Chapter 26 of 100

Chapter 26

15 min read3,789 words

In the fifth floor of the Ansheng Building in the Sha Tin Fo Tan Industrial Area, the newly established Hong Kong Oriental Electronics Technology Company was holding its first all-staff meeting in the conference room. The reason Li Xuan chose to set up the new company in Fo Tan, Sha Tin, was because it was very close to the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Just a few kilometers to the north was the campus of CUHK, making it convenient for him, the boss, to come to the company.

Li Xuan had just used Du Wenqiang, the company's second-in-command and director of the game software development department, as an example. He compared Du Wenqiang's situation half a year ago with his current situation, vividly depicting how a formerly nerdy and overweight man, after dedicating himself to the game industry and following the steps of the big boss Li Xuan, transformed from a job-seeking graduate to a successful person earning over ten thousand a month and driving to work in just half a year. This greatly inspired the enthusiasm and morale of the other new employees.

Finally, the meeting came to the last and most crucial agenda item: the company's three-month plan to develop a new game.

Oriental Electronics currently had a total of fourteen employees. Apart from one administrative staff member responsible for answering calls, attendance, and other miscellaneous tasks, the remaining thirteen were all technical developers. The technical development was divided into two departments: the game software development department and the game hardware development department.

Li Xuan, the boss, personally served as the director of the hardware development department. Besides him, the hardware department had three new members: two graduates from the Polytechnic Institute and one from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, all of whom Li Xuan had poached from other electronics factories through a headhunting company. The remaining nine employees belonged to the software development department, led by Director Du Wenqiang.

The sources of the software department's employees were more diverse. Two of them were acquaintances of Du Wenqiang, whom he and Li Xuan had persuaded to join. The rest were mostly recruited through newspaper advertisements. Among them were two graphic designers who had switched from a comic company and one who was in a band.

During the interview, Li Xuan was surprised to hear that a rock band drummer was applying for a job at his game development company. At first, he felt speechless. However, after chatting with the young man with a spiky hairstyle for a few minutes, Li Xuan discovered that this young man, named Liang Ning, was indeed passionate about electronic games. Liang Ning was not only familiar with all the arcade games available in Hong Kong but also had many of his own ideas.

For example, he wanted to design a fighting game based on the theme of Bruce Lee's "Game of Death." Upon hearing this, Li Xuan decided to hire him. There was a classic game in the history of arcade games that was very similar to his idea, called "Double Dragon," which was hailed as the ancestor of scrolling fighting games.

In the game industry, creativity is far more important than technology. Every year, countless computer science graduates are produced by universities worldwide. As long as you can afford to pay, there are plenty of graduates from prestigious universities in Silicon Valley. However, a good idea is rare and hard to come by. An unknown company can become famous overnight because of a good game.

A recent example was Taito, which made a fortune in just over a year with "Space Invaders." Another example yet to happen was Nintendo. According to Li Xuan's memory from his previous life, the arcade game "Donkey Kong," which they launched at the end of 1980, earned them $120 million in profits from the North American market the following year, leading them to global dominance.

Li Xuan signaled the company's only administrative staff member, Cao Jingya, to distribute the freshly printed materials to everyone. Cao Jingya was the quiet girl he had met during his summer internship at Hengtai Company.

A few days ago, Li Xuan and Zhong Chuhong invited Hengtai's boss, Mr. Huo Junming, to dinner to thank him for giving Zhong Chuhong the Epson printer advertisement. During the conversation, they mentioned Cao Jingya, and Mr. Huo said she had been fired for slacking off at work.

Upon hearing this, Li Xuan immediately understood what had happened. The next day, he called Cao Jingya and learned that she had not yet found a new job. He then invited her to work at Oriental Electronics, as a way to repay her for often helping him order takeout when she was at Hengtai.

Moreover, Li Xuan did not prohibit Cao Jingya from reading books on financial management in her spare time. On the contrary, he encouraged her to obtain an accounting qualification as soon as possible, so she could take over the company's outsourced accounting work in the future.

"Everyone has already reviewed the materials. The first game we will develop after the establishment of Oriental Electronics is called 'Tank Battle.' As the name suggests, it will definitely be a shooting game, but it will be very different from the shooting game trend brought by 'Space Invaders.' It will be a multi-directional, two-dimensional shooting game, and our design will be more complex and interesting!

The basic concept and framework of the game are clearly outlined in the materials. It is a base defense game where players can fight against enemies, either alone or in pairs.

The first feature of 'Tank Battle' is the map. Each level is a 13x13 map with various terrains. I have initially designed five types of terrains: brick walls, water, forests, steel plates, and floors. Each terrain has its own characteristics, and their clever combinations form different levels. Different maps can also influence players' strategic choices.

The second feature of 'Tank Battle' is the enemies. In my initial design, the enemies include four types: armored cars, light tanks, anti-tank guns, and heavy tanks. Each type has different defense and attack values, allowing for a variety of difficulty levels. Additionally, we can add features like bullet cancellation and friendly fire, increasing the game's playability.

The third feature of 'Tank Battle' is the power-ups, which I believe is the game's biggest highlight. Each power-up has its own unique characteristics. For example, a grenade can instantly destroy all enemy tanks on the map, and a helmet can make the tank invincible for a certain period. These features will undoubtedly attract players and enhance the game's playability.

I hope all the members of the software department can use this framework as a basis, brainstorm together, and refine all the details to perfection. Let's strive to make our first arcade game a huge success!"

Li Xuan spoke at length, dissecting the design of 'Tank Battle' in great detail and depth. 'Tank Battle' was one of Li Xuan's favorite small games in his previous life and one of the classics of early shooting games. He chose it over the more familiar 'Mario' primarily due to the difficulty of game development.

'Mario Bros.' is a side-scrolling game with a continuously moving screen, whereas 'Tank Battle' has a static map for each level, making the game's graphics much simpler to produce. As the first game of Oriental Electronics, Li Xuan naturally chose a more accessible option, as his team, including himself, were still novices and needed to gradually familiarize themselves with the process.

After Li Xuan presented the plan and basic framework, all the remaining work was handed over to the software development department led by Du Wenqiang. The artists would first design the graphics for the tanks and various terrains, then create the game data, debug various data to perfect the game's balance, and finally add background music.

As for the hardware department, led by Li Xuan, their primary task was to design a functional arcade board before the software department completed the full development of 'Tank Battle.'

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