Chapter 19

At the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the first-year curriculum is primarily focused on general education. In Li Xuan's first-semester course schedule, there was only one major-specific course, titled "Principles of Computers and Basic Programming," while the rest were general education courses.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, being a merger of three colleges, has a rich tradition, with each college requiring students to complete two mandatory and three elective general education courses, totaling five. However, the elective courses offered by each college have their own unique characteristics.

For example, at United College, where Li Xuan is enrolled, first-year students are required to take "University Life and Learning" and "Modern Social Issues." At New Asia College, the mandatory courses for first-year students are "Introduction to Reading" and "Thinking Methods." At Chung Chi College, the general education elective courses include "Introduction to the New Testament" and "Foundations of Christian Faith," which are theological courses.

Life outside of academics is also vibrant. The Student Union begins large-scale recruitment of new members at the start of the semester to infuse fresh blood into the organization. Various clubs also have a wide range of activities to attract participation. On Thursday evenings, the dormitory committee makes desserts to reward everyone.

Each week, there is a regular reading salon in the dormitory. Male students who enjoy football can gather in the living room to watch English First Division matches on weekends. At that time, the top English league had not yet been renamed the Premier League, and Liverpool was still the undisputed champion.

For Li Xuan, this was his third time stepping into a university campus. Each school has its unique culture and traditions, providing him with many new and exciting experiences. For instance, at Belilios Hall, where he resides, the dormitory committee president and other key members make exquisite and delicious desserts every Thursday evening, creating a warm and homely atmosphere that he had never experienced in his previous university life.

In addition to his classes, Li Xuan occasionally needs to visit the Keji Electronics Factory in Kwun Tong. The production of arcade machines has gradually become more stable, with about ten units assembled each day. However, the factory recently encountered a frustrating issue. According to normal industrial production rules, the production cost per unit should gradually decrease as production scales up. However, the situation he faced was the opposite.

The main reason for this issue lies in the supply of the computer circuit boards for the arcade machines. At that time, there were no specialized companies producing circuit boards for arcade machines. Each type of arcade machine's circuit board was designed and produced by the arcade machine manufacturers themselves and not sold externally.

Keji Company's counterfeit arcade machines use circuit boards purchased at high prices from authorized agents of the original arcade machines. These agents obtain the circuit boards under the pretext of component replacement from the manufacturers.

As a result, the number of circuit boards the electronics factory can obtain each month is very limited, and the more they buy, the higher the price, as the risk for the suppliers also increases. If the original manufacturers discover this, the agents could lose their authorization and even face legal action.

Li Xuan has also considered asking a printed circuit board factory to produce custom boards for him. However, the technology required to produce circuit boards for arcade machines is not low, and most small factories in Hong Kong cannot produce them. The few large factories capable of production do not consider Keji Company's small monthly orders of a few hundred units for each model worth their time.

Fortunately, Li Xuan only sees the counterfeit business as a temporary solution. He is currently designing a new arcade game, a game that will be famous decades later. He has already thought of a name for it: Hong Kong Blocks.

In Li Xuan's view, Tetris is not particularly suitable as an arcade game. It lacks the intense and exciting combat and the spectacular and dazzling graphics. The Russian mathematician Alexey Pajitnov originally created it to test computer performance, inspired by puzzle games. In his previous life, Li Xuan had never seen Tetris in an arcade, but it was ubiquitous on mobile phones and online game websites.

However, it is 1979, and arcade players have not yet been exposed to classic games like Street Fighter, King of Fighters, or Galaga. Even the crude graphics of Space Invaders and Galaxian can captivate them. The simple graphics of Tetris, while not as advanced as those of arcade games from twenty years later, are still on par with the games of 1979.

Its classic status has been tested by time, and it has been selected as one of the most classic games of the 20th century in various rankings. It is said to hold a rather awkward record—the game that has caused the most players to be imprisoned, highlighting the level of human obsession with it.

Therefore, after careful consideration and analysis, Li Xuan believes that porting Tetris to arcade machines in this era is entirely feasible. For Li Xuan, the reason he chose Tetris as his first game to develop is that he can do it alone.

He has not overlooked other classic games, such as Nintendo's Super Mario. However, developing these games is not a one-man job. Besides software and hardware issues, character and graphic design require professional artists. Although he has the advantage of rebirth, he is not omnipotent.

"Master Xuan, what brings you to the company today?"

Li Xuan walked into the office, and Du Wenqiang looked up and teased him. The factory space rented by Keji Company is not large, with only a few offices separated from the production area for daily operations. Although Li Xuan has a desk, he rarely comes to the factory, so Du Wenqiang shares his office.

Recently, the company has hired two new employees with a background in electronics to handle game data burning, finally freeing Du Wenqiang from the tedious repetitive work. Du Wenqiang has excellent programming skills, and most importantly, he shares Li Xuan's passion for electronic games. During their first meeting, he even showed Li Xuan a few small games he had written in assembly language on his computer.

Li Xuan has already planned to include Du Wenqiang in his yet-to-be-formed game development team. During this period, he has been evaluating Du Wenqiang's character. In Li Xuan's view, when forming a development team, technical skills are crucial, but personality and character are also important, ensuring that team members can communicate effectively and remain loyal. After this period of personal interaction, Li Xuan has largely approved of Du Wenqiang.

"What are you up to? Don't slack off during work hours, or I'll dock your pay!" Li Xuan said with a smile.

"What else, testing the program! I just found a small bug and am fixing it now!" Du Wenqiang, a tech enthusiast, said without looking up. After the initial few games, Li Xuan did not continue focusing on counterfeiting. Instead, Du Wenqiang took over and, in half a month, had already cracked and replicated two new games.

Due to the limited supply of circuit boards, Keji Company could not increase the production volume of a single game. Therefore, they focused on increasing the number of games. Now, the company's counterfeit products have increased to five, sufficient to meet the needs of a small arcade.

"Let me show you something good!" Li Xuan pulled out a floppy disk from his bag. He had already programmed Tetris, but the game is now called Hong Kong Blocks, and its future glory will have nothing to do with the Russians.

"What is this? A new game you made?" Du Wenqiang stopped the previous program, took the floppy disk from Li Xuan, and inserted it into the drive.

"It's a new game I've been working on recently, but it's different from the previous ones! Before, we were just copying and plagiarizing others, which isn't very respectable. This time, I wrote the game myself, an original creation, the only one of its kind in the world. The game is called Hong Kong Blocks!" Li Xuan felt a bit embarrassed saying this, but his thick skin quickly made him act as if nothing was wrong.

"Really?" Du Wenqiang was still a bit skeptical.

"Just try it out. I put a lot of effort into it. It's a puzzle game, and I think it's suitable for all ages. It should be pretty good!"