Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 7 This is an era of physics

The Chinese name of "Snake Game" is "Greedy Snake".

This is a video game that even New Bing cannot calculate its accurate sales volume, but it must be acknowledged that it is a best-seller.

Because this game was released together with Nokia, if calculated based on Nokia's factory output, then "Snake" can definitely beat "Wii Sports", step on "Minecraft", and knock down "Northern Cube", becoming the world's number one.

There's nothing we can do about it, the king of mobile phones is just a hooligan like this.

But if we calculate it based on the amount of payment...

How much money did the game Snake make?

No one knows about this.

However, one thing is certain, even if Nokia's mobile phone empire collapsed, after losing the free environment on which it depended for survival, the game "Snake" not only did not die, but instead sprang up like mushrooms after a rain, with countless variant versions popping up crazily.

Games like "Battle of Balls" and "Battle of Bugs" are simply the Bluetooth battle version of "Snake" turned into an Internet-connected version, with the protagonist changed from a snake to something else.

The "Slither.io" launched later by America was even more outrageous. As soon as the game was released, it topped the APP Store sales rankings in America, Britain and other regions with a crushing momentum.

In addition, it became the most searched video game on Google in the United States in 16.

In just three months, more than 10 million US dollars were taken away.

It is precisely because it has been popular for decades and has brought fond memories to generations of people that when Ethan was ready to make a game, the little snake that had spent countless nights with him in bed suddenly appeared.

And after Evelin quickly read the concept of "Snake", the girl who had previously scolded Ethan suddenly looked up, and her bright eyes emitted an incredible light.

"Ethan - is this the idea you wrote?" The girl was very surprised.

"Hmm?" Ethan shrugged, admitting it.

"Oh! My! God! How did you come up with this idea? This is really a genius idea!"

Evelyn shook the paper in her hand and said loudly, "I guarantee that this thing is definitely more interesting than "Spacewar!"

"Spacewar!" was created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962, and later spread to all colleges and universities in America, becoming the entry-level game for countless computer science students.

The gameplay of this game is that two players control spaceships and compete around a star with gravity. Whoever is destroyed first loses.

Although this game was revolutionary because it was the world's first video game that could feature multiplayer battles, Spacewar was still relatively crude when the entire video game industry was just emerging.

So, when the mature industry Snake and Spacewar are put together...

Anyone would choose the former.

"Can you make this thing?"

Evelyn's surprise made Ethan very happy, because it at least proved that he had not chosen the wrong game so far.

"Of course!" Evelyn nodded vigorously.

Perhaps because she was too excited, her words became a little incoherent.

"Arcade games are not difficult to make at all. For example, the Snake Game you are drawing now can be made by copying the technology of Pong. For example, the snake on the screen can be displayed using the photoelectric signal feedback of a light gun..."

At this point, Evelin suddenly realized that Ethan looked confused.

Then she slapped her forehead.

"Oh God! I forgot you didn't know anything about this stuff!"

Then, she stood up decisively again.

"Come on, follow me to the garage and I'll show you how simple this thing is."

Ethan smelled the scent of a strong woman from her swift and decisive actions.

However, just as Ethan and Evelyn walked out of the bedroom together, Evelyn turned around and went back to her room.

At the same time, he said, "Wait for me, I'll change my clothes."

A moment later, when Evelin reappeared, the jeans she was wearing had disappeared, replaced by a pair of denim overalls commonly seen in factories.

The sweatshirt she was wearing was nowhere to be found. She replaced it with a black outfit made of work cloth that did not look dirty. Even her long hair was tied into a bun.

This action made Ethan raise his eyebrows.

"It seems that even the most resolute girls care about their image."

After sighing, Ethan and Evelyn went downstairs together.

The figures one in front and one behind surprised Thomas and Linda.

They didn't expect that Ethan could solve the problems that had accumulated over the years so quickly.

As they watched, the two of them went into the garage at home. Like countless engineers who had secret bases, this garage belonging to Evelyn was filled with mountains of electronic components.

Under Ethan's gaze, Evelyn dug out a TV from a pile of what could be called electronic waste, and quickly removed the outer casing, revealing the cathode ray tube inside.

Then, a happy smile appeared on the girl's face.

"This display tube is called a CRT. It uses an electron gun to emit an electron beam, which is deflected by a magnetic field to allow the electron beam to scan a glass plate coated with phosphor on the screen, thereby producing an image."

The girl introduced Ethan: "All arcade machines on the market now use this most basic photoelectric feedback. In all electronic arcade machines, the objects on the screen are not actually moving. Instead, they light up and dim the electron beam of the TV to create a visual illusion for players that there are objects moving on the screen."

While speaking, the girl also moved the TV onto the table.

Then, she removed the circuit board from the back of the TV, searched in the hill for a while, took out a box, took out a circuit board, and put it back into the TV. Then, she connected the extra wires on the circuit board to a thumb-sized joystick.

After plugging in the power and adjusting it for a while, Ethan was surprised to find that the TV screen had turned black and white.

A white dot appears in the center of the screen.

As Evelyn pressed the joystick, the white dot continued to move on the screen.

The faster Evelyn pressed the button, the faster the white dot moved; the slower Evelyn pressed the button, the slower the white dot moved.

If you don't press the joystick, the white dot will stay in the same place and keep flashing.

"Oh! Fxxk! Is this thing so simple?"

Ethan was shocked.

"Of course! How hard do you think it is?"

Evelyn said with a smile.

"I thought this thing would need a CPU anyway! I didn't expect that a TV would be enough?"

Ethan couldn't believe it.

"Oh!!!"

Evelyn yelled.

"Ethan! Are you crazy? CPU? Do arcade machines need CPUs? Do you know how expensive CPUs are on the market? The cheapest CPU from Intel costs hundreds of dollars! If every arcade machine had a CPU, wouldn't the stores that put them there have to call 911 every day? Use your brain!"

Yes, video games of this era are made in such a simple and crude way.

Before Ethan traveled through time, in the era decades later, the birth of a game required the efforts of dozens or even hundreds of people, with planning, development, art, music, testing and other links each performing their own duties. A game might use Unity, UE, or a self-developed engine, and then have to be adapted to the hardware.

But in this era...

One person is enough.

When the C language was not fully promoted and the price of CPU remained high.

The so-called electronic games are truly the crystallization of the wisdom of engineers!
The technology used in all electronic games is the most basic photoelectric signal feedback. The world's first "Pong" was so poor that it only had a circuit board, using a few integrated circuits, transistors, resistors, and capacitors to control the game logic and image output!

In this era, the running games mentioned by game developers are running games in the true physical sense.

Check if there is any problem with the photoelectric signal!

If Ethan wanted Evelyn to write a game in BASIC, it might take her some time.

But making a game using physics...

Sorry, this thing rubs very quickly!
When this fact was placed in front of Ethan, he rubbed his hands with joy.

Because he had already seen that countless money was rushing towards him!

"Then can you make Snake Game tonight?" Ethan asked tentatively.

However, his inquiry was met with cold stares.

"Ethan, I really don't know what's going on in your head."

Evelyn patted the TV and said, "I'm just showing you how easy it is to control photoelectric signals. You can't make an arcade machine with just these things. In addition to the display, I also need to make a special circuit board to better receive and transmit the circuit commands of the joystick. I can be responsible for drawing the circuit diagram and making the circuit board, but the materials..."

At this point, Evelin stretched out her voice.

"I'll take care of it!"

Ethan agreed without even thinking about it.

"very good."

Evelin was very happy with her brother’s decisiveness. She clapped her hands and a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Then you go back first. I'll think about it and sort out the materials I need and make a list. When I'm done, I'll send it to your room."

To be honest, Ethan didn't know why Evelin suddenly became happy.

Because Evelyn was helping him make games!
In this case, isn't it right for him to bear the cost of materials himself?

But when Ethan got the list sent by Evelin, his face suddenly turned dark!
"Oh shit! I was careless! I didn't dodge!"

Looking at the two densely packed pages, Ethan almost couldn't help cursing!
“Does it take so many things to make an arcade machine?”

He shouted at Evelin in surprise.

“Why is there a Barbra Streisand album on this?”

Evelyn, who flashed back to the room after handing the list to Ethan, responded with a "bang".

There is a growth ring on the tightly closed wooden door.

The dark and dense pattern looked like a big mouth, laughing at Ethan the fool.

It's so easy to be fooled.

Note: ① "Slither.io": It is the American web version of Snake. You can play it directly by typing the name in the browser address bar. There is no firewall.

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(End of this chapter)