Chapter 46: A Fax (Seeking Recommendation Tickets!!)

  This brainstorm-like discussion benefited Jester greatly.

  What he saw was a group of designers with their own independent thoughts, rather than his own yes-men. This was also what he feared most before.

  Fortunately, however, his employees did not disappoint him.

  His previous "Snowman Brothers" was a static screen game, although it was released in the early 1990s, but technically it didn't have any breakthrough progress compared to now.

  However, his current work "Dawn" is a vertically scrolling aerial combat shooter, and the scrolling type of game is currently the highest-end genre in this era, similar to the super-large-scale sandbox RPGs of later generations.

  And even Atari didn't produce many games of this type back then, let alone designers who had experience in making such types of games.

  The vast majority of people who have ever been involved in the production of scroll-type games at Mars Entertainment are now in Mark Cerny's design group, tackling what they call a great game that has never existed before.

  I don't know if they dare say such big talk after reading their own setting collection "Dawn".

  Jester actually also had some malicious thoughts.

  Actually, Jester is extremely in favor of this point. The technology for scroll-type games is universal. Now, Mars Entertainment's situation is scattered and elite, simultaneously developing several scroll-type games, which is not as good as concentrating on the first one. In this process, the first technical accumulation of similar type games can be completed.

  Don't underestimate the technical accumulation during game development, it's a very valuable wealth. For example, Giant knows that EA has established a technology library platform, and when their global studios develop new technologies or engines while making games, they will put them on this platform. When other studios need to use such technology or engine while making games, they can directly take it out and use it without having to develop it themselves, avoiding repeated waste.

  For example, just like the news that Jester saw before his rebirth, Blizzard recently announced the cancellation of the "Titan" project, which had invested more than $50 million. They said the game did not meet expectations, but many commentators said that although Blizzard invested at least $50 million in it, they didn't lose everything. During the development process, they acquired some new technologies that can make up for part of the loss.

  The idea of a global tech repository really tickled Jest's fancy.

  He handed over the tattered and worn-out setting collection to those designers who had been waiting eagerly, letting them continue to perfect it together. Jester then returned to his own office, where he had just received a message that someone had sent him a fax, with the sender's address being his grandfather's, but the sender was not.

  The sender was somewhat unexpected by Jester. The other party first apologized and did not inquire before sending the fax, but instead found Jester's grandfather to help, but they were also worried that if they asked directly, Jester would refuse.

  Although they knew Jester's attitude towards them from Jester's grandfather, they still had their own considerations, so they passed a document to Jester to dispel his biggest concern.

  Although presumptuous, it also expresses one's sincerity.

  Jester glanced at the document and immediately understood what the other party meant.

  The fax was sent from the Consulate General of China in Los Angeles, and it only contained a simple document with the content of the meeting.

  This was the resolution made at the second meeting of the Sixth National People's Congress held on May 15 this year, discussing and establishing the issue that Jester was most concerned about before, whether sole proprietorship is allowed for investment in mainland China.

  There were many issues discussed throughout the meeting. Perhaps the Consul General was worried that Jester would find it annoying, especially in one segment where he drew a line at the bottom with a red pen to indicate that there was something here that you wanted to understand.

  Then Jester saw what he most wanted to see on this document.

  The mainland allows foreign capital to independently build factories and invest.

  "In these port cities, foreign-funded enterprises can enjoy more preferential treatment in terms of taxation according to regulations, broaden the examination and approval authority for utilizing foreign capital construction projects and introducing technology, simplify the entry and exit procedures for foreigners, allow foreigners to set up wholly-owned enterprises, appropriately extend the cooperation period for joint ventures, and permit products that have truly introduced advanced technology to be sold partially on the domestic market..."

  At the bottom of the document, the signature reads: The Second Session of the Sixth National People's Congress.

  "This is a signal." Jester thought, this was the mainland's initiative to release a signal to himself after understanding his investment intentions, a kind signal. They didn't say anything, just sent a meeting document, which could make him dispel his previous doubts.

  They may have also consulted their own grandfathers about the scale of investment they are going to make, otherwise they would not be so active.

  After all, one's own investment plan may not be worth much in that wealthy and arrogant country in the future, but at a time when foreign exchange reserves are scarce, it is indeed precious and must be taken down.

  Especially the political attitude expressed by myself at the last gathering of Chinese people has also been recognized by some people in China.

