In the end, Lin Yan won 20% of the previous year's profit in R&D funds. Two percent may not seem like much, but in fact it is already an astronomical number.

The valuation of Chiba Games by several banks has exceeded 20 billion US dollars, converted into yen, and Chiba Games at this moment can be said to be a super-large enterprise estimated at 500 billion yen.

In the end, the R&D funds in front of Hayashi Yan carried a long list of zeros, as much as nearly 40 billion yen. So much money, not to mention anything else. It is to get China at this moment, in any city in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, buy a large piece of land, it can be said that you don't have to worry about it in this life.

Of course, this money is used for scientific research, and scientific research must be carried out. The first Chiba Games R&D fund was not obtained by Chiba Games' own R&D department, but by a physics laboratory at Todai.

The reason why he invested in this lab is because Lin Yan wants to accumulate something in the physics engine of video games.

Although the physics engine of the game is still very simple, as the game becomes more and more three-dimensional, the physics engine is much more important. How the bullet flies, how the person who is shot falls to the ground, it all requires a physical engine.

Even if it is a seemingly ordinary building shadow, it needs a clever algorithm to use as few computing resources as possible to achieve the display effect, so that the game picture is beautiful and playable.

The emergence of these three technologies is crucial to the graphical innovation of 3D games, and the first one is the shadow cone. This is a crucial technique for making a three-dimensional game look three-dimensional.

You know, video games are now displayed on a flat screen. The reason why the human eye sees things is three-dimensional. Because of the distance between the two eyes, there is a slight difference in what the two eyes see. Thus it is possible to tell that things are three-dimensional.

Three-dimensional video games, on the other hand, require a three-dimensional picture on a flat surface. In this case, you need to use shadows like pixel planes.

Sketch a ball, why it's a ball, and not a circle, is because it has a shadow. The shadow cone is to a 3D game what the importance of shadows is to sketching.

With it, it is possible to display a convincing three-dimensional picture.

One of the more useful new techniques is normal mapping. What is a Normal Map. What is the purpose of a normal map?

You know, although the object has a shadow, it becomes three-dimensional. However, their surface is still smooth and looks unreal.

It's almost impossible to change the level of detail of the model. Because, even if it is made, put it in the game. It also requires a lot of computing resources, so there is no possibility for the game to run.

The easiest way to do this is to apply a pre-drawn texture to the model. Make it look like it's bumpy. The problem with these textures, however, is that they only look perfect from one angle. From another angle, it becomes very fake.

Normal maps are the solution to this problem. Specifically, first build a complex model, and then. Record multiple vertices of this complex model.

Then, record these vertices and paste them onto a low-resolution model. In this way, you can use only a small amount of computing resources to display a very good visual picture.

The next more impactful technique is ambient occlusion.

In the real world, there is much more than one light source. If you think of the sun as a point of light, its rays shine on the walls.

At this moment, the wall becomes a diffuse light source, and the light on the wall shines on the ground, and the sunlight also shines on the ground, and the ground becomes a new light source.

In this way, there are infinite sources of light in the real world, and the lighting is infinitely complex. It's unrealistic to simulate such complex lighting conditions in a video game.

Before Lin Yan was reborn, the most advanced game technology he knew could only complete the calculation of the sun shining on the wall.

As for ambient occlusion, it is a way to solve the flaws in the picture under complex lighting. The image is darker than the one without ambient occlusion, but the detail in the shadows increases a lot, which greatly increases the realism of the picture.

Some of these technologies were invented in the video game industry, while others were invented by movie special effects companies. For example, ambient occlusion is proposed by Industrial Light & Magic.

Part of the scientific research investment that Lin Yan wants to do is to accumulate this algorithm, and the other part is to develop hardware. Make the hardware able to withstand these algorithms.

The organic combination of software and hardware is the most prominent advantage of home game consoles.

Of course, the results of these scientific research investments will not be very fast.

Otherwise, Chiba Yuki would not refuse this part of the investment.

Gou is new, every day is new, and every day is new, this is the status quo of the video game industry. Always developing, never stagnant, need to keep thinking forward. No one can stop and live well, not any business or individual, including Hayashi and Chiba Games.

Lin Yan advocated scientific research like this, of course, he was also selfish. The type of game in his mind, the game template is limited after all. There will always be a day when it runs out.

And the further he goes, the less skills he will have. Because the game is getting more complicated. For example, in the early days of video games, the scene of one person making a game will no longer be mainstream.

Even if there is a so-called indie game trend, most of the production is some 2D mini-games made using ready-made game engines.

To truly lead the times, a game requires the joint efforts of many people.

There will always be a day when game creativity runs out, but technology doesn't.

The creativity of video games is actually influenced by technology as well. When Space Invaders was made, the best games that could be made were shooters like Space Invaders.

The reeling technology problem was solved, the game broke through the space constraints of the monitor, and the action-adventure game became mainstream.

The development of 3D games means that there is a bigger piece of the world in the monitor. All kinds of shooting games, role-playing games, all with visual spectacle to shock the hearts of players.

What Lin Yan is trying to do now is to transition the now mature two-dimensional game to a three-dimensional game.

In fact, early 3D games didn't look as sophisticated as 2D games. It can be said that the screen is full of mosaics, limited by the performance of the machine, and all kinds of characters are also angular.

However, despite its simplicity, that vast world has attracted countless players.

2D games went to the dustbin of history, and 3D games began to gain popularity. (To be continued.) )