Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 122 Contracts and R&D

Since Lucas was willing to let Ethan make a video game for his "Star Wars", and Ethan was happy to take over the cooperation, then everyone sat together to draw up the contract.

Lucasfilm has unconditionally authorized the game development rights of "Star Wars" to Destiny Games. Although there is no time limit on the authorization, Destiny Games will not retain the game development rights without limit, because the two parties have agreed on the number of productions. That is 'a'.

After the video games launched by Destiny Games are launched, the development authorization will be automatically terminated, and Destiny Games will automatically obtain all the copyrights of the games that have been released. At the same time, they can only repair and sell the games that have been released. Develop other games under the name of "War".

Since the "Star Wars" video game is regarded as the film's software, Destiny Games needs to complete the production of the video game before the film is released, and the film's release time is jointly decided by Lucasfilm and Fox Films. May of this year.

Of course, everyone knows that it is really difficult to make a temporary production, so when drafting this clause, Ethan also won the right to discuss the timing. Destiny Games will cooperate with Fox Pictures' announcement plan in principle, but if the game really If they can’t make it within three months, then Fox Films will also give him more time for research and development. As long as their Destiny game is produced within the normal development time of the industry, that is, within six to eight months, that doesn’t count. breach of contract.At the same time, Ethan also requested that during the production period of the game, "Star Wars" cannot be released.

For this additional clause, Fox Films agreed for a while after thinking about it.

After all, they were the ones who wanted to take advantage of Ethan's popularity.

In addition, Ethan also stated when drafting the contract that in order to cooperate with the promotion of the movie, Destiny Games has the right to use various soundtracks, characters and place names in the movie when making the game.

As for the cost...

It is the responsibility of the film producer.

On this point, Lucas felt very reasonable.

If the presentation of the game is not consistent with the content of the movie, then this is called fart propaganda!

In addition to these, there is an agreement on the development of derivatives in the contract.

I have to say, Lucas is the most profitable person in Hollywood movies. Before the movie was released, he was already thinking about the value of IP, and in the agreement between him and Ethan, the game of destiny does not enjoy " The right to develop derivatives of the video game Star Wars means that Ethan cannot develop clothing, accessories, toys, etc. in the name of Star Wars.

To be honest, when this clause appeared, Ethan had no waves in his heart. He never thought about swallowing the "Star Wars" IP.

But even so, he still had doubts in his heart.

Because he didn't know how Lucas was still calling him brothers and sisters one second, and discussing interests here the next second...

What this brother did is too superficial!
It seemed that he saw Ethan's doubts, so Lucas took the initiative to explain.

"Oh Ethan - I really don't mean that to you - but I sold out the Star Wars merch rights before we even met..."

"Star Wars toys are already doing it..."

"Star Wars clothes have also been produced..."

"so……"

"Fox will be furious because of my film presentation..."

Lucas smiled helplessly at Ethan.

The person on Fox's side nodded seriously.

'? ? ? '

Hearing this, Ethan was stunned.

He really didn't expect that Lucas could feel so good about himself!
The merchandise has already started selling before the movie is released?
Is this self-confidence or conceit?

Ethan couldn't figure it out.

But he didn't struggle, but smiled and said, "It's okay, this is your movie."

Perhaps it is because both Lucas and Fox have the intention of treating the dead horse of "Star Wars" as a living horse doctor, so when negotiating the contract, the two parties quickly decided on the terms of power, but in terms of benefit distribution, They even waved their hands and didn't want anything.

The three parties do not discuss any income. The money earned from the game belongs to Destiny Games, and the money earned from the film is negotiated by Fox Films and Lucas Films in accordance with the Hollywood rules of distribution and production. The three parties do not hold any joint interests.

After the contract was signed, Ethan's hanging heart also let go.

'Mi Luohua?Atari? '

'Humph--'

'Wait to die, you guys! '

Since it is already the beginning of February, the best time for the movie to be released is at the end of May, and the time to actually make games is only in the early three months. Cass simply got to the individual, and then returned to Palo Alto in a flash.

After saying hello to his sister and declaring that he was safe, he went into his study and spread out a piece of paper to write and draw.Since he had decided to make the game "Space Invaders" before, Ethan had already recalled the content of the game in his mind many times when nothing happened, so even if he got on the horse temporarily, his drawing speed was not slow, as long as After one night, he completed all ten pages of paper.

At seven o'clock the next morning, he knocked on the door of his sister's villa and took pictures of the idea.

"Oh Ethan—is this your inspiration?" After reading the creative manuscript of "Star Wars", Evelyn's delicate face suddenly showed surprise.

"The player controls the spaceship to fight against the aliens?"

"Oh—how is your idea so similar to the story we talked about before?"

Evelyn is no fool, of course she can see that the plot of the "Star Wars" story is almost indistinguishable from the chatter they had after watching the filming of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" last summer!
Ethan went out for a trip, and then turned the previous story into a game?

What kind of brain is this!

Ah no!
What kind of movie is Star Wars?

Can Ethan turn a seemingly ordinary story into a game?
Evelyn was curious.

"Yeah! That's the story we were talking about!"

Ethan didn't mean to hide it either, and said the rhetoric he had already composed——

"The content of the story we were talking about was not perfect, only a rough context, because the motivation was not clear, so I didn't make it into a game."

"And I went to Los Angeles this time. After watching the movie "Star Wars", the grand scene was like a clear spring, which made the whole dry story fuller."

"So, it was born."

"So amazing?" Evelyn couldn't believe it.

"Of course." Ethan nodded with a smile.

