Chapter 227 The Capacity of Headache (Sixth Update)

"This data is really as compressed as I can possibly achieve."

"No, I think there should be a way. Maybe we can use some more advanced computer languages."

"But the development kit Sega gave us is not suitable for high-level computer languages ​​at all, and speaking of it... we haven't learned much about other languages ​​yet."

In the office of the real game company, several people and Pajitnov were gathering in an office and arguing constantly.

The development of the Three Kingdoms strategic tour has now reached about one-third of the progress.

Every aspect of the initial development was very stable and there were no major problems.

But as the progress reached one-third of the way, trouble began.

The program of the game increases exponentially as the game content increases.

Zuo Zhen's requirements for game content at the beginning far exceeded the current limits of Sega MD.

In the era of eight-bit computers, a game was only tens of KB or at most more than 200 KB.

In the early days of Sega MD, the game's capacity reached more than 500 KB.

In the later period, as technology improved and the price of storage units decreased, the capacity of games also increased greatly.

Now, it is the early days of Sega MD.

The previous games had a maximum capacity of 1MB, while The King of Fighters has maintained it at 3MB.

The cost of 3MB game storage alone has soared to more than one hundred US dollars, and this is just the storage cost. The final price of the game is set at one hundred and fifty US dollars.

If it weren't for the fact that The King of Fighters had the foreshadowing of previous arcade games, and the current era is when the global economy is pretty good, the sales of The King of Fighters would have died out.

The Three Kingdoms strategy game that Zuo Zhen is going to make this time is only one-third complete, and the capacity has already reached 1MB.

This is not a very popular game like King of Fighters. Strategy games can only be considered a niche genre.

The game must not be too big, otherwise the cost will simply not be affordable.

These people are having a huge headache now. If they continue to do this, the capacity of this Three Kingdoms game will be no less than that of King of Fighters.

How much does this game cost? Two hundred dollars? It is estimated that everyone will be directly thrown into the cold palace and shunned.

Pajitnov is worried about this matter now.

There is too much game content, and coupled with the existing art, music and sound effects provided by the art and sound effects team, the capacity is quite high.

Pajitnov has already thought a lot about this and doesn't know how to compress the content.

"How about we go to the boss, he might have some ideas."

At this time, a person suggested.

He suddenly remembered the scene in the computer room of the university.

Zuo Zhen handled all the game code by himself, and then completed the finished game in a few days.

This efficiency is really beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Zuo Zhen actually relied on the programming and development thinking of later generations to simplify many steps and improve his development efficiency a lot.

Pajitnov also thought of Zuozhen's methods when he was at his own home.

Just a few suggestions from him helped him perfect a new version of Tetris.

Until now, he felt that Zuo Zhen's suggestions were simply amazing and gave the entire game a new lease of life.

But can he solve the programming problem?

Pajitnov is quite confident in his programming abilities.

After all, he was also one of the core R&D personnel of Mao Ziguo's computer center. In terms of experience and programming ability, he should be second to none in China today.

If Pajitnov didn't really like to develop games, he would have been able to get an official position in China's official computer research institute with his skills.

"Let the boss come and take a look. How about it, Old Pa?"

Everyone looked at Pajitnov.

He is the head of the program development team designated by Zuo Zhen, who is responsible for solving difficult programming problems. Now that he is facing more troubles, he may have to ask outsiders for help.

Pajitnov shook his head and said: "You have said so, just find our boss."

But even though he said this, he was actually still a little bit murmuring in his heart.

Is this kind of thing reliable?

With Pajitnov's permission, a man immediately left the office and ran to Zuo Zhen.

Zuo Zhen is currently studying the details of the game with others.

He plans to add the overall city management gameplay introduced in later generations to the current version of the game.

Make urban management more detailed.

The early second part of the Three Kingdoms did not have such complex functions.

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that the processor chips in this era are really not good enough, Zuo Zhen would have wanted to think about increasing the intelligence of the character.

However, due to hardware limitations, Zuo Zhen had no choice but to give up this plan temporarily.

"Boss, our team here has a little trouble, which may affect game development. Do you want to come and take a look?"

The man who ran out quickly found Zuo Zhen and told Zuo Zhen the general content of the office discussion.

"Is the game capacity so large?"

Zuo Zhen was slightly surprised.

He really ignored the issue of game capacity.

The current cost of this thing is also a big problem.

Oh, what a headache. The processor performance is not good, and the storage technology is also very backward. There are many things that cannot be realized in this era.

"Okay, I understand, I'll be there right away."

Zuo Zhen stood up, and while preparing to leave, he did not forget to give instructions to the gameplay designer he just communicated with: "Just follow what I said, increase the population, commerce, agriculture and other urban management gameplay, and see if it can be achieved with the current program. .”

"Okay boss."

Zuo Zhen left with the person who called him, and then came to the office where Pajitnov and the others were.

Pajitnov's office was arranged in a room on the first floor, so Pajitnov said he would feel a little safer.

Entering the office, everyone except Pajitnov seemed to have seen a savior.

"Boss, we have been having this problem for a long time. It's up to you, boss, to show off your skills."

"Let me take a look first."

Zuo Zhen walked to the computer where several people gathered, and Pajitnov immediately made way for Zuo Zhen to see.

Zuo Zhen immediately opened the Three Kingdoms program in the development component.

This contains an integrated package of all current Three Kingdoms programs, including art, music and sound effects resources for the early, middle and late stages.

In more than a month, the first two groups to complete the work were the art and music groups.

Now, in addition to the main art design and the theme music requested by Zuo Zhen, everything has been completed. This can also be regarded as the completed version of the art and music resources of this game.

Then he looked at the game capacity and found it was 1.2MB.

If calculated using current storage costs... the storage cost alone may cost more than fifty dollars.

Coupled with packaging, transportation, various distribution, etc., the price of this game will probably skyrocket...

When Zuo Zhen saw this, he understood why these people had headaches.

“Can’t we compress in assembly language anymore?”

Pajitnov shook his head: "No, unless the quality of art and sound effects is reduced, I estimate that this can be compressed back to within 800KB, but the finished game will definitely exceed 1MB."

"This is really a problem..."

Pajitnov said tentatively: "Unless we delete all the so-called cutscenes you requested."

Zuo Zhen said: "Then this is not a complete game."

Pajitnov also said with regret: "Yes, I think so too. This game will be incomplete, but I can't think of any other way now."

"Have you tried using a higher level programming language? That should simplify some of the details."

Pajitnov spread his hands: "Our Sega MD is not suitable for advanced languages."

It seems that the boss has no better solution.

Pajitnov thought so.

They have already thought of the method Zuo Zhen said.

Zuo Zhen pondered for a moment, and then said: "Well...it seems that there is only another way. By the way, have you ever heard of hybrid programming? But this thing may require a more advanced compiler."

"Huh?" Pajitnov was slightly startled.