  It's better to be cheaper for these patriotic Chinese than those who support Treasure Island.

  Anyway, it's all a loss, and giving in to the first type of person is always less painful.

  Facing the goodwill of the mainland side, Jester naturally couldn't remain unmoved. He immediately dialed his grandfather's phone number.

  "The old man has gone back to San Francisco and won't be back in Los Angeles until just before or after the Olympics." The phone was answered and that's what Jester's uncle said.

  "I don't have anything else, I just want Grandpa to help me arrange something, I want to follow..." Before Jester could finish speaking, he heard his uncle's laughter coming from the other end of the phone.

  "The old man was right, you couldn't resist calling after receiving the fax. He had already prepared and gathered many people for an investment group meeting next month in San Francisco. A commercial counselor from that side will also attend to explain the current mainland's investment environment and benefits to the Chinese attendees. The exact time hasn't been set yet, but it'll definitely be early next month. I'll let you know once the schedule is confirmed."

  After getting the exact message, Jester chatted with his uncle for a few more sentences, asking about his grandfather's health in recent days and other topics before hanging up the phone.

  This also made him temporarily put down a worry.

  In the afternoon, Jester didn't have much to do, and just as he was continuing to play "Raiden" with a masochistic mindset, he received a call from Carly Thayer to discuss issues related to releasing third-party games.

  Jest didn't mind about this, he took out the game publishing rights of Mars Entertainment and established a publishing company, which was his ambition to create a first-party and third-party publishing company.

  Jester knew how lucrative third-party publishing would be in the future, and leaving a publishing channel idle without doing third-party game publishing was foolish in Jester's eyes.

  Even in Jester's conception, future Sega and Sony games could be released through his own publishing company - as long as they agreed.

  He didn't know if this would work, in the previous world no one had done it before. Either they were third-party publishers like EA, Activision, or Ubisoft, or first-party publishers like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

  If he hadn't taken the publishing rights out of Mars Entertainment, then while building a third-party publishing company, he would still have to build a first-party publishing network within Mars Entertainment, which is too wasteful of resources.

  So there was a brainwave of Jester's, and he took out the publishing rights of Huo Xing Entertainment separately.

  Game companies specialize in making games, and publishing companies specialize in publishing.

  "We will certainly make third-party game releases." Jest said to Carly, but now there is no third-party game to do except for PC games.

  On the other end of the phone, Carrie laughed and said to Jester: "Recently, our company received a game from a small company, hoping we could help release it. It's a PC game. Adam took a look at it and thought it was pretty good, but he said we usually can't get it. These small companies usually submit their games everywhere, not just to new publishers like us, but also to big ones like Snowy Mountain and Virgin. Our company has just been established, and our distribution network is not even set up yet. We're not as good as Activision and EA, which were established around the same time as us. Even if we really want to release it, as long as there are other companies to choose from, they won't choose us."

  Jester didn't think much of it, in his opinion, the sales of PC games in this era were capped at 10,000 copies, which was small change to him. He didn't think it was time for large-scale development of PC games yet, so whether they won or not wasn't important. What mattered most now was that his publishing company had to prepare for the trial play conference in Chicago half a month later, where they couldn't afford to lose face.

  So he just said over the phone to Carly, "It's okay, it's just a PC game." While saying that, Jester also curiously asked, "What game is it?"

  "The game is called 'Aces of the Pacific', a company called Microprose, they previously made a game called 'First Flight' which was pretty mediocre, but Adam said the creators had some great ideas." Carly flipped through some papers on her desk, apparently looking for information about the game, before explaining to Jester.

  Jester's body shook slightly when Carly mentioned MicroProse, as this company was really too famous in later generations.

  Not only is the producer of this company, as Adam Edgar said, very thoughtful, but also the founder of this company, who is also the creator of this game, has a position in the history of world electronic games that is simply like a monument.

  He is considered a titan in the gaming industry and a legendary figure in the world of electronic games, known as the "Father of Electronic Games". At a time when electronic games were thought to be mere children's toys, his works entered university classrooms with dignity, and even professors asked their students to play this game to experience the progress of human civilization.

  This game is Civilization. By now, anyone who has even a slight understanding of video games should know who the founder of this small company called MicroProse is.

  That's right, he is Sid Meier.

  "What's the creator's name?" Having calmed down a bit, Jester asked the question that was now his top concern.