Game Market 1983

Chapter 51

Currently, I had around 2 . 2 billion Yen in my bank account . My financial situation hadn’t changed much from when I first arrive at this era .

I had invested in over six premium shops in New York City, as well as sponsoring the cartridge production for Dragon Emblem with my money . Although the game was a huge success, it was hard for me to see any noticeable returns .

Thankfully, I was able to procure some profits for myself with the specialty chip which improved the Family’s capabilities that Chandra had invented .

I was in the same financial situation from back then, but I built up an excellent social presence as well as a vast business network that allowed me to recruit MIT engineering majors…

Would I be unhappy?

“Aren’t you the elated one, Director Kang!”

“Is it obvious?”

“Very much so . ”

“Ah~ I should head back to the office and work on my facial expressions then . Miss Elise, you have to keep today’s events a secret from Mr . Yamashita and Mr . Gunpei . ”

“もちろん、カン監督” (Of course, Director . )

“Oh~ Your accent is great!”

“After you flew back to Japan, I’ve been practicing Japanese by myself [relentlessly] . ”

“Do you still want to work at the Mintendo HQ?”

“Of course . I’m still learning Japanese so maybe in 1~2 years? I do want to be employed at the HQ as soon as possible, if it wasn’t for Mr . Yamashita and James…”

“James?”

“Ah, he’s my boyfriend . Also, I have a dinner planned with him today, do you want to come with us?”

“Me? Eyy~ I’m good . I don’t want to be the third wheel b*stard intruding on your date . ”

“He’s not the type to care about that, not to mention me . It’s fine!”

No, I’m not fine…

As I politely refused her offer with an awkward smile, Elise did not ask anymore .

“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow, Director Kang~ . ”

“Drive safely, Miss Elise . I hope your date goes well~ . ”

Vroom~

After dropping me off in front of Mr . Wilson’s store, Elise immediately steered her car to the departing lane and drove off .

I stared at the back of Elise’s car until it disappeared before turning my head around to look at Mr . Wilson’s store . As it was the holiday season, there were many bustling customers inside the store .

A crowd was gathered around the experimental trial station near the display window, trying out our various games . Amongst them, a few were able to clear the stages and were happily holding the corresponding prizes .

Morita’s illustrations were especially popular as one of the prizes; He’d love to hear about this when I go back to Japan .

Dawn . I borrowed a car from Mr . Yamashita and visited MIT .

The distance from New York to Boston was around 350km . It wasn’t a short ride by any means, but I felt the necessity to oversee the development, so I could better explain it to Chandra .

Thankfully, MIT did not restrict outsiders from entering; I was able to find my way into the ‘Hack+’ club room without much trouble .

The 7 members from yesterday were gathered around a table holding a meeting .

After all, inventing a computer part from scratch wasn’t an easy task . The very first step was constructing a blueprint for the development goals .

“Ah, hello again . ”

As I entered the room, 7 different pairs of eyes immediately focused onto me . A few shifted their gazes to my backside . Were they looking for Elise? Unfortunately, Elise was currently working with Mr . Yamashita .

“Is he our patron? He looks be around the same age as us . Does he know how to speak English?”

“Yeah, don’t worry . He’s really good . ”

John reintroduced me to everyone again . The average age of the students was in their early 20s, so my physical body was a little older . However, I became friendly with them after a few conversations .

As the meeting resumed, I sat down in a corner and began to take notes .

“As John said earlier, I agree that we would need an independent memory for a device that would lessen the burden on the CPU . If both the CPU and our VGA were sharing a single memory, it’s bound to overload . ”

“The price of production would increase, but we have no choice but to add a separate memory to decrease the load on the CPU . Before we draw the outline, let’s run through the logistics . ”

In response to Rob’s statement, I tilted my head and asked .

“Already? You guys haven’t bought the necessary parts yet . ”

“What are you talking about, the materials are already here . ”

Rob pointed at the pile of computer parts in the corner of the room and flashed a grin . Contrary to my expectation, the method they came up with was simple . I thought these MIT geniuses would think up some extraordinary development method, but the first plan proposed by Rob was utilizing 2 computers .

