Chapter 142: Missing Talent

"Oi, rookie. Didn't I tell you to keep it down?"

One of his coworkers, having heard Kojima's startled outburst, spoke up again in an irritated tone.

"If you pull that shit again, you'll be apologizing with a dogeza."

"Sorry..." Kojima apologized reflexively, then suddenly realized something.

"Wait a second. Who the hell do you think you're talking to? I'm done here!"

How is anyone supposed to make a good game working with people like this?

...

Los Angeles International Airport

Even after a flight of more than ten hours, there wasn't a trace of exhaustion on Kojima's face.

Perhaps the excitement alone was enough to keep fatigue at bay. Or maybe it was because GAMENOVA had gotten him a first-class ticket.

Dragging along a modest suitcase, Kojima walked out of the terminal.

Just after one night's sleep, he'd gone from being a low-level developer at Konami to someone who had flown all the way to California. Taking a deep breath, he adjusted the black-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.

"Mr. Kojima?"

A young voice called out from not far away. Looking over, Kojima saw a young man around his age casually leaning against a car.

"I'm Sam. Just hop in, it's still a pretty long drive to office."

As the scenery rushed by outside the window, Kojima's thoughts wandered back to the astonished expression Satoshi, president of Game Freak, had worn when seeing him off.

"You've got to do your best. Maybe you'll actually get the chance to work at GAMENOVA."

Perhaps his experience at Konami had dealt him too great a blow, so when the invitation came, Kojima hadn't even stopped to think before accepting it, and before he knew it, he was already on a plane.

It was only now that he had finally settled down enough to think things through.

Ethan wanted to meet him? Could it really be that they intended to hire him?

...

Kojima shook his head, unable to believe such an absurd possibility.

GAMENOVA main office was undoubtedly filled with geniuses. Someone like him, an outsider with an economics background, could hardly be considered competitive.

Then why go to the trouble of bringing him all the way here?

Suddenly, Kojima remembered the proposal he'd submitted.

Snatcher.

Could it be they had taken a liking to his project and wanted to purchase the rights to develop and adapt it? That seemed like the most reasonable explanation.

"If that's the case... then that's fine too..."

Rather than letting it gather dust, or wasting it on underpowered hardware like the MSX, perhaps being chosen by GAMENOVA was the best possible outcome.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Right, let's replace this with a lookup table here. We can use addressing to locate the map files we've stored..."

When the two of them arrived at the office, Kojima saw a young man leaning over a desk, pointing at the monitor with one hand.

Sitting beside him was a lean man wearing glasses. The two were engaged in an animated discussion while the latter periodically typed lines of code into the keyboard.

The office was spotless, and massive floor to ceiling windows let in California's abundant sunshine. Even with the lights off, the room was bright and spacious.

"Ethan, I've brought him."

Only then did Ethan look up toward the two of them.

"Perfect timing. Kojima, let's talk inside."

Patting Will on the shoulder, he added, "Let's leave it at that for now. Once the map editor is finished, just package it as an expansion pack."

Will was currently working at full speed on the American version of Momotaro Dentetsu, titled Sovereign.

To better match American tastes, the original railway theme had been replaced with automobiles, a concept that felt much more familiar to players in the U.S.

The map had also been changed to California.

As for Will's current task, it was integrating additional maps into the game. All he had to do was make slight modifications to the map editing technology already developed for Fire Emblem, allowing it to serve Sovereign as well.

.....

"Would you be interested in joining GAMENOVA?"

".....?"

The moment he heard that question, Kojima felt as though a bomb had gone off in his head.

Ethan flipped through the proposal lying on his desk, his eyes fixed on the still somewhat inexperienced young man before him.

This was someone who could truly be called a game director, not merely a game designer. He treated video games like cinema, using camera direction, music, editing, and other filmmaking techniques to make an entirely new form of storytelling.

When it came to immersion, he stood at the absolute pinnacle of the industry. Whether it was the Metal Gear series or Death Stranding, every one of his works carried an unmistakable Hideo Kojima signature.

His taste in music selection, in particular, was almost unmatched.

A creator who approached video games with the mindset of a film director might seem eccentric and difficult to understand during the 8-bit era.

But once the age of 3D gaming arrived that very mindset would become one of the core pillars of immersive game design.

"Kojima, while GAMENOVA is unquestionably the best when it comes to technology, we've never really been strong in storytelling or direction."

Ethan said with a smile, and he wasn't even exaggerating.

Looking across the entire development department, whether it was Carmack, Will, Sid, or even himself, he saw the same thing: they were all developers with an engineer's heart.

If the discussion involved algorithms or technical implementation, any one of them could handle it with ease. But when it came to art, to style, to artistic expression. They were all completely out of their depth.

The best example was Will's SimCity.

Although after joining GAMENOVA, Ethan had commissioned Game Freak to produce several new art asset packs for it, improving its appearance to some extent, but the user interface layout and interaction design were still painfully crude.

"Our next project will have a very strong artistic identity. From the visual assets and soundtrack to the narrative style and even the cinematography, I want every aspect to be as close to perfect as possible."

If possible, Ethan would have preferred to hand Kojima the Metal Gear series outright and have him begin work on future sequels. But in truth, Metal Gear wouldn't truly come into its own until the PlayStation era.

The current hardware simply couldn't support the ideas Kojima wanted to realize. Fortunately, Ethan already had another project that suited him perfectly.

And coincidentally, it was also one of Kojima's former employer Konami's flagship franchises.

"Kojima, your proposal may be a cyberpunk story, but the way you approached the narrative really caught my attention. Something tells me you have an interest in Gothic aesthetics and vampire lore. Am I right?"

As he spoke, Ethan opened a filing cabinet and took out a neatly bound document.

[Castlevania]

This franchise could practically be called the founding father of 2D side-scrolling indie games.

Hollow Knight, Ori, Dead Cells, Salt and Sanctuary, Animal Well...

It could be said that Castlevania, alongside Metroid, helped create an entire genre of exploration-focused action games.

Its interconnected, semi-open labyrinthine world, combined with ability-gating inspired by The Legend of Zelda and RPG-style character progression, eventually evolved into what players now know as the Metroidvania genre.

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