This was an era that taught physics

Chapter 7 This is an era that teaches physics

The Chinese name for "Snake Game" is "贪吃蛇" (Tan Chi She).

This is a video game whose sales figures are so poor that even New Bing cannot accurately calculate them, but its popularity must be acknowledged.

Because this game was released alongside Nokia phones, if we calculate based on Nokia's production volume, then Snake would definitely beat Wii Sports, crush Minecraft, knock down Northland Blocks, and become the world's number one.

There's nothing you can do about it; that's just how the top-tier phone is—it's just that kind of shady business.

But if we calculate it based on the number of paid subscriptions...

How much money has the game "Snake" actually made?

Nobody knows about this.

However, one thing is certain: even after Nokia's mobile phone empire collapsed and the free environment on which it relied for survival was lost, the game Snake not only did not die, but instead sprang up like mushrooms after rain, with countless variant versions emerging.

Games like "Agar.io" and "Bug Battle" are simply Bluetooth battle versions of the original "Snake" game, but with the main characters changed from snakes to other things.

The American release of Slither.io was even more outrageous. As soon as the game was released, it topped the App Store sales charts in multiple regions, including America and the UK, with overwhelming force.

In addition, it became the most searched video game in the American region of Google in 16.

In just three months, they swindled more than ten million US dollars.

It was precisely because it had been popular for decades and brought wonderful memories to generations that when Ethan was preparing to make the game, the little snake that had accompanied him through countless nights in bed suddenly appeared.

After Evelyn quickly finished reading the concept of "Snake", the girl who had been cursing at Ethan suddenly looked up, her bright eyes shining with disbelief.

"Ethan—did you come up with this idea?" the girl asked, quite surprised.

"Hmm?" Ethan shrugged, acknowledging it.

"Oh my God! How did you come up with this idea? It's truly a genius!"

Evelyn shook the papers in her hand and exclaimed, "I guarantee this thing is way more interesting than Spacewar!"

Spacewar! was created at MIT in 1962 and later spread to all colleges and universities in America, becoming the introductory game for countless computer science students.

The gameplay involves two players controlling a spaceship and battling it out around a gravity-bound star; whoever is destroyed first loses.

Although this game was revolutionary because it was the world's first multiplayer video game, SpaceWarriors was still relatively rough around the edges when the entire video game industry was still in its infancy.

Therefore, when a mature industrial version of "Snake" and "Space Wars" are put together...

Anyone would choose the former.

"Can you make this?"

Evelyn's surprise pleased Ethan, because it at least proved that he hadn't chosen the wrong game so far.

"Of course!" Evelyn nodded vigorously.

Perhaps because she was too excited, her words became somewhat incoherent.

"Arcade games aren't difficult to make at all. Take your 'Snake Game' for example, you can completely copy the technology from 'Pong.' For instance, the snake on the screen can be displayed using the photoelectric signal feedback from a light gun..."

At this point, Evelyn suddenly noticed that Ethan looked completely bewildered.

Then she slapped her forehead.

"Oh God! I forgot you don't understand these things at all!"

Then, she decisively stood up.

"Come on, follow me to the garage, I'll show you how easy this thing is."

Ethan sensed the presence of a strong, capable woman in her swift and decisive actions.

But just as Ethan and Evelyn walked out of the bedroom together, Evelyn turned around and went back into her own room.

He also said, "Wait a moment, I'll change my clothes."

A moment later, when Evelyn reappeared, her jeans were gone, replaced by a pair of denim overalls commonly seen in factories.

Her hoodie was nowhere to be seen; in its place, she wore a black outfit made of denim that didn't look dirty, and even her long, flowing hair was tied up in a bun.

This action made Ethan raise his eyebrows.

"It seems that even the most decisive girl cares about her image."

After their reflections, Ethan and Evelyn went downstairs together.

The sight of them walking one after the other surprised Thomas and Linda.

They hadn't expected Ethan to resolve the long-standing problem so quickly.

As they watched, the two disappeared into the garage of Evelyn's house. Like countless engineers with secret bases, Evelyn's garage was filled with mountains of electronic components.

Under Ethan's watchful eye, Evelyn pulled a television set from a small mountain of what could be called electronic waste, quickly dismantled the casing, and exposed the picture tube inside.

Then, a happy smile appeared on the girl's face.

