Chapter 1458 1376 — ZAGE: Share Knowledge

Tuesday, 10 February 2002 — ZAGE Event Building, Los Angeles

The ZAGE Event Building in Los Angeles had always existed as one of the company's more flexible venues, but compared with ZEB Japan, it had not been used nearly as often for major ZAGE announcements lately. Most of the company's headline showcases, console reveals, developer talks, and large promotional events had increasingly centered around Japan, while ZEB Los Angeles had gradually become better known as a venue for tournaments, developer gatherings, community competitions, esports events, and occasional industry workshops. Today, however, the building had been prepared for something much quieter and much more personal.

There were no giant launch trailers, no flashing countdowns, no celebrity performances, and no huge mystery announcement waiting behind a black curtain. Instead, the main hall had been arranged almost like a casual university lecture mixed with a fan gathering. Rows of seats filled the floor, but the stage itself was deliberately simple. A large screen sat behind a broad open area, several microphones had been positioned throughout the audience, and there were even whiteboards and portable development stations available near the sides of the hall. The crowd was considerably smaller than anything associated with a ZEPS showcase, but the atmosphere was no less excited.

Most of the people seated there were young. College students, hobbyist programmers, aspiring artists, small independent developers, people experimenting with game design for the first time, and a few slightly older developers who had already worked on small commercial projects but had never joined a major studio. There were men and women from several different countries, though most were from the United States. Some carried notebooks. Others had laptops open on their knees. Several had Unreal Engine documentation sticking out of bags, while a few people had clearly brought physical copies of their own unfinished projects in the hope that they might somehow get the chance to show them to ZAGE staff afterward.

The gathering existed partly because Unreal Engine 4 had opened game development to far more people than ZAGE's older engine ecosystem had allowed. Unreal Engine 3 had technically been available outside ZAGE, but serious access usually required direct arrangements, and often actual visits or support agreements with the company. UE4 was different. Its basic tools were available publicly, and although premium features, advanced tools, specialized support, and certain development services still cost money, a student or small team could now realistically download the engine, study the documentation, watch training materials, and begin building something without first becoming a major company.

That change had created exactly the kind of audience sitting inside ZEB today.

ZAGE's own YouTube channel had helped enormously as well. There were already hours upon hours of free tutorials showing people how to use UE4, ranging from basic introductions to much more advanced demonstrations. What made the channel especially popular was that ZAGE had not simply hired random presenters to explain the engine. Some of the company's most famous developers had appeared personally. Hideo Kojima had discussed cinematic staging and camera direction. Shinji Mikami had broken down environmental tension and action readability. John Carmack had explained rendering, optimization, and technical architecture in the driest and most frighteningly efficient way possible. John Romero had covered level flow, player expression, and combat spaces with far more energy. Other ZAGE developers from across different teams had gradually contributed their own lessons as well.

All of it was free.

Because of that, Zaboru had no intention of spending today standing in front of a screen explaining where the material editor was or how to place a light source.

Plenty of people could already teach that better than him.

What he wanted to discuss was something else entirely.

Game philosophy.

Zaboru had been thinking about it ever since ZEPS 4 launched. The machine had arrived with hardware strong enough that many traditional console limitations had suddenly become far less restrictive. Unreal Engine 4 made high-quality development more accessible. Storage was larger. Memory was abundant. Rendering power had increased dramatically. Online infrastructure was built directly into the console. Digital distribution through Z-Store meant smaller projects could potentially reach players without requiring enormous physical manufacturing runs.

All of those things were good.

But Zaboru also understood the danger.

When hardware limitations disappeared, developers did not automatically become more creative.

Sometimes the opposite happened.

People looked at the biggest games on the platform and decided they wanted to make the same thing.

A few minutes later, the lights dimmed slightly and the side entrance opened. Zaboru walked onto the stage wearing a simple dark shirt and trousers, carrying nothing except a wireless microphone. The reaction from the audience was immediate. Applause rose across the hall, several people stood briefly, and a few students near the front looked almost stunned to see him in person.

Zaboru laughed and raised one hand. "Hello, everyone! I hope you guys are having a great day!"

The applause continued.

Then he grinned.

"And, of course…"

Several people already knew what was coming.

"You are very cool!"

The hall immediately broke into laughter and louder applause.

Zaboru chuckled while walking slowly across the stage. "Heheheh. Good. You guys still react to that. I was afraid I overused it already."

Someone near the front shouted, "NEVER!"

Zaboru pointed toward him. "Dangerous answer. I might keep saying it for another twenty years."

More laughter spread through the room.

Once the crowd settled, Zaboru stopped near the center of the stage. "Okay. Before anything else, I want to make one thing clear. Today is not a showcase. I'm not announcing some secret game. There is no hidden ZEPS 4 accessory behind the curtain. I'm sorry."

Several people groaned jokingly.

Zaboru laughed. "See? This is exactly why I had to say it first."

He continued walking. "Today is also not an Unreal Engine 4 tutorial. If you want to learn how to use UE4, honestly, we already have better people teaching that than me and youtube video is free you can watch that."

