Howard grabbed two cans of soda from the refrigerator before taking a seat across from Ethan.
"Mr. Ethan, I don't understand..."
His face practically screamed. You're seriously letting me make games again?
"There's nothing to be confused about. E.T. may not have been a good game, but that doesn't mean you're a bad developer."
Ethan cut him off.
"Yars' Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark were unquestionably excellent games. The fact that you achieved that largely on your own proves you're a genius."
"Well, thanks for that."
Howard put on an indifferent smile, as if he'd long since come to terms with the matter.
"I'm serious. E.T. wasn't a good game, but I've studied your design ideas."
Counting on his fingers, Ethan began listing the concepts one by one.
"Exploration. Item combinations. NPC interaction..."
"If you'd had enough development time to fully flesh those systems out, it could've become a landmark title in the history of adventure games."
Atari had destroyed all of that. One person, working with assembly language, given only five weeks… creating a perfect adventure game under those circumstances was simply impossible.
With that, Ethan pulled several documents from his briefcase. They included details about GAMENOVA's royalty system, along with a third-party developer contract.
"If you're willing to become a third-party developer for GAMENOVA, I think we'll work together very well."
Then he smiled.
"And don't you think this is the perfect opportunity to clear your name?"
"What opportunity?"
Howard accepted the documents and looked at him in confusion.
"The opportunity to prove yourself."
"When you finally create all the things you couldn't put into E.T., Atari, and everyone who looked down on you, will understand what really caused the crash."
Howard stared blankly at the papers in his hands. Reading them word by word, his eyes widened in shock. This proposal was the complete opposite of Atari's old philosophy.
Instead of prioritizing quantity over everything else, it embraced a quality-first approach.
If he signed this contract and then released another disaster like E.T., he could literally lose everything. Yet somehow, his gaze became clearer.
As long as he had sufficient development time, quality was never something he worried about. This was his chance to return to the gaming industry.
His chance to prove himself.
"I accept, Mr. Ethan!"
"Don't agree so quickly, Mr. Warshaw. We have one more condition."
Ethan pulled a bound manual from his bag.
"You'll need to use N Language as your primary development language."
Stolen story; please report.
Hearing that, Howard flipped through the document for a few moments before bursting into laughter.
He was the man who had created Yars' Revenge in assembly language. Switching to a more advanced, game-focused high-level programming language would only make things easier.
Combined with the absurdly powerful hardware of the NovaBox, he'd finally be free to focus entirely on creating the games he truly wanted to make.
GAMENOVA Internal Project Meeting.
After listening to Ethan's proposal, Vivian opened her mouth and tried very hard to formulate a response that wasn't too harsh.
"Ethan, even girls aren't going to want to do farm work on a game console."
The concept of a "farming simulator" was simply too bizarre.
A game with no levels, no clear objectives, nothing but repetitive daily labor. Could that even be called a game? Wasn't it basically digital forced labor?
"Think about it."
Vivian painted a picture.
"A housewife finally gets the kids off to school, cleans the entire house, and sits down to relax. Would she choose to keep working inside a game, or would she watch a sitcom?"
After spending hours doing chores, turning on a game only to discover more chores waiting? That sounded downright horrifying.
Sam nodded vigorously, then he shot Ethan a look that clearly said, See? Told you.
"Actually..."
Gerard, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke up.
"I think this idea has a lot of potential."
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he tried to decipher Ethan's intentions. Traditional game design revolved around clear feedback loops. Beat the level, earn points, defeat the boss.
But Harvest Moon abandoned all of that. There was no explicit end goal. No final boss waiting to be defeated, not even traditional level design.
"The fun of this game comes from growth and the satisfaction of harvest, doesn't it?"
"Exactly." Ethan nodded with a smile. "It's motivation comes from within."
"It doesn't rely on external pressure pushing players forward. The players themselves want to become better."
Gerard had identified one of the long-term appeals of games like Harvest Moon. But the true secret behind the success of farming and management simulators could actually be summarized very easily.
Hard work brings rewards, diligence brings results and no effort goes to waste.
When every bit of effort receives meaningful feedback, players no longer need outside forces pushing them forward.
Whether it was making the farm prettier, earning more money, making friends, or winning the heart of someone they loved.
Was it tiring? Absolutely.
Ethan still remembered staying up all night playing Stardew Valley with friends. Every single day, they would work until 2 a.m., the game's forced bedtime, without exception.
Trying to squeeze maximum value out of every hour, every minute. Refusing to let a single second go to waste. But was it boring? Of course not, those hundreds, even thousands of recorded play hours didn't lie. Who would spend that much time on a boring game?
Not even the most hardcore grinders could manage that. This seemingly contradictory phenomenon was actually the fundamental logic behind simulation and management games.
When every effort feels meaningful, when every dollar earned belongs to you. People work harder than ox being whipped through a field. That is the strongest positive feedback loop possible.
And interactions with NPCs added a sense of humanity to the otherwise idealized utopia.
Thinking about it, Ethan scratched his head. There was actually one major difference between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley regarding NPC interactions.
In early Harvest Moon games, the protagonist was always male. As a result, marriage options were limited to several female NPCs, while certain male characters existed only as romantic rivals.
That wasn't very ideal. What if someone wanted to marry a cute guy instead? Nowadays audiences tend to have opinions about that sort of thing.
The First Day of Harvest Month.
A new game disk quietly appeared on the shelves of game stores and department stores alike.
Harvest Moon.
The title almost seemed tailor-made for the season.
The cover depicted a young farm boy holding a pitchfork, surrounded by cheerful cartoon animals.
As GAMENOVA's first new first-party release after several months of silence, Harvest Moon had been highly anticipated. But what players got was very different from the adrenaline-pumping, rugged American-style action game many had expected.
The gap between expectation and reality was enormous. And almost immediately, GAMENOVA found itself at a disadvantage in public opinion.