America: The Godfather of Game Development

Chapter 308 Deceptive Imitation

A week later, the black box produced by GAMENOVA entered the truck market.

First, through retail giants in various sectors such as Kellogg's and Dell.

From contract trucking companies that outsource drivers to independent individual truck drivers —

You only need to pay a $500 deposit to receive it from partners in various locations.

Installation is also very convenient; it's about the size of an NX.

While it might take up some space for a regular sedan, it's practically a small decorative item for a heavy-duty freight truck.

Even if the cigarette lighter is not working properly, the car can still be powered by a jumper wire in the fuse box.

In short, Lin Lixin went to great lengths to make it available to everyone.

The benefits it brings to drivers are also obvious.

All you need to do is buy a stack of recordable white discs, put them in the black box, and you can drive normally as usual.

After the transportation process is completed, the discs will be collected by officially recognized partner merchants.

Ultimately, the process will be reviewed by GAMENOVA's official staff and procedures, and a record will be added to the recipient's membership card based on the results.

Points can be used for purchases on GAMENOVA services; they can also be withdrawn as cash after being rounded up; all taxes are covered by GAMENOVA.

It might sound a bit chaotic, but once everyone starts using it, they immediately become inseparable from it.

This is a windfall that brings in extra income at almost zero cost.

The 500 yuan deposit will be fully refunded upon returning the equipment, which is equivalent to zero expense, not to mention the equivalent of a 1 US dollar bill or even 1 dollar bill.

The CD cost less than a dollar.

The drivers don't need to do anything complicated. They just get in the car, insert the CD, unplug it when they get out, deliver the goods, and then they can lie back and wait for the money.

Under this extremely expensive approach, Lin Lixin was able to achieve his goal of frantically collecting freight road data covering the entire United States.

GAMENOVA, third floor, hardware department.

With the collaboration of GAMENOVA, Sega, and Lockheed, the realistic driving kit requested by Lin Lixin is finally ready to be implemented.

"As per your request, three linear pedals, an H-mode 6+1 gear lever, and a steering wheel with force feedback."

-

Gerald displayed the seemingly unremarkable device, which was actually a culmination of the world's microelectronics technology, to Lin Lixin.

From a distance, someone unfamiliar with the situation might even think that someone's car had been dismantled.

It truly has everything that should be there, complete and intact.

Only upon closer inspection can one notice the difference between it and a real car steering wheel.

First of all, the steering wheel is significantly smaller, and the pedals have also been modified.

Although the realism is obviously reduced, it is clearly superior in terms of user comfort.

After all, this thing is meant to be played in a study, living room, or bedroom; making it into an arcade-style cockpit would be a bit too much.

It must be said that Gerrard has never had any problem in terms of clearly defining his role.

"not bad."

Lin Lixin pulled over a chair, sat down, grabbed the steering wheel, and tried turning it a few times.

You can clearly feel the damping; it's worlds apart from the purely toy-like things they made with Nova Karting.

"The torque is driven by a gear belt, and its intensity can be controlled in real time when integrated into the game. It has a built-in microprocessor that can handle some simple calculations without wasting the NX's performance."

Gerrard explained from the side, casually entering a few parameters on the PC.

Lin Lixin immediately felt the steering wheel become heavier, and could even imagine the feeling of the tires rubbing against the road surface.

It's like an old-fashioned steering wheel without electronic power steering, struggling to twist the tires.

The pedals and gear shift lever are also fine.

This set of equipment is already at the level of training equipment used in aerospace or racing clubs.

"Hmm, not bad, but one thing is missing."

Lin Lixin certainly learned a lot from his trucking career with Carlos.

There's one thing that's practically a lifeline for truck drivers in this era, and it's not yet in this simulation.

Without it, driving would be much less fun.

Leaving the new requirements to Gerald, Lin Lixin hurriedly went to the development department.

They have their own work to do in the hardware department, and their workload is no less than anyone else's.

Trying to bring a highly realistic game IP like Euro Truck Simulator to the modern era without some cutting-edge technology is simply wishful thinking.

Not to mention the sequel, which has been active for over a decade and is still a top title in this genre.

Even the first Euro Truck Simulator was released after the turn of the millennium.

The Pentium's frequency, often measured in gigabits, could, in today's terms, keep the entire semiconductor industry spinning like a thousand turns of a copper-headed belt without breaking a sweat.

It's impossible to create a truly full-fledged version of Euro Truck Simulator.

It means impossible in the literal sense; no matter how much you optimize the algorithm or add more materials, it is impossible.

But after the Resident Evil project, Lin Lixin found a new angle that might allow him to overtake others.

Resident Evil is also a next-generation game, and it has high requirements for 3D graphics.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the 3D in the original Resident Evil was completely blurred; even this thing could easily squeeze the full performance out of your graphics card.

