America: The Godfather of Game Development

Chapter 3: Dizziness and disorientation, secondhand arcade game.

"So mysterious..."

Sam curled his lip, increasingly feeling that Lin Lixin was just making a fuss.

Seeing the message "Press any key to start the game" displayed on the screen, Sam randomly pressed a key.

As a game enthusiast, Sam has tasted many of the world's games and has developed his own understanding of the operational logic paradigms of video games.

Although the Commodore 64 keyboard does not have arrow keys, you can easily find the corresponding operation keys by simply groping around.

At first, Sam was a little clumsy with his controls, awkwardly manipulating a Z-block to make it pile up at the edge of the board.

For some reason, even though Jesse hadn't told him anything, Sam instinctively wanted to try to fill the space below with the blocks.

Before long, he figured out how to rotate and fall on his own, and became more and more proficient.

"Aha, now's the time!"

When he saw a long, green strip finally appear at the top, he cheered with relief and dropped it precisely into the pre-reserved gap.

'Bip'

The buzzer emits an 8-bit beep.

The four rows that had completely filled the screen flickered a few times and then suddenly disappeared. In their place, the blocks that had been stacked high above all fell down a few spaces.

"So that's how it is..."

This completely piqued Sam's interest. He put his hands back on the keyboard, having already decided to stop, and became completely absorbed in the game.

Lin Lixin sat at the table with a cheerful smile, sipping his soda as he fed the videotape into the player.

Looks like I've got my pizza covered this month.

As Wade uttered the classic line "I am your father" in the film, Lin Lixin heard Sam behind him exclaim several times.

"No, this can't be real, it can't be!"

Looking at the screen filled with news reports, Sam appeared to be insane, clutching his head and staring in disbelief at the once again stacked blocks on the screen.

The score displayed on the side told him that there was still a considerable gap between this score and his personal best.

For some reason, as the number of games increased, Sam's skill level not only failed to improve, but instead started to decline.

But every time he sees the highest score displayed on the record, he can't help but want to play another game and try to challenge it again in his best form.

In each game, he felt he could perform even better next time.

Simply put, he's addicted.

Lin Lixin removed the videotape and then returned to Sam.

"Alright, alright, your free trial time has expired. Please purchase pizzas to renew your subscription."

Sam snapped out of his daze and jumped up from his chair, his face filled with terror.

"What? Huh? Who am I? Where am I?"

He felt his mind was in a mess. No matter where he looked, it seemed like blocks were falling, and even his hands were unconsciously reaching out to hit non-existent buttons.

This feeling is very strange, and Lin Lixin can completely understand it. In fact, every player who has ever been addicted to Tetris should have had the same feeling.

Even when the game is turned off, its image keeps playing in front of my eyes.

"Holy..." Sam opened his mouth, then swallowed the curse back. "A masterpiece! Screw E.T., this is real video games! Lin, you're a genius!"

Sam, a computer science student and a seasoned gamer, naturally knew just how incredibly valuable this game was.

"Made in BASIC?"

"Compilation 6502"

"...Awesome." Sam's lips twitched; he couldn't fathom how Lin Lixin had managed it. "You should sell it; you'll make a fortune!"

Even something like E.T. sold 150 million copies; imagine how staggering the sales of this game called Tetris must be...

Sam didn't even dare to think about it anymore; he had a premonition that he had just witnessed history.

"I plan to port it to the arcade, but there are still some issues to resolve, which should be resolved within this week."

"Good! Good!" Sam exclaimed repeatedly, murmuring to himself.

He then remembered why he had come, and slapped his forehead.

"Oh, by the way, I came to ask you to watch the videotapes. I borrowed some Star Wars; let's watch them together!"

"I've already finished reading it."

"?" Sam stood there dumbfounded, looking out the window and suddenly realized that it was already completely dark.

The last time he was so obsessed with a game was Space Invaders, which sparked a global arcade craze.

Upon calming down and taking a closer look, it became clear that Tetris didn't contain any advanced technology; everything used had already been used by pioneers in the past.

The moving blocks used C64 hardware sprites, and the highest-scoring design was directly copied from Space Invaders.

This game has no film or television IP backing it, and no new technology whatsoever.

But it's so fun and so addictive.

Why is that?

Sam asked himself a question and was surprised to find that the answer was right there in the riddle itself.

Because it's fun.

Nothing else, it's just fun.

This seems to be what video games should be like.

……

A few days later, on Sunday.

Lin Lixin, who was focused on optimizing Tetris in his bedroom, heard a series of clanging noises coming from outside the door.

There was a loud thud as something hit the ground, followed by Sam's scream.

Lin Lixin opened the door in confusion, only to find that there was a wall behind it.

To be precise, it was a wooden board that blocked the door.

Sam howled and poked his head out from behind the board, baring his teeth at Lin Lixin in a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Look what I've gotten for you!"

Lin Lixin then realized that what was in front of him was not a game board at all, but an arcade machine.

A complete machine covered in dust, with Pac-Man graffiti painted on its exterior.

This is clearly an abandoned Pac-Man arcade machine.

"My God, Sam, where did you get this thing?"

The dust on this thing was so thick that Lin Lixin was sprayed with a mouthful of dust as soon as he opened his mouth, almost choking on it.

Sam laughed heartily, as if he had done something truly great.

"I found the arcade on the street corner and got this machine for a cheap price."

He reached out and patted the top of the arcade machine, sending dust flying everywhere and making Lin Lixin cough repeatedly.

"Didn't you say you wanted to port Tetris to the arcade? I was wondering if I could get you a ready-made machine, a used one, it'd be super cheap."

"Good heavens, I'd believe you if you told me this thing was dug up from the ground. Quick, get me a rag."

Lin Lixin covered his mouth and nose and carefully examined the arcade machine in front of him.

It must be said that Sam did indeed give him a big surprise.