Duke sat at his desk, surrounded by chaos.
Oversized schematics and vibrant concept art covered every available surface.
His usual files had been shoved aside to make room for arcade cabinets.
Arcades were filled with simple novelties like Pong and Breakout.
Digital paddles bouncing squares off walls.
Nothing more.
The hardware barely let you do anything interesting.
Microprocessors were just starting to replace hardwired logic boards, but memory was still scarce.
Duke wanted to change that.
He wanted to take his studio's properties and turn them into something players had never seen before.
After all, he had his memories, if he only did the same that happened in his past life, him coming to this time would be a waste.
He stared at a rough sketch of the Superman arcade concept.
Translating the comic book hero into a game was driving him crazy.
Superman in his past life, was severely lacking in terms of videogames.
But Superman also held a historically significant postion as the first-ever superhero video game in 1979.
It was also one of the earliest examples of an open-world, multi-screen game with a structured narrative and a clear ending.
The game was simple, the player controls Clark Kent, who must transform into Superman to save Metropolis after Lex Luthor and his henchmen blow up the Metropolis Memorial Bridge.
The player must complete several tasks in the shortest time possible.
Find Lex Luthor and his six henchmen scattered across Metropolis and take them to the city jail.
Locate the three pieces of the destroyed bridge and reassemble them.
Enter a phone booth to change back into Clark Kent, then rush to the Daily Planet to submit the scoop, which stops the game timer.
Players could fly freely across over 20 unique screens mapping out the city.X
Also to restore lost superpowers, the player could navigate the city on foot to find Lois Lane, who heals Superman with a kiss.
The game also made history by implementing the first pause button.
Duke's idea was more simple but also more complicated.
A side-scrolling experience where the background moved horizontally to simulate flight.
Superman would navigate a reduced version of Metropolis, using heat vision and other powers to overcome obstacles.
But how do you make the player feel invincible without removing the tension that entertains them?
If the hero could fly through everything unharmed, people would drop a quarter, play for a few minutes, and walk away.
He rubbed his temples and shifted to the Star Wars files.
Star Wars was a perfect world for games. Duke couldnt even remember all the Star War Games he played in his past life.
Sadly, EA took over and the era of Star Wars loot boxes started.
He had mapped out two concepts.
The first was a straightforward shooter defend the bottom of the screen against descending waves of TIE fighters.
A simple but effective game, clearly based on Space Invaders.
The second was more ambitious.
A game is which the player is the gun fighter of the Millennium Falcon fighting through a corridor.
He had based himself on X-Trench Run.
An old 3d game in his past life, where the player piloted an X-wing through a narrow corridor, dodging lasers, before launching a torpedo into an exhaust port.
Sadly the tech for doing X-Trench Run was just not avsailable at this period of time, so he was trying to adapt the concept to other less demanding features.
Duke knew exactly how it should be, he could even picture it in his head.
But he lacked the technical vocabulary to bridge the gap between sketch and circuit board.
The door swung open, interrupting his thoughs.
Simpson stepped in, holding a visitor logbook in his hand.
"Mr. Hauser," Simpson announced, "your guests are here. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak."
Duke looked up, a sense of anticipation coming over him.
This meeting had been a long time coming.
The two young men walked into the office in casual clothes, looking slightly nervous.
Steve Jobs took the lead, projecting confidence despite his youth.
Steve Wozniak followed close behind, offering a shy wave.
He was the engineering core of the partnership... Jobs was the Marketing guy.
A quiet creator who seemed genuinely thrilled just to be standing inside a Hollywood studio.
Duke stood up and walked around the desk, extending his hand.
"Steve," he said, looking directly at Jobs with a smile. "It's good to see you again."
Jobs blinked, caught off guard.
He hadn't expected a movie mogul to remember him.
Even getting the call from Nolan arranging the meeting had shocked him, but he had attribute it to his old mentor trying to help him with hos venture
Duke gestured toward two armchairs.
Duke settled onto the opposite sofa, crossing one leg over the other. "So. Apple. I hear you're building something in a garage. What's the dream, huh? Whats the vision?"
Jobs leaned forward, his hands already moving before the words came out.
"We want to empower the individual user," Jobs said, his fingers tracing shapes in the air.
"But to do manufacturing, we need capital. We need partners who see where this is going."
Duke listened, leaned back and laid his cards on the table.
"Hauser University is launching an entrepreneurship program in Stockton, California. Free lab space, testing equipment, utilities covered."
He paused, letting the offer sink in. "And I'm prepared to invest directly in Apple too. 200k for 30% of the Company."
Jobs's eyes narrowed, and his jaw tightened a little.
"Why would a Hollywood studio want to buy into a tech company? We're not making movies and we don't want corporate suits meddling in our engineering."
Duke held his gaze, a little confused. "I- I...own Atari and I kind of help invent arcades. I don't meddle into company affairs as long as nothing crazy happens."
"Look, I provide the capital and facilities. You guys keep control."
Jobs studied him, searching for the catch.
Meanwhile, Wozniak had drifted toward the coffee table, his attention snatched by the concept art scattered across its surface.
He leaned down, examining the spaceships and laser battles.
"Are these for your new movie?" Wozniak asked, his voice filled with excitement. "I read the novel. The world-building is incredible. And the lightsaber- genius."
Duke seized the opening, deciding to not look at Jobs anymore. "We're developing a videogame to launch alongside the theatrical release."
He gestured at the rough sketches on the table. "I've been trying to design the game, but sort of hit a wall. I know what it should feel like. I just don't have the engineering expertise to make it happen."
Wozniak dropped onto the sofa, his shyness going away. "What kind of gameplay were you imagining?"
Duke described the trench run. Forced perspective on a narrow corridor, dodging obstacles and firing at moving targets.
Wozniak's eyes lit up. He pulled a pen from his shirt pocket and grabbed a piece of paper.
"You can't do true scaling sprites with current arcade microprocessors," he muttered, already sketching.
"The hardware can't draw and erase pixels fast enough. You'll get flickering."
His pen moved across the page, drawing lines and boxes.
"But if you use vector graphics instead, you draw sharp geometric lines that scale. It would look like a targeting computer."
Duke watched, fascinated, as the young engineer solved in seconds a problem that had stalled his team for weeks.
Vector monitors were expensive, sure, but the aesthetic was perfect.
"You'd need custom ROM chips to store the obstavcle and trench patterns," Wozniak continued, his pen flying.
In 1976, computer chips were like basic calculators they could only do simple addition and subtraction.
In arcade gaming, