Game Development Giant

Him? His name is Itagaki Tomonobu... Pidgeos answered Jester's question smoothly. He did not think that this question had any other specific meaning. In fact, apart from Jester, No one else present would pay any special attention to this name, but Jester was different.

After he heard that the name Pidgeos said was exactly the same as the name he knew, he just nodded. Outsiders couldn't see anything. To be excited, it wasn't too exciting for Jester. Because he has met many more famous and legendary game developers than Itagaki Tomonobu, which is why Jester is so familiar with Itagaki Tomonobu.

It's just that this is a very unique designer with his own unique personality.

There is rarely a designer who is as loud-mouthed as he is. Offending his colleagues seems to be an indifferent thing to him, and the most important thing is that players like his big-mouthed words and often learn from him. He heard a lot of information that is not often heard from his mouth, which is why he will be so loved by players in later generations.

Personalized characters will naturally have more fans.

Jester does want to meet Itagaki Tomonobu, a person with a very unique personality, but it is not an ordinary thing for a company boss to suddenly show too much interest in a new employee who has just joined the job for no reason. , so Jester took the initiative and continued to ask: So, what else did you talk about? I remember you said before that the inspiration for the new game you want to make comes from this. It must be him. Some of your ideas have given you a lot of inspiration.”

Yes.

Pidgeos nodded without hesitation. He seemed to be reorganizing the language. After two or three seconds, he touched his chin and said slowly: Actually, the idea of ​​​​the new game is not What we were talking about at the beginning was just Ninja Gaiden, the game about the underwear demon. There are many exquisite designs in it that are worthy of discussion. Of course, there are also many shortcomings, some of which are in the design, and some of which are It’s about technical processing, and none of us are programmers, so we only talk about design.”

As he spoke, Pidgeos took a sip of water, moistened his somewhat hoarse throat, and continued: Later. It was inevitable that the two designers, even though one of them had basically no experience, had a good understanding of the game. It’s very profound. Everyone who has such experience knows that when two designers discuss a game together, no matter whether it is good or bad, in the end they will definitely discuss how we design the game, so. Let’s just We discussed together how to design a difficult action game similar to Ninja Gaiden.”

When Peters said this, someone suddenly interrupted him. His tone was a little puzzled, and he asked slowly: Feynman, I don't quite understand one thing. You are talking about discussing a difficult action game. Are you planning to make a game next? It's the same as Ninja Gaiden, a very difficult game. Is it an unpopular game?

This sentence is actually very rude. The speaker is called Meredith, a chief programmer of Will Wright's Balotelli game development team. When it comes to game design, they have always adhered to the principles of Jess Te's games must be popular and must allow players to experience the principle of happiness in simplicity. Therefore, he deeply hates the game method of Ninja Gaiden that deliberately uses ultra-high difficulty to reject other interested players. .

In fact, the tone of this sentence is not very polite, but this is a battle of ideas, and everyone present knows this.

Jester did not say anything to stop him. Instead, he looked at Pidgeos. He wanted to know how this person who Mark Saini privately told himself would be his best successor would be. How to deal with Meredith's question is an extremely sharp and even irreconcilable contradiction in design philosophy. This contradiction stems from the game type and the game's target group.

After hearing Meredith's very rude words, Pidgeos didn't get very angry. He just smiled, touched his nose, and continued: Actually, I think this question is quite boring, because I think How should a game be designed? What should be looked at is who should play the game when we design it - for example, Mr. Meredith, the target group of the games you make has always been those who are younger. , children with poor understanding ability and poor hands-on ability have very weak receptive abilities and do not have enough patience to challenge some difficult games. Action games are just such games. They are too simple. I like them. Players of this type of game will not be interested, and it is too simple. Those who are not interested in the game will not play it, and those who are originally interested will no longer be interested after playing it.

