Five Months in a Hurry

Chapter 93 Five Months in a Hurry

It turns out that when a person is focused on doing something, they are unaware of the passage of time.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the studio officially started work, and in a daze, Ethan suddenly felt extremely hungry.

Turning his head, he realized it was already noon. He called the pizza shop near his home and asked them to deliver two pizzas. After a quick lunch, he threw himself into his work and worked until dark.

Then he discovered...

I drew fifteen map sketches myself and then converted them into 0101 computer code!

If Ethan had lived in his previous life, such a work ethic would have been unthinkable!

After all, in an era without room for advancement, no matter how much a worker does, it's just helping the boss buy a house and a car. When tomorrow's life is predictable, learning to slack off at work is the true way to master life.

But now...

Whether you do a lot or a little, it's all yours!

If you can't muster your energy and work hard under these circumstances, then you really deserve not to make any money!

However, while this state of being oblivious to the world can improve work efficiency, it can also cause one to overlook many things. For example, when Thomas and Linda appeared in front of him with a cake on November 30th, he belatedly realized that it was his birthday.

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Thomas gave Ethan a big hug and handed him a gift.

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Linda was no exception. As she held up the cake, she smiled and said, "Oh, Ethan, I know you don't like cream, so I made you a fruit cake. It's made on a chiffon cake base with kiwis, strawberries, and mangoes on top. I hope you like it."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Ethan was pleasantly surprised by their appearance.

Even more surprised than him were Evelyn and Woz.

Is today your birthday?

Woz, the chubby little boy, stared wide-eyed.

"Oh my god! Bro! Why didn't you tell me sooner? I didn't even prepare a gift for you!"

Evelyn looked embarrassed and spread her hands, saying, "Ethan, I'm sorry, I forgot about it..."

Ethan laughed and waved his hand, "Oh, don't be like that, I actually forgot myself."

Ethan was absolutely telling the truth; he hadn't celebrated his birthday in many years.

In my past life, I was away from home and received blessings via phone calls, but in this life...

Who would remember the original owner's birthday?

However, since the celebrations had begun, Ethan didn't want to spoil the mood. He invited Thomas and Linda to dinner at his house and then went out to buy groceries. Not only that, but to make it more lively, he also asked Woz to call his girlfriend and Jobs over, and asked Evelyn to see if Barbara and the others were available. Although it was a bit inappropriate to notify them at the last minute, the unexpected surprise was actually more interesting.

Because the 30th was a weekend, everyone was very considerate. That evening, the group gathered at Ethan's house to celebrate his birthday. Even though the food wasn't lavish, with Thomas and Linda helping to prepare much of it, and the celebratory props were inadequate, and apart from the old-fashioned traditions of singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles, there were no other arrangements, the joyful atmosphere made Ethan quite happy.

With the end of November, the year 1975 came to a close.

When December arrived, Ethan did two things.

The first thing is that Professor Barbara Babcock's case study collection has finally been released and is now available for purchase.

Because he had previously promised to purchase the case study collection and donate it to schools, Ethan instructed two executives in his company to handle the matter when he received the news. He had Damio Dean buy five thousand copies at $29.99 each, and then packaged them together with some case reports previously written by the other party. He then had Julie Noble contact schools and libraries on the West Coast to donate fifty copies at a time.

When he spent a whopping $300,000 to ensure that West Coast school libraries could stock Barbara's books, the sorceress, upon hearing the news, immediately called to express her gratitude. At the same time, she also brought Ethan some good news—

"Ethan, the discussion on amending the copyright protection law has ended. Next year, the Federal Council will amend the copyright protection law to clearly distinguish between copyright protection clauses for companies and individuals. I have read the final draft, and registering the copyright under the company name is most advantageous for you. Therefore, after the provisional patent application for 'Snake Game' expires, you can directly register the copyright under the name of 'Destiny Game'."

"Oh, thank you, Barbara, I love this news," Ethan said with a smile.

The second thing is Christmas.

