Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 208 Uriel Fuller

Uriel Fuller is forty years old.

Her blonde hair was thinning, but it was neatly combed.

Judging by appearance alone, Fuller is a typical white American; at first glance, you might even feel that he might say "Make America Great Again" at any moment.

However, Ulier Fuller didn't like wearing suits; he preferred T-shirts and jeans.

So even though he's over forty, he still looks no different from those engineers in Silicon Valley who are still writing code on the front lines, just a bit more "weathered."

If you only look at his resume, Fuller's life trajectory is clear and straightforward.

A talented programmer, after graduation, started a business with the owner of a game engine.

From a garage with only three people to a large company of hundreds in Silicon Valley, then to winning the title of best game engine in the US for three consecutive years, then making a wrong decision and missing the "free" era of game engines, and being driven to the brink of bankruptcy by industry giants Unity and Unreal Engine.
Fuller's life experience can be described as rich and varied, spanning from the golden age of American gaming to the present day.

However, that's all in the past. When Guan Lei poached Fuller, Chu Chen had a special talk with him.

At the time, Fuller gave Chu Chen a very "depressed" feeling.

His engine skills are undeniable. Because he entered the industry early, many big names in Unity and even Unreal Engine have worked for his company, and they still keep in touch.

However, when facing Chu Chen...

His speech was more of a professional politeness and detachment, as if he had just changed jobs and did not show much enthusiasm for the future of Xingchen or the prospects of technology.

He also mentioned several times in his speech that the reason he came to China was purely for his wife and children.

This was Fuller's first impression of Chu Chen.

The fighting spirit has been worn down by time, and coming to Xingchen is more like entering a semi-retirement state early, just finding a place to "earn a salary".

Chu Chen expressed his understanding, after all, not everyone can be passionate forever.

As long as he can do his job well and smoothly hand over and pass on the Reality engine technology, then it will be completely worth the price for Xingchen.

However, it has been more than a month since we last met.

Fuller, who reappeared before him, gave off a completely different impression. He was wearing a shirt, standing there with his back ramrod straight, and was whispering something to Guan Lei beside him.

The Starry Sky Games conference room had completely changed.

The large conference room, originally used for project presentations, has now been cleared of the tables and chairs in the middle, leaving only a table at the very front and a high-spec computer facing the huge projection screen.

On either side, like the Chu River and Han border, stood two distinct groups of people.

On the left is the Unity engine studio led by Xiong Rui. They are considered the "direct force" of StarCraft. Although they are young, they have followed Chu Chen from the beginning of "Final Front" and have made great achievements.

On the right is the Reality Engine Studio, led by Liu Jiye, Guan Lei, Jiao Xiaofei, and Yuriel Fuller.

Although there was a lot of bickering between the two sides before the "Martial Arts Tournament," and some "entertainment" methods were used to make the "Martial Arts Tournament" seem less tense.

But when we actually got to the scene...

The pressure on both groups has increased.

Among them, the Reality Engine studio, led by Fuller, actually faces greater pressure.

After all, the two games supported by the Unity engine team have brought StarCraft billions of dollars in revenue every month.

In traditional manufacturers, it's practically impossible for a boss to continue investing in developing a new engine. True commercial thinking means sticking to an engine that's already proven itself. Only a boss like Chu Chen, who's always pushing them to "move forward," would support the Reality engine, including expanding the Reality engine studio and poaching talent from the US.

These are all money.

Moreover, it costs a lot of money. A 60-person engine team costs tens of millions of yuan a year just for human resources, not to mention that they also have to poach people from the United States, which makes the cost even higher.

Many bosses talk about "accumulating technology" and "continuous research and development".

But bosses willing to spend real money are extremely rare.

The younger employees in the company probably don't feel much about this, but for "middle-aged" people like Guan Lei, Jiao Xiaofei, and Fuller, Chu Chen's actions are quite different.

They all felt somewhat emotional.

A boss's willingness to pay for technology is both an endorsement of their skills and a source of pressure.

In particular, Uriel Fuller was the one under the most pressure in the entire conference room.

In fact, Fuller initially came with the mindset of just getting by.

In his view, working as a technical consultant at Starry Sky Games, providing guidance, earning a salary far exceeding that of his American counterparts, and living a stable life would be ideal.

That's it.

But soon, when he actually started working, he realized he was wrong.

Moreover, it's completely wrong. The atmosphere at Starry Night Games is really strange. Everything is thriving, everyone is rushing forward, and everyone is discussing how to make an even better game and how to overcome the next technical hurdle.

My first week at work.

Fuller's job is to give lectures, which involves explaining the underlying framework of the Reality engine and answering questions about problems encountered by the Star Engine team.

Just like building blocks, only the person who actually builds the blocks can explain why they built them that way.

In the first lesson, he explained the engine's core rendering pipeline module.

"Therefore, in order to ensure compatibility across different hardware, the API calls here have been encapsulated and isolated. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Mr. Fuller, I read your 2014 development log because..."

Fuller paused for a moment. The development log from 2014?
He himself doesn't even remember writing anything, yet someone here does?
While finding it outrageous, Fuller also felt a little itchy inside.
The tendency to be a know-it-all is a weakness of all humankind.
At first, he was just a little proud, but as the course progressed and he looked at a group of young people with a strong thirst for knowledge, he suddenly felt that his prepared lesson plan was not presentable.

After a week, Fuller was completely transformed.

He started eating in the cafeteria with the young people in the project team, drinking coffee together in the rest area, and always discussing how to overcome the next technical challenge.

His wife woke up in the middle of the night and saw that the study light was still on. When she went over, she found her husband looking at a screen full of code and muttering to himself.

She leaned against the doorframe, looked for a while, and then smiled and said.

“Yuriel, I thought you came to China to retire.”

Fuller paused for a moment, then laughed for a long time.

Then he fell into deep thought.

That night, Fuller thought about it for a very long time.

(End of this chapter)