It was the “brute force method” but was nonetheless effective . By linking two motherboards together, one would be used to handle the CPU while the other would render the graphics . With this, both motherboards would be able to utilize the 1 MB of memory independently . But would it be this easy?

Even if the two motherboards were connected, a ‘driver’ to configure the memory card to graphic rendering was needed .

This was their first hurdle; They needed to rewrite the Bios setting for the memory to be optimized for graphics rendering .

“This isn’t going to be easy . We should set up the Bios first before we draw out our next plan . ”

The other team members nodded to Rob’s words before adding in their own comments . If Chandra were here, he would’ve been able to exchange ideas with the team . What a shame…

Like that, 10 days had passed .

“Hey… it’s working!”

As Jack shouted out, the members and I who were inside our sleeping bags rubbed our eyes open . During the past 10 days of me working with them on the graphic driver, I had adopted their exact lifestyle .

“It is!! F*ck!!”

“Wh, What!? What’s working?”

I jumped down from my bed and took a look at the monitor . On display was 2 pyramid-shaped polygons which were spinning in a clockwise direction, albeit with a bit of static .

“Oh!! F*ck!! Jesus Christ!!”

Shouts of joy exploded from all around the room as various figures erupted from their sleeping bags and rushed towards the monitor . The connected PCs were operating as a single unit with two independent memories .

We huddled together and pranced around like the seven dwarves from Snow white . The graphic might’ve looked pathetic to the moderners, but this was a huge step forward for us . But our joy was short-lived… As we were whooping and hooting, Rob looked at the graphic rendering motherboard with a serious expression and opened his mouth .

“But how are we going to reduce an entire computer to the size of a chip?”

The room turned silent . Now… the joyful mood was gone . Was it time to bring up the “magical” bonus compensation talk?

Yet another 2 weeks had passed…

After dinner, I was playing a 3:3 basketball match with the team . We had figured out a general outline for the 3D rendering chip, but there was still too much work . They had to consult their professors for some of the complex technicalities to draw a blue print .

“You said you were flying back to Japan next week?”

Jack and Rob were wearing despondent expression as my departure date drew nearer; we had become close during the past few weeks exercising and drinking together . Especially Rob, who had been an avid fan of Psychic Battle, requested me to send him a signature from the developer of the game .

If I had only been thinking about using them for their skills, I would never have formed a friendship with them . Programmers had a certain pride in their unique method of coding, and they would never open up to others who didn’t understand their methods . As I had been working with them since the Bios setup, they must’ve acknowledged me to some extent .

Bounce~

I bounce passed the ball to Rob as I spoke .

“I will keep my promise . A signature from the developer of Psychic Battle~!!”

“Yeah~!! Thanks for remembering . But who exactly is the main programmer of Psychic Battle?”

“Me . ”

“What!?”

“Just kidding~ . ”

“Of course you were joking . You can code efficiently, but it’s not to the extent of Psychic Battle~ . ”

“I really am the main developer . But my friend completely reorganized my code . ”

“You really are the developer!? Aside from that, your friend was able to rewrite your entire code!?”

Each programmer had their unique method of coding; they would organize class and loops in a certain way, so it was very difficult for someone else to be able to rewrite the entire code their way .

“You can’t believe it either, right? But it’s the truth . He’s a genius . ”

“Is he Japanese?”

“No, Indian . ”

“Oh . I hope I get a chance to meet him . ”

“You should bring the entire crew to Japan in the summer . I’ll book a hotel for you guys . ”

“Really? You’re great!”

…

As soon as Rob passed the ball, I bounced the ball once before bending my knees to shoot from the 3-point line .

Shhpp~!!

The ball dropped from the hoop along with the satisfying thump sound .

“Take things slowly . All you have to do is finish the blueprint by summer . ”

“You said take it easy and want us to have the blueprint ready by summer . You have no soul~ . ”