in production

Chapter 92 in production

Although Evelyn's design ideas were very clear, and Woz's addition gave Ethan more confidence, programming, like mathematics, is not the kind of science and technology that can be turned into reality just by talking about it.

Even though Evelyn's analysis was very logical, and everyone knew that the four ghosts' individual pursuit was the core selling point of the Pac-Man game, when writing the code, it still had to be done step by step.

They had to design the levels and the player-controlled characters first, because the ghosts only had room to maneuver once the map and objectives were determined.

At this stage, even though Ethan didn't understand code, he couldn't just stand by and be a master of empty talk. Evelyn slapped a draft paper in front of him and asked him to replace the map he had drawn beforehand with symbols that the computer could understand using 0, 1, 2, 3.

To put it simply, the symbol 0 represents a road, and the symbol 1 represents a wall. When these are presented in a horizontal array on a computer, a machine-readable map is created.

The area defined by 2 is the spawn point for the protagonist and the ghosts, and also the hut where the ghosts return after they die. Without the coordinates of this place, the game Pac-Man cannot be started at all.

As for 3... it refers to the location of the invincible star on the map.

Once all these key coordinates are confirmed, the code for the chase can be truly established when the protagonist and the ghosts enter the map, because the ghosts' dynamic monitoring is calculated along the 0 representing the road and the 1 representing the wall, while they also have to avoid their old home, 2.

The task wasn't complicated, just rather tedious. Ethan got the hang of it in just a few minutes, but while helping out, countless question marks popped up on his forehead: "So, we have to hand-draw all 255 level maps supported by the 8-bit CPU ourselves?"

"Of course!" Evelyn said. "Do you expect the program to generate the map itself?"

"Can't you write this kind of code?" Ethan asked tentatively.

Evelyn laughed at these words and shook her head, saying, "Oh, Ethan, I admit you have a talent for game design, but perhaps it's because you have an imagination that's hard for ordinary people to match that you naturally elevate the level of existing technology."

"The technology you described for naturally generating game maps may be achievable in the future, but not now, because your ideas currently only exist in the summaries of papers by professors at various universities."

"We actually hope to use this kind of intelligent technology to liberate human productivity, but so far... we haven't achieved that..."

Upon hearing his sister's words, Ethan immediately understood why Evelyn had previously said that the game's production time might be measured in years.

Manually creating 255 maps takes a lot of time, and setting up the AI ​​for the four ghosts will kill a lot of their brain cells. But what's even more painful is the testing after the game is completed. How to ensure that the four ghosts perfectly hunt the player on the 255 maps is the most crucial step, because when the game is released, the only thing players will see is this one-sided presentation.

"Damn, how long will this take?" Ethan said, sounding a bit annoyed.

In his view, such a huge workload was simply beyond the capabilities of two technicians.

Not to mention, Evelyn has to go to school, and Woz has to go to work.

However, just as Ethan was pondering whether he needed to hire a group of programmers to help them with some trivial tasks, Evelyn didn't go to school at all on the second day of game production. After getting up, she holed up in her garage writing code. Woz went even further. This chubby guy brought his own Apple 1 and drove to their house to work, as if he were paying for his own job.

This situation puzzled Ethan, and when he asked the two why they weren't going to school or work...

Evelyn said it directly—

"Go to school? Why should I go to school now? Oh Ethan, my silly little brother, I've told you so many times, I choose to continue my studies because I find computer science very interesting. I want to keep learning about the latest technologies in this field, I want to try to learn them, master them, but ultimately, I want to use them."

"Now, the best challenge is to make the characters in the game perform human-like actions!"

"So, if I can do this at home, why should I go to school?"

"I've already spoken to the school and will not be attending classes for the time being. The teachers know I'm starting a business, so they agreed. Moreover, I have a feeling that if we really make this game and realize the concept of artificial intelligence in the game, then the school will not only directly award me a diploma, but will also hire me as a professor."

"After all, a paper is only the first step in proposing a concept, while practical application is the first step in presenting the technology."

"The former requires a forward-looking perspective, while the latter is the actual action of pursuing the future."

Ethan was very impressed with this idea.

At the same time, he smiled and gave his approval, "Oh Evelyn, then I'll congratulate you in advance."

"Perhaps next year, I'll have to call you Professor Jason?"

"Oh, thank you." Evelyn waved her hand; she liked how Ethan addressed her.

As for Wozniak, his answer was even simpler—

"Oh, Ethan, didn't Steve tell you? My favorite thing to do is actually play games!"

"Do you know why Steve went to work for Atari? It's because after he started working for Atari, we didn't have to spend money to play games!"

"Before, he often took me to Atari at night, using the excuse of testing to get me to play games!"

"Now that I can sit in your house and write games, why should I still go to work for HP?"

Ethan was completely dumbfounded when he heard this story!

Wozniak, this tech genius, actually climbed over the Atari factory wall in the middle of the night just to play games?

Wait, that's not right!

Is it free product testing for Atari?

What the hell is this?!

However, before he could express his surprise, Wozniak added—

"And, Ethan, you probably don't know, but Steve has been urging me to quit every day."

"He asked me to quit my job at HP and start a company with him to sell personal microcomputers."

"Not only that, he also came up with a name for the company: Apple."

"To be honest, I've always been hesitant about starting my own business because I really liked the environment at HP. It allowed me to access the latest technologies and research things I wanted to explore, but now..."

"I think the game of fate is more interesting!"

"Ethan! Your idea is really fun! Much more interesting than HP's research!"

