was a prank.

Kent showed George Command & Conquer: Red Alert, and George became engrossed in its cinematic story and first Allied mission. As Kent began guiding Tanya and his troops through the rescue of Einstein, George nervously urged him to destroy the power plants.

• George learned that Kent's apparent military return and the chaos he had witnessed were a surprise, then declined to play Red Alert himself.
• Kent launched the Allied version of Red Alert: Collector's Edition and watched its opening cinematic, which showed Einstein traveling back in time and altering history.
• The game's cinematic introduced the Allied command team and instructed the player to rescue Einstein by infiltrating a Soviet base and exploiting its power supply.
• Kent began the first mission, controlling Tanya and other troops while avoiding the base's Tesla coils.
• George became immersed in the mission and clutched Kent's arm as Kent identified nearby oil drums that might help destroy a power plant.

Kent tested the new Command & Conquer installment and found its improved pixel art, shadows, and campaign guidance made the familiar game feel more immersive. George took over the game, rediscovered his love of video games, and called Kent to help him in competitive play.

• Kent noticed the installment’s improved pixel art and shadow effects as he played Tanya’s mission and destroyed oil drums to disable a Tesla coil.
• Kent rescued the old man from the laboratory and completed the mission by escorting him to a helicopter.
• Harrison and Schwarzenegger briefed Kent on the Russian troop buildup and asked him to lead another operation.
• George watched Kent play and realized he had been pretending not to enjoy video games because he cared too much about keeping up appearances.
• George took over the second mission, began building a base, and called Kent from the kitchen to help him beat a strong opponent in competitive play.

Red Alert’s sales surged as the Soviet Union dissolved, turning the game into an unexpected historical sensation. Lin Lixin celebrated GAMENOVA’s success and prepared for its next console generation, but an arcade-machine failure revealed a serious ATHENA-II problem.

• Lin Lixin reviewed California property options with Sam and considered a new GAMENOVA headquarters.
• As Christmas sales peaked, Gorbachev announced the Soviet Union’s dissolution, and Red Alert’s Soviet-version discs sold rapidly.
• Sam celebrated GAMENOVA’s success at anticipating major news, while Lin Lixin turned his attention to the company’s future plans.
• Sam received word that returned Mirror’s Edge arcade machines might have an ATHENA-II fault, and Lin Lixin went to inspect the chips.
• Lin Lixin found that the affected CPUs had suffered transistor aging from heat and high voltage, causing what he called “cylinder shrinkage.”

Lin Lixin traced ATHENA-II processor failures in the desert Southwest to transistor aging caused by excessive performance demands and temperature swings, then proposed a cooling fix. He decided to invest in ASUS to strengthen GAMENOVA’s hardware development and asked Sam to invite its founders to California.

• Lin Lixin and Vivian identified processor aging as the cause of ATHENA-II failures concentrated in Arizona and New Mexico, while Sam learned that Mirror's Edge had pushed the processors beyond their safe performance headroom.
• Lin Lixin proposed adding heatsink fins and a fan, along with a metal mass to moderate temperature swings, as a repair for the affected arcade boards.
• Lin Lixin recognized that the failures exposed weaknesses in Micro-Nova Semiconductor’s testing and GAMENOVA’s hardware practices, and decided the company needed a more reliable development path.
• Lin Lixin rejected Sam’s guess of Acer and said he wanted to invest in ASUSTeK, also known as ASUS, a new company founded by former Acer engineers.
• Lin Lixin asked Sam to have Satoshi and the others contact ASUS and invite its founders to California for Christmas.

Lin Lixin chose a Marin County site for GAMENOVA’s new headquarters and recruited ASUS’s engineers to develop a gamer-focused motherboard line called Republic of Gamers. Their partnership gave GAMENOVA the final component it needed to expand into IBM-compatible PCs, while Lin began preparing a new game.

• Lin Lixin selected more than 2,000 acres of ranchland in Marin County for GAMENOVA’s new headquarters, and Trevor moved there to oversee planning.
• Hsu Ted and the ASUS engineers presented Lin Lixin with their Cache386/33 and ISA486/25 motherboards.
• Lin Lixin proposed that ASUS develop enthusiast-gaming motherboards and introduced the Republic of Gamers project with plans for integrated chipsets and advanced BIOS features.
• Lin Lixin described monitoring CPU temperature and voltage in real time, and Hsu Ted agreed to a partnership with GAMENOVA.
• GAMENOVA strengthened its reach into the PC market as Linux, NEXUS, PlayStation, and Atari continued their respective efforts.
• Lin Lixin decided it was time to prepare a new game.

Lin Lixin decided to expand GAMENOVA’s Industry Alliance to develop higher-capacity optical discs, then chose a storage-heavy adventure game to test the technology. He announced Disco Elysium as Lucas Arts’ first major launch of 1992, leaving the team ready to begin work on the ambitious project.

• Lin Lixin told Sam to expand the Industry Alliance and named companies he wanted to help develop optical-drive and disc technology.
• Lin Lixin and Lucas inspected GAMENOVA’s newly acquired ranch, where Lucas asked when Lin would reveal the other two games in his planned trilogy.
• Lin Lixin realized that an ambitious, storage-heavy game could test the new discs and rushed with Lucas to Skywalker Ranch.
• Lin Lixin wrote Disco Elysium on the planning board and described it as an adventure game with some CRPG elements.
• Lin Lixin named Disco Elysium Lucas Arts’ opening project of 1992, and the developers enthusiastically agreed to take it on.