Several people nodded.

"So what I want to talk about today is something much less technical." Zaboru tapped one finger lightly against his temple. "How you think about games."

The hall became noticeably quieter.

Zaboru smiled. "And I'm warning you now, I don't want to talk alone. This is supposed to be a sharing session. I'll ask questions, you guys answer. You can disagree with me too. If everyone just sits here nodding because I own ZAGE, this becomes useless."

A few people chuckled nervously.

"I'm serious. If I say something stupid, raise your hand and tell me. Maybe don't say 'Zaboru, you're fucking stupid' immediately. At least introduce yourself first."

The room broke into laughter again.

"Then you can call me stupid."

That relaxed the audience considerably.

Zaboru looked across the seats. "Alright. First question. How many of you already played ZEPS 4?"

Almost every hand in the room rose.

Zaboru stared.

Then smiled broadly. "Heh. Thank you for supporting us."

He gave them a small bow before straightening again. "Now, more importantly, when you look at ZEPS 4 as a game developer, what comes to mind? Not as a player. As someone who wants to make something on it. Who wants to answer?"

Hands immediately rose.

Zaboru scanned the room and pointed toward a young blond man with glasses and an average build near the center. "You."

The man stood awkwardly and accepted the nearest microphone. "Um… honestly? The ultimate console."

Zaboru laughed. "That's extremely flattering and not useful at all, but thank you."

The audience laughed.

He pointed toward someone else.

A woman answered, "A future console."

Another student said, "A really good platform for development."

Someone farther back called it "massive potential."

Another answered, "Freedom."

One person simply shouted, "VERY FUN!"

Zaboru pointed toward him. "That's the player answer, bro."

Everyone laughed again.

A slightly older developer raised his hand and said, "Less compromise. If you have an idea, you don't have to immediately cut half of it because the machine can't handle it."

Zaboru's expression changed slightly.

"There."

He pointed directly toward the man.

"That one."

Zaboru walked back toward the center and looked across the room. "Most of your answers are basically flattering ZEPS 4, which is generous, but this one is the statement I care about most."

The large screen behind him activated.

A simple sentence appeared.

HARDWARE SHOULD NOT BE THE FIRST LIMITATION ANYMORE.

Zaboru nodded toward it. "That is what I wanted ZEPS 4 to represent for game development. Not infinite power. Obviously the machine still has limits. Everything has limits. But I wanted the first question developers ask to stop being, 'Can the console even do this?' and become, 'Is this actually a good idea?'"

Several people immediately started writing.

Zaboru noticed and chuckled. "Don't write everything I say, guys. Half of it might be bullshit."

That earned more laughter.

"But seriously, strong hardware and UE4 give you a lot of freedom. Better rendering, more objects, better animation, more complicated AI, larger environments, stronger online functions, more audio, bigger storage. Great. I fought really hard to make sure you guys have those tools."

He paused.

"But those tools can also make you lazy."

A few people looked up.

Zaboru smiled faintly. "That's the dangerous part."

He walked slowly along the front edge of the stage. "If I asked you right now, 'What game do you want to make for ZEPS 4?' I already know what some of you are thinking. 'I want to make something like Devil May Cry.' 'I want to make something like GTA: San Andreas.' 'I want something cinematic like Metal Gear Solid 2.' Maybe Halo. Maybe Monster Hunter. Whatever."

Several people smiled because he was obviously correct.

"And there's nothing wrong with that."

Zaboru raised one finger.

"Being inspired by good games is normal. Literally every developer on Earth is inspired by something. I am too. ZAGE is too. Anyone who tells you they create everything from absolutely nothing is either lying or forgot what influenced them."

He stopped.

"But there's a difference between inspiration and imitation."

The screen changed.

INSPIRATION ≠ IDENTITY THEFT

Zaboru looked over his shoulder and laughed. "Okay, whoever made that slide made it more dramatic than I asked."

The audience laughed.

He continued, "Let's use Devil May Cry. You play it. You love the fast combat, juggling, style switching, weapon variety, ridiculous protagonist. Great. You decide you want to make an action game inspired by that."

He spread his hands.

"Good."

Then his expression became more serious. "But if your game has a red-haired cool guy, a big sword, two guns, demons, Style rankings, the same kind of combat pacing, the same attitude, and the same structure…"

He shrugged.

"Why should I play your game?"

The room went quiet.

"Devil May Cry already exists."

A few people nodded.

Zaboru grinned slightly. "Or maybe you think, 'I'll just make Devil May Cry, but better.'"

He paused.

"Honestly?"

He smiled wider.

"Good fucking luck topping us."

The room erupted in laughter.

Zaboru laughed with them and raised both hands. "Hey! Confidence is good! Try! Please try! If you make something better, I'll play it. I'm not scared of competition, in fact I hope it will be!."

He started walking again. "But that's not really the point. The point is that 'better' is not an identity."

