Nancy Brill was talking on the phone the other day about wanting to try her hand at making video games. Simon didn't object, but turned down her request to license Marvel superhero characters or Tolkien game series.
The Marvel Super Heroes and Middle-earth series are the two most precious brands in Daenerys Entertainment's copyright library. Simon will never allow these two projects to be easily developed without sufficient assurance.
Unexpectedly, after being rejected, Nancy Brill got the rights to adapt the game of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
Simon happens to have played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game from the Nintendo Famicom era.
In the original time and space, the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series of video games were developed by Konami, a well-known Japanese game manufacturer, and became one of Konami's best-selling series of games.
The original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game sold 4 million units worldwide in just one year after its release, bringing Konami a net profit of hundreds of millions of dollars. Various subsequent sequels in the series also made Konami a lot of money. The bowl is full.
After ending the call with Sofia Fesci, Simon began to carefully look through the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game plan in his hand.
Nancy Brill obtained the game development license for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" for only $200,000, which is the same price Daenerys Pictures paid for the film adaptation rights to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" last year. However, this licensing agreement comes with a 5% net profit sharing clause.
If the next "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game developed by Daenerys Entertainment can achieve the success of Konami, just this 5% net profit share will be a sky-high price.
However, Simon was not surprised.
Daenerys Entertainment is just getting involved in the field of video game production. If it does not offer a higher price, the copyright owner is obviously more willing to sell the copyright to well-known game manufacturers.
What's more, if the entire series of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" games can bring a billion-level profit to Daenerys Entertainment in the next few years, Simon will not mind paying Phantom Studio a profit share of US$50 million.
Continuing to look through the plans, Simon was also satisfied with the total budget of US$2 million.
The operating model of the early studio shows that Nancy Brill did not blindly pursue one step. She knew very well that Daenerys Entertainment was just a rookie in the game field, and the development of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was more like accumulating experience. attempt.
However, the genre positioning of this game is very different from the Konami version in Simon’s memory.
The Konami version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" that Simon has played belongs to the action role-playing genre. The story uses the animated plot as a reference to tell the story of a rescue operation of four turtles. The plan given by Nancy is to develop it into a fighting game.
In this era, the best-selling games on the market are basically action-adventure and shooting games, such as Nintendo’s “Super Mario” and Konami’s “Contra”. There are very few fighting games that are very successful.
Capcom's "Street Fighter" released the first generation in 1987, but it did not cause much response. In memory, the "Street Fighter" series didn't reach its peak until "Street Fighter 2" in 1991.
"Street Fighter 2" not only set a sales record for Capcom, but was also rated by many media as one of the greatest video games in history.
Currently, there are no phenomenal fighting games such as "Street Fighter 2" on the market. This content gap is actually an opportunity for game developers.
In the planning plan, Nancy Brill specifically mentioned this and stated that this is why she positioned "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" as a fighting game.
Moreover, Nancy also suggested that an important factor limiting the development of fighting games is the hardware platform.
The best-selling Nintendo Famicom on the market is still an 8-bit machine, with a market share of over 90%. However, Sega has released the 16-bit Sega MD game console, and Nintendo is also intensively preparing its own 16-bit console. The game console market is in a critical period of upgrading.
Compared with 8-bit consoles, 16-bit consoles can bring a qualitative leap in basic technologies such as game capacity and display, thereby providing better hardware support for fighting games. Therefore, the development of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" will be directly based on the 16-bit game console platform.
After reading this plan, Simon had to admire Nancy Brill's comprehensive consideration. However, he discovered the biggest problem.
Sega's 16-bit game console was released last year, and the planning plan also states that Nintendo plans to launch its own 16-bit console in July in the second half of this year.
The normal development cycle for video games in this era is about 3 to 5 months. If all goes well, Daenerys Entertainment's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" fighting game can indeed be launched at the same time as Nintendo's 16-bit console.
However, Simon remembered that due to technical reasons, Nintendo delayed several times in a row, and it was not until November 1990 that the 16-bit SFC console was finally launched, which was delayed by more than a year, and the release time in North America and Europe was even later.
Simon doesn't think his 'butterfly' can help Nintendo overcome technical difficulties.
Once the 16-bit SFC is delayed, the 16-bit "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game developed by Daenerys Entertainment will have no choice but to lose it. Of course, the company has another option, which is Sega's MD console or the PC platform.
