A few days ago, Nancy Brill discussed her idea of wanting to try video game production over the phone.
Simon didn't object, but he flatly rejected her request for authorization to adapt Marvel superhero characters or the Tolkien series into games.
Marvel superheroes and the Middle-earth series are two of the most valuable brands in Danerys Entertainment's copyright library, and Simon would never allow them to be developed casually without sufficient confidence.
Unexpectedly, after Nancy Brier was rejected, she obtained the game adaptation rights for 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'.
Simon happened to have played the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' video game during the Nintendo NES era.
In the original timeline, the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' video game series was developed by the well-known Japanese game company Konami and became one of Konami's best-selling game series.
The first 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game sold 4 million copies worldwide in just one year, bringing Konami over $100 million in net profit, and subsequent sequels to the series also earned Konami a fortune.
After ending his call with Sophia Fessey, Simon began to carefully review the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game development proposal in his hand.
Nancy Brill obtained the game development authorization for 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' for only $200,000, which was comparable to the price Daenerys Pictures paid for the film adaptation rights to 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' last year.
However, this authorization agreement included a 5% net profit-sharing clause.
If the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game developed by Daenerys Entertainment could achieve the same success as Konami, this 5% net profit share alone would be an astronomical sum.
However, Simon was not surprised.
Daenerys Entertainment was only just entering the field of video game production; if they didn't offer a higher price, the copyright holder would obviously prefer to sell the rights to well-known game companies.
What's more, if the entire 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game series could bring Daenerys Entertainment billions in profit over the next few years, Simon wouldn't mind paying Phantom Studio 50 million US dollars in profit sharing.
Continuing to read the proposal, the total budget of $2 million also satisfied Simon.
The initial studio's operating model indicated that Nancy Brill was not blindly pursuing a one-step solution; she clearly understood that Daenerys Entertainment was a novice in the gaming field, and the development of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' was more like an attempt to gain experience.
However, the game's genre positioning was vastly different from the Konami version Simon remembered.
The Konami version of the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game Simon played was an action role-playing type, and the story, based on the animated plot, told of a rescue mission by the four turtles.
Nancy's proposal, however, was to develop it into a fighting game.
In this era, most of the best-selling games on the market were action-adventure and shooting games, such as Nintendo's 'Super Mario' and Konami's 'Contra'.
There were almost no very successful fighting games.
Capcom's 'Street Fighter' had released its first generation in 1987, but it didn't cause much of a stir.
In his memory, the 'Street Fighter' series didn't reach its peak until 'Street Fighter II' in 1991.
'Street Fighter II' not only set Capcom's sales record but was also hailed by many media critics as one of the greatest video games of all time.
Currently, there were no phenomenon-level fighting games like 'Street Fighter II' on the market, and this content gap was actually an opportunity for game developers.
In the proposal, Nancy Brill specifically mentioned this point and stated that this was precisely why she positioned 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' as a fighting game.
Furthermore, Nancy also pointed out that a significant factor limiting the development of fighting games was the hardware platform.
The best-selling Nintendo NES on the market was still an 8-bit console, with a market share exceeding 90%.
However, Sega had already released its Sega Genesis console, and Nintendo was also busy preparing its 16-bit console.
The game console market was at a critical juncture of generational change.
Compared to 8-bit consoles, 16-bit consoles could bring a qualitative leap in basic technologies such as game capacity and display, thereby providing better hardware support for fighting games.
Therefore, the development of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' would be directly based on the 16-bit game console platform.
After reviewing the proposal, Simon had to admire Nancy Brill's comprehensive consideration.
However, he still found the biggest problem within it.
Sega's 16-bit game console had already been released last year, and the proposal also stated that Nintendo planned to launch its 16-bit console in July of the second half of this year.
The normal development cycle for video games in this era was about 3 to 5 months.
If all went well, Daenerys Entertainment's 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' fighting game could indeed be launched concurrently with Nintendo's 16-bit console.
However, Simon remembered that due to technical reasons, Nintendo repeatedly delayed its release, finally launching the 16-bit SFC console in November 1990, a delay of over a year, with even later release dates for North America and Europe.
Simon didn't think his 'butterfly effect' could help Nintendo overcome technical difficulties.
Once delayed, the 16-bit 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game developed by Danerys Entertainment would be a bust.
Of course, the company had other options, such as Sega's Genesis console or the PC platform.
The major mainstream game console manufacturers at the time were all very strong.
