Building a Gaming Empire In 1984

[Ding!]

[Skill Obtained:]

[Ability Scanner]: [Grants the user the power to analyze the ability values of others.]

"Analyze other people's ability values?"

Ethan stared at the newly appeared skill in the skill panel and rubbed his chin.

"It really came at the perfect time."

After all, an arcade was merely an entertainment venue. It could only be considered the first stop on the road to his gaming empire.

If he wanted to grow bigger and stronger and create something truly glorious, then starting his own game company was inevitably part of the plan.

Ethan swept his gaze across the arcade and quickly grasped how the skill worked.

It was similar to the Arcade fault detection skill. As long as the thought arose, the information would automatically appear.

[Sam Weber]

[Overall Evaluation]: D (A promising future!)

[Software Development]: 13 (Growth Potential: B)

[Hardware Technology]: 15 (Growth Potential: A)

[Administration & Finance]: 20 (Growth Potential: A+)

No matter how one looked at it, Sam's panel was rather pitiful.

Although his growth ratings were not low, judging purely from his current abilities, he was still just a naive and inexperienced college student.

What interested Ethan more was that this guy was clearly a computer science student, so why was his highest growth potential in administration and finance?

Just as he was about to check everyone else's attributes, a dazzling light suddenly pierced into his field of vision from the side.

It was Vivian.

At this moment, her entire body was wrapped in brilliant golden radiance, and a line of equally golden words seemed to be plastered directly onto her forehead.

[Overall Evaluation]: A+

"Huh?"

Ethan had always assumed this girl was just a kind hearted person who had randomly spawned by the roadside.

But now that he looked more carefully, that clearly wasn't the case.

[Vivian Perry]

[Overall Evaluation]: A+ (A genius with an extreme specialization)

[Technical Art]: 41 (Growth Potential: S+)

[Graphic Design]: 32 (Growth Potential: S-)

[Software Development]: 10 (Growth Potential: D)

Her current stats weren't outrageously high, but the double S growth ratings nearly blinded him.

Ethan hurriedly turned off the analysis ability, and the way he looked at Vivian changed somewhat.

Meanwhile, Vivian was completely unaware of any of this.

She had just finished an intense game of Tetris and set a new high score on one of the machines.

Excitedly, she moved to the back of the line, intending to challenge it again.

"Vivian."

Ethan took the initiative to approach her.

"Didn't I say you could play for free? You've helped me a lot."

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He handed her a small box filled with pennies and nickels.

For an arcade owner, loose change was the one thing he never lacked.

"Ethan, this is absolutely unbelievable. After a whole week, I thought I'd be able to forget about it."

Vivian's face was flushed red.

She completely ignored formalities and gestured animatedly while talking.

"But I can't! Tetris is just too much fun! Every time I think I've mastered it, I discover a new technique!"

"Planning to queue up for another round?"

Ethan smiled and pointed at the long line in front of them.

It would take at least half an hour to get through that queue.

"Yeah! This is the one I want to play!"

"Well, that's a shame. I was originally planning to invite you to try my newly developed game."

Ethan shrugged and quietly walked over to another machine that was still unoccupied, 1942.

Although 1942 had only been fully completed yesterday, once he had the source code, burning another EPROM didn't take much time.

"A new game?"

Vivian froze mid-step as she was about to move forward in the line.

She looked towards Ethan, who had sat down in front of the unfamiliar arcade cabinet.

Could this be the new game he had mentioned in the library before?

The one that used scrolling technology?

But this was way too fast!

The last time she had seen Ethan had only been Monday.

How could someone possibly produce a brand new game in just a single week?

She glanced at the line.

She was already at the very back anyway. Even if she went to try it, she wouldn't lose anything.

"Wait for me!"

She hurried over and sat down at the Player Two side beside Ethan.

Before she had even settled into her seat, a heated conversation erupted beside them.

"Bro, I'll cover the flank! Go all out!"

"Got it, Bro! My back is in your hands!"

Sam and Neil each controlled a fighter plane, their fingers flying across the buttons.

Their breathing was rapid, and their faces were flushed with excitement.

At this moment, Neil was immensely grateful that he had dragged himself here despite his exhaustion to visit this newly opened arcade.

It was the first time in his life he had played a game so incredible that he was left speechless.

If Space Invaders was the pioneer, and Galaxian was the foundation builder, then the game before him was undoubtedly the culmination of everything that came before.

Its gameplay was filled with randomness.

No two runs were exactly the same.

It constantly pushed Neil to insert coin after coin and keep playing.

As for Sam, his situation wasn't much better.

The more rounds he played, the more shocked he became.

The fighter upgrades dropped by elite enemies were actually random.

Lasers, machine guns, missiles, sonic weapons, wingmen...

The countless weapon combinations changed endlessly.

They were compatible with one another, making every run feel like an entirely new experience.

"Bro, you take this POW. I've got laser cannons already, so my firepower is enough."

"Alright!"

Their heavily modified fighter planes roared across the ocean, annihilating the entire Air Force.

Vivian watched enviously before turning back and staring hopefully at Ethan.

...

One of the best things about co-op mode was that as long as both players weren't wiped out at the same time, a player who died could continue and respawn after spending a coin, losing only their collected items.

Although it was Vivian's first time playing, with Ethan's assistance she quickly learned the mechanics.

The duration of a single game passed in the blink of an eye.

She sat motionless in front of the arcade cabinet, staring at the Game Over screen and final score tally.

Her mouth opened slightly, but no words came out.

How the hell was this something a person who had only studied computer graphics for one week could create?

The scrolling was unbelievably smooth and fluid.

Different stages even switched between vertical, diagonal, horizontal, and various other scrolling methods.

She had originally assumed she would see nothing more than a large static image being moved across the screen.

That kind of scrolling technology wasn't particularly novel.

But Ethan had implemented an incredibly ingenious layered system.

Clouds, oceans, islands, warships,

Every scene element felt like a living object.

Each complemented the others perfectly.

Their scrolling speeds differed from one another.

Although everything existed on a flat screen, the result created an astonishingly realistic sense of three dimensional space.

After a long while, she let out a deep sigh and swept her gaze across the other arcade machines.

"What have I even been doing for the past twenty years of my life...?"

In the past, her understanding of video games had been limited to labels like "outdated toys" and "the poison of consumerism."

When the Atari crash happened, she had even congratulated herself on her foresight and wisdom.

Looking back now, she realized she had wasted countless years of her life.

What a tragedy to have discovered all of this so late.

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