Chapter Thirteen: Easter Eggs and John Carmack

  When Dege arrived at "Jedi's Home", it was already past eight o'clock, and the neon lights along the road had long been lit up.

  For this era, Los Angeles' night view is still quite spectacular.

  But for Jester, who had seen the brilliant night scenes of later generations' domestic metropolises, he didn't have much thought about these things, and only slightly sighed at America's prosperity.

  His heart still lingered on the girl he had met just once earlier.

  Jade's home had a sign outside with flashing colored lights that was very eye-catching, and Jester could see it clearly from far away.

  Before Jester had even stepped across the threshold of Jed's home, he could hear the sound of commotion coming from inside.

  To be honest, Jester rarely goes to arcades, even when he was still Liming.

  In Jiest's eyes, in his childhood, the arcade was a place where he felt both fear and longing.

  Sometimes fear takes over.

  It's like a noise-filled and smoky purgatory, with various portals leading to other worlds inside. You can shuttle back and forth, becoming different heroes.

  Jester had just entered 'Jedi's Home' when his nostrils caught a whiff of the pungent smell of smoke, and he let out a few uncontrollable coughs before being completely absorbed in the scene before him.

  His five "American Block" arcade machines were placed in the most conspicuous position, surrounded by crowds of people, and long queues formed behind them, but none of this would make him feel unexpected.

  He had seen this scene countless times in Costa Mesa already.

  It was surprising to find that on one of the five arcade machines, there was a child of about thirteen or fourteen years old operating the joystick, with his fingers flying quickly over the buttons, and around him, there were many more onlookers than the other four machines.

  These onlookers were shouting loudly, some even clenched their fists and waved them vigorously, their faces turned bright red as if they had drunk too much wine, spitting saliva everywhere, just like watching a football or boxing match, cheering for their favorite player.

  The opponent of this little kid was a big white man, about thirty years old, wearing a baseball cap, and his supporters were obviously much more than that of the little kid.

  This left Jester perplexed for a moment, as generally in this place in America, it was usually the weak who received sympathy.

  In his view, in any case, this little kid should be considered as the weaker side between the two.

  But as Jester drew closer and caught a glimpse of the situation through the gaps in the crowd packed around the street machine, he realized that things weren't quite that simple.

  That little kid had a leisurely expression on his face, with a smile at the corner of his mouth, and even seemed somewhat absent-minded as he operated the joystick, seemingly not putting the big guy next to him in his eyes at all.

  The big man, on the other hand, was completely opposite from the little kid's behavior.

  His forehead was covered with fine sweat, his two eyes were wide open like bronze bells, his body slightly leaned forward, all the muscles in his body were tense, and his palms seemed to be using all his strength to grasp the joystick and shake it vigorously.

  Isn't it just playing with blocks? Is it necessary to be like this?

  Jester snorted in disdain and then looked at the screen of the arcade machine.

  The competition of "Tetris" is divided into two screens on the left and right, with both players starting at the same time. The speed of the game is based on the one with the higher score, and whoever finishes the game first loses.

  It wasn't long before the battle between the two was over, on one side of the screen appeared "GAME-OVER" while on the other side of the screen appeared "VICTORY".

  It is clear that the children are the winners of this battle.

  He lost the fight, and the big white man was extremely annoyed, glaring at the little kid, then reaching into his pocket, but after feeling around, a look of embarrassment appeared on his face, and he turned around and walked away without looking back.

  Just at this moment of white man's failure, Jester heard a mixture of gasps.

  It made him feel a bit puzzled, wasn't it just a little kid defeating an adult? What's so strange about that? Americans are really naive.

  Arcade kids play better than adults by far.

  But when he heard what was said next, Jester completely lost his composure...

  "This is already his one hundred and ninetieth this afternoon!"

  Hearing the people around him describe the child's feat in a tone of near astonishment, Jester also opened his mouth wide and stared at the child with an incredulous gaze.

  Is this just a kid who has just started playing "American Blocks" able to continuously defeat 190 challengers?

  The screen in front of the child has returned to single-player mode, and the other four machines are all occupied. Only this one is empty, and for a while, no one dares to come forward to challenge it.

  This little kid's game difficulty has reached the fifth level, and the speed at which the blocks fall is extremely fast. It's almost impossible to think when the blocks are falling, and they've already landed at the bottom.

  At this time, it can only rely on the small box on one side to prompt what the next block is, and then simulate and calculate in advance. Before this block appears, consider what operation you want to perform after this block falls completely.

  Then start operating at the moment when the block falls down.

  The entire operation cannot afford a single mistake, otherwise all previous efforts will be wasted.

  To be honest, even Jest himself can't persist in playing at this difficulty level for a long time, because it's too tiring.

  But this little kid...

  Jester's eyes slanted and saw the points this little kid had already obtained, then his eyes couldn't move away again...

  A whopping 44 million!

  Jester's scoring system in Tetris rewards clearing multiple lines at once much more than clearing single lines. For example, on the first level, clearing one line is worth 100 points, while clearing four lines simultaneously is worth 800 points. On the second level, clearing four lines simultaneously is worth 1,600 points, and on the third level it's worth 2,400 points, and so on. By the fifth level, clearing four lines simultaneously is worth 4,000 points.

  This can enhance the player's sense of accomplishment when playing games.

  But even so, even if it's four lines every time, to accumulate over 40 million points, that would require doing it 10,000 times at the fifth level!

  Damn it, this kid is a freak!

  What a sigh of relief from Jester.

