socalfunplaces Chapter 2: Hijacking Nintendo and Developing Tetris
Chapter 2: Hijacking Nintendo and Developing Tetris
Lin Lixin sat in front of his Commodore 64, staring at the color CRT monitor with its pitiful 320x200 pixels, and already had an idea in mind.
Super Mario was only a year ago. By the time Shigeru Miyamoto arrived in North America with his plumber and Famicom, he would have missed this crucial opportunity.
Looking back at the long history of games, Lin Lixin has found a work that is most suitable for the present.
A program that originated in the Academy of Sciences.
But before that, he had something else to do.
"Goodness, I almost forgot about you."
Lin Lixin opened the system panel, and at the very bottom of the panel, the words "[Newbie Gift Pack x1]" were clearly displayed.
Sam interrupted him earlier, which made him forget about the whole thing.
【Ding! 】
Congratulations on obtaining: [5 Free Attribute Points]
[Acquired Skill]:
A young man has arrived in the coding world: [His efficiency in learning computer languages has increased dramatically!]
[This guy is no longer human]: [Graphical programming learning efficiency ↑↑]
In that instant, Lin Lixin felt as if his mind was submerged in Tiger Balm, becoming incredibly clear.
The content that I only vaguely understood in class today suddenly became clear to me, as if I were a veteran who had been immersed in the industry for many years.
This feeling...
It felt amazing!
Riding on this wave of enthusiasm, Lin Lixin felt a surge of excitement and simply added all five attribute points he had just acquired to the program.
In this era, video game development belongs to programmers!
What followed was as natural as a gut that had eaten celery and wood ear mushrooms for two days.
With the help of the skill, Lin Lixin felt as if his hands were flowing like crazy, and the code just spewed out naturally.
In less than three hours, the game's prototype had already appeared on the CRT television in front of us.
The game is very simple, consisting of a rectangular flat area with a row width of 10 and a column height of 20.
As the game progresses, a set of regular shapes consisting of four 1x1 squares will be randomly generated at the top of the scene.
There are seven combinations: a long strip made of four blocks, an L-shape with both sides facing each other, a Z-shape with both sides facing each other, a T-shape, and an O-shape.
Filename: Tetris.
It is also known as Tetris in later generations.
Lin Lixin pondered for a long time which work he should study to gain an edge and make a name for himself before Lao Ren.
The name Tetris naturally came to mind.
According to the original historical trajectory, Tetris would actually have been born at the Computer Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and it wouldn't have been ported to PCs and begun to spread until 85.
Most importantly, the copyright for this thing will eventually fall into Nintendo's hands, and together with the Game Boy, it will become a legendary phenomenon.
"hey-hey……"
Thinking of this, Lin Lixin let out a few strange laughs.
Before Lao Ren could even react, he took a big bite out of his meat.
Having finally traveled to the past, instead of making a fortune by plagiarizing, I'd go and create original works with uncertain fates. Wouldn't that be like splitting four threes into two pairs to fight?
……
Sam hummed a little tune as he strolled down the street.
He was carrying a plastic bag containing two videotapes.
Ever since video games were declared dead, Sam's greatest pleasure in life has become renting a couple of cassette tapes from a video rental store, stocking up on snacks, and watching them to his heart's content in his apartment.
The same applies today.
On a rare afternoon without classes, he rushed to the store early, but even so, he couldn't snag a copy of Indiana Jones. Fortunately, there was still one copy of Star Wars left.
Back in the apartment, Sam glanced at Lin Lixin's room.
Ever since he made that shocking statement that afternoon, he hasn't left the room. I wonder what he's up to.
Sam's desk was a bit messy, with an Atari 2600 on one corner and the bookshelf piled high with cassette tapes.
From true foundational works like Space Invaders and Adventures to the E.T. masterpiece, Sam bought almost every cartridge available on the market.
Sam pulled a can of soda from the refrigerator, and carrying bags of things, he pushed open Lin Lixin's door.
"Hey Jesse, I rented Star Wars, wanna watch it together?"
Before he could finish speaking, his gaze was drawn to the C64 on the table.
To be precise, I was drawn to what was displayed on the screen.
The colorful blocks moved back and forth as Lin Lixin manipulated them, landing on the small mountain of blocks that had already been piled up below.
"What kind of game is this? I've never seen it before!"
Lin Lixin stopped what he was doing and looked up at Sam.
"The game I made, didn't I tell you?"
"WTF? So fast?"
Sam felt a little dizzy and wondered if he had misheard.
"Jesse, I know you're eager to revitalize the gaming industry, but didn't you also say that quality is king in games? Making them fast doesn't really help."
He earnestly advised Lin Lixin, slamming the soda bottle he was holding onto Lin's desk with a bang, and waved the videotape in his hand.
"This is Star Wars! I queued for an entire afternoon to get one."
"Aren't you going to give it a try? I thought someone like you would definitely be unable to resist."
Without any hesitation, Lin Lixin unscrewed the soda bottle, poured himself a full glass, and drank it all in one gulp, dispelling some of the California summer heat.
Sam glanced at the screen again; to be honest, he had been genuinely drawn to it when he first saw it.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be nothing more than a jumble of chaotic color blocks, devoid of any scene or plot.
"Jesse, Atari spent six weeks developing E.T. and it turned out like a mess. I'm not looking down on you, it's just..."
The designer of "E.T." was Howard Schultz, who had created "Revenge of Al" which sold 100 million copies. Even that real industry veteran couldn't save Atari.
Lin Lixin was just a college student in the same year as him, a greenhorn who knew nothing. Could what he spent an afternoon making really be considered a "work of art"?
This guy was still comparing his answers to the programming textbook this morning!
Lin Lixin gave a knowing look and snapped his fingers.
"Want to make a bet with me on whether you'll like this game? The winner has to treat the other person to cheese pizza for a month, plus sausages."
Sam raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued by Lin Lixin's attitude.
"I'd like to see what kind of thing you made that makes you so confident."
He put the videotape aside, sat down on the chair Jesse had just given up, and stared at the screen.
"How do we play?"
"Why don't you try it and see?"
Tetris is so simple to play that Lin Lixin doesn't even need to explain it much.