The current major game console manufacturers are all very strong.
Even large game companies such as Capcom and Konami dare not make too much of a splash, and latecomers like Daenerys Entertainment have no choice. If it cooperates with Sega, it will be shut out by Nintendo.
This situation did not begin to gradually change until the further development of PC games and the increasingly fierce competition among major console manufacturers in the 1990s.
After thinking for a moment, Simon motioned to Jennifer to pick up Nancy Brill's phone, and he began to write on the manuscript paper about the setting of the original action role-playing "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game.
Jennifer handed over the connected microphone, and Simon talked to Nancy about his 'guessing' that SFC was likely to miss the ticket. At the same time, he briefly explained the development plan for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game in the action role-playing genre.
The two discussed on the phone for more than 20 minutes, and Nancy said that she would carefully investigate the development progress of Nintendo SFC and make appropriate adjustments to her plan.
Finally, Simon provided Nancy with an additional budget of $500,000. The plan is that once it is confirmed that SFC may delay the ticket, the company can simultaneously develop two "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" games based on 8-bit machines, and an action role-playing game proposed by Simon. type, the other one is still the combat fighting type in Nancy's plan.
Of the two games, the former was motivated by commercial interests. Since the Konami version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" in my memory was so successful, there was no reason to let it go. The latter can be used to accumulate experience. The market gap for fighting games is obvious. If the "Street Fighter" series did not have the foundation of the first generation, "Street Fighter 2" may not be so successful. Therefore, the investment is well worth it.
Speaking of which, the scale of the global video game industry will catch up with the film industry in the next few years, and there is definitely great potential in this field.
Now that he has started to get involved, Simon does not intend to just do it in a small way.
Therefore, before ending the call, Simon specifically asked about the name of the studio.
Nancy Brill did not care too much about this issue, but casually said that it could follow the naming rules of other subsidiaries of Daenerys Entertainment and call it Daenerys Game Studio.
Simon did not intend to mix the game business with Daenerys Entertainment, saying: "In that case, let's call it Blizzard, Blizzard Studio."
Nancy's confused voice came from the microphone: "Blizzard, does it have any special meaning?"
"Yes, it's a very meaningful name," Simon said, "So, if you mess up, I will be very disappointed."
Nancy felt that Simon didn't mean to explain in detail, so she stopped asking and said, "Okay, boss, I'll have someone start the registration tomorrow."
After hanging up the phone, Simon had already unknowingly written and drawn several pictures on the scratch paper in front of him.
Instructing Jennifer to sort it out and send it back to Los Angeles, Simon looked at his watch. It was already 11:35, and it was lunch time soon.
Relax on the back of the chair, close your eyes and meditate, sorting out the rest of today's work schedule in your mind.
In the afternoon, I will check out the samples shot recently and discuss the production plan of some special effects shots with the Daenerys special effects team. In the evening, I will start shooting another rival scene in the film.
Batman vs Deadshot.
Crocodile and Deadshot are the two killers hired by Black Mask in the film. At the same time, the appearance of these two characters also pave the way for the possible development of the "Suicide Squad" series in the future.
When she opened her eyes again, Jennifer was standing at the side of the desk, bending over to help Simon organize the documents in front of him. The female assistant was wearing a light blue pinstripe shirt and white trousers today. The slim fit made her figure look slender from the side without lacking curves.
Feeling Simon looking at her, Jennifer straightened up and asked a topic: "What do you plan to eat for lunch?"
Simon continued to admire the slim figure of the female assistant, but asked: "Would it be a little disappointing to follow me like this?"
Jennifer was stunned for a moment, shook her head seriously and said, "No."
Simon said: "I mean, you originally thought Simon Westeros was an artist. But now, he has become a businessman, thinking about how to make more money every day."
When Jennifer heard what Simon said, she turned around the desk, came to Simon's side and leaned on the edge of the table. After thinking about it, she simply sat on the table, kicked off the black high heels on her feet, looked at the man on the leather chair and said seriously : "I don't like you because you are an artist or anything, Simon, although you are really good at this. But I like you because you are different from everyone else in the world. You are unique. .”
Simon moved the leather chair with his toes on the ground. This time the female assistant naturally raised her legs and stepped on Simon's thighs with a pair of small feet wearing light stockings. She then reached out to grab them and said: "Theoretically, everyone is unique."
