America: The Godfather of Game Development

Chapter 312 Why is there a car in my living room? (3k)

The journey from San Francisco to Marin County is not long; almost the entire distance is along the bridge that spans the strait.

Not to mention that, due to the nature of video games, GAMENOVA deliberately scaled up the journey by several times.

The city's high-rise buildings gradually become sparse on both sides.

Until the magnificent bridge painted red came into view.

[A tourist spot has been discovered!]

Although Erica had never actually been to California, she recognized the bridge at a glance.

After all, it is one of the most destroyed buildings in film history.

The unexpected splendor left Erica stunned.

She had expected to see a scene full of mosaics, just like the buildings along the road.

But that bridge, while not as breathtaking as it appears to the naked eye, is still of movie-quality.

This is naturally thanks to pre-rendering and 3D-to-2D rendering.

Lin Lixin has incorporated all the rendering optimization techniques he has used in the past this time.

Although it's not a groundbreaking racing masterpiece, its technical sophistication is absolutely the highest among all video games on the market.

A truck carrying a Kellogg's trailer is driving on the Golden Gate Bridge.

In the distance, the clear sky stretches from the riverbed all the way to the horizon.

The water and sky blend into one color, with only the sun hanging high in the sky.

I must say, it really does have a poetic and picturesque feel to it.

It would have been better if the truck hadn't been speeding at 130 km/h by zigzagging and erratic driving.

"Squeak! Bang! Boom!!!"

Erica had no idea which was the brake pedal and which was the clutch; she only knew that if she pressed the accelerator, the car would move.

(Overcoming Inner Demons.jpg)

The road ahead was fine, at most we scraped and bumped the trailer truck behind us.

The road on the Golden Gate Bridge wasn't very wide at the moment; it was almost completely blocked by cars ahead.

In a moment of untimely braking, the front of Kenworth's heavy truck slammed into a low-poly mosaic car in front of it, giving it a racing-level push.

"Beep beep beep"

Traffic violation - $2100

"Damage to the front of the vehicle: 35% →"

"Towed vehicle damage level [22% →]"

"?"

Erica then turned her attention back to the road.

I was so focused on looking at the scenery in the distance that I didn't notice the car in front of me.

Why is there a car in my living room? Why is this car blocking my way?

Erica angrily shifted into reverse and floored the gas pedal, slamming into the divider again.

Didi

"Damage to the front of the vehicle —"

After this trip, I haven't even earned any money yet, and the traffic violation fines have almost wiped out my savings.

As the saying goes, racing cars is a must, but racing trucks is the real fun!

Who can resist giving the car in front of them a "carpet slam" while hauling several tons of cargo at 160 km/h on a suspension bridge?

A distance that should have taken at most ten minutes to run took Erica more than half an hour.

Ultimately, he barely completed his first order, ending up having to go to the service station five times due to the engine completely stalling and the trailer being completely damaged.

"What's going on? I worked so hard to finish this job, and they're not even paying me?"

Fortunately, it wasn't my own truck, so the freight company covered all the damage.

But does that mean we can refuse to pay?

Kellogg's is so stingy!

Well, anyway, we successfully delivered the goods to their destination.

Back and forth, although my driving skills were quite poor, I managed to officially learn how to play the game.

To be honest, Erica actually found it quite enjoyable.

That means accelerating the car to 130 or even 160 and then giving them a good beating.

It's worth it even if they deduct money from my pay.

"Child, you—"

Edilia witnessed the whole thing and was genuinely worried about her future.

"Would you like to give it a try?"

Erica, who was searching for a new order with a suitable route, heard her mother's words and offered her seat.

"Me? Uh, well, I'll give it a try."

After hesitating for a while, Edelya finally nodded and sat down.

To be honest, she had already become quite interested while watching it.

It's not that the game gave her any particularly new feelings.

After all, he had spent so many years with Carlos and had traveled long distances with him quite a few times.

Edelia knew all too well how arduous the job of driving a large truck was.

But she really does want to try it out for herself right now.

Erica's playing style is so intense it's giving me high blood pressure!

She could have easily delivered the goods to their destination and even made a profit, but she turned it into a racing game.

That truck driver was even more reckless than a tank driver!

Especially when entering or exiting ramps, are you afraid of going around at 130 km/h?

While Edilia was distracted for a moment, a concrete wall with road markings appeared outside the driver's side window on the screen.

Honestly, Edilia really had the urge to try it out herself.

"Let me see—Kellogg's order, a shipment of 12 tons of frozen food, from San Francisco to Los Angeles."

A journey of nearly 400 miles would take several hours to complete in real life.