Even large game companies like Capcom and Konami didn't dare to openly straddle multiple platforms.
A newcomer like Danerys Entertainment had even less choice.
If they cooperated with Sega, they would be shut out by Nintendo.
This situation only gradually began to change with the further development of PC games and the increasingly fierce competition among major console manufacturers in the 1990s.
After a moment of thought, Simon signalled Jennifer to connect him with Nancy Brill on the phone, and he began to write down his ideas for an action role-playing type 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game based on the original version on a draft paper.
Jennifer handed over the connected phone, and Simon and Nancy discussed his 'speculation' that the SNES might be delayed, while also briefly outlining the development plan for an action role-playing type 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game.
The two discussed for over twenty minutes on the phone, and Nancy stated that she would carefully investigate Nintendo's SNES development progress and adjust her plan accordingly.
Finally, Simon also provided Nancy with an additional $500,000 in budget, planning that once the SNES's potential delay was confirmed, the company could simultaneously develop two 8-bit 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' games: one of the action role-playing type proposed by Simon, and the other still the fighting game type from Nancy's proposal.
Of the two games, the former was for commercial gain; since the Konami version of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' in his memory was so successful, there was no reason to let it go.
The latter could be used to accumulate experience; the market gap for fighting games was obvious, and if the 'Street Fighter' series hadn't had the foundation of its first generation, 'Street Fighter II' might not have been so successful.
Therefore, this investment was very worthwhile.
Speaking of which, the global video game industry's scale would soon catch up to the film industry in the coming years, and this field definitely had great potential.
Since he had started to get involved, Simon didn't plan to just dabble.
Therefore, before ending the call, Simon specifically asked about the studio's name.
Nancy Brier didn't care much about the issue, just casually saying that it could follow the naming conventions of Daenerys Entertainment's other subsidiaries and be called Daenerys Game Studio.
However, Simon didn't intend to integrate the game business with Daenerys Entertainment, saying, "In that case, let's call it Blizzard, Blizzard Studio".
Nancy's puzzled voice came through the receiver: "Blizzard? Does it have any special meaning?"
"Yes, it's a very meaningful name", Simon said. "So, if you mess it up, I'll be very disappointed".
Nancy felt that Simon didn't intend to explain in detail, so she didn't press further, saying, "Alright, boss, I'll have someone register it tomorrow".
After hanging up the phone, Simon had unconsciously filled several draft papers with scribbles and drawings.
He signalled Jennifer to organize them and send them back to Los Angeles.
Simon checked his watch; it was already 11:35 AM, almost lunchtime.
He leaned back in his chair, relaxed, and closed his eyes to rest, mentally reviewing his work schedule for the rest of the day.
In the afternoon, he still had to review the rushes shot recently and discuss the production plans for some special effects shots with the Daenerys Special Effects team.
In the evening, they would begin shooting another opposing scene in the film.
Batman vs. Deadshot.
Killer Croc and Deadshot were two professional assassins hired by Black Mask in the film.
At the same time, the appearance of these two characters also laid the groundwork for a potential 'Suicide Squad' series in the future.
When he opened his eyes again, Jennifer was standing beside the desk, bending over to help Simon organize the documents in front of him.
The female assistant was wearing a light blue pinstriped shirt and white trousers today.
The slim-fit tailoring made her figure look slender yet curvy from the side.
Feeling Simon's gaze, Jennifer straightened up and found a topic, saying, "What do you plan to have for lunch?"
Simon continued to admire the female assistant's slender figure, but he asked, "Don't you feel a little disappointed following me like this?"
Jennifer paused, then shook her head seriously, saying, "No, not at all".
Simon said, "I mean, you originally thought Simon Westeros was an artist. But now, he's become a businessman, always calculating how to make more money every day".
Hearing Simon say this, Jennifer walked around the desk to Simon's side, leaned against the edge of the table, thought for a moment, then simply sat on the desktop, kicked off her black low heels, and looked at the man in the leather chair, saying earnestly, "I don't like you because you're an artist or anything, Simon, even though you're really amazing in that regard. But I like you because you're different from everyone else in this world; you're unique".
Simon tapped his toes on the ground, moving the leather chair.
This time, the female assistant naturally lifted her legs and placed her small feet, clad in thin silk stockings, on Simon's thigh.
He reached out and took hold of them, saying, "Theoretically, everyone is unique".
