It is said that the new official has three fires, and after the self-appointed title of game planner, Alice, who is about to become the majority shareholder of the company, immediately assigned a new task to everyone. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"A lot of games are made in series, because it can quickly attract fans of the previous game, and it is also very easy to create, and the company can make such a series of games a signature. So I thought, now that we're in our fourth year of development, and we've got VP of Sales Larry and I on board, it's time to make a series of games. ”

The large empty room was dotted with all the tables, and dozens of programmers stood or sat listening to Alice with great interest.

"My first idea was ......"

Now that she is a self-appointed game planner, Alice quickly brought herself into the role, which is really a super easy job, but considering the current computer performance, many triple-A masterpieces have not been released yet, but it is a pity to die.

"How's ...... SimCity?"

Electronic Arts will launch its own product in 1989, she said with sparkling eyes.

“…… SimCity?"

"Simulation, how to simulate, modeling, or engineering games?"

"Sounds interesting, city, what a lot of money, but can you bring it with a computer?"

Seeing that everyone was talking endlessly, Vice President Larry coughed vigorously: "Honestly listen to Alice continue, you boys!"

"Thanks, Larry. ”

Alice smiled and nodded at him, and then answered a programmer's muttering: "That big brother, it's not an engineering game, ordinary players are here to have fun in the game, but don't forget that." ”

With a chuckle, she continued: "The main content of SimCity is that the player takes on the position of mayor on a fixed area of land, and meets the daily needs of all citizens in the city. From planning residential, commercial and industrial land, to building roads, MRT, stadiums, seaports, airports, police and fire stations, and even the allocation of taxes and various public facilities, it is up to the player to design. At the same time, in addition to properly planning various areas, the game also needs to take into account many factors such as people, economy, survival and politics. ”

Alice simply expressed her idea, and everyone including Hawkins thought deeply about her idea.

It completely breaks the pattern of most current games, that is, those "simulator mini-games" such as Pac-Man and Snake are monotonous to the extreme. Running a city, and being in charge of every aspect of the city's operations like a mayor, is an unprecedentedly complex thing to know from the simple thought of it!

"How...... How?"

Even Hawkins was worried, and after being silent for a long time, he could only burst out with this sentence: "How should the game level be set?"

"Planning, building, expanding, and managing are the main cyclical patterns of this game, where players can freely plan their ideal city and watch it evolve over time. ”

Seeing everyone's sad faces without surprise, and a posture of not thinking about the end of the day, Alice certainly knew what they were thinking, and it was nothing more than looking for a breakthrough with the same idea of doing a game in the past. This kind of pure programmer style, it's okay to study the eighth generation of "Snake" and the ninth generation of "Fighting Bees", but for later games, it's absolutely not good.

"There is no ending to this game, there is no specific game route to follow, there is just unlimited creativity and challenge for the player. It's a sense of accomplishment to watch a barren land become a metropolis full of high-rise buildings under your own planning, with airports, ports, and MRT facilities...... Hehe, it's a lot higher than just hunting bees, isn't it?"

The crowd burst into laughter, and Hawkins nodded in agreement, "If you can really get players to do this, the sense of accomplishment will be very good." But Alice, when a city is on the right track, it's easy for players to get bored, right? After all, as you said, there is no fixed goal in this game. ”

"Then make trouble for the player. ”

Alice said lightly: "First of all, there are social security issues, such as theft, murder and other crime rates, and then there are environmental pollution and industrial emission rates, as well as the optimization of traffic control during the commute period, which are all challenges." We can even look for inspiration like Godzilla, monster invasions, alien invasions, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis flooding cities, and if you make it up, it can give players a headache to death!"

Although all these ideas were originally conceived by the EA employees themselves, which one was not the inspiration that came after they had been thinking about it for a long time? Now, when Alice poured beans into a bamboo tube, spit out these settings in one go, and was frantically washed by the huge amount of information, every employee suddenly had two moods.

"That's cool! I have to make this game! Monster attacks?Earthquakes and tsunamis?Wowhaha, I can't wait to build a Manhattan and jerk off to the Empire State Building!"

