Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Money for Pizza

One glaring difference in personality between Romero and Carmack that became apparent early on in their collaboration was their approach to time.It is also differences like this that make them a perfect partner and also make them irreparably broken. Carmack lived only in his present moment.Concentration is the source of his strength.He has neither visions for the future nor thoughts of nostalgia, and his attention is all focused on how to solve the intricate problems in front of him: thinking, coding.He doesn't keep anything from the past: photos, records, games, disks.He didn't even keep a copy of his first novels—Ghosts and Shadows.He had no school yearbook to recall his school days, nor did he keep the magazines that published his early work.He only has what he needs in the moment.His bedroom consists of a lamp, a pillow, a blanket and a stack of books, not even a mattress.He brought nothing from home except Mitzi, a cat given to him by his stepmother.

Romero, on the other hand, is immersed in all time: past, present, future.He is not only full of enthusiasm for these times, but also puts them into action: he collects the things of the past, revels in the joy in front of him, and draws a blueprint for the future.He remembered every appointment, every name, every game, and he kept letters, magazines, diskettes, Burger King receipts, photographs, stubs of all kinds.He also took every opportunity to brighten up each day, like telling a funnier joke, or telling a funnier story, or making a more exaggerated grimace.But he's never manic, he knows how to focus, he's just overly emotional, when he's happy he's loving everything, and when he's down he's apathetic and insensitive.Tom called his mood swings "bit-toggling," because he was like the binary bits of data stored in a computer, one moment on and the other off.

On that fateful morning of September 20, 1990, Romero's state jumped into the open. Anyway, this morning is equally important to them.Carmack used his extraordinary focus to solve a looming challenge: implementing scrolling effects on the PC.Romero envisioned what Carmack's work might bring.Camaca made the palette, and Romero used that palette to paint a future that, obviously, would have nothing to do with Floppy. After seeing Carmack, Romero couldn't contain his excitement any longer. He went around the office looking for Dave on the screen and said to them, "Oh my God, look at this! This planet Is there anything cooler than that?"

"Oh," one of the guys coped, "it's pretty good." "Pretty good?" Romero said. "Wait a minute, you haven't figured it out yet: This is the coolest thing ever! Got it?" The guy shrugged, "Whatever you want," and walked back to the office. "The idiot!" Romero declared. If everyone hadn't arrived at the office soon, Romero might have blown up.Tom, Jay, Ryan, and Adrian happily surrounded Romero, watching him continue to play with Dave, and kept saying: "Oh, my God, this is the coolest thing ever. We're leaving! We've got to make this thing! We're going to get out of here with it, and we're going to start our own company! Floppy has nothing to do with this! They'll never see it again! We You have to do it yourself! It would be a waste to do it in this company!"

Jay stood in the doorway, hands dangling over the doorjamb, giggling and saying, "Well, hurry up, hurry up!"—Jay had seen Romero's indiscretion, fanaticism plus exaggeration to be precise, He even does it when he wins a handful of Pacman, and he's an exclamation point in his own right. Romero's waving hands stopped in the air, and he turned to Jay and said seriously, "Dude, I mean it." Jay came in and closed the door behind him.Romero explained his reasons: first of all, this is a powerful sixteen-color game, and "Floppy Disk" is only interested in four-color games in order to satisfy users with low configuration.Second, it's a nintendo style game on pc, one that rivals the best-selling mario bros on consoles, which means it's bound to sell well because everyone's going to be on pc soon, naturally , everyone wants to be able to play good games on PC, this plan is perfect.Again, they've got a fantastic team: Carmack, the kid genius and graphics programming guru, Romero, the game-making generalist and corporate cheerleader, Adrian, the dark-obsessed artist, Tom, A game designer and a surrealist cartoonist, and Rain—though Romero still wasn't too happy with him, he wanted to give him another chance.What's more, they both complement each other's strengths: Carmack's quietness balances Romero's exuberant enthusiasm, Adrian's dark style is the opposite of Tom's cartoonish comedy style.They now only need one person to handle business matters—raising funds, balancing the books, and day-to-day management.Having said that, everyone looked at Jay. "Man," Romero said, "you can't run away."

Jay flashed his bartender grin and agreed, "Okay, I think the next thing we're going to do is let Nintendo know we have this thing, right now!" 》ported to PC, then their business will come, and it will never be a small business.So they decided to make a full demo over the weekend, add a few levels, put in graphics from the original Mario, and Jay sent it to Nintendo. But there is another problem, whether it is big or small: if they want to do this as a private job, they can't let "Floppy Disk" know, then they can't do it in the office, but only Can be at home, but they don't have a computer at home.Thinking of this, the five of them fell silent.Only Dave on the screen is still walking around happily.

Carmack and Romero lived without computers as children, so it wasn't a problem for them. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ On Friday night, the staff of "Floppy Disk" had already gone home and sat in front of the TV, and several cars parked quietly at the door of the "Floppy Disk" company building-Romero and Carmack thought they could take advantage of the fact that no one was using them. I borrowed these machines out at the time, so it can't be regarded as stealing. After loading the "Floppy Disk" computer into the car, Romero, Carmack and a group of six drove out of the urban area, passed through the dilapidated buildings on both sides of the road, and drove onto the highway. The scenery outside the window gradually turned into wetlands and lowlands Under the bushes, the fishing boats returning at night faintly formed a line in the dark. They drove across a bridge and onto the main road of South Lake. On the side of the road was the recuperation resort and main water source of Shreveport: Cross Lake (Cross Lake) ).