"Actually, I've always been indecisive; I'm not suited to be a very independent woman at all. From childhood to adulthood, of course, I've had many crazy ideas, but the number of times I actually acted on them was pitifully small.
Worried about failure, worried about being ridiculed, worried about disappointing Mom and Dad, blah blah blah, and then I became like this. When I was little, Mom and Dad protected me, and when I grew up, I knew I couldn't rely on them anymore, so I met you", Jennifer said, pressing her small feet into Simon's palm.
When he tickled her sole, she couldn't help but laugh, then pressed down hard a few more times, saying, "So, from now on, I'll be clinging to you. Simon, you'll definitely protect me, right?"
Simon feigned difficulty: "Well, I'll try not to let Janette bully you".
"Janette is very smart, smarter than me, maybe even smarter than you. She doesn't care about me, a little assistant who poses no threat to her".
Simon chuckled, "It seems Janette is the real behind-the-scenes boss".
"Hehe, she is", Jennifer nodded in agreement.
After a moment of intimacy, she found another topic, saying, "'Blizzard,' what does it actually mean?"
Simon thought for a moment, then said, "The true meaning cannot be told to you. However, there's a piece of music called 'Blizzard'".
There were too many secrets about the man in front of her.
Since he said he couldn't tell her, it must be something unsuitable for disclosure.
However, hearing that there was music to listen to, Jennifer became interested again, saying, "A piece called 'Blizzard,' can you play it for me?"
Simon shook his head, saying, "It's instrumental music, no lyrics. I'll play it for you when I have time".
Jennifer gently pressed her foot into Simon's palm again, saying, "There's a piano in the restaurant downstairs; we can do it now".
Simon remembered the piano in the hotel restaurant; he hadn't seen anyone play it these days.
It was probably placed there by the hotel owner as decoration, and he didn't even know if it still worked.
Jennifer didn't give Simon time to hesitate.
She jumped off the desk, put on her shoes, and pulled him out, saying, "It's almost lunchtime anyway; you play for me first".
As the two left the room, Jennifer turned to her own guest room.
When she came out again, she had an Super 8 camcorder in her hand.
Simon looked at the machine in the female assistant's hand and remembered the 'Flight of the Bumblebee' from back then.
Jennifer obviously thought of it too, and she raised the camcorder in her hand, saying, "This time it's just for my personal collection; I definitely won't show it to anyone else".
As lunchtime approached, the restaurant became lively.
Since the hotel was booked, all the diners were members of the 'Batman' crew, and some still looked tired, having clearly just woken up.
Simon greeted everyone, stopped a waiter to ask a few questions, and then walked directly to the piano by the window.
Jennifer chose a nearby table and sat down quietly, fiddling with the machine in her hand, then looked up at the man sitting by the piano, her eyes filled with anticipation.
To enhance its appeal, this piece of music needed amplification.
The waiter quickly set up the microphone.
After a brief sound check by pressing the keys, Simon glanced at the female assistant not far away, and under the gaze of everyone in the restaurant, he smiled and leaned into the microphone, saying, "'Blizzard,' for Jenny".
Many people around heard this and smiled knowingly.
In the famous 'Flight of the Bumblebee' video from back then, Simon also started that way.
However, some people understood that the 'Jenny' Simon referred to here might be another Jenny, such as a certain female assistant holding a Super 8 camcorder.
Simon, however, didn't care about what others were thinking.
As soon as his words fell, he began to play a piece called "Blizzard".
The piece wasn't actually called "Blizzard".
It should be "The Dawn," an interlude from the movie "The Rock".
Or...
Some people also called it "The Undead Prelude."
But Simon felt that the name "Blizzard" was equally fitting.
Strictly speaking, the piano alone couldn't fully express the charm of this piece, but under Simon's exquisite playing, the piano music in the hotel restaurant, at times light and ethereal, at times passionate, at times gentle, at times grand, at times silent, and at times wild, quickly immersed all listeners, leaving them mesmerized.
The girl silently holding the camcorder looked at the focused figure by the piano, and unconsciously, a touch of infatuation appeared in her eyes.
Perhaps it was a certain telepathy from spending so much time together, but Jennifer instinctively felt that behind this piece of music, there must be a very long story.
In the story, the hero who had already slain the evil dragon, wearing worn leather armour and carrying a greatsword, braved the dense wind and snow, traversing ancient forests forgotten by too many people, continuing to search for his unknown distant future.