Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

The world was only achieved when its peers were injured.

But Zhu Youxing didn't pay attention to these things anymore and moved on to the next stage of game development.

Good games are the most important thing, and that should not be forgotten.

After the release of Super Metroid, Takeyusei has been considering what game to develop next.

After a month or two of reflection, and also to give himself a break, he finally found the direction for his next game development project.

He decided to develop another racing game, and he already had a direction for it: Mario Kart.

Mario Kart is another series that has remained popular for a long time.

It has received widespread praise because of its easy gameplay and content suitable for all ages.

The Need for Speed ​​game is also very popular; people really like cool things.

But even the most adorable people can't resist them.

Moreover, Mario Kart has its own advantages, making it completely different from games like Need for Speed.

The two sides can even be divided into two different categories, and can no longer be simply evaluated as racing games.

Mario Kart Bamboo Star had this idea for a long time, but had never put it into practice.

He now believes the timing is perfect.

With a player base already established, coupled with Mario's own fame and reputation in Europe, America, and Japan, the transition to Mario Kart can be smoother, which is more prudent than developing a new IP game.

After making the decision, Zhuyouxing recruited a new batch of employees to begin preparations.

This time, news that Zhu Youxing was once again in charge of a new game was leaked immediately.

This wasn't something Zhu Youxing intentionally wanted to leak; rather, it was due to a loophole within the company.

"Bamboo Star is once again in charge of developing a new game, which players are eagerly anticipating!"

Is the "God of Games" about to shake up the industry once again?

"This is a very exciting game. I'll buy any game that's made by the god of games!"

Chapter 249 A Different Development Mindset

The leak of the information was somewhat unexpected, but Zhu Youxing took it very seriously.

It's just a small leak now, but if it's not managed properly, there will only be more leaks in the future.

This will have a significant impact on the company's overall development and will also lower players' expectations.

However, the production of Mario Kart still needs to be continued.

"This time, the racing game we need to make is no longer a more exciting game like Need for Speed, but a more cartoonish one."

Zhu Youxing stood in front of a blackboard, explaining his concept for creating Mario Kart.

"President, do you mean you're planning to give it to the kids to play with?"

"No, it's not entirely for kids; I plan to define this game as a family-friendly game," Zhu Youxing explained.

The group exchanged glances.

A family-friendly game?

This is a rather novel idea, but it's easy to understand: it's something the whole family can play together.

"My plan is that Mario Kart will support up to eight people playing at the same time, so we need to create an online system similar to the Game Boy. This requires the cooperation of the engineering development team, so I called a few people from the engineering development team over this time."

Several engineers dressed differently from the game developers stood up and greeted everyone.

"They will work with our game development to provide an eight-player online mode, allowing more people to participate."

"President, are we going to connect eight game consoles? That's a bit outrageous."

One person said something strange.

Eight game consoles mean at least eight Mario Kart games to play together, and that expense alone is probably beyond the reach of the average family.

"No, I plan to use a completely new way of playing the game, which is four-screen split."

Zhu Youxing cleaned the blackboard again, then drew a screen-like pattern on it, and neatly cut out four sections from this screen pattern.

"I plan to make one game console able to display the screens of four different players simultaneously, so that one game console can support at least four people playing at the same time. Then, all that will be needed are two game consoles, eight controllers, and a connection cable to enable eight-player gameplay."

Everyone's eyes widened slightly; they hadn't actually thought of this method before.

So you can do it this way?

That would solve the problem.

It's just two game consoles, so this kind of purchase isn't too prohibitive.

If someone is planning to host a small party, three or four children can have a great time playing a game console. If there are eight people, other families can bring their own game consoles to play together. Alternatively, one family can buy two game consoles. This is not unacceptable for most families.

In Japan, an SFC isn't expensive; it's more than half the price of one in the US. Then there's the price of the controller and cartridges. Parents aren't too stingy when it comes to making their kids happy.

This is actually another way to increase income.

The balance was just right.

At this point, an employee raised his hand and asked, "So, President, is the next challenge we need to overcome in terms of games how to ensure game stability under four-screen mode?"

Zhu Youxing nodded: "That's one point. At the same time, this racing game is not just a simple race. The game itself should be fun, and it should also give some hope to players who are not good at the game, so that they have the possibility of defeating advanced players, making the game more unpredictable."

Sometimes, adding randomness to a game can significantly reduce its competitive impact, but it can greatly increase its entertainment value, making it a tried-and-true method.

Later mobile games used a similar system of pay-to-win gacha mechanics, but it was even more blatant and direct.

