novelODS Chapter 73 What is a Pokémon Center?
Chapter 73 What is a Pokémon Center?
Through Lin Lixin's narration, Tajiri Satoshi and the other person understood what he really wanted.
GAMENOVA is preparing a "monster encyclopedia" to include all the creatures that will appear in their next game.
He plans to hand this job over to GameFreak, saying that Sugimori Ken's art style suits Lin Lixin's taste, and Tajiri Satoshi's style in content conception is also very good.
This is truly an overwhelming honor.
At this moment, Satoshi Tajiri had never seen such a scene before. Let alone meeting the God of Games, Shigeru Miyamoto, in the future, he had only met Namco once.
In Satoshi Tajiri's view, GAMENOVA is definitely a more promising, avant-garde, and younger game company than Namco.
If we could truly submit to their command, that would certainly be a wonderful thing.
As for Satoshi Tajiri himself, he had always had the idea of entering the game manufacturing industry.
However, this idea is still in its infancy.
Lin Lixin's words were like a heavy dose of bone meal for this little seedling, causing it to grow rapidly. In an instant, this thought took over his mind.
"I agree, Mr. Lin! GameFreak will fully cooperate with your work."
"That would be ideal, but if possible, I think we could also discuss the acquisition..."
Lin Lixin's trip here wasn't just about finishing the concept art and leaving.
Now that he'd caught the inexperienced GameFreak, he still wanted to take him all with him if the opportunity arose.
GameFreak is not a suitable third-party candidate like Howard or Kanheim, which can be seen from their excellent but severely unbalanced stats.
However, it would be very suitable as a first-party studio.
Given Pokémon's game design philosophy, if combined with GAMENOVA's technical prowess, it's unimaginable how amazing the game would be.
Upon receiving the instruction, Sam immediately drafted a document and presented it to the two men for review.
However, both of them looked conflicted and hesitant when they saw that they needed to move their office to the other side of the ocean.
Following GAMENOVA is definitely not a bad thing.
They can see a wider world and have access to the most advanced gaming and hardware technologies.
Satoshi Tajiri is only 20 years old this year, and Ken Sugimori is only 19.
At such an age, abandoning family to travel across the ocean...
"Lin, I do have an idea."
Noticing the change in their attitudes, Sam thought carefully and proposed another plan.
"Haven't we been looking for the right opportunity to set up an office in Japan?"
"Instead of taking them to California, it would be more convenient for us to use GameFreak as a foothold in the Japanese market, whether for distribution or other business."
Lin Lixin was slightly taken aback; this was indeed a good idea.
Anyway, images and technical support can be transmitted remotely, so it won't take up too much time in development.
Satoshi Tajiri was not a "top student" in the traditional sense, and his English was not fluent, but he could still vaguely make out words like "opening a company in Japan" from Sam's words.
I've never seen such a huge pie fall from the sky in my life.
"You're right, Sam." Lin Lixin nodded, agreeing with the plan.
He looked at Satoshi Tajiri, but before he could speak, he heard the other person shout in a strong but sincere tone:
"I do!"
……
While Sam was formally drafting the letter of intent, Lin Lixin casually chatted with the two of them.
However, the more they talked, the more Lin Lixin felt something was off.
I feel like something's missing.
*Smack!*
Lin Lixin suddenly slapped his thigh, and everything became clear.
The three key figures who made GameFreak its founding are still not all together.
"Xiao Zhi, do you know any other friends you could introduce?"
Lin Lixin simply led Okitajiri Satoshi to ask questions directly.
The soul of Pokémon is undoubtedly any one of the three giants of Game Freak.
Satoshi Tajiri's original design, Ken Sugimori's illustrations, and...
"friend??"
"Hmm, for example...making music? Music styles vary from region to region, so it might be surprisingly suitable."
"Oh... I think I actually have a suitable candidate."
Satoshi Tajiri understood Lin Lixin's meaning, and a friend in Yokohama came to mind.
"I have a friend named Junichi Masuda who is quite accomplished in music and also has some experience in programming."
"We must invite him over."
……
When the two returned to California, Gerald had already put together a preliminary test platform.
A small device equipped with the latest Z80Y chip and NovaWonder graphics card.
As soon as Lin Lixin pushed open the door, he saw Carmack squatting in a chair, frantically typing something into the development computer.
Hearing the voice behind him, Carmack didn't even look up, and said:
"Lin, you've come back just in time. I've just finished the Tetris transplant."
As he finished speaking, he tapped the last key with a "click" to execute the command.
The programmer wrote the program into the test ROM chip.
After Gerald connected the programmed chip to the test platform.
The game screen of Tetris appeared on the small 2.6-inch LCD screen.
The colors are monotonous, but the smoothness is surprisingly good.
Carmack even went so far as to prepare a smooth animation for the falling blocks, making use of the graphics card's sprite function.
In just one week, both Gerrard and Carmack brought Lin Lixin great surprises.
Everything is ready for the official launch of the Pokémon IP series.
Only one crucial element is missing—communication.
Collect, nurture, and exchange.
The first two are things that can be solved at the software level, but exchanging data was a difficult task in the era before the Internet.
"Gerald, NovaPocket needs communication capabilities."
Lin Lixin looked at the testing platform and put forward the last hard requirement for it.
"Communication?" Gerald's eyes widened. "Add communication capabilities to the handheld console? Then we can forget about battery life."
Although it was difficult for Lin Lixin to give him the requirement of more than 30 hours of use time with four AA batteries, he still managed to do it.
However, if a communication module were added, even he would find it difficult to find a starting point.
"It doesn't need to be like a floppy disk fax machine. Face-to-face communication is enough. We can use cables or infrared. I've already written the communication protocol in advance."
Lin Lixin's attribute panel appeared before his eyes.
In the skills section, a new skill quietly appears:
[If necessary, I will transform into a cat]: [Mastering signal modulation and demodulation techniques increases learning efficiency in information-related skills]
This was a reward from a skill pack he received a long time ago. Apart from the floppy disk fax machine, Lin Lixin had never found a suitable use case for it.
Now is the perfect opportunity for it to shine.
"Okay, but what about NovaBox? Are we going to make the new game a NovaPocket exclusive?"
The NovaBox, a machine that has been on the market for so long, cannot have a communication module temporarily added.
But to simply abandon the huge current market on the mainframe side? That wouldn't make sense from an economic perspective.
Lin Lixin chuckled, as if he had expected him to ask that question.
"Mr. Gerald, have you ever heard of a 'Pokémon Center'?"