"Actually, I have never had any opinions. I am not suitable to be that kind of independent woman. Growing up, of course, I have had many crazy ideas, but the number of times I have actually put them into action is pitiful. I am worried about failure, worried Being laughed at, worried about disappointing my parents, bala bala, and then it became like this. When I was a child, I was protected by my parents. When I grew up, I knew I could no longer rely on my parents, so I met you," Jennifer said Then, a pair of small feet stepped on Simon's palm, and the soles of his feet were scratched. He couldn't help but smile, stepped on it a few more times, and said: "So, I will stick to you in the future. Simon, you must You will protect me, right?"
Simon pretended to be embarrassed: "Well, I'll try not to let Janet bully you."
"Jenny is very smart, smarter than me, maybe smarter than you. She doesn't care about me, a little assistant who can't threaten her at all."
Simon smiled and said: "It seems that Jenny is the real boss behind the scenes."
"Haha, that's right," Jennifer nodded sympathetically. After a moment of intimacy, she found another topic and said, "'Blizzard,' what's the point?"
Simon thought for a while and said: "I can't tell you the real meaning. However, there is probably such a song called "Blizzard"."
The man in front of him had too many secrets. Since he said he couldn't tell him, it was definitely not suitable to reveal them. However, when Jennifer heard that there was a song to listen to, Jennifer became interested again and said: "Can you sing the song called "Blizzard" to me?"
Simon shook his head and said, "This is pure music, without lyrics. I'll make it for you when I have time."
Jennifer gently stepped on Simon's palm again and said: "There is a piano in the restaurant downstairs, it can be used now."
Simon thought of the piano in the hotel restaurant. He had never seen anyone play it these days. It was probably the hotel owner who put it in the restaurant as a decoration. He didn't know if it could still be used.
Jennifer didn't give Simon time to hesitate, jumped off the desk, put on his shoes, pulled him and walked out: "It happens to be lunch, you play for me first."
The two left the room, but Jennifer went to her guest room and came out again with a super-8mm video recorder in her hand.
Simon looked at the machine in the female assistant's hand and remembered the original song "Flight of the Bumblebee". Jennifer obviously also thought of this, raised the video recorder in her hand and said: "This is my collection alone, absolutely not I’ll show it to others.”
It was approaching lunch time and the restaurant seemed very busy.
Because the hotel was booked, the people dining there were all members of the "Batman" crew. Some of them had tired faces, and they had obviously just gotten up.
Simon greeted everyone, stopped a waiter and asked a few questions, then went straight to the piano by the window. Jennifer chose a dining table nearby and sat down quietly. She fiddled with the machine in her hand, and then looked up at the man sitting by the piano with expectation in her eyes.
In order to enhance the appeal, this piece of music needs to be amplified.
The waiter quickly installed the microphone. After Simon pressed the keys for a brief sound check, he glanced at the female assistant not far away. Under the gaze of everyone in the restaurant, he smiled and approached the microphone and said: "Blizzard, for Jenny." .”
When many people around heard this, they all had knowing smiles on their faces.
In the famous "Flight of the Bumblebee" video, Simon also started like this.
However, some people also understand that the Jenny here in Simon is probably another Jenny, such as a female assistant with a super-8mm video recorder.
Simon didn't care about other people's thoughts. After he finished speaking, he started playing a song called "Blizzard".
The song is not actually called "Blizzard".
It should be "The-Dawn" (The-Dawn), the real source is an episode of the movie "The Island".
or.
Some people also call it "Overture of the Dead".
Simon felt that the name "Blizzard" was also very appropriate.
Strictly speaking, the piano music cannot fully express the charm of this piece, but under Simon's superb playing, the piano in the hotel restaurant is sometimes light, sometimes passionate, sometimes gentle, sometimes heroic, sometimes silent, and sometimes frantic. The sound soon made all the listeners immersed in it and became mesmerized.
The girl who silently held up the video recorder looked at the focused figure next to the piano, her eyes unknowingly becoming a little more obsessed.
Perhaps it was some kind of mental connection that they had been getting along with for a long time. Jennifer instinctively felt that there must be a long, long story behind this song. In the story, the hero who has killed the evil dragon wears worn-out leather armor, carries a giant sword on his back, braves the dense wind and snow, and travels through the ancient forest that has been forgotten by too many people, continuing to search for his unknown distance.