"This type of display tube is called a CRT. It uses an electron gun to emit an electron beam, which is deflected by a magnetic field to scan a glass plate coated with phosphor on the screen, thereby producing an image."

The girl explained to Ethan, "All the arcade machines on the market now use this most basic photoelectric feedback. In all electronic arcade machines, the objects on the screen don't actually move. Instead, they create the illusion that there are moving objects on the screen by turning the electronic beam of the television on and off."

As she spoke, the girl also moved the television set onto the table.

Next, she removed the circuit board from the back of the television, searched around in the hills for a while, then took out a box, removed a circuit board, and put it back into the television.

Then, she connected the excess wires on the circuit board to a thumb-sized joystick.

After plugging it in and making some adjustments, Ethan was pleasantly surprised to find that the television screen had turned black and white.

A white dot appeared in the center of the screen.

As Evelyn pulled the joystick, the white dot moved continuously on the screen.

The faster Evelyn pulls the button, the faster the white dot moves; the slower Evelyn pulls the button, the slower the white dot moves.

If you don't move the joystick, the white dot will stay in place and keep flashing.

"Oh! Fxxk! This thing is actually that simple?"

Ethan was shocked.

"Of course! How difficult do you think it is?"

Evelyn said with a smile.

"I thought this thing would need at least a CPU! I didn't expect a TV set would be enough?"

Ethan couldn't believe it.

"Oh!!!"

Evelyn, however, shouted.

"Ethan! Are you out of your mind?! CPU? Do arcade machines even need CPUs? Do you know how expensive CPUs are these days? The cheapest Intel CPU costs several hundred dollars! If every arcade machine had a CPU, wouldn't the arcades be calling 911 every day? Use your brain!"

Yes, video games of this era are made in such a simple and crude way.

In the era decades before Ethan's time travel, the creation of a game required the efforts of dozens or even hundreds of people. Each person had their own role in planning, development, art, music, and testing. A game might use Unity, UE, or a self-developed engine, and it also needed to be adapted to the hardware.

But in this day and age...

One person is enough.

This was before the C programming language was fully adopted and when CPU prices remained high.

Video games are truly the product of engineers' ingenuity!

All video games use the most basic technology of photoelectric signal feedback. The world's first Pong game was so poor that it only had a circuit board and used a few integrated circuits, transistors, resistors and capacitors to control the game logic and image output!

In this era, the "running game" that game developers talk about is a true physical running game—

Check if there is a problem with the photoelectric signal!

If Ethan wants Evelyn to write a game in BASIC, it might take her some time.

But let's create a game using physics...

Sorry, this thing takes a very long time to rub!

When this fact was presented to Ethan, he rubbed his hands together with obvious delight.

Because he had already seen it, countless amounts of money were rushing towards him!

"Can you finish making 'Snake Game' tonight?" Ethan asked tentatively.

However, his inquiry was met with a cold shoulder.

"Ethan, I really don't know what's going on in your head."

Evelyn patted the television and said, "I'm just demonstrating how easy it is to control photoelectric signals. You can't make an arcade machine with just these things. Besides the display, I also need to make a special circuit board to better receive and transmit the joystick's circuit commands. I can handle drawing the circuit diagram and making the circuit board, but the materials..."

At this point, Evelyn drew out her voice.

"I'll handle it!"

Ethan agreed without hesitation.

"very good."

Evelyn was delighted by her brother's decisiveness; she clapped her hands and smiled brightly.

"Then you can go back first. Let me think about it and make a list of the materials I need. I'll bring them to your room when I'm done."

To be honest, Ethan had no idea why Evelyn had suddenly become happy.

Because Evelyn was helping him with the game!

In this situation, shouldn't he bear the cost of the materials himself?

But when Ethan received the list Evelyn sent, his face immediately darkened!

"Holy crap! I was careless! I didn't flash!"

Looking at those two densely packed pages, Ethan almost couldn't help but swear!

"Does making an arcade machine really require so many components?"

He called out to Evelyn in surprise.

"Why are there Barbra Streisand albums on this?"

Evelyn, who had flashed back to her room after handing the list to Ethan, responded with a "thump" sound.

There is a growth ring on the tightly closed wooden door.

The dark, dense pattern looked like a huge mouth, laughing at Ethan, the fool.

They were able to fall for it so easily.

Note: ①《Slither.io》: This is the American web version of Snake. You can play it directly by typing the name in your browser's address bar, without being blocked by the Great Firewall.

(End of this chapter)