By the time Takayuki found out about the sales of Dead Cells, it had already been nearly a month.
It wasn't that Takayuki wasn't interested in the small-budget project he had helped create, but he genuinely had no time during that period.
If Aiko and the others had wanted to contact Takayuki back then, they probably wouldn't have been able to reach him.
During this month, Takayuki had been focused on the development of the latest games, particularly the Civilization series, and also keeping an eye on the progress of the smartphone development at Facebook.
Smartphones had become Takayuki's next target in the gaming industry.
He knew he couldn't stop users from buying smartphones, as they were essential and in much higher demand than handheld consoles.
But he could also join in, becoming a part of it and captivating those people with interesting games.
So, after setting up the development plan for Facebook's smartphones, Takayuki immediately created a new mobile gaming department.
This department wouldn't get directly involved in game development in the short term; its primary purpose was to port some of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's popular games to Facebook's mobile platform.
...
...
Since he couldn't influence users' need for smartphones, at least he could influence the choice of phones for gamers.
Bob was extremely skilled in the field of computers and the internet. In a very short time, he had assembled a new smartphone development team and, within a month, had created a usable smartphone.
The operating system for this smartphone was created from scratch, though it was based on some of the most basic programming languages of the world, so the efficiency was decent.
These people were top-tier employees who had left well-known companies, attracted by high salaries and stock options. Essentially, they were treated as if they were part-owners of the company, which motivated them to work even harder.
Takayuki wasn't skilled in smartphone production or operating systems.
But that was okay—he had ideas that far surpassed the conventional thinking of his time.
For example, many features of smartphones, which would later become ubiquitous, could be directly implemented now.
A simple user interface, a rich camera functionality, diverse theme customization options, and the ability to use digital cards on the phone—these technologies were already mature enough to be directly copied.
Takayuki quickly turned these ideas into a booklet and handed it to Bob, instructing him to follow the detailed data in the booklet as a reference.
When the top smartphone development team received the booklet, they couldn't help but feel somewhat skeptical.
These forward-thinking smartphone features had never crossed their minds.
But after some serious thought, they realized these features could really work. If they created a phone based on this booklet, it could easily become a bestseller.
Who had come up with these ideas?
They were eager to find out from Bob, but Bob remained tight-lipped, and his reactions made it clear that he hadn't come up with the smartphone design and system himself.
During this month, Takayuki continued to adapt the games developed by Gamestar Electronic Entertainment for Facebook's mobile platform, working as quickly as possible to bring some of the older, yet still very fun, games to mobile.
Games like the Super Mario series from the FC era, The Legend of Zelda, Contra, Super Sports, Hot Blooded, Dragon Quest, and many others.
These games, by today's standards, might seem somewhat outdated.
But what if they were really cheap?
Each game would cost only 100 yen, which was about the cost of pocket money for kids in Japan—just the price of a roll of toilet paper. It would still be a great deal to buy a game that could provide fun.
Eventually, Takayuki moved the team to the United States, where they could work with Facebook's team on system adjustments for the smartphone platform.
This time, Takayuki wanted to make life difficult for Myron Case.
In the original world, the Apple brand practically dominated the smartphone industry.
Its influence was so strong it was almost untouchable.
Every time Apple held a release event, it became the center of attention.
Takayuki wasn't opposed to Apple; he was an Apple user himself.
It was just that he always felt Apple was wasting its potential.
They had powerful smartphones but lacked many games that truly utilized the full power of the hardware.
Smartphones could also serve as handheld consoles.
This was probably related to Apple's core DNA.
Its founder, Steve Jobs, hadn't been particularly interested in video games from the start.
Even though Jobs had worked for a video game company before.
Takayuki remembered that in the early days of mobile gaming, there had been some great games, and they were mostly sold as standalone titles. But at some point, it seemed that the direction had changed.
He hoped to make a small change.
Next, according to his plan, he would gradually move some of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's popular old games to Facebook's mobile platform. This would allow Facebook to compete with Myron Case's company, Mikfo, in the mobile phone market, so Mikfo wouldn't dominate the market as an anti-game company.
Otherwise, the era of dull mobile games might return.
"Hmm, Cut the Rope, Little Crocodile Loves Bathing, Angry Birds—these would be great to bring to mobile games."
Takayuki began researching more games that could be published on Facebook's mobile platform. He was preparing to launch a big move with Facebook.
At this time, most smartphone users were still gamers. This was a group of trendsetters, and if they could conquer these players early on, Mikfo's ambitions would be greatly hindered, and his own goal would be achieved.
"Plants vs. Zombies might also be a good choice... wait, isn't there already a game like that?"
While making plans, Takayuki suddenly remembered another game.
In Counter-Strike's mod platform, there was a 3D version of Farm Defense War with zombies. This was a mod made by the three girls when they were bored, and it had become one of the most popular mods in Counter-Strike.
He remembered that the three girls had once mentioned wanting to make a full version of Zombie Farm Defense War.
Strictly speaking, this could be considered Plants vs. Zombies.
If he developed it himself, there would be a risk of plagiarism.
So he decided to skip that. However, he could directly guide the three girls to create Plants vs. Zombies. For them, it should be no problem at all.