"If Steve and I don't end up starting a company, how about I come work for you?"

"I think you wouldn't mind supporting another person, would you?"

"Oh wait! If I remember correctly, you invested money in Steve?"

"Oh—let's do it then, we can't let your money go to waste."

Ethan certainly wouldn't mind supporting another person!

Putting everything else aside, Wozniak's technology alone represents the pinnacle of this era!

While major computer manufacturers were still working on classification modules, this guy had already integrated all the major functions!

Although this small-but-refined approach stemmed from his father's experience in the military industry, the first person to try something new is always the best!

"Sure, Stephen, you're welcome to come anytime you want."

Ethan patted the chubby boy on the shoulder and said, "If you find traveling back and forth troublesome, you can stay at my house."

"Really?" Woz asked excitedly.

"Of course, we're friends," Ethan said with a smile.

How could he not welcome someone who has the skills, interest, can pay their own way to work, and is willing to work 007 (working day and night)?

This is truly the perfect worker in the eyes of countless bosses!

"Oh, in that case, I'll move in tomorrow."

Wozniak made a decision: "From now on, I won't go back unless I'm meeting my girlfriend."

"WTF?" This question surprised Ethan. "You have a girlfriend?"

"Yes, we love each other very much," Wozniak said. "We met at Hewlett-Packard."

After chatting for a while, Ethan gained a basic understanding of Woz's life. When he learned that Woz was planning to marry his current girlfriend, he abandoned his plan to freeload and started paying the guy a salary.

"How about a weekly wage of five hundred?" Ethan asked with a smile.

"Oh, that's too much!" Woz wanted to refuse.

But Ethan shook his head and said, "Brother, your skills are worth the price!"

"And you need to know one thing: romance can be bought with money."

I wish you happiness.

Ethan's high asking price made Wozniak very happy.

Since the development of Pac-Man cannot be accomplished overnight, Ethan took the opportunity to talk about Apple.

He wanted to know how Apple's preparations were going.

During their conversation, Ethan discovered that Jobs was currently in a state of confusion.

Although Jobs received a $50,000 sponsorship from Ethan and purchased two hundred MOS 6502s from Chuck Pete, the sale of the microcomputer has not yet been formally put on the agenda.

This wasn't because the Apple 1 wasn't completed, but because the future Steve Jobs was somewhat lost; he simply didn't know how to sell personal computers. In his view, the target audience for personal computers should be computer enthusiasts, but this market was too small. Moreover, these tech-savvy individuals were often demanding and difficult. Therefore, Jobs longed for a larger market, but he didn't know how to sell personal computers to ordinary people.

Wozniak said, "He was trying to figure out how to sell personal microcomputers to the general public."

"Of course, he wouldn't waste time recklessly. He assured me that if he couldn't find a solution within three months, he would first try to sell computers to computer enthusiasts next year, win over those troublesome users, and then try to find a new way out."

Ethan had nothing to say about the problems Jobs faced.

Because he understood that the key to getting the public to accept personal computers was software compatibility. What people needed wasn't a computer for programming, but an auxiliary tool that could help them solve life's problems. Therefore, Jobs could confidently and boldly sell them. As for everything else? Computer enthusiasts would take care of that for him.

But he couldn't say this; Steve Jobs had to figure it out himself.

The reason he invested in Steve Jobs was that the guy had the vision and ability to turn technology products into mass consumer goods.

It was precisely because of this capability that Apple was truly born.

His rash intervention might indeed promote Apple's growth, but if he can intervene today, what about tomorrow? Can he still offer reminders?

In his previous life, he wasn't involved in technology, so he didn't understand everything in the industry. Take Pac-Man for example; when he decided to make it, he didn't expect the game to be so difficult. If Evelyn hadn't grasped the key technical points, he might have failed miserably.

When you can't control everything, letting the experts do what they're good at is the best option for you.

Although Steve Jobs is still immature and a bit of a young man, that doesn't matter. Apple, which doesn't have the pressure of survival yet, can provide Jobs with room to experiment. And once he's past his developmental stage...

Apple will then experience a real breakthrough.

After chatting idly for a while to relax, Wozniak continued writing code.

Ethan, meanwhile, was trying to add up to 255 levels in the Pac-Man game and then represent them using computer language.

Although the work was tedious, Ethan was very happy doing it.

Because at some point, he suddenly felt that he was playing a game.

Note: ① I don't know if the original version of Pac-Man had 255 levels designed by the original designer, but level generation technology didn't exist back then. What confuses me is that when players beat Pac-Man and showed their scores to Namco, Namco themselves didn't even know Pac-Man could be completed. That's quite funny. ② Before working at Atari, Steve Jobs worked at HP, assembling circuit boards. The reason he went to Atari, as mentioned in the article, was that he and Wozniak discovered that playing games was free after they started working there. Even the most brilliant people were young and did all sorts of crazy things. ③ In reality, Jobs and his team weren't confused when selling the iPhone 1. Their failure was more due to showing off their technology. While other manufacturers were using multiple motherboards, Wozniak had already created a single motherboard similar to modern computers. To demonstrate this technology, Jobs touted how amazing his technology was when promoting the iPhone 1, and this was also shown on the iPhone 1's graphics card, which many people didn't understand. They didn't really make a product until the iPhone 2. They added a keyboard and a casing to the machine. The driver description in the article has been modified because showing off technology is too ridiculous. This isn't making a product at all; it's just showing off. If you put yourself in the protagonist's shoes, you'd want to punch them.

(End of this chapter)