Chapter 108: The Devil's Egg
I left my house and headed straight to the Laitex factory.
As I stood at the red traffic light, I lost myself in thought for a moment.
In reality, I had already planned the next project, "The Killer of the Clock Tower." However, with the era of the Super Family coming, making games was no longer a simple task that a few people could whip up in a month or two.
"Even though I don't want to obsess over just one game..."
I wondered if there was a simpler game that could stimulate people's buying desires. If possible, it should be a portable format that can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere.
It was during these thoughts that Yuki's Tamago statue came to mind.
The Tamago statue she had drawn had a motif of an egg, and it seemed like something everyone would love, regardless of age or gender. It had such a friendly and cute image.
But what if that round and cute egg hatched...?
"Just thinking about it makes me laugh."
Just then, the blue traffic light came on, and I smiled as I pressed the accelerator.
The warm spring breeze teased my nostrils from the partially open window.
The Laitex factory had grown to the point where it could compete for the top one or two spots among Mintendo's cartridge subcontractors.
The foundation of this growth was the "special chips" created by Chandra for family use. Although the Super Family had already been released, the Family was still the most widely distributed model within Japan.
Moreover, the release of the fourth installment of Family's Dragon Warrior series in February had once again garnered tremendous popularity.
Mintendo had requested to convert Dragon Warrior 4 to the next-generation model for the Super Family's rapid growth, but the response from Phoenix was...
"We will only release Dragon Warrior on the most widely distributed model."
That became the motto for the Dragon Warrior series' sales.
The Dragon Warrior 4, released last month, was the final series released for the Family, so it had been upgraded in terms of graphics and systems.
In addition, the omnibus-style story structure consisting of five discs divided opinions among players, but it was the fastest-selling title among Family games at the moment.
And, as a rival to Dragon Warrior 4, Kawaguchi's Final Frontier 3 was also scheduled for release in April.
While President Kamauichi expressed regret that both leading RPG titles were being released for the Family, the royalty rate for the Super Family's cartridges was almost equal to highway robbery.
In such a situation, releasing games on the latest devices that were not widely distributed was like committing self-sabotage, though it was different for my project, "The Empty Streets," which required next-generation performance.
"Anyway, if it's not a next-gen device, it can't run, but for Dragon Warrior and Final Frontier, it's a wise choice."
So, except for the games released by Mintendo, Super Family's titles were almost priced at over 8000 yen.
Currently, there were about six games released for the Super Family, including "The Empty Streets."
Among them, "Super Marigi World" and "F-ZERO" from Mintendo, excluding "The Empty Streets," had relatively low sales.
But why was that? Since the end of last year, portable Game Boy sales had been noticeably increasing. The cartridge cost for Super Family was relatively high, and Game Boy was cheaper, allowing people to play it anywhere. Recently, you could easily find people playing Game Boy on the subway.
And the game I was currently thinking about was closely related to Game Boy.
"Hey! Kang, Kang is here. Chandra, Kang Junhyuk is here."
Was it a coincidence? Strangely, Pumala always seemed to recognize me first when I came to Laitex.
As if she knew I was coming in advance.
"Oh, Kang Junhyuk. What's up?"
I handed her the bread I had bought at the bakery on the way.
"Chandra, do you like eggs by any chance?"
"Eggs?"
I smiled and raised my eyebrows at Chandra's puzzled expression.
After hearing my concept for the new portable game device, Chandra looked unsure.
"Tamago Monster?"
"Yes, a game console with eggs as the motif."
"It's a portable game console using a 35x35 size black-and-white display. It shouldn't be too difficult to make. But there's one thing that bothers me."
"What is it?"
"It needs a sensor to detect external impacts."
"Well, it's an egg, so it's natural to be sensitive to shocks."
"Of course, but sensors that detect shocks are very expensive."
"Who used that expensive sensor?"
"Um? Then what will you use?"
To Chandra's question, I took a small iron ball out of my pocket.
"I'm going to use this."
"Iron ball?"
To detect external impacts, you need something that can detect the impact. Putting an expensive sensor in a cheap toy that children play with would be ridiculous, so I came up with a more affordable way to detect impacts.
Initially, I planned to use a "pin" to detect impacts, and if the pin moved after a certain level of impact, it would affect the judgment and make the monster die. However, if the pin broke or got stuck in strong impacts, it would cause a malfunction, so I changed my approach.
I set up a rubber band inside with an iron ball that would generate recoil when hit. As time passed, the egg would start shaking and open its eyes. Then it would roll around, and players could feed it, play with it, or train it.
As time went by, it would grow hands and feet, and during the growth phase, it would stand up and allow more specialized training.
After about a week of real-time gameplay, the Tamago monster would finally break out of the egg that had trapped it and reveal its true form. Depending on the affection the player poured into it, it would evolve into a fantastic character, from animals like dogs and cats, which were friendly to children, to imaginary creatures.
But what do I do with all of these characters after they've grown?
I'll make them fight, of course.
Where will they fight?
Naturally, it will be inside the portable Game Boy.
The Tamago Monster device would recognize the data cable of the Game Boy.
Can battles between monsters be properly expressed in the small, outdated screen and poor specifications?
No way.
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