Then Takeyusei drew several more items that appeared in Mario Kart on the blackboard.

Some items slow down the first-place player, some help the first-place player win faster, and some harm both the player and the opponent. In short, each has its advantages and disadvantages.

"These items are just a rough example. What I need you to do now is to develop a sufficiently balanced item system, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of different racing characters. This is a numerical adjustment, and these are the core aspects of this game."

The interplay of strengths and weaknesses in Mario Kart is also a key factor in the game's success.

Of course, Zhu Youxing could simply take out the most complete game data from his previous life's Mario Kart and have these people copy it exactly.

But this is actually not conducive to the innovative thinking of people in this world.

This is just a numerical balance adjustment; there's no need to replicate the game from the previous life. Let the game developers of this world think for themselves and find their own solutions. This will be more conducive to their growth.

Everyone nodded slightly. They had a general idea, but it would take some time to try it out.

Fortunately, they already had experience in constantly adjusting test data when developing Street Fighter, so they were already used to it. However, the test data this time would be very different from the data of Street Fighter, so they needed to change their mindset.

This time, we will also be collaborating with the engineering department that develops the hardware once again.

There was some collaboration with Super Metroid before, but it only helped to create a cartridge with an independent chip. It wasn't integrated with the gameplay, so the two sides were still working independently at the time.

But this time it's clear that the gameplay is tied to the hardware itself, and they need to work together in the development process.

This once again demonstrates the advantages of Zhu Youxing managing everything alone.

If he says east, no one dares to say west, or rather, they don't even think about questioning him. Now they all take everything Zhu Youxing says for granted.

At this point, game development officially began, and the entire development cycle took about four months before it was officially released.

Initially, just as Zhu Youxing had imagined, many players would choose to buy it without hesitation because of the Mario name. However, those who had played Need for Speed ​​felt that Mario Kart was a bit childish, but it was still quite fun, though the fun didn't last long.

Since most people buy the game to play alone and rarely play together, this essentially eliminates the greatest fun of the game.

Chapter 250 Esports?

Sometimes, it really does require players to be guided.

Sometimes, a fun game isn't guaranteed to be discovered and liked by people right away.

Dragon Quest and Pokémon are clear examples of this.

These games don't have eye-catching visuals or fun gameplay at the beginning, and they tend to be a bit boring at first.

If game companies were to abandon this type of game at this point, it would be a huge loss.

Players sometimes don't really know what they like to play, so you have to tell them.

In its first week, thanks to Mario's popularity, Mario Kart sales successfully surpassed one million units in both the United States and Japan.

However, sales began to decline rapidly in the second week, which was not a good sign.

Zhu Youxing prepares to save himself once again.

The best way to save oneself is naturally to organize a competition.

The competitive spirit will make most players interested in this game, but this time it will be different from the previous challenge. This time it is also a good opportunity to do real e-sports and bring out multiple games to hold another competitive tournament.

To generate buzz, it would be a good idea to hold a match each in Europe and America and Japan, and then have a Japan-US showdown, which would obviously be more newsworthy.

So Zhu Youxing immediately called over the team usually in charge of publicity, and also held a video conference with the publicity personnel in the United States.

Under the current network conditions, video conferencing across the ocean has some latency, but it's still usable.

At this moment, it was already seven or eight o'clock in the evening in the United States, just when the employees were resting.

However, for this project, the employees in the United States had no choice but to attend the meetings as well.

Once everyone had mostly arrived, Zhu Youxing glanced at the people participating in the meeting on the TV screen, and then at the conference room that was already full, where they all seemed to be chatting and laughing.

At the company, Zhu Youxing is usually easy to talk to and has a mild temper, so even in meetings, he is very relaxed.

"Alright, let's get down to business now. Quiet down."

On the other side in the United States, everyone in the conference room immediately fell silent and looked at Zhu Youxing.

Natsume Yasutaka, who was mainly in charge of publicity and marketing, looked at Takeyusei with a puzzled expression. Usually, Takeyusei rarely had any contact with the publicity department, and most of the time he gave them a lot of freedom to do whatever they wanted. It was indeed a bit puzzling that he had called them here for a meeting this time. He didn't know what they wanted to do.

Zhu Youxing coughed lightly twice and said, "Everyone, the sales of our Mario Kart have not been particularly good recently, so I think it is necessary to change our promotional strategy."

"How do we change it?" Natsume Yasutaka asked directly.

"You guys all remember the speedrunning challenge from before, right?"

The employees in the US were somewhat bewildered when they heard this term; most of them were not very familiar with it.

However, people who knew about it soon began to explain to them, and they finally understood.