The number of polygon faces remains an unavoidable limitation in this era.

"Damn it, it's hardware!"

Lin Lixin couldn't help but spit out a curse.

After all these years, I've never encountered a single work that wasn't hampered by hardware limitations.

To achieve this, he even mastered the semiconductor industry, and it's estimated that only established companies like Texas Instruments, Motorola, and Intel can rival him globally.

Even so, we are still forever hampered by hardware limitations.

"Forget it, it's not like we're making a true 3D seamless open world this time anyway."

Lin Lixin shook his head, putting these worries aside for now and focusing on the task at hand.

Euro Truck Simulator isn't actually an open world in the true sense.

Although players appear to be able to move freely in areas covered by roads, both their routes and range of movement are actually deliberately restricted by the designers.

Impassable intersections, invisible walls restricting movement ——————

In this way, the only parts that actually need to be entered are the main roads and highways that trucks can access.

This is one of the reasons why he directly asked the driver to record the route.

This allows them to obtain a road network that includes frequency and density, and also facilitates map pruning and distillation.

Lin Lixin looked up and glanced at it.

The post-mortem analysis of Resident Evil has now come to an end, and the development team members are now busy with their own tasks.

Ben Goch, who had hoped to use this opportunity to move into headquarters, was immediately taken back to Activision by Carmack.

He arrived at the island and saw him still fiddling with the camera, then asked, "Kojima, do you have any experience photographing the sky?"

"Yes, the pre-rendered textures we did in Resident Evil performed better than expected, and I plan to continue using this technology in the new game."

Lin Lixin nodded, picked up a notebook, and started doodling in it.

That was a draft of a truck cab.

He pointed to the blank space outside the windshield and said, "Although we can't make everything along the road match real life, and even low-precision models are difficult to create, we can make the distant view beautiful enough."

The pre-rendered textures reminded Lin Lixin of a technology that only gradually came into view when real-time 3D rendering became widespread in the future.

SkyBo.

"It's like we've enclosed a cube with a series of images, and the player's camera is inside this box, so no matter which way they look, they can see the magnificent scenery in the distance."

"It doesn't necessarily have to be the sky; city buildings, mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas can all be used. Essentially, it's just a distant view."

After listening to Lin Lixin's explanation, Xiaodao suddenly understood.

"Genius! If that's the case, then I do have some experience. Let me look for it—"

He bent down and rummaged through the drawer at his workstation for a while before finally finding a VHS tape.

"It's a pity my Kodak 9mm film is still in Japan, otherwise I would really like to show you the movies I made."

As he spoke, he inserted the tape into a VHS player at his workstation.

This is also the biggest difference between his workstation and the others.

Like Carmack, his work is highly minimalist, with nothing but a keyboard, PC, NX, and NS.

For him, the only joy in life might be coding.

Will and Sid are more like traditional office workers; coffee is naturally indispensable, along with other daily necessities.

The art style on this island is clearly different from everyone else's.

Video recorders, tape drives, optical discs of all sizes, film reels, magnetic tapes, records —

He truly lives up to his title as a game director.

After all, his part of the development work wasn't about grinding through code; it was essentially his job.

Kojima switched the monitor's signal to a VHS receiver, and content appeared on the screen.

Beneath a clear blue sky lies a sparsely wooded plain covered with weeds.

The ancient ape struggled to throw a bone club high into the air.

The camera followed the bone rod closely, watching it spin in the air.

The scene ends abruptly here.

"This is a classic scene from my favorite movie, and I tried to recreate it, but unfortunately Mr. Lucas was unwilling to help me with the spaceship in the background."

"2001: A Space Odyssey?"

Lin Lixin stared at the screen in surprise.

The choice of lens and the quality of the image are impeccable.

"Lucas would never do something that wastes money."

Lin Lixin laughed heartily. He thought that mobilizing the company's key production resources was just for fun, and that he had to be the one to say it himself.

"But when was this filmed? The texture of the ape is really good."

"Oh, that was something I asked Mr. Sam to do. Just a few days ago, you went off to do some research in a truck, giving the development department a day off, right? So I took Sam with me to neighboring Arizona, since I don't have an American driver's license."

"—No wonder it looked so familiar, I was referring to the Arizona desert."

That's fucking bullying.

Lin Lixin shook his head helplessly.

"Alright, alright, that's it. We need a batch of panoramic images to make skyboxes, we need images of various environments. So, could you please make the trip?"

"good!"

Xiaodao immediately perked up.

Goodness gracious! A company-funded trip, and they even get to use company funds to tinker with photography equipment.

Wow, you're really enjoying yourself, bro.

What kind of company is this, World First?

"Oh, right, leave it with our Sam, and let Gerald take you. It'll be good for him to gather supplies on the road and get some fresh air."

>