Carmack, Lane, and Jay, along with Jason Blochowiak, a "Floppy Disk" Mac programmer, had just unexpectedly rented a four-bedroom house on this lakeside not long ago.Jay then bought a cheap runabout, and they parked it at the door and often went out surfing in it.There is a large backyard and a swimming pool behind the house, as well as a barbecue station. For the convenience of barbecue, Jay, a foodie, has laid strips of grids with flint flakes.Windows throughout the house provide easy access to the surrounding views.The living room was huge, too, not to mention the tiled bathroom with its huge jacuzzi, and Jay kept a beer keg in the fridge.Playing games in a place like this couldn't be more pleasant.

They huddled around the house this weekend while working on the Super Mario demo.Two computers were erected on a large table that Carmack had used to play Dungeons and Dragons with them all night. Romero and Carmack were sitting at this table writing programs together, and Tom carried the computer by himself. After all the art work, Ryan is responsible for animation, such as those little turtles.They had recorded the game process in advance. In order not to miss any details, Tom turned the video tape up and down and pressed pause from time to time to observe carefully. For seventy-two hours straight, they went into squeeze mode.No one slept, they drank countless caffeinated sodas, the pizza delivery guy came in every once in a while, and Jay baked quite a few meatloaf and hot dogs, but most of them just sat there untouched.They replicated the game exactly: the little steps Mario made when he crouched, the way he jumped, the way he stepped on the baby turtles and kicked them away, the gold coins that fell, those The clouds, and—that smooth roll.When they finished, what was on the screen was no different from that of the best-selling game ever. The only difference was the start screen. Below Nintendo's copyright statement, there was an extra line of the name of the production company. "Deep Thought Software" by Romero and Wren.

Jay drafted a letter explaining to Nintendo who they were, why they were doing this demo, and how they wanted to get permission to make a PC port, explaining that it was an unprecedented event for Nintendo themselves. opportunity.They packed up the package and sent it to Nintendo with high hopes.A few weeks later, they got a short, sweet reply: "Good job," Nintendo wrote, "but we have no interest in the PC market." As the dominant player in the home console market, Nintendo is clearly satisfied with the current situation. up. It was no small blow compared to their elation after those sleepless nights.But that doesn't mean it's over. There's bound to be someone in the world who appreciates what they've done, and Romero knows someone like that.

﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ Not long ago, Romero, who had already arrived at Soft Disk, received his first letter from a supporter. Although it was typed out, there was enthusiasm between the lines: "Dear John, I like your game very much, just want to Letting you know that's a really good game, I think you're a very talented person, have you ever played The Greatest Pyramid? It's pretty much the same game as yours, I was wondering if that game would Did you make it too? Or did you get inspiration from it? I can send you a copy of The Great Pyramid if you want. Also, what is your highest score in your own game Huh? Have you been programming for a long time? What language are you using? I also want to make a game, any pointers from you will be very helpful. Thank you! Your supporter, -Byron Muller )". Romero, the naturalist collector, immediately posted the letter on the wall for Carmack and the others to see.A few weeks later, Romero got another letter like this, this time in a handwritten, more agitated tone: "Dear John, I liked your Pyramids of Egypt much better than previous issues of the Big Blue Disk. The other pyramid game in is much better, I played it until 2 am last night, until I beat the level, it was so much fun! What is your highest score in it? Is there a cheat that can go directly to the next level? Do you still Know of any games like this? You can call this number for my fee...or you can write me. Thanks a lot! P.S.: I think I found a glitch in your game (perhaps a Undocumented feature?) - Scott Mulliere". Whoa — Romero grinned. "Another supporter!" He taped the letter next to the last one, showing off to Carmack and the others again, who clicked their tongues this time.Not long after, Romero came across a small article in a PC gaming magazine about Scott Miller, a twenty-nine-year-old programmer who had successfully released his own game.Romero read the entire article with great interest. At the bottom, he saw Scott's mailing address: 75043, 4206 Mayflower Avenue, Garland, Texas. Romero seems to remember something, Garland?Texas?Garland?Texas?He seemed to know someone there, and it was on Mayflower Boulevard, too.He dropped the magazine and walked over to the wall, where several letters from supporters had been posted, and to his surprise, although all of them had different signatures, the return address for each was the same: 4206 Mayflower Blvd., Garland, Texas 75043. Romero was angry, so all he showed Carmack and the others were letters from supporters who didn't exist? !In fact, it was just a boring kid making fun of him!Who does this Scott Miller think he is? !Romero rushed to the keyboard and angrily typed out a gunpowder-flavored letter: "Mr. Miller, you have serious mental problems... What's wrong with you? Give me so many names. Send a letter? Huh! Byron Mullieri, Brian Allen, Byron Mueller? Seriously, boy, how old are you? Fifteen yet?" Romero vented two full pages and left them on the table.When he returned to the office the next day, he had calmed down and wrote another small note: "Dear Mr. Miller: It took me a while to reply to your last letter because I was so annoyed that I found out that you had written to me three or four times under different names, which I never thought would happen. There is such a thing. My reply was too hot, so I didn't post it prematurely, but I will send it to you to see, and you can see how annoyed I am from there. I add The purpose of this note is to reduce the smell of gunpowder, and I am more or less curious about what you do." Romero put the two letters together in an envelope and mailed it to Garland. A few days later, Romero's phone rang at home. It was Miller. Romero asked him directly about the fake letters, but Miller had his own version: "Fuck the letters!" Shouted: "I wrote those letters because that's the only way I could get in touch with you." At that time, competition among game companies was fierce and secretive, especially for programming geniuses.When Romero was a young player, Richard Geliott and Williams were already famous, with their names embossed in large font on the game box.In the early 1990s, game companies began poaching each other. As a precaution, many publishers began to pay attention to their employees' interactions with the outside world, such as monitoring their phone calls, to ensure that these valuable people were not stolen.Knowing the sensitivity, Scott couldn't call Romero directly, so he figured out how to get Romero to reach out to him.What's interesting is that although this method worked, it completely violated his original intention. He didn't want to anger Romero, but now that Romero's attention has been attracted, he will naturally not let go of this opportunity. "Let's have a good talk," Miller said eagerly on the phone. "I saw your Egyptian Pyramids. It was great! Can you make a few more levels? We could make a lot of money." !" "What are you talking about?" "I want to publish your game," Miller explained, "as shareware." Shareware?Romero is no stranger to the term.It all goes back to a man named Andrew Fluegelman, founder of PC World magazine, who wrote an article called "PC Talk" in 1980. -Talk) program, when he released this program on BBS, he noted that anyone who likes "PC Talk" is welcome to send him some "thank you" fees.Soon, he hired an employee to handle the flood of checks for him.Frugelman called this approach "Shareware" (Shareware), "an economic attempt."In the 1980s, other hackers began to follow this practice. Shareware software running on PCs, Macs, and other platforms began to appear. After paying, you can get technical support and version upgrades. Subsequently, the Shareware Professional Alliance, or ASP (Association