But she had just checked, and the roads in the game were clearly scaled up.

Compared to Erica's completely reckless and impulsive style, Edilia was clearly much more skilled.

Once she officially started driving, she didn't rush off. Instead, she reached out and touched the right side, finding the radio knob.

Tap tap tap —

The knob has been intentionally designed to have a very clear tactile feedback.

The moment she got her hands on it, Edelia raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Looking down, this little gadget even has a palm-sized LCD screen.

The current tuning mode and frequency are clearly displayed above.

As the knob is turned, it jumps precisely.

"This texture—oh my god."

Sometimes people are touched by these seemingly insignificant details.

This thing is even of much better quality than the radio in her car.

It even gave her the urge to dismantle her own radio and replace it with this thing.

"You still want to listen to the radio?"

Erica watched her adjust, somewhat puzzled.

Why are you playing stand-up comedy while playing games?

"Of course, otherwise how do you think those drivers endure those hours on the road?"

If you have no entertainment and have to spend several hours on the road, it can be really exhausting.

One day is fine, but if it's like this every day, even a good person would go crazy.

As for the show, Edilia chose her favorite talk show radio station to listen to George Carlin's jokes.

For Americans, it's like listening to Guo Degang and Yu Zheng's crosstalk while driving.

"Why is it an automatic?"

Edilia tried changing all the controls to her preferred mode before officially setting off.

This train runs from noon until dark.

Perhaps because she was too obedient to traffic rules, the bus was running much slower than expected.

Erica was already bored with what she was watching, so she grabbed NovaSwift and went to watch Cut the Rope.

Edelia, however, gradually became immersed in the journey.

The beach and sea under the blazing sun, the distant mountains and cities —

Even though the road image was slightly inferior, once I entered a state of flow, my brain miraculously filled in the road image with such high resolution.

It's as if your own brain is acting as a high-end graphics card in this process.

It wasn't until the Hollywood sign appeared on the distant hillside that Edilia realized she was almost there.

Following the navigation, I exited the highway at the next ramp. The pickup point was very convenient; it was just a short walk from the highway exit.

(Actually, it's to save performance, there's not much to do further into the city.)

Outstanding

Frozen food has been shipped from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Mileage: ————

"The technology is impressive."

A male voice suddenly rang out beside her, startling Edelia so much that she immediately shuddered.

Once she calmed down, she realized that it was actually her husband, Carlos, who had returned at some point.

"You scared me!"

Edilia playfully punched Carlos, her tone softening before she asked, "When did you get back?"

"I didn't bother you a few minutes ago because I saw you were playing a game."

Carlos chuckled, his gaze fixed on the flickering screen on the television.

Under a clear blue sky, the Hollywood sign can still be faintly seen behind the distant buildings.

"Fun, right? Let me tell you, designer Lin Lixin got his inspiration from my truck! I drove him around on long trips for several days!"

That smug look on his face was practically sticking his head out to the sky.

"Come on, you're just full of bragging."

Edilia rolled her eyes at him. Who would believe such nonsense?

Who is Lin Lixin? Her husband is just a small-time salesman. She must be crazy to let him take her on long-distance trips.

According to Edilia, it must have been because she was lucky enough to be GA's searcher for suitable actors during her long trip to California.

MENOVA simply took a liking to it.

"Let's see you act all high and mighty by making a PV."

"Hehe, if you don't believe me, fine, but get me some beer! I want to play too!"

"You've been working all day, go and rest."

Edilia shoved him, then added, "Oh, and get me some beer—"

Logically speaking, a game like "American Truck Simulator" with gameplay that is very selective should have received very polarized feedback from players.

Those who love it are head over heels in love, while those who don't like it won't even play a single game.

This should be the normal situation.

Lin Lixin has already made such preparations.

But things took a turn for the worse than he had anticipated.

It's selling like hotcakes!

"That's a million sets already??"

Lin Lixin looked at the latest market data and was completely dumbfounded.

In less than a week, the game had already sold over a million copies.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this number is just a drop in the ocean compared to GAMENOVA's mainstream works that are all about printing money.

But a million sets is definitely not a small number.

Based on the proportions, the number of players who actually enjoy this style of gameplay is probably far less than that.

"What's there to be so conflicted about?

Sam sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation.

Sometimes he really felt that Lin Lixin, because his vision was more farsighted than anyone else's, always overlooked things that were obviously easy to understand.

Just like the sales figures of this game.

Why are they selling so well?

Is there even a question?!

"This is the world's first 3D open-world, seamless driving game! The world's first! Do you really understand what that means, bro?"