  He watched as the child's score continued to grow, the blocks falling at a speed that had long since reached the limits of human vision, but under the child's deft hands, they were still being cleared away in neat rows.

  It's almost time to get to the Easter egg that I secretly hid!

  Setting Easter eggs in games is one of the things that game designers of later generations like to do most, and discovering Easter eggs is also one of the things that players like to participate in most.

  Being able to find Easter eggs set by game designers, many players will even repeatedly clear the level and explore.

  The soul of Armageddon, Shigeru Miyamoto, even considers hidden elements as a key factor in determining whether a game is successful or not.

  But the thing about Easter eggs is that they can't be spoken of at first, because once you say it out loud, it's useless.

  Easter eggs are either discovered by crazy players or leaked secretly by designers.

  Originally, Jester's plan was to wait until his "American Blocks" were fully stocked in the US before secretly leaking this Easter egg out, because he thought it was a bit too perverted and didn't think any player could find it in a short period of time.

  But who would have thought that he would encounter such a freak in his second promotion on the street.

  How many monsters are there in this world?

  The setting of this Easter egg, Just is a thoughtful one. Originally, Tetris was a very playable game, but the problem is that after reaching higher levels, it becomes extremely tiring to play, and many people stop wanting to continue playing and start over from the beginning.

  This is undoubtedly an extremely depressing experience.

  To address this issue, Jest has a very high hidden score of 45 million points built into the game.

  If a player is able to reach this score, they can unlock an achievement.

  This achievement is not the kind of achievement in later games, but a real reward.

  It has a very strong sense of satisfaction for personal vanity.

  That's right, he can put his own name in front of the games on this arcade machine!

  For example, if Jest Lee completes this feat, he can put his name in front of the game.

  The "American Hero" on this machine would become "Jester Lee's American Hero", and then be seen by everyone who played the machine.

  And this is not fixed, if someone else can also complete this feat on this machine later, and the time it takes for him to complete it is shorter than the previous person's, then he can use his own name to replace the previous name.

  For example, the name of this arcade was previously "Jest Lee's American Blocks", and later this challenger is called David Beckham, so Jest Lee's name will be replaced by David Beckham, becoming "David Beckham's American Blocks".

  Isn't it very attractive?

  Of course it's attractive!

  Think about it, in a game room, someone put a coin into a "Tetris" machine, and after the opening animation of the game, the name of the game appeared, but this time, a person's name appeared before the name of the game, becoming "XXXX's Tetris", and every player who plays on this machine will see this name.

  Almost everyone will think, who is this XXXX? Why does he appear in the game?

  So after I found out the reason, oh, it's like that! This XXXX is someone I know, he's my classmate! Damn it, there's no way XXXX can do it and I won't be able to, every time I score higher than him on exams! And so on.

  Then, the vanity of comparison began, just like an arms race.

  Then they practiced "The American Square Dance" over and over again for a long time.

  Are those who have already carved their names into the game going to be fine?

  It's impossible now.

  Think about it, if one of your records is broken and someone else takes your place, then when others talk about you, "I know XXXX is great at playing Tetris, he left his name in WW."

  Then someone immediately retorted with disdain: "XXXX's level is just average, I know an OOOO who is much more awesome than him. On that machine at WW, OOOO has already broken XXXX's record and got his name engraved on it. Don't believe me? Go take a look!"

  Those who can play the game "American Blocks" to 450 million points are all people who are very competitive in their hearts. How could such people sit back and watch themselves being slapped in the face?

  They will inevitably practice more diligently and naturally have more time to play.

  The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

  This is also why Street Fighter was able to cause such a big sensation after its release, why fighting games would later replace scrolling beat-em-ups as the darlings of arcades, and why competitive games would supplant story-driven games as the new aristocracy of online gaming.

  It's because after humans defeat each other and win, there will be a sense of pride and accomplishment that far surpasses beating AI.

  Especially when the losers are still around you with a look of unwillingness on their faces.

  But now making a fighting game or say a real competitive game, like Street Fighter, is very unrealistic. One person can't do it alone, he can only dig out the psychological characteristics of human confrontation in a hidden way through this Easter egg.

  Just as Jester fell into thought, the child on the other side finally reached 45 million points.

  At the moment of achieving the integral, the game screen suddenly changed, and a background image with fireworks appeared. At the same time, the words "GRATULATIONS" also appeared, followed by the phrase "YOU-ARE-LEGEND" below the English congratulatory message.

  Then this screen disappears, and the next screen shows an introduction to this Easter egg. After that, a full alphabet selection table appears, allowing players to input their own name.

  This sudden change also attracted the attention of the surrounding onlookers, after all they had been watching "American Square" for an entire afternoon, and it was also their first time seeing something like this happen.

  After learning from the introduction on the screen why such a change occurred, the people around who were watching looked at the little kid with eyes full of envy, and it can even be said that they became jealous.

  Who doesn't want their name to be admired by all!

  Having your name engraved in the game and being worshiped by all players, as a challenge to opponents, that feeling is just thinking about it, it's really wonderful!

  Then, Jester could clearly feel that the number of onlookers had halved, and they all rushed towards the game coin sales counter in a hurry.

  Afraid of being slower than others.

  Jester watched as the little kid typed in his own name.

  He is now somewhat curious about this little kid.

  To know, to be able to play "Tetris" to a high score of 45 million, one must have extremely strong logical thinking ability, analytical ability, and hand speed that is fast enough.

  "John..."

  Jester looked at the little kid typing away and involuntarily muttered under his breath.

  "Kamakura."