Although Pac-Man was in a critical development phase and Ethan didn't want to celebrate any holidays, as it was an annual celebration in North America, Ethan couldn't go against the mainstream social opinion. So, as the holiday approached, he gave his company employees the day off as usual and sent Woz, who had parents and relatives, home. He also told him to come back to work after the New Year in January.

On Christmas Eve, Ethan didn't work the inhumane overtime. Instead, he went back to Thomas and Linda's house with Evelyn, had a big meal with the two elderly people, and then the family gathered in front of the TV to watch "It's a Wonderful Life," which had been re-released many years ago.

This is an inspirational movie about a protagonist who, as Christmas approaches, loses faith in life and prepares to commit suicide. Upon learning this, God sends angels to earth to try to save his believers from their suffering.

After experiencing a setback, the protagonist regained his courage and faced all the difficulties in life with a smile.

Because of its religious and theological elements, this film received very high praise in North America.

Although Ethan wasn't particularly interested in these gospel stories, he still watched with great interest. As the midnight bells rang and Christmas arrived, Ethan looked at his pre-prepared list and wished his friends a happy holiday.

As for why Ethan complicates simple things?

Very simple!

Because people like Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Barbara Smith, and Chuck Patel are the ones who receive blessings at Christmas.

But people like Spielberg and Ralph Bell only celebrate Hanukkah.

When such differences emerge, then special cases must be treated specially.

When Ethan finished maintaining the relationships around him, he realized for the first time that email was truly a great invention.

Because you can send messages to multiple people with a single click of the mouse, it's much more efficient than making a phone call!

Just as he was lamenting that he would have to go through this tedious greeting routine for many years to come, the tightly closed door was suddenly pushed open from the outside. Turning his head, he saw, to his surprise, Evelyn had sneaked in like a thief!

"What are you doing?" Ethan asked, somewhat confused.

Evelyn darted to his side and said, "Let's go back."

"What?" Ethan didn't understand.

"Let's go back and write some code..." Evelyn said. "Staying at home is so boring! It's better to go back and write some code!"

"I feel like watching movies and TV is a complete waste of time now. It's nothing compared to playing games!"

"And I'm almost finished writing the code for the first ghost; I really want to see it run!"

What the hell!

Ethan was shocked!

He never imagined that there would be workaholics in this world who would voluntarily work overtime on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Do you think watching movies is a waste of time?

Do you feel restless if you don't write code?

What the hell is this?

but……

Ethan was only surprised for a second, then jumped out of bed. "Okay, let's go."

Yes, he's feeling really bad right now.

Because I'm bored!

Perhaps it's because of God's blessing.

The day after they returned home, on December 26th, Evelyn successfully completed the Red Ghost's pursuit code.

When the yellow Pac-Man was running wildly through the maze on the monitor connected to the Apple 1, with the ghost's red figure close behind, the inseparable chase delighted Ethan and Evelyn.

Especially when they discovered that no matter how the yellow Pac-Man ran, the red ghost would always pursue him with the shortest distance, instead of rigidly following the same path, the two hugged each other, celebrating the birth of an AI.

"Oh Evelyn—we've succeeded, haven't we?" Ethan shouted.

I think so!

Evelyn burst into laughter. "Putting everything else aside, at least my algorithm works perfectly on Map 1!"

Ethan was very excited by Xiaohong's success on map number one.

Having completed all 255 maps, he then transformed into Foxconn's Quality Inspector No. 1, piloting the yellow Pac-Man through the 255 maps to test Little Red's performance on different maps.

Although he also discovered quite a few bugs in the process;

For example, when encountering a long, narrow maze passage, if Pac-Man is too far ahead and has already emerged from the other end of the passage, while Little Red has only just entered or has only entered a quarter of the way in, Pac-Man may retreat out of the passage due to the nearest principle of the algorithm, giving the player the feeling of "I have a God's-eye view".

But this bug that could be fixed did not dampen his excitement at all.

You know, what he's making now is one of the most awesome pixel games from his past life!

Being able to imitate even one of the shapes is already a success!

The subsequent repairs and patching were no big deal at all!

When Woz returned after the holiday, the chubby guy was completely stunned by the progress the two of them had made at work...

"Oh my god! You guys actually finished Little Red's job?"