Lin Lixin explained how Disco Elysium would draw players into its world by making its amnesiac detective protagonist’s identity part of the story. He left the design centered on choices that shape Harry’s personality, beliefs, and relationships, with character attributes made concrete through named skills.

• Lin Lixin proposed making the protagonist an amnesiac detective whose identity players would discover as they explored.
• He described four attributes—Intellect, Psyche, Physique, and Motorics—and explained that branching dialogue would let players shape the protagonist.
• Tim recognized that players’ choices could make them collaborators in creating Harry, while Lucas understood how gradually revealing information could ease players into the world.
• Lin Lixin said the hidden main story was players coming to know and create Harry through choices affecting the case and his relationships in Revachol.
• Lin Lixin divided Intellect into Logic, Encyclopedia, Rhetoric, Drama, Conceptualization, and Visual Calculus to make abstract stats easier to understand.

Lin Lixin explained how Disco Elysium would turn inner speech into personified attributes that influence a player's choices, while Lucas recognized the ambition and risks of the design. Lin insisted gameplay must remain central and asked Lucas to recruit specialists, including oil painters and writers, as development moved toward establishing the underlying mechanics.

• Lucas followed Lin Lixin's explanation of a character-building system that develops through gameplay rather than being decided all at once.
• Lin Lixin guided the team to consider inner speech, then described how personified attributes would whisper competing thoughts and shape player decisions.
• Lucas worried the system would be difficult to control, and Lin Lixin agreed it required careful development while emphasizing that the game must remain fun and playable.
• Lin Lixin asked Lucas to find oil painters, writers, playwrights, historians, psychologists, architects, and voice actors for the project.
• GameNova's experienced art team seemed difficult to use because Disco Elysium had an unusually offbeat visual style.

Lin Lixin oversaw GAMENOVA’s effort to develop higher-capacity optical discs, while Lucas assembled experts to shape the art and mental systems of the Revachol project. Francis Bacon became its art director and began planning how to create the city’s visual assets.

• Mark Cerny told Lin Lixin that a dual-laser pickup would best preserve backward compatibility and reported that AlGaInP lasers might enable discs with 900 MB to 1 GB of storage.
• Lin Lixin asked the team to have DuPont focus on the disc substrates and optical adhesives needed for the project.
• A neuroscientist joined the team after learning that research funded by Lin Lixin’s Photosensitive Epilepsy Research Fund had captured subjects’ inner speech.
• Lucas introduced Francis Bacon as the project’s new art director after describing Revachol’s violent, war-scarred history to him.
• Bacon asked for art supplies, and Lin Lixin proposed using a large-format CCD scanner and consulting the Cedars-Sinai medical team.

Lin Lixin watched Francis Bacon create the hanged-man painting for Disco Elysium, then painted the Insulindian Phasmid himself. He returned to the development team and began shaping the game’s RPG mechanics around interactivity and player control.

• Lucas brought Lin Lixin to see Francis Bacon’s painting of a detective’s corpse hanging from a withered tree, and Bacon explained how the work reflected his inner decay and agitation.
• Lin Lixin praised Bacon’s painting and, inspired by it, spent the afternoon learning oil painting under Bacon’s guidance.
• Lin Lixin painted the Insulindian Phasmid, and Bacon told Lucas to leave its meaning for players to interpret.
• Lin Lixin returned to the development team and resumed discussion of the game’s attribute design, emphasizing RPG elements and interactivity as sources of gameplay.
• Tim cited Lin Lixin’s design theory about twelve categories of player needs, and Lin Lixin recognized him as a fellow theorist.

Lin Lixin explained how Disco Elysium could combine RPG dice checks with exploration without punishing players for failures beyond their control. He left Tim with the design’s final safeguard: letting players save whenever they wanted and retry.

• Lin Lixin argued that Disco Elysium needed more player control than a conventional adventure game and warned that stat-gated clues could frustrate players.
• Lin Lixin told the team that frustration came from players being punished when they had made no mistake, and Tim considered how that principle applied to dice checks.
• Lin Lixin proposed making failed checks optional setbacks rather than progress blockers, while successful checks let players handle situations more easily.
• Lin Lixin suggested freely changeable equipment and builds, visible success odds, and chances to explore or prepare before attempting checks.
• Tim realized that the advice from the protagonist’s personified emotions also formed part of the decision system, and Lin Lixin reminded him to include save slots so players could save-scum.

After twenty years in prison, Bill struggled to understand a 1992 transformed by GameNova and bought a NovaPocket handheld before collapsing outside a convenience store. Simon and Benjamin arrived and found him lying motionless as the clerk called for help.

• Bill left prison after serving twenty years and tried to make sense of the unfamiliar world by reading a newspaper.
• Bill discovered an article praising Lin and Lucas Arts' new game, Disco Elysium, and learned from a clerk that Atari had fallen while GameNova dominated gaming.
• The clerk showed Bill a Walkman and a NovaPocket, then sold him a handheld with a Pokémon Red/Green cartridge during the Presidents' Day sale.
• Bill stumbled outside and collapsed, and the clerk called to Simon and Benjamin as they approached the store.