"Yes, yes, Manhattan, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, players can imitate these megacities. They can even build their own hometown, and I'm like building an exact Salt Lake City now!"

This group is lamenting the game itself, but there are many more people who have set their eyes on Alice as if they had found gold.

"Alice, how long did it take you to come up with this idea? Did anyone else help you? and under what circumstances did you get this inspiration?"

"Alice, hey, boss, can you make up another idea for us now? No need to complicate it, I just want to hear it, you're really good!"

"The game is for young people to do, no wonder Tripp agreed to be acquired so easily, Alice's head as a screenwriter is not ordinary!"

In this way, Alice's joining, or the first game after the acquisition of Electronic Arts, was put on the production agenda. However, this is not directly related to Alice, although she is a self-proclaimed game planner, she only needs to provide ideas. The current game industry is far from being as clear as it will be in the future, and the programmers who are so advanced in mathematics can do it themselves.

"It's relieved to see that everyone is so happy. ”

Returning to his office, this time, Hawkins took the initiative to pour Alice a glass of water: "It is inevitable that some people will think that when the company is acquired, there will definitely be a lot of personnel changes." But since your new boss is just a nominal planner and you immediately gave everyone such a brilliant idea, at least I don't have to worry about personnel. ”

"It's just as good as it works. ”

After talking for a long time, Alice drank all the water in one gulp: "Although I invested a lot of money in the company, I didn't deprive you of your share, aren't you still the chairman and CEO of the company now, I'll just be a shareholder who comes over from time to time to hang out, and you can handle other things yourself." ”

Hawkins nodded, and picked up the document that Lawrence left him yesterday: "Five million dollars of huge funds, when are you going to inject it?"

Yes, although it was agreed to be acquired, in terms of legal procedures, the company only really belongs to Alice after the financial record of the injection of paid-in capital, and the previous stage can be called the "negotiation period". Now, it has only been a day since Alice and Hawkins negotiated their intention to buy, and many of the formalities have certainly not been completed.

"Wait a minute, maybe a month or two. ”

Saying a time that is completely within the allowable range, Alice smiled: "Do you want to ask, why do I give such a time?"

Hawkins smiled and put the papers back on the coffee table: "Let me guess yes? Hmm...... You gave proof of your fortune as the founder of Cisco yesterday, which is remarkable. It's really remarkable, and as a former Apple employee, I know so much what what you do means, it's really amazing. ”

After three sentences in a row, Alice was lifted to the sky, and he continued: "However, even if Cisco has developed very fast in the past two years, it is not easy for you to throw out five million dollars of spare money in one go. Even if you make a lot of money with "Ghost Shadows", the average screenwriter can only make about 5% of the harvest......"

It seems that Hawkins doesn't know that he is actually a shareholder of DreamWorks, and Alice smiled quietly, but didn't say anything.

Of course, this is normal, and it is not a listed company to disclose a high-level list, unless people in the industry care, who cares so much?

"So you must have a bigger source of wealth, and you can't get it right now. In the book world, I didn't hear that you were about to release a new book, so I thought about it......"

At this point, Hawkins' gaze has become very strange, and he looks at Alice with a group of quite special eyes: "As early as the end of last year, not long after Microsoft released the news of its cooperation with IBM, it announced that the company would go public in March this year. Alice, don't tell me...... You've got a lot of a stake in it. ”

Alice stuck out her tongue, good fellow, although there was a slight gap, but Hawkins really guessed.

But it's also normal, as a person who has worked at Apple for four years and happened to watch it grow from a small company with 50 employees to a Fortune 500 company with nearly 4,000 employees and an annual revenue of $1 billion, it is normal for him to think in the direction of Microsoft's listing.

Seeing Alice's expression, Hawkins couldn't help but be surprised: "No, am I really guessing it? You also have a stake in Microsoft!?"

Alice snorted, but didn't answer his question directly: "It's on the market in early March, hurry up and buy more, I promise you'll make a lot of money!" (To be continued.) )