Chapter 125: A New Team and Director
Chapter 125: A New Team and Director
After that, Michael came to think of Parallel Soft as one of the game developers that could represent this era. That was why he applied immediately when the recruitment notice appeared.
Besides, it’s a new development team!
Of course, since it was not an existing series, there could be a certain amount of risk. But Parallel Soft had already shown its capabilities, and since this was not an existing team, he saw the possibility that even a newcomer like himself could take on an important position. That made him welcome it even more.
He submitted his application right away. A few days later, Parallel Soft contacted him and told him to come in for an interview.
“Yes!”
Michael believed his career would be enough. Even so, the weight carried by Parallel Soft’s name made him nervous, and he genuinely wanted to join. Once he passed the document screening like this, he felt relieved and slightly proud at the same time.
A few days later.
“You really are an outstanding candidate. Then lastly, let’s have you meet our development team leader.”
Michael was slightly surprised that Parallel Soft’s president was an Asian woman younger than him. But when he thought about it again, it was not that strange.
Young presidents were common in the game industry. And in Japan’s case, it was a gaming powerhouse famous even in America, so Asian developers were fairly common too. Female developers were not completely unheard of either.
He simply had not expected someone who met all of those conditions at once.
Anyway, while inwardly pleased because it seemed he had passed the interview, he also felt curious and nervous about who this team leader was.
The man who was the executive director made a call to the team leader, then gave Michael, who was sitting there somewhat awkwardly, a brief explanation of what kind of person that team leader was.
“He directly developed our company’s hit title, the TLF series.”
“Including TLF Online?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s expression brightened a little more. Just as he had hoped when applying here, he would be able to develop alongside a genius.
A little while later, the person called the team leader came to the reception room, knocked on the door, and entered.
“You’re here? Mr. Raiden, this is Kim Insu, our team leader.”
“Hello. You must be the person joining us this time. I’m Kim Insu.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Michael was flustered by the sight of the other person, who looked like a boy in his early to mid-teens. So he reflexively shook the hand offered to him, but for a moment, he did not know how to react and his eyes wandered.
What is this? I’ve heard Asian people look young, but still.
However, the atmosphere did not seem like a joke, and the boy called the team leader had a fairly mature attitude and way of speaking, so Michael could not be certain and only felt confused.
Seeing his reaction, Insu smiled bitterly inwardly. Still, it was fortunate that people no longer reacted as if they had seen something terrifying. Of course, he had no intention of being the first to reveal his age.
This time, he had to lead the development team himself, so he could not hide his appearance and had come out like this. Even so, before revealing his age, he wanted to show his vision and ability first and secure leadership.
“The game we’ll be making this time is an action RPG.”
“An action... RPG?”
Michael unknowingly asked back at the words that combined two genres that did not seem to match at all. After all, the action genre demanded immediate responses from gamers, while RPGs required a great deal of planning and calculation and were mostly turn-based, making them genres far removed from quick reflexes.
Of course, there had been attempts to combine genres before.
But until now, computer performance had not been good enough to satisfy both characteristics at once.
Simply rendering fast-moving characters and objects and creating their effects, as in Slayer, already scraped the machine’s performance down to the bottom. And looking at the TLF series, even implementing its complex systems consumed a considerable portion of resources.
Because of that, not only gamers but also developers had developed fixed preconceptions.
However, that did not mean there were no examples at all.
“Is it something like Breath of Elteria?”
The game Michael mentioned was almost identical to The Legend of Zelda. It was a console RPG, and its popularity was also as high as Zelda’s, so most game developers likely knew it.
(Translator’s Notes: The Legend of Zelda — Famous action-adventure/RPG series by Nintendo, known for exploration, puzzles, real-time combat, and world immersion.)
“Ah, Breath of Elteria. There may be some similarities to a certain extent, but the player experience will be very different.”
They were similar in the sense that real-time action gave mass appeal and immersion, but their directions were completely different from the start. Zelda immersed players in its narrative, world, and characters, while Diablo centered on combat and growth.
Especially since this was 1996, before the 3D Zelda, Ocarina of Time, had come out, the distinction between Zelda and other JRPGs was not yet that large.
(Translator’s Notes: Ocarina of Time — The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, released in 1998 in Insu’s previous-life history. It became one of the landmark 3D action-adventure games.)
Insu then explained Diablo’s plan and design in detail.
“Unlike other RPGs, this game does not focus on adventuring through a virtual world. It focuses on maximizing the usefulness of farming and growth, making players immerse themselves in the combat itself.”
In truth, earlier RPGs tended to rely heavily on the gamer’s imagination. Fields, towns, quests, and battles were honestly not enough to provide immediate fun on their own, but those elements combined to make gamers imagine and immerse themselves in the world inside the monitor, and that was how they enjoyed it.
Diablo did not abandon those elements, but it emphasized the more immediate and instinctive fun of action and farming.
“Ah. I see.”