of Shareware Professionals) for short, emerged.Its business at the time was largely limited to the United States, and it was estimated that only one in 10 users who used shareware paid for it, yet ASPs were still generating $10-20 million in annual revenue. Forbes magazine marveled at its success, writing in 1988: "If you still think it's not a sound business model, you'd better think again." Because, shareware is not. Requiring high advertising expenditures, it relies solely on word of mouth, or, as one practitioner puts it, "on disk."Robert Wallace, once a top programmer at Microsoft, grew his program called PC-Write, sold as shareware, into a multimillion-dollar company .However, not everyone is that successful, and most shareware authors make around $25,000 a year, and those who make $100,000 are happy.Selling a thousand copies a year is a big success.Shareware is still considered a new trend, most of which are tools like financial management and word processing, and no game has yet adopted this business model.What is Scott thinking? As the conversation progressed, Romero gradually realized that Scott actually knew exactly what he was doing.Like Romero, Scott grew up playing games; his father was a NASA executive.Scott has short black hair and looks a bit prim.When Garland was in high school, he spent the day in the computer lab and after school in the arcade.He even wrote his own game guide called "Shootout: Zap the Video Game", which explains in detail the tips and tricks of various popular games in 1982, from "Pacman" to "Missile Commander" (Missile Command).Naturally, he soon started making games of his own. When it came time to release the games, Scott had spent a lot of time researching the shareware market, and the results satisfied him: he could handle everything himself, without any retailers or publishers.So he followed the practice at the time, released two complete text games, and waited to collect money, but the number of players who sent money was pitifully small, almost none.He began to feel that players are different from those who actually buy tools and software. Most of them are only interested in free things that can be directly obtained.Scott observed for a while and found that there are many game makers like him who are about to go bankrupt. What they have in common is that they all release the entire game together as shareware.He realized that players may be honest and willing to buy the games they like, but at the same time they are also afraid of trouble. Since they have played the entire game, they are too lazy to go through the payment procedures.Give them a reason and motivation to pay. So he came up with an idea: why put the whole game out together?Why not just release a small part of it and let players buy the full game from him?No one has tried this, but it seems to work fine.The new game Scott was working on was a good fit for this release because it was made up of episodes, or "levels."He could just release some of them, say fifteen levels, and tell players that if they want to play the other thirty levels, please send a check. In 1986, working for a computer consulting firm, Scott began publishing his own game, an Indiana Jones-esque adventure called Kingdom of Kroz.Scott posted his first pass on BBSs and shareware magazines, with no ads, no marketing, no marketing expenses of any kind - except for some diskettes and ziplock bags, and, without any intermediaries, he paid $100 for every dollar he sold. If the game is sold for thirty to forty dollars in retail, he can make a profit of ninety cents, so that he can set the price very low. If the retail game sells for thirty to forty dollars, he can only sell it for fifteen to twenty dollars.By the time he hooked up with Romero, he had made $150,000. Business was so good, Scott told Romero, that he quit his job to start a company called Apogee, which published shareware games.He was looking for more games like this, and Romero had made games that were perfect for shareware without realizing it himself.An ideal shareware game, Scott explained to Romero, would be small, action-packed, and breakable into levels.Since shareware is mostly distributed via BBS, it must be small enough to be downloaded via modem.Large-scale, graphic-rich