mesbooks Chapter 20: 64KB isn't enough?
Chapter 20: 64KB isn't enough?
An hour later.
Gerald Lawson fell silent.
The two games, from two completely different perspectives, showed him a corner of a new world he had long since given up on.
Tetris is a complete crusher in terms of gameplay and design, achieving the most captivating fun with the simplest graphics and sound effects.
"1942," on the other hand, takes the opposite approach, unabashedly piling on raw materials and showcasing a stunning Pacific battlefield by squeezing out the most extreme performance.
"This is what a game should be like..."
He let out a long sigh, his gaze unconsciously drifting to the dusty Atari testing machine on his desk.
"Games are commodities, but ultimately they are still games. Mr. Lin, you are undoubtedly a genius."
Gerrard changed his original title, which completely altered how Lin Lixin was perceived.
But then he sighed.
The more outstanding Lin Lixin's performance, the stronger Gerrard's grief and indignation became.
This isn't jealousy, it's regret.
"It's a shame it was born at the wrong time. If Tetris had been released a few years earlier, Mr. Lin, every Atari 2600 would have had a copy of the Tetris cassette!"
If it weren't for the Atari shock that destroyed everything, Gerald would have estimated that the game's sales would have been no less than ten million copies, even with the most conservative estimates.
It may even become a key factor in propelling Atari 2600 sales to even greater heights.
But now, it can only be installed on arcade machines.
When the market collapses, quality is no longer the decisive factor.
As a third-party developer for Atari, he knew very well that simply being "excellent" was no longer enough.
In an effort to recover its reputation after that disastrous Christmas, Atari quickly released several well-made products.
Even by today's standards, those works are still considered excellent.
But after being tricked so many times, why would players still buy it?
"Mr. Lawson," Lin Lixin said, showing no disappointment at missing out on immense wealth, "I've always believed that Atari doesn't represent video games, and video games are absolutely impossible to die out."
"Gamers are disappointed with Atari, not with video games."
"How could something that brings joy die because of a greedy merchant?"
"Video games aren't boring at all!"
Lin Lixin's voice rose, a mixture of genuine anger and forced emotion, which was partly an attempt to persuade Gerald.
Besides Gerald Lawson, how many other talented but unknown developers were dragged into Atari's schemes, only to end up disappointed?
Stimulated by Reaganomics, the American economy recovered and consumerism flourished.
Home video game consoles filled every shelf in every store, waiting for excited gamers and children to buy them and take them home.
This place should undoubtedly be fertile ground for the video game industry.
This feeling was particularly strong for Lin Lixin, who grew up during the era of the game console ban.
Damn Warner, damn Atari!
"Mr. Lawson, I wonder if you know of a game company called 'Nintendo'?"
Lin Lixin knew that no amount of inspirational quotes could be as powerful as a stark reality right in front of him.
"If video games are truly dead, why does the Famicom (NES) still sell so well throughout Japan?"
The new king who is about to be crowned is the Famicom (FC) and its successor, the Super Famicom (SFC), which became legends thanks to the "royalty system" established by President Hiroshi Yamauchi, which strictly reviews the quality of games.
After saying that, Lin Lixin didn't say anything more.
Because he saw that the deadly debuff in the opponent's panel attributes suddenly disappeared.
Gerald Lawson suddenly grinned.
Yes, when exactly did I equate Atari with video games?
That's just a foolish businessman who only cares about money.
"I've learned my lesson. If home consoles don't work, I'll make arcade games; if arcade games don't work, I'll make PCs!"
At this point, he looked at Lin Lixin and suddenly remembered why the other man had come to see him.
"By the way, Mr. Lin, you mentioned encountering hardware bottlenecks while developing a new game? Could you elaborate on what happened?"
He had just finished playing "1942," a game that pushed the performance of the current general-purpose Z80 circuit board to its limits.
This is a level of skill that only seasoned professionals in the industry possess.
Gerrard was very interested in the performance bottlenecks that this level of player would encounter.
What exactly does this talented young man want to do?
Lin Lixin smiled and took out a document from his bag, which contained a table.
Gerald rubbed his sore eyes, took the document, glanced at it carefully, and frowned.
This is a configuration list, or rather a requirements list, and what's written on it is utterly absurd.
"A 16-bit main processor and an 8-bit secondary processor? And a graphics chip capable of supporting multiple independent scroll wheels and a higher sprite count? More than 64KB of RAM and video memory??"
While 16-bit processors are high-end, they are not entirely impossible.
In Gerrard's recollection, Motorola currently has a 16-bit processor codenamed MC68000.
However, that thing has always been used on high-end PCs. Lin Lixin wants to use it to make games? That's making a mountain out of a molehill.
Not to mention the need for large amounts of memory.
He simply couldn't imagine what game content couldn't be implemented with a full 64KB of memory.
It's understandable to want a larger capacity for EPROM memory chips, since a larger capacity can hold more data.
But what's the point of having so much memory?
"Mr. Lin, this configuration... is far too extravagant if it's for running games. Arcade machines aren't necessarily better the higher the configuration."
Gerrard could only attribute all of this to Lin Lixin's lack of experience in hardware.
No wonder he came all the way to ask me for advice; he's a genius who excels in only one subject.
"Why don't you tell me what you want to achieve, and I'll create a perfectly tailored configuration list for you!"
For mass-produced products like arcade machines, costs that can be saved should naturally be saved.
Even if each unit is only one dollar cheaper, ten units can save you $10. What if you have hundreds or thousands of units?
Lin Lixin shrugged and pointed to a C64 on his desk, saying, "Could I borrow your machine for a moment?"
Although the C64 has the impressive-sounding "64" in its name, it is completely different from the 64-bit PCs of later generations; it was merely an 8-bit home computer.
With Gerald's permission, Lin Lixin attempted to create a test project, entering its filename: CONTRA.