Pidgeos' words were precise and pointed, but not too sharp. Although Meredith wanted to continue to say something, Jester heard what he wanted to hear, and he didn't want this kind of talk. The debate on game design concepts continued, and he took the initiative to take over the conversation: What is the main body of the game you want to make next?

Ninja-themed.

After saying that, Pieces paused for a moment before continuing, This was actually insisted on by Itagaki Tomonobu, and he said that if I agreed to his proposal, then he would join my team. I thought about it carefully at that time At first glance, there was absolutely no problem for him to join us, and this game really excited my heart, so I agreed.”

Is it a ninja theme? Jester repeated thoughtfully, and then said with a smile, After hearing what you said, I am very interested in the person you mentioned named Itagaki Tomonobu. He is now in Not with us, I would like to see him if it is convenient.

Peters nodded quickly and smiled: He himself said that he likes the game you designed very much, and he will definitely be very excited to meet you. As for now? It's scary, because it's Christmas. He is still in Japan, but he talked to me on the phone before, and he will definitely arrive in the United States before New Year's Day, and I will also work with him on the detailed design of the game.

Then wait until he comes to the United States.

Jester nodded and didn't care. For him, wanting to see Itagaki Tomonobu was just a whim. Even if he couldn't see him, it didn't matter.

Today is Christmas in the United States, which is also the release date of the American version of Pokemon.

Although Jester attaches great importance to it, he also knows that he has done everything he can do before. The most important thing he should do now is not to panic and wait for the news, just like him Also paying attention to this Christmas promotion is Sega's Hayao Nakayama. The Christmas sales in Japan started a day earlier. Sega, which originally had endless confidence in the MD home game console, suffered a huge defeat. However, this can be attributed to the conservatism in the Japanese market. , because in the previous nearly half a year of sales, the sales situation in the Japanese market was relatively the worst.

As for the North American market, which had the best sales in the past six months, Sega is the most concerned about it. Through the anxious war between Nintendo and Mars Entertainment that lasted for more than four years, current game console manufacturers have also noticed that, that is , the North American market is the largest market, and those who win in North America will win the world. Just like Mars Entertainment before, they dominate the North American market. In this way, they can calmly fight Nintendo for three hundred rounds in Japan. Instead of hurting itself, Nintendo became stronger as it fought, and Nintendo became weaker and weaker. By the end of last year, Nintendo's market share in Japan could not even reach 60%.

Of course, this is not just the result of Mars Entertainment’s Dreambox. In the past half year, Nintendo had to face the three-sided siege of Dreambox, Sega’s MD and NEC’s PC-E. It was able to maintain around 60%. It is already very difficult to occupy the market share.

Americans are indeed more interested in the 16-bit MD game console. This has been reflected in the past few months, but because most of the games on the previous MD are transplanted from their previous arcade games. Yes, there are not many new games, so the sales volume can only be said to be acceptable. Of course, this is Sega’s own statement. In fact, in the short five months since they were officially launched in North America, their sales Sales have hit new highs every month, and sales have almost doubled.

Taken together, the North American sales volume in these five months is only slightly less than that of Dreambox. As for FC, it is simply not the same in the North American market.

Therefore, Sega is also working hard for the Christmas war in North America and pays more attention to it than they do in the Japanese market. This can be seen from their investment in the advertising market. This time in the Christmas promotion war, Sega Promotion expenses in North America are eight times that of Europe and twelve times that of Japan. They are simply not the same.

Of course, this aspect is also due to the fact that Mars Entertainment's influence in the North American market is too strong, and it is simply not comparable to Nintendo in Japan.

Moreover, in the minds of many American gamers, Jester Lee is the god of the gaming industry. It is difficult for people who are not in the video game industry to realize that kind of status. Even Nakayama Hayao even saw the situation in the North American market. At that time, I felt that they had no chance of winning at all, and the best possible possibility was just to replace Nintendo's position.

As for challenging Mars Entertainment, is that possible? (To be continued...)