Michael gave a somewhat dazed answer after hearing the exquisitely detailed design: a structure where something dropped every time players hunted, but multiple grades and random options made them continue farming; a design that maximized the usefulness of farming and growth, where the controls themselves were easy but players could die quickly if they lost focus, while even a slight increase in strength allowed them to easily break through parts that had blocked them before; extremely simple mouse-centered controls; the careful adjustment of real-time traits and enemy movement speed to create the sensation of enemies swarming in, while allowing players to wipe them out instantly with only a few controls; the repeated catharsis created by quick stress from a strong sense of danger and quick release through easy controls; and even the setting and design that created a horrific atmosphere while allowing repeated combat without ethical hesitation.
Inwardly, however, he was deeply shocked.
How can it be this different? Is this what a real genius is?
But Insu could design it in such detail because he remembered how many people analyzed Diablo’s success factors after several entries in the series had already come out.
In truth, the developers of Blizzard North, who had actually developed Diablo, had probably intended some of its core elements, but they had not designed every detail this precisely and exquisitely. In game development, chance and intuition usually entered the process to some degree.
Either way, Michael, who did not know that background, could only see Insu as an extraordinary genius.
But although he was shocked for a moment, he cheered inwardly rather than feeling jealous.
After all, he had come here knowing he had shortcomings and searching for a developer capable of creating a masterpiece.
That was how Michael became the director of Parallel Soft’s new development team.
Even after deciding to create a game that would replace Diablo, Insu was still worried that something similar might be developed elsewhere.
Even aside from that reason, this was a period when game technology was developing rapidly, so he always needed to keep an eye on things. And another game entered his sight.
“The cover is a scam.”
There was clearly a beautiful female character on the package, but when he launched the game, a polygon model with sharp angles sticking out here and there appeared.
In truth, calling it a scam was half a joke. After all, he knew that with computers of this era, there was a limit to the number of polygons that could be displayed, so proper curves could not be expressed. This result was inevitable.
Still, perhaps because they compromised a little on modeling quality, the terrain and spaces were expressed quite solidly.
[Relic Hunter]
It was a game where an attractive female character roamed remote regions and enjoyed exploration and adventure. At first glance, it might sound like a lazily made game relying only on the appeal of a female character, but the two important keywords in this game were “remote regions” and “exploration.”
Of course, those two things were commonly used in existing games too, but this game was 3D.
It implemented unfamiliar environments not as flat planes, but as 3D spaces, and within them, a 3D character moved through locations with realistic motions such as running, climbing, and jumping in three dimensions.
One might ask whether that was not only natural, but before this, most 3D games only allowed movement or jumping across flat ground.
Moreover, the viewpoint was also free. Previously, because performance limitations made it difficult to implement everything in 3D, many games fixed the viewpoint and rendered only that portion. But in this game, the viewpoint could be changed freely, adding openness and realism.
It’s Tomb Raider.
(Translator’s Notes: Tomb Raider — 3D action-adventure game released in 1996, famous for its 3D exploration and female protagonist Lara Croft.)
It was truly fascinating. Of course, when conditions matured, it might be natural for something suited to those conditions to emerge. But since it was so similar to the thing Insu knew from his previous life, it even gave him a somewhat fatalistic feeling.
This Tomb Raider would later greatly influence 3D action games.
Not only that, it was also famous as a game that crossed genres and influenced various multimedia adaptations. In particular, the movie based on it was not the first movie based on a game, but it was the first successful movie based on a game.
Angelina Jolie rose to fame through this, didn’t she?
(Translator’s Notes: Angelina Jolie — American actress who starred as Lara Croft in the 2001 Tomb Raider film adaptation, helping popularize the character in mainstream cinema.)
It was that meaningful, and even right now, it was a successful game that kept being mentioned across many communities, including WET.
But it’s still boring.
However, for Insu, who had memories of the future, this dreadful modeling was not automatically corrected inside his brain the way it was for gamers of this era, and the character movements and action also felt quite bland.
In the end, Insu closed the game and deleted it.
Since his anticipation turned into disappointment, he felt empty. He had planned to enjoy this today and relieve stress, but it was still only eleven in the morning.
What should I do?
He was just thinking of leisurely playing TLF Online when someone called him.
“Who is this?”
[It’s me.]
At this time, cell phones still did not display caller information, so Insu only learned who the other person was after answering.
“Oh. Noona. What’s up?”
It was Eunha noona. They still worked at the same company, and it was not as if they had become awkward, but Eunha had also grown used to America and was now fully an adult at twenty-one, so on weekends, there were almost no times when she hung out with Insu, who was much younger than her.
[Nothing much. Want to meet up and have a meal today?]
Insu sensed something. She had not suggested hanging out or watching a movie, but meeting and eating together, which meant she had something to say.
What is it? Don’t tell me she’s changing jobs?
His heart sank. Eunha was not some extraordinary genius. But she had excellent basic sense and had built up experience and knowledge over time.
Someone who had developed multiple hit titles, received good external evaluations for her work, and could smoothly lead team members older than herself to complete projects was talent whose value would be acknowledged anywhere.
In fact, in an organization like a company, someone like Eunha, who had proven ability, could be more important than someone who briefly showed a flash of talent and received the label of genius.
That was because in reality, results mattered more than talent that was nothing more than potential.
“Noona!”
“Yeah. Get in.”
Eunha noona came to pick him up. Considering that Insu was the team leader and the company’s actual president, it did not exactly look impressive, but he was still too young to get a license, so there was nothing he could do about it.