He stopped near the first row. "Maybe your combat is slightly faster. Maybe you have more weapons. Maybe your graphics are prettier. Maybe your protagonist can jump ten percent higher."

He shook his head.

"That does not automatically tell me why your game should exist."

Several students were now visibly thinking rather than simply listening.

Zaboru smiled.

Good.

He pointed toward the screen.

Another phrase appeared.

MECHANICS ARE TOOLS. IDENTITY IS WHY YOU USE THEM.

Zaboru nodded. "That's the difference."

He took a few steps back. "You can absolutely take mechanics from our games. I don't mind. If Devil May Cry inspires your combat, cool. If GTA inspires your world structure, cool. If Monster Hunter inspires your progression loop, cool. If Pokémon inspires collecting creatures, cool."

He smiled.

"But after you take the inspiration, I want to see you somewhere inside it."

A young woman near the aisle raised her hand.

Zaboru pointed toward her. "Yeah?"

She took the microphone. "What if the idea we have sounds stupid?"

Zaboru immediately smiled.

"Excellent question."

He leaned slightly against the edge of the stage. "Who here has had an idea and then immediately thought, 'No, that's too weird'?"

Most hands rose.

Zaboru laughed. "Exactly."

He looked around at them. "Here's one of the biggest problems I see with younger developers. You're afraid of your own weird ideas."

He paused.

"And I understand why."

Zaboru's tone became calmer. "Making a game takes time. Sometimes money. Sometimes years. Maybe you only have one chance to finish something before you graduate. Maybe you're working after your normal job. Maybe you have three friends helping you and everyone is exhausted."

He nodded. "So naturally you start thinking, 'What if nobody buys it? What if I fail? What if everyone laughs?'"

The room stayed quiet.

"That fear is normal."

Zaboru smiled gently.

"But games do not need to be perfect."

He let that line sit for a moment.

"I know that sounds funny coming from the guy whose company just launched ZEPS 4 with twelve giant games."

A few people laughed.

"But seriously. Not every project needs to be GTA San Andreas."

He pointed toward the audience. "And if you are five college students trying to make your first game and your design document starts with, 'Massive world, realistic weather, 400 NPCs with daily schedules, full online multiplayer, cinematic story, vehicles, economy system, destruction physics—'"

Zaboru paused.

"Delete half of it."

The room laughed.

"No. Seriously. Delete like seventy percent."

More laughter.

"You do not need to compete with ZAGE's budget. That would be stupid."

He pointed toward himself. "I have thousands of employees. You have Kevin."

Someone in the audience immediately shouted, "My programmer is actually named Kevin!"

The entire hall exploded.

Zaboru bent forward laughing.

"SEE!? Protect Kevin! Don't give him GTA!"

Even the student who shouted was laughing uncontrollably.

Zaboru eventually straightened again. "That's what I mean. Scale your idea around what you can actually finish."

He paced slowly across the stage. "A five-hour game that has a strong identity and actually releases is infinitely better than your dream fifty-hour masterpiece sitting unfinished on your computer forever."

Several people nodded immediately.

"And failure?"

He shrugged.

"You're going to fail."

Some people looked surprised.

Zaboru grinned.

"Probably multiple times."

A few nervous laughs followed.

"I have."

That made the room quiet again.

"ZAGE has."

He nodded. "We've made bad ideas. We've cut projects. We've built mechanics that didn't work. We've wasted months on things that eventually disappeared. That's game development."

He smiled again. "The important question isn't whether every idea works. It's whether you learn fast enough when it doesn't."

Zaboru crossed his arms loosely. "I always say this: an idea you think is weird might be awesome to someone else, and an idea you think is awesome might look stupid to another person."

He shrugged.

"That's okay."

He looked around the room.

"Because there is no such thing as a game for everyone."

A few people immediately wrote that down.

Zaboru noticed.

"That one you can write."

Laughter returned.

"People have different taste. Some people love Nocturne getting them killed by random demons. Other people hate it. Some love Sports game like our NBA 2K or Winning Eleven some don't

"Some people want serious racing in Gran Turismo. Some people want Mario jumping around a beach."

He spread his hands.

"You don't need all those people."

The screen changed again.

YOU NEED YOUR PEOPLE.

Zaboru pointed toward it. "If your game has a clear identity and there are enough people who love that identity, congratulations. You have an audience."

He paused.

"And now digital distribution makes that much more realistic."

This immediately drew attention.

"With Z-Store, you don't necessarily need millions of physical discs. You don't need to convince every retailer in America that your strange little game deserves shelf space next to Halo. If your team can finish something good, pass technical certification, and release it digitally, suddenly your weird idea has a path to players."

Zaboru grinned. "That's one reason I wanted ZEPS 4 development to be more open."

He walked toward the center again. "Now let me ask you guys something."

He pointed toward the audience.

"When you're thinking of a game concept—before you open Unreal, before you model anything, before you write ten thousand lines of code—what do you actually do?"

Hands began rising.

Zaboru smiled as the discussion getting interesting.

To be continued.