games, such as those published by Sierra Entertainment, simply cannot be broadcast on BBS.Moreover, it has to be an interesting and fast-paced game, similar to an arcade machine that can speed up people's adrenaline secretion, so as to attract players to buy it.If Romero gave Scott his copy of The Pyramids of Egypt for distribution, Scott agreed to give Romero an upfront payment and a 35 percent royalty, more than any major publisher would have given him. High, and Romero didn't have to worry about marketing or order processing. Romero thought that was a good deal, but there was one problem: "We can't distribute Pyramids," he explained to Scott, "because it's copyrighted on Floppy Disk." With a sigh of disappointment, Romero immediately added: "Hey! Don't think about that game, it's rubbish compared to what we're doing now!" A few days later, Scott received a package from Deep Thought Software containing a demo of the Super Mario PC version.When he got into the game, he was completely blown away, and it looked exactly like the one on the console.He picked up the phone and dialed Carmack, and they chatted for hours. In Scott's view, Carmack was a genius who could always think about problems more comprehensively and far-reachingly than others.While chatting on the phone, Scott couldn't wait to finalize the deal. The answer from the other end of the phone was that they were willing to use this technology to make a shareware game and hand it over to Tianji for distribution. "Great!" Scott said excitedly, "That's it!" A publisher was found, and all that was left for Romero and Carmack was to get the game out. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ After that conversation, Romero asked Scott to send an advance payment to show his sincerity, and Scott did not hesitate to wire them two thousand dollars—half the cash he had on hand, and he only wanted them Can finish the game by Christmas in two months time. Romero, Carmack, Adrian, Lane, Tom, and Jay got together in the Gamer's Blade offices to start talking about the game.Tom pointed out at the beginning that since the technology similar to the home console is used, a game similar to the home console should be made, such as "Super Mario", but with slight changes.Immediately, he was driven by his energy and began to expand himself: "Come on, what kind of theme do you want to do? Tell me, I can do anything, sci-fi, how about it?" They thought it was a good idea, "Then let's get started," Carmack said, "It's like saving the world with a little magical power, huh?" "Okay!" Tom continued, "I've got an idea like that, it's great!" Tom ran out of the room immediately, went back to his office in the Macintosh department, and locked the door behind him, feeling the ideas rushing out of his head.He has been a loyal audience of Warner Bros. cartoons since he was a child. Chuck Jones, the author of "Looney Tunes" (Looney Tunes), is simply a god in his mind. He also likes "The Untouchables" (The Untouchables, 1959- Eliot Ness in 1963), and comedian Dan Aykroyd, and George Carlin, and the bay leaf exfoliation under his armpits Odorant turns out to smell like peas scooped out of broth.All of these things, and Mario, were running through his head right now... Tom wrote three paragraphs in one go, then grabbed the paper from the printer and rushed back to Romero's office, clearing his throat, Read it in the voice of the famous announcer Walter Winchell: "Billy Blaze, an eight-year-old prodigy, worked tirelessly to build a spaceship out of canning jars, plastic pipe, and glue in his backyard. While everyone else has gone to town, Billy sneaks into his workshop in the backyard, puts on his brother's football helmet, and transforms into Commander Keen - Defender of Justice! With In this spaceship equipped with rocket launchers, Keane defends justice in the world without fear of danger. In this story, the aliens on the sixth planet of Vorticon discovered the eight-year-old genius and began to plan a conspiracy.While Kean was climbing a mountain on Mars, the aliens stole his spaceship and tore it apart, scattering it all over the galaxy.Can Keane retrieve all the pieces of the ship and fight off the Vorticon villains before his parents return?Don't switch channels..." Tom looked up, there was silence, and then there was a burst of laughter that even the unsmiling Carmack cracked his lips from ear to ear and clapped his hands. Commander Keane has set off, where will this little genius take them?They have no concept yet. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ These players are no longer just Floppy people, they call themselves Deep Thought Software people. Floppy Disk became even less important to them, but it was a job after all, and they needed it, because they weren't getting any income for their deep thinking—nor would they ever be.They decided to continue working on Gamer's Blade and return to the house by the lake at night to work on Commander Keen. They have more and more experience in "borrowing" machines. Every day after get off work, they park their cars at the gate of the company, install the machines, and get up early the next day to put the machines back.They even got more and more pushy, and even though their machines were top-of-the-line at the time, they were always looking to add something new.Jay began to frequent the administrative approval department of "Software". Lao Ai noticed their expenses, but he didn't think much about it. He was as enthusiastic about the PC game software market as ever, and hoped that "Gamer's Blade" would Can help Floppy get into this market, so whatever the guys want, they can get it. From October to December 1990, they worked non-stop to produce Keane in order to get a game for Scott before Christmas.Also, it won't be just one game, it will be a trilogy titled The Vorticon Invasion.In the game industry at that time, the trilogy approach was already very popular, which is the same as the trilogy in novels and movies: this is the most suitable way to build and extend the brand.Tom, the creative director, has made a detailed plan. Kean is not Mario, the kid who secretly used his father's motor oil as rocket fuel, the eight-year-old but mature hero, who is easier to identify with than the middle-aged plumber.Tom and the others have unconsciously followed a motto: "Don't talk about things you don't understand".Like Billy Blaze, Tom himself wore a football cap as a child; and, in another sense, they were Billy Blaze: they were eccentric kids in the eyes of others, and they both used technology as a a means of escape.Keen the little hacker saved the galaxy, and countless hackers like Carmack and Romero saved themselves through technology. The characters are in their place: Tom is the lead designer - responsible for developing every element of the game: plot, characters, weapons.Carmack and Romero, two veterans who had been making games independently for many years, were happy to let Tom do the design work, because they were now completely occupied by programming work.Carmack continued to refine the game's engine until the screen scrolled smoothly not only side to side, but up and down as well.At the same time, Romero made a level editor, through which other creators can put together various images: protagonists, rooms, enemies, etc., it is the designer's toolbox. But not everyone fits into the collective.Wren was officially dismissed, and although Romero was happy to befriend him, he felt that Wren was too lacking in drive.Adrian also had a bit of a problem, and though he was later brought in to help make Keen, he loathed the game, which, in Adrian's eyes, was too...soft.The positioning of players in Tom's mind is: "children, or adults with childlike innocence".And Adrian hates these childish things, and he hates artificiality, let alone putting these two things together.But now he has to sit there all night drawing pizza, soda bottles, candy. Tom also designed a character named Yorp, a fat little green monster with periscope-like eyes on his head.Usually, when the characters in the game die, they disappear on the screen, but Tom has come up with a new approach. He wants to incorporate more "philosophical thinking". He has read a Freud (Sigmund Freud's book "Civilization and Its Discontents" (Civilization and Its Discontents), he designed the characters according to the ideas in the book, for example, a guard represents a certain instinct.He also wanted to teach the children that when people or aliens die, there will be no strange changes, and