"Oh! No! The test is finished too?"

"Dxxn! Don't you guys get a break?"

"Time is money, my friend!" Ethan was in high spirits and immediately started cosplaying as a goblin from World of Warcraft.

"How can we make money if we don't speed things up?"

Woz was completely bewildered by these words.

Evelyn punched Ethan, then laughed and said to Woz, "Oh Stephen, it's mainly because developing Pac-Man is so much fun. Unlike those boring jobs, it brings us joy, so... we've become addicted..."

Wozniak could accept this explanation.

Seeing Ethan and Evelyn's incredibly rapid development progress, he got motivated and rolled up his sleeves, vowing to the heavens that he would definitely finish the AI ​​code for Little Orange, the wandering ghost, within a week.

With the tech leaders displaying an unwavering determination, the development of Pac-Man entered a period of rapid progress.

On January 15, 1976, Wozniak's first version of the chasing code for Little Orange Ghost was officially completed.

On January 19, 1976, Ethan, controlling Pac-Man, spent four days running through all 255 maps of Little Orange Ghost's code.

On January 24, 1976, Evelyn's first version of the ambush code for the little pink ghost was completed.

The next day, the 25th, was a day of rest for everyone, as it was Evelyn's birthday, and Ethan accompanied her to Anaheim.

The next day, I continued working.

On January 29, 1976, Ethan, controlling Pac-Man, was blocked by the Red Goblin and the Pink Goblin for four days across 255 maps.

On February 11, 1976, Wozniak's containment code was officially completed, and the most difficult little blue devil was finally born.

On February 24, 1976, Ethan, controlling Pac-Man, was beaten to a pulp by Red, Pink, Blue, and Orange in 255 maps.

During this final intensive test, they also discovered a multitude of bugs.

For example, because the behavior patterns of Little Pink and Little Blue are somewhat similar—the former ambushes the player's path while the latter cooperates with Little Red to block them—their path feedback is the same when they encounter some simple shapes.

If it's a single path, there's not much of a problem. But if there's a three-way intersection, the unusual path feedback might turn artificial intelligence into artificial stupidity, forcibly giving the player a perfectly fine path instead.

Therefore, this had to be changed. Evelyn decided to add a criterion for Pinky: prioritize going to paths where her companions are not present.

For example, Xiao Cheng's algorithm is to roam and guard without awareness, and it will only chase the player when the player appears in its area.

At this point, if the player positions themselves at the edge of the judgment line, they can easily outmaneuver Little Orange.

When Ethan performs the actions of "Hey, I'm in," "Hey, I'm out," "Hey, I'm in again," and "Hey, I'm out again" in the game, Xiao Cheng's response in the game becomes a silly back-and-forth jumping behavior of "Pursue forward," "Stop standing still," "Pursue forward," and "Stop standing still."

After Little Orange was tricked by Ethan like a silly husky, Evelyn was amazed by Ethan's imagination, while Woz...

The chubby boy couldn't sit still any longer!

He couldn't stand the fact that the AI ​​he wrote had become mentally challenged!

He immediately decided to add an algorithm to Xiao Cheng: if a player's figure appears multiple times within a short period of time, say within five seconds, Xiao Cheng will enter a berserk state and chase after the player like Xiao Hong.

Only if the player escapes its detection range and doesn't re-enter for ten seconds will Little Orange return to nature.

Once these shortcomings were identified one by one, the corresponding modifications were put on the agenda.

Then came round after round of endless testing.

When the time came to March 20, 1976, Ethan completed level 255 on the normal difficulty. The sudden "WIN" message told them a fact...

After five months...

The Pac-Man project has finally been successfully developed!

After they spent five days successfully building the circuit board containing the game CPU and placing it inside the arcade machine casing decorated with a yellow Pac-Man and four ghosts...

The world's first Pac-Man arcade machine was born!

"It's done!"

Ethan stood with his hands on his hips, looking with deep emotion at the game interface that was flashing with five-colored light.

"Next..."

"That's how you announce your existence to the world..."

Ethan patted Pac-Man.

His face was beaming with joy.

(End of this chapter)