"When the movie is finished, you must take me to see it." Evelyn said, "I really want to know what kind of movie can give you such inspiration."

"No problem." Ethan agreed directly.

At the same time, he said: "Is this game difficult to make?"

Yes, the difficulty of game production is what Ethan cares about.

Because it means how much time it takes to make a game.

And for this question--

Evelyn looked at the idea for a while, and then said: "Your idea is not as difficult as the previous "Pac-Man", because in your design, the player plays the role of the guardian and the AI ​​​​plays the alien. The trajectory of action is actually fixed.”

"The Millennium Falcon controlled by the player can only move horizontally and attack enemies from above."

"Aliens controlled by AI can only try to break through the defense line from top to bottom."

"They don't have more intelligent judgments, so in terms of production time..."

"It's estimated that it will only take eight to ten weeks."

Ethan liked this answer very much, "In other words, it can be completed in mid-April?"

"If nothing else," Evelyn added.

But before Ethan became happy, she said again: "However, eight to ten weeks is just an ideal state. If Stephen can participate and write the alien AI code with me, then I am confident." Made this game in eight weeks."

"But if I write it alone..."

"That could be more than ten weeks."

"Although your idea seems not difficult, there are still certain logical judgments. For example, the trajectory of the alien spaceship will gradually change with the number of alien spaceships eliminated by the player."

"Just this one variable, I may have to write for days."

In the original game of "Space Invaders", the designer's design of the alien spaceship is actually very simple. At the beginning of the game, five rows of aliens will appear on the screen. As a group, they move forward while avoiding the player's attack. hair.When they breach the player's entrenched line of defense, which reaches the bottom edge of the screen, the game ends and the player's defense is declared defeated.

In that game, the increase in difficulty is not obvious. Whenever the player destroys a certain number of alien spaceships, their running speed will increase a bit. The specific manifestation is actually the same as "Snake". Here, there is no difference in the speed of the snake after eating a certain amount of food.

In Ethan's design, this monotonous setting of collective movement and only forward was slightly modified by him. When the same batch of alien spaceships are eliminated by players to a certain number, several of them will be destroyed. Break away from the main force, and hit the direction of the player at a high speed.

In this way, when players are playing, their thinking will not be solidified, and they will not experience mental fatigue after playing for a certain period of time because the trajectory of each wave of enemies is the same. Sexual raids will keep players' nerves tense and give them a sense of excitement. Of course, the source of inspiration is "Little Bee".

Yes.

Ethan is also a reference.

And it is precisely because the trajectory of the AI ​​​​also requires certain logical judgments. For example, the alien spaceship that launched the raid needs to lock the player's position, but the player's position is not fixed, so how to determine the impact position? That's what Evelyn has to think about.

If it is mobile-locked like "Pac-Man", then this game is over.

Because no player can escape the precision guidance that the super aim has deployed.

But if the coordinates of the player before the collision of the spaceship are used as the impact standard, then the player can dodge too easily, and only need to move left and right, then he can dodge at will.

When the obstacle designed by the designer does not bring any obstacles to the player, then the meaning of the existence of this obstacle is meaningless. It is the most important thing for a developer to consider.

And to solve this kind of thing...

Really time consuming.

Therefore, when Evelyn said that she needed someone, Ethan nodded without hesitation.

"I've considered this matter before, let Damio follow you."

"Damio?" Evelyn thought for a moment and said, "Have you verified his technique?"

"No." Ethan shook his head.

"Then how do you know he can?" Evelyn asked.

Ethan would, "Because he came out of Stanford."

"How did he get his degree if he couldn't even write code?"

"Okay, let's try it first." Evelyn felt that there was nothing wrong with Ethan's judgment, but she also felt that it might be better to let reliable people do reliable things when faced with such urgent projects.

"If you can, you'd better call Stephen over."

"His technology can guarantee that the game will be produced on time within two months."

"Then……"

"I think our company needs a group of R&D personnel."

Evelyn blinked at Ethan and said, "You understand what I mean?"

Of course Ethan understands what sister means!
He had the idea of ​​recruiting troops as early as last year, and he was ready to put it into action.

But why the plan couldn't keep up with the changes, and some things happened too suddenly?

Of course, these are all excuses now.

As the president of the company, he did not manage the company well.

"I know." Ethan admitted his mistake, "After I finish this job, I will keep an eye on the company's recruitment and form a dedicated R&D team."

"Because we not only want to make games, but also hosts."

"As for why you are not recruiting now..."

"I think you should be able to understand, right?"

"Mirowa and Atari are here for us. If we recruit a large number of people to start research and development at this time, it will be a signal for them to fight back. We cannot release this dangerous force to them. signal because it might make them more prepared, and at the same time, I'm afraid they'll take the opportunity to stuff our company."

This consideration made Evelyn nod slightly.

Then she winked at her brother again.

And that appearance made Ethan smile knowingly, "Okay, okay."

"Woz over there..."

"I'll go take a look."

In fact, when Ethan found out that there were only a few months left for his research and development, what he wanted to do the most was to bring over Woz, who had mastered black technology.

Before he was hesitant, it was because he was struggling with whether his call would interfere with Apple's research and development progress, but when his sister repeatedly said that with Woz around, things would definitely go smoothly, Ethan no longer hesitated, and directly asked I went to Cupertino, where Apple is located.

And when Ethan walked into the three-story Apple headquarters...

Only then did he realize that his worries did not exist at all!

Because after the establishment of Apple, Jobs and Woz became all-hands-off shopkeepers!

(End of this chapter)