death is death, leaving only corpses.So when he let the creatures in the game die, they were kept, there was no bloody picture, just preserved: a dead "yo poo"-a dead but still cute and moving "yo poo". It wasn't just the cuteness of the characters that bothered Adrian, but the cuteness of the man who created them.Tom's true nature was fully revealed at this time. He ran around the room, he would stretch his neck and make various sounds, just to explain to Adrian what the character in the game should be like. All the while, Romero laughed.Adrian also prefers Romero out of a shared love of heavy metal and black humor, while Tom is just an annoying guy in his eyes.To make matters worse, he also shared the table with Tom, who, with his excess energy, likes to shake his legs and always inadvertently touches the table when Adrian is drawing, but Adrian has no choice, if he doesn't share with Tom Sitting together, then he would be left alone with Carmack's cat, the last open space in the house.And Tom didn't know Adrian's distress at all, he just felt that Adrian was a quiet young man who didn't talk much. Every night, with Iggy Pop and Dokken playing until the wee hours of the morning, it's like a non-stop party.Occasionally they would take a break to play Super Mario or play Dungeons and Dragons for a while.Carmack, the seasoned castellan, had a bigger and bigger scene where they would gather around a table on a Saturday night and play until dawn.The game got deeper and more complex, and it quickly became one of the longest and deepest Dungeons and Dragons games Carmack had ever made, with no end in sight.其他时候，他们会乘坐那艘小艇去湖面上兜风，杰伊那稳重的个性使得他驾驶起来又快又稳，他随即成为了专职的舵手，罗梅洛也试着掌过几次舵，但他太爱闹了，总把船开得倾过来斜过去。杰伊自己也很满意这个管理者的角色，或者叫兄弟会的老大，在其他人忙于工作的时候，他就在外面烤些肉，或者是再购进些饮料。在进度的压力之下，游戏制作者们需要方方面面的帮助。 但他们不需要任何帮助来调动他们的积极性。尤其是卡马克，他对于那些让他分心的事物具有超人般的免疫力。曾经有一次，杰伊为了测试卡马克的注意力，放了一盘色情片到录像机里，并把音量开到最大，罗梅洛和其他人很快就被那“噢……啊……”的声音吸引到了电视机旁，而卡马克，仍然无动于衷地坐在显示器前，直到过了一两分钟，他才察觉到那越来越激动的呻吟声，而他只是简单地“嗯”了一声，然后就继续埋头工作。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 在《软盘》，他们也正在制作一个新游戏，而老艾开始对这些养尊处优的游戏程序员们起了疑心。杰伊在不断地要求新的配件，其他的几个越来越敷衍了事、躲躲闪闪。 那是一个讲述忍者的名叫《影子武士》（Shadow Knights）的游戏，老艾还从来没在PC上见过卷轴效果，于是他顺口对卡马克说：“喔！你应该去申请个专利。” 卡马克听到这话后怒不可遏：“如果你再跟我提什么申请专利，我就立刻走人！” 在艾尔看来，卡马克可能是为了维护他自己的经济权益。艾尔并不知道，他已经触痛了这个年轻的理想主义程序员心里敏感的神经，这是为数不多可以真正让他愤怒的东西，这是自从他读了“黒客伦理”后就深深扎根于他骨子里的信条。 所有科学技术，以及文化、知识、理论，都是在前人的基础上发展起来的。去注册一项专利，就等于宣布说：“这个想法是我的想法，你不能使用或扩展它，因为，我'拥有'这个想法。”在卡马克这样的黒客眼里，这听起来简直荒谬绝伦。专利制度威胁到了他生命的最重要的事情：编写代码去解决问题。如果这个世界上充斥着各种专利，以至于他连解决一个简单的问题都要侵犯到某项专利的话，那么这将不是一个他所乐意生活在其中的世界。 卡马克在其他方面也变得越来越直率和无礼，譬如他对于《软盘》其他职员的态度，他曾对艾尔说：“你手下都是些糟糕的程序员，废物似的。”他似乎根本不在乎这种态度会使他和其他员工们变得多么疏远。 为了探寻那些令他起疑的现象，艾尔开始频繁地出没于《玩家之刃》的办公室。有一次他进去的时候，看到卡马克、罗梅洛、汤姆三人围在罗梅洛的机器旁，背朝着门，当艾尔咳了一声后，他们匆匆地散开到了自己的座位上，艾尔走进去问他们发生了什么事，罗梅洛小心翼翼地回答道：“没什么，老艾，只是开些无聊的玩笑而已。”艾尔看向罗梅洛的显示器，上面漆黑一片，显然他们是在隐瞒着什么东西。老艾后来私下找到了卡马克，向他询问最近究竟发生了什么事，连罗梅洛这么勤奋的好员工也变得举止古怪，卡马克考虑了一秒钟，然后，还是像他一贯的那样，和盘托出了丝毫不加修饰的实话：“罗梅洛只是让你觉得他很友好，而当你背过身去的时候，他其实很讨厌你。” 感恩节临近了，他们在湖畔小屋里的工作也进入了白热状态，那是真正的废寝忘食：睡觉已经不算是件事情，洗澡也一样，只有吃饭是不能省略的，他们要不时地提醒自己。斯科特开始每个礼拜给他们汇一百美元“比萨奖金”，这可比他们在基恩的世界里制作的那些小香肠管用多了。比萨饼就是他们的能量块，就像卡马克喜欢说的那样，比萨简直就是一项伟大的发明，一种完美的食物：它方便快捷，但不像其他快餐，它不光有面饼，还有种类多样的配菜，而且还是热乎乎的。每当杰伊打开信封，拿出支票在空中挥舞时，他们就会一起欢呼：“买比萨的钱来啦！” 斯科特对他的这些投资充满信心，他开始运作起各种商业手段。他过去的成功使得他和全国各大BBS的站长以及共享软件杂志的编辑们关系很好。斯科特给他们挨个打了一通电话，告诉他们，一个革命性的游戏很快就要诞生了。不久后，当用户登录那些BBS的时候，就会看到一屏欢迎信息：“来自天极的《指挥官基恩》即将登场”。斯科特觉得他把信誉和名声都赌上了，而在湖畔的小屋里，没有人对《基恩》的按期完成报有一丝怀疑。 汤姆已经陷入了那个游戏中的世界，他不停地和罗梅洛交换着各种想法，如果罗梅洛比往常发出了更大的笑声，汤姆就知道这个点子不错。斯科特也给游戏提出了他自己的建议，他在一封信中写道：“马里奥兄弟之所以那么流行，其中一个很重要的因素是那些隐藏在游戏各个角落里的秘密和奖励，我很希望《基恩》里也有这些东西，这对游戏将是个非常有益的补充。” “好主意！”他们回复道。他们自己就很喜欢在游戏里寻找各种秘密，这其实已经是一种在程序员中流行的亚文化。这些秘密有时是隐藏关卡，有时只是玩笑，或者是对游戏进行没什么影响的小花样，它们有个名字叫“复活节彩蛋”（Easter eggs）。所有这些蛋蛋都起源于1980年雅达利2600家用机上的一个名叫《冒险》（Adventure）的角色扮演游戏，当无畏的玩家们进入一个隐秘的房间时，他们会发现里面只有一行闪烁着的字：“沃伦·罗宾尼特”（Warren Robinett），一些玩家明知道不会有什么事发生，但也只能朝它放几枪，而剩下的玩家只是看着它，不得其解地挠头。其实罗宾尼特是一个制作者的名字，他不愿看到出自他手里的游戏只被标记上公司名称，于是他通过这种方式来获得认同。 汤姆想出了不少花招。在第一章里的加农炮旁边，如果玩家做出某几个连续的动作的话，他就可以进入一个隐藏的城市。汤姆还在游戏里放置了许多密文般的符号——沃蒂冈异形的语言，如果玩家能进入到某些秘密的角落，他就可以得到那些文字的翻译。 尽管他们还只是在做《基恩》的首部曲，但这些热心的制作者们已经迫不及待地在游戏里放入了两幅后续作品的预览图片，以及一个名叫《正义之战》（The Fight For Justice）的新游戏的文字描述。这个游戏里的角色和元素都取自卡马克那不断延伸的龙与地下城世界：“那是一个全新的魔幻冒险类游戏，与以往不同，游戏开始的时候，你不再只是个要为了下一顿饭去打拼的弱小战士，你一开始就是——雷神（Quake）！你是这片大陆上最强大也是最危险的人物，你的武器是雷神之锤（Hammer of Thunderbolts），以及再生指环和一个可以穿梭时空的月光宝盒……你路途上遇到的人都有各自的性格、职业、目标……《正义之战》将会是迄今为止最棒的PC游戏！” 