America: The Godfather of Game Development

Chapter 310 The Soul of Long-Distance Travel!

"surprise?"

Adilia looked at her husband, who had just returned home, with suspicion, wondering what had suddenly gotten into him. "You haven't been drinking, have you?"

She had never seen her husband so happy.

He's acting like a clueless little kid.

I've almost never seen him show this expression since I met him.

"Hey, what nonsense! Don't drink and drive, I'm serious!"

Carlos interrupted his wife's questioning and was about to pull her to watch TV when his daughter Erica darted out of the house.

"You! Why didn't you tell me you filmed a promotional video for GAMENOVA?!"

Erica was both delighted and annoyed. She stood there gesticulating wildly, spitting as she spoke, almost incoherently, "Why didn't you take me with you! Why didn't you take me with you?!"

Seeing her daughter's seemingly erratic and nonsensical behavior, Edelia frowned slightly and looked at Carlos with puzzlement, asking, "GAMENOVA? What's going on?"

My husband works at Kellogg's, so when did he get involved with the game company GAMENOVA?

"Oh, you've already seen it?"

Carlos laughed and hurried to the television.

Even he himself hasn't seen what the actual movie looks like yet.

"You've already finished, what time is it now?!"

Erica muttered to herself as the TV returned to the EVO race.

However, when she thought about how her father had actually gone and filmed a PV for GAMENOVA, Erica immediately put on a smiling face again.

"Quick, tell me, what's the new game all about? I heard they said it's a new racing game, but it's about trucks! And also, is Mr. Lin Lixin really like the legends say—"

"What content? Uh, let me think—"

Carlos was taken aback by the question.

Honestly, he had no idea what the game was all about. They didn't explain it to him in detail; they just asked him to appear in a PV.

Not to mention that Carlos himself is someone who doesn't play video games at all.

Even though Lin Lixin had talked to him quite a bit on the way, he was now pretty confused.

"It's basically like this—driving a truck to haul goods, and then getting paid?"

"?"

Erica blinked, a hint of doubt beginning to emerge in her bewildered eyes.

That's just going to work!

What is this guy saying?!

It now seems there are only two possibilities.

First, her father didn't understand the details at all and just told her random things; second, he deliberately made it vague, intending to give her a surprise.

Based on Erica's understanding of him, the first possibility is clearly more likely.

"Tch, if you don't want to talk about it, fine—"

Erica is not alone in having these doubts.

Anyone who watched that one-minute-long PV would probably have the same question.

It seems that the new work is indeed related to vehicles, and also to road data.

But why a truck?

Is it because its larger size makes the fight more exciting?

Could the new game be some kind of truck version of Rock Racer?

It went directly from artillery duels to a face-to-face rapid compression by a hundred-ton king.

Inside a game store, players gathered in front of a television looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Truck simulation? But what kind of game would you play?"

"It's probably about running a business, like starting your own trucking company? That sounds pretty interesting."

The person who responded was clearly a fan of this type of subject matter.

Whether it's Story of Seasons or SimCity, the feeling of gradually improving and building your own business is really great.

"Wait, they're using this level of 3D technology for this?"

Isn't this a complete waste of resources?

Wouldn't it be great to use the technology from Resident Evil to make a Rock Racer console version?

Well, for players who have never played or even heard of this type of game, understanding the fun of this kind of game is indeed not an easy thing.

Even if you've actually tried it out, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll like it immediately.

GAMENOVA headquarters.

This was the first time he had ever felt how rigid the rating system he had created for those bloody and violent works was.

ESRB stands for Entertainment Software Rating Board.

The participants were primarily staffed by game developers, with GAMENOVA at the forefront.

In fact, ESRB had been functioning very well before this.

At least it did avoid a lot of trouble.

-

Without the ESRB, works like Quake and Resident Evil, which contain a lot of gore, would inevitably cause a lot of unnecessary problems.

However, this system doesn't seem to work quite well with American Truck Simulator.

This game does not contain any violence, and strictly speaking, it could even be rated E for all ages.

However, if Lin Lixin were to give his evaluation, he would prefer to define this game as a recommended age of 16+.

The reason is simple: in the US, you have to be at least 16 years old to get a driver's license.

In a driving simulation game, the experience of playing with a driver's license and without one is completely different.

Players with driver's licenses tend to choose first-person perspective, while those without licenses are more likely to choose third-person perspective.

Although this local statistical method is not universally applicable, it can indeed reflect a lot of things.

Perhaps this is one of the main reasons why operating systems exist.

To allow players of all styles to find something to do as much as possible.

Sam hung up the phone, ticked a box on the document, and winked at Lin Lixin.

"Has an agreement been reached?"

"Both Volvo and Kenworth passed."

Sam chuckled.

Truck manufacturing experts really need to look to the European region.

Volvo and Scania from Sweden, Mercedes-Benz from Germany, Renault from France, DAF from the Netherlands, and so on—each one is a top-tier heavy-duty truck manufacturer with a long history.

The handover was handed over to Ubisoft, and thanks to Gamenova's reputation, the matter was settled quickly.

Of course, Kenworth and Peterbilt, which are also PACCAR Group brands in North America, are reliable and established brands.

"We've essentially acted first and informed them later."

Lin Lixin also had a smile on his face.

This outcome was actually within their expectations.

No one even doubted the possibility of discussing the issue.

Even before negotiations began, the development department had already started modeling the corresponding trucks.

"Renault and Mercedes replied immediately. What did they say? Integrate it into the main body?"

"That won't do. Everything has to be done in a first-come, first-served manner, right?"

Lin Lixin was amused. Volvo was being so proactive, so he had to offer some incentives so that others could also see the benefits. This would encourage other manufacturers to be more proactive and prevent them from wasting manpower.

"However, there really isn't much room left in the main package to fit more truck models."

He quickly drew up a table on a piece of paper to make an estimate.

Ever since his attribute values ​​improved by leaps and bounds, his brain has become almost indistinguishable from a wet supercomputer, and quickly calculating usage is not a complicated matter.

"Core logic, map pre-made components, texture packs, truck models, landmark buildings —"

Lin Lixin smacked his lips.

Even low-precision mosaic-level models can become a significant storage overhead when the number of models increases.

After removing map resources and distant textures, there's really not much left.

"I've already left the remaining dozen or so MB to our old friends."

"7

"An old friend?"

"Of course, it's our friends in the music industry next door. They've put together a few country and pop albums, which we'll integrate into the car's music player later."

.

"That really is—"

As the two were talking, the office door was suddenly pushed open.

Gerrard walked in carrying a square box.

Lin Lixin raised an eyebrow.

This was something he had asked Gerald to do not long ago.

Simply put, this is a ————

"AM/FM dual-band radio, equipped with knobs, buttons and LCD screen, can be directly connected to the NX or bridged via the steering wheel through the standard Nova hardware communication protocol."

Yes, after a few days of disassembly, the hardware department directly built a radio for the NX.

Gerald pulled out its wire and connected it to the NX with a standard cable.

Unlike the common analog radios on the market, GAMENOVA, being a top player in Silicon Valley, has equipped this seemingly unremarkable little device with a top-of-the-line TFT-LCD screen.

The biggest advantage of digital displays is that they no longer need to painstakingly tune frequencies based on experience, as they used to.

After all, the precision of the dial is really poor, and it will take some time if you are not an expert.

"rustle--

As soon as the power was turned on, the TV connected to the NX emitted a hissing noise, and the faint sound of a radio station could be heard.

咔」

Gerrard immediately pressed the auto-search button.

The radio immediately began automatically searching for stations with a strong enough signal.

FM's high-fidelity stereo sound, through NX's unique CD-quality external sound card, brings the top-notch sound effects to the group without reservation.

In the early days of the internet, radio was an important part of American life, in addition to television and magazines.

It can function as a music player, as well as a channel for listening to news, talk shows, or sports commentary, making it an essential household item.

[That concludes Metallica's new album. Now let's take a look at this week's music charts.]

This program is exclusively sponsored by the video game brand GAMENOVA.

[Tenth in sales this week]

"Perfect, with that, the hardware part can be considered to have successfully completed its mission."

Listening to the clear and full voice from the radio, Lin Lixin nodded in satisfaction.

The radio is the soul of long-distance driving.

During the week they were traveling with Carlos, if they got bored on the road, they would choose a radio station to relax.

Sometimes you stumble upon an interesting channel, which can be even more fun than playing on a handheld console.

Besides, this thing doesn't conflict with playing other things.

While playing games, I sometimes listen to talk shows or sports broadcasts or something similar. It's so much fun and I really enjoy it.

This is now purely a modern model.

"Wait, what about players using controllers?"

Sam interrupted their reverie by posing a crucial question.

This thing is great, but it costs money, right?

"Of course it's the internet. I've already contacted several radio stations to connect to the NEXUS service."

For the game "American Truck Simulator", the significance of network access goes far beyond simply being able to listen to online radio.

It collects players' driving information, allows for the creation of "shadow drivers," enables photo sharing, and displays real-time fuel prices.

There are just too many things to tweak here.

In conclusion, with the radio and internet radio stations available, all preparations for the new work are finally complete.

All that's left is for Industrial Light & Magic and the development team to work together to get it done.

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