在那湖畔的小屋里，没有什么事情看上去是不可能的。卡马克和罗梅洛也一天比一天更加默契。他们就像是两个网球选手，在独孤求败了那么多年后，终于找到个可以一较高下的对手。罗梅洛促使着卡马克成为一个更好的程序员，而卡马克也促使着罗梅洛成为一个更棒的设计师，而他们的共同之处，就是他们年轻的激情，对工作的热爱。在一个周末的晚上，卡马克无比深切地感受到了这一点。 那是一个下着大雨的夜晚，屋外电闪雷鸣，卡马克独自坐在那里编写程序，咪子懒洋洋地趴在他的显示器上，小爪子耷拉在屏幕前，她的身子很快就让显示器过热了，屏幕上的颜色变得紊乱，卡马克把她轻轻地推到一旁，她乖乖地跑开了。 天色阴暗，十字湖的湖水涨到了院子里，小快艇顶到了船屋的天花板，又黑又长的水蛇在船坞边游弋，这一切就像是什么恐怖片的序曲。通往南湖干道的那座桥已经被河水彻底淹没，当在外边跑了一天的杰伊来到桥边，他眼前根本无路可走，暴风雨还把河底的各种东西都卷了出来，“就像是个粪池一样”，他只好调头离开，等水位退下去再回家。 罗梅洛和他的一个朋友稍后也到了桥边，情况比先前还要糟糕，放眼望去，全是河水，而且，里面很可能还有各种水蛇和鳄鱼。 卡马克只能听天由命地坐在屋里独自工作，经过这么多天的共事，他越来越欣赏起罗梅洛，欣赏他那多年独立制作苹果机游戏所培养积累起来的包罗万象的才华。他不止是程序员，他还是艺术家、设计师、生意人，他不止是热爱游戏，从某种程度上来说，他本身就是一个精彩的游戏，似乎没有任何事物能让他这个会走、会说、会响、会动的游戏人陷入沮丧，就像游戏里的角色一样，他总能找到另一片新天地。 就在卡马克想着这些的时候，他听到了身后开门的声音，咪子吓了一跳，赶忙趴到了他脚边。卡马克转过头，映入他眼帘的是肩膀以下全部湿透了的罗梅洛，他站在门口，戴着厚厚的眼镜，脸上挂着大大的笑容，他身后，闪电正划过夜空。 卡马克不是一个多愁善感的人，他的记忆里没有多少感情方面的东西，但他记住了这个场景，记住了这不同寻常的一刻，以后的日子里，他愿意回想起：在一个暴雨滂沱的夜晚，罗梅洛趟过齐腰深的河水，只为了赶回来工作。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 1990年12月14日下午，斯科特·米勒按下回车键，把《指挥官基恩》首部曲《火星放逐》（Marooned on Mars）传到了BBS上。如果玩家们想玩剩下的两部，他们就需要花三十美元购买，斯科特在收到支票后会给他们寄去装在拉链袋里的磁盘。在《基恩》之前，斯科特出版的所有共享软件每个月大概能卖出七千美元，而到了1990年圣诞节的时候，《基恩》已经卖出了三万美元。 不计其数的编辑和版主给斯科特打来了电话，显然，就像斯科特在电话里答复他们的那样，这个游戏是忽如其来的“一颗小型核弹”。没有人在PC上见过这样的东西——平滑的卷动、无处不在的幽默、精致的画面、流畅的操控、马里奥式的动作。“紧急通告！”一个编辑激动地写道：“准备迎接那铺天盖地的夸奖吧，还从来没有什么程序能让我们如此不吝赞美之词！”另一个编辑则说：“《基恩》重新定义了共享软件游戏的标准：紧张刺激、平滑流畅、街机式的动作游戏。”还有个编辑说道：“没有什么东西——没有任何东西，能比天极的《基恩》更棒了！”它毫不比任天堂的游戏逊色，事实是，它比任天堂的游戏更精彩。 遍布各地的玩家们对这个游戏爱不释手，斯科特收到了大量充满赞誉之词的信件，以及无数关于《基恩》系列下一款游戏的询问，各大BBS上布满了讨论《基恩》的帖子——技巧、秘密、战术。玩家们还对那些沃蒂冈文字充满了好奇，四下打探解码的办法。斯科特忙得喘不过气来了，他甚至动员了他的母亲，还招募了天极公司除他以外的第一名员工，一个名叫肖恩·格林（Shawn Green）的年轻程序员。当肖恩第一天去上班的时候，迎接他的是斯科特的母亲，她裹着浴袍，握着两个无绳电话，肖恩刚把其中一个从她手里接过来，它就开始响了。 1991年元旦前夜，罗梅洛、卡马克，还有其他的成员们在湖畔小屋举行了一个盛大的庆祝派对，烤肉的香味阵阵飘来，王子（Prince）的音乐回荡在四周，快艇在湖面上飞驰。罗梅洛平常是不怎么喝酒的，但今晚对他来说是个特殊的日子，刚过去的一年对他来说是如此美好，而又如此艰辛——他的妻儿都离开了他，当选择放在他面前的时候，他放弃了家庭生活，选择了游戏，尽管他可以随时去看望孩子们，他也经常这么做，但他现在实际上是生活在一个新的大家庭里——和这些热爱游戏的伙伴们，这个夜晚对他来说真是良宵苦短呵…… 罗梅洛、汤姆和杰伊三人在厨房里喝得醉醺醺的，只有卡马克一个人神志清醒地站在角落里。罗梅洛看到了卡马克，于是举起手里那杯不知道是香槟还是白葡萄酒的东西，口齿不清地喊道：“卡马克，过来过来，马上就是1991年啦！你也要喝点，别像个孩子似的！” 卡马克不习惯这种交际——或者说是庆祝——的场合，他通常都希望自己能静静地消失，他更乐意去写点程序，或是看会书，但是今晚，他也不是那么得不近人情，他也充满喜悦，他为拥有了自己的事业、能享受制作游戏的乐趣、能和这些他所敬佩的伙伴们共事而感到开心，他只不过是不喜形于色罢了。出乎大家的意料，罗梅洛没费什么口舌就哄着卡马克喝下了好几杯酒，在他们印象中，低糖可乐是卡马克喝过的最烈的饮料。 晚些时候，罗梅洛看到卡马克独自站在厨房里，斜靠着墙，罗梅洛上前去对他说道：“嗨！哥们，喝醉了？是不是觉得头昏昏的？嘿！卡马克？” “我迷糊了，”卡马克应道：“嗯嗯。”然后就蹒跚着回到了他的房间，这把罗梅洛给乐坏了。他剩下的整个晚上就不停地在每个人面前模仿着卡马克：“喔，我迷糊了……，我迷糊了。” 看到一贯严肃的卡马克放松下来真是一件有趣的事情。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 两个星期后的一天，杰伊像往常一样出门取信，然后挥舞着手里的一个信封冲了回来，那是天极公司寄来的第一笔提成，“啊，买比萨的钱又来啦！”他们欢呼道。杰伊打开信封，看到了支票上的数字：一万美元，这是几乎没有任何开支的纯利润，如果一直这样的话，他们在创业第一年就至少可以挣到十万美元，这样的收入已足以让他们辞去《软盘》的工作。 艾尔仍然对他们的第二职业一无所知，更不要说他们用的还是《软盘》的计算机。《玩家之刃》办得很好，他们最近的两个游戏《墓窖2》和《影子武士》博得了广泛好评，这份全年定价69.95美元的游戏期刊已经拥有了三千个订户，他们知道老艾就指望他们这几个做游戏的人了，他们也知道集体辞职对老艾来说意味着什么。 卡马克和罗梅洛明确地表示，他们不在乎《软盘》和艾尔会怎么样，毕竟这是他们成功的大好机会。而汤姆却有点紧张，他担心会被《软盘》起诉，这不仅会毁掉他们这个创业的机会，还会使他们无法尽情享受《基恩》带来的成功。他的担心被罗梅洛所不齿：“伙计，艾尔能告你什么？他能从你这里得到什么？你全部家当就是这张破床！”罗梅洛指着墙角的旧沙发说道：“你怎么回事啊？！你有什么东西好失去？” 杰伊也表示了他的担忧，恳求他们把事情处理得妥当一点：“不要弄的像扔颗炸弹在老艾面前一样。” “不要操心啦，”罗梅洛一如既往地乐观：“不会有事的。” 与此同时，一个《软盘》的员工向艾尔透露了《玩家之刃》正在背地里做私活的消息。艾尔找到卡马克，他知道卡马克是最不善于撒谎的一个，向他发问就像在计算机上输入指令，或者是在计算器上按下数字——答案永远准确无误。“我承认，”卡马克回答他：“我们一直在用你的机器做我们自己的游戏，甚至是在上班时间里。”随后卡马克和罗梅洛宣布他们即将离开，而且，他们还要带走艾德里安。 艾尔觉得像是于某天回到家打开房门时，发现窗户被打破了，家里的电视机也不见了。但他很快就冷静了下来，试着扭转局面：“要么，我们看看能不能这样，我们再一起合作，我们开一家新的公司！我会全力支持你们，你们只管做你们想做的东西，我来负责销售，我们五五分成，绝不会有什么官司。” 这个提议大大出乎了罗梅洛和卡马克的意料，他们本以为艾尔会控告他们，哪知道艾尔居然反过来给他们提供经费，这简直是个绝佳的机会，毕竟他们想要的只是一份属于自己的事业，同时不必为各种商业上的事务烦心。和艾尔合作，或是和其他人合作，有什么区别呢？他们同意了。 但当艾尔回到《软盘》的办公室时，他眼前一片混乱，公司所有员工都聚到了一起，要艾尔给他们个说法。其中一个员工对艾尔说道：“卡马克和罗梅洛刚才回来吃午饭，大肆吹嘘他们谈妥了一笔多好多好的交易，这是怎么回事？这几个家伙用公司的机器做自己的私活，他们欺骗了公司！现在倒好，你居然还要开一个新公司，然后分一半给他们！他们凭什么？” “因为，”艾尔回答他：“他们是优秀的人才，这是笔很好的交易，他们会为公司带来盈利，我们都会从中得益。” 但员工们不吃他这套，他们威胁道，要么那些做游戏的人离开，要么他们中的三十个人离开。艾尔深深地叹了口气，然后走到《玩家之刃》的办公室：“你们刚才把这件事情告诉了所有人，然后造成现在这个难堪的局面，你们知道你们都干了些什么吗？！” “噢，”卡马克回答道：“我们只是想坦诚一点。” “坦诚一点是没错，但如果由我来宣布，由我来处理，情况就不会是这个样子，”艾尔无奈地说：“我不能失去那些员工，我们无法合作了。” ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 经过了几个星期的谈判，间杂着《软盘》以起诉作为威胁，最终达成的协议是：他们以合同的形式继续为《玩家之刃》制作游戏，每两个月一个，持续一年。这个结果不光让《软盘》的员工们，也让艾尔觉得沮丧，尽管这些游戏制作者们不乏才华，但他们还只是些自行其是的孩子，如果有必要，他们不会在乎手段，而且，他们毫无负罪感，在他们眼里，这只是件好笑的事情，他们从不会为《软盘》的其他员工们考虑。在卡马克离开的时候，艾尔把他拽到一旁，问他：“你有没有为那些勤奋工作并一直支持你们的人们着想过？” 卡马克静静地听完了艾尔的话，浮现在他脑海里的却是那些过去的岁月，那些未酬的壮志，那些对他指手画脚的老学究。他一如既往地漠然：“我不在乎那些人。”在艾尔记忆里，卡马克当时的原话是：“我就算是回家卖比萨，也不会再呆在这个没用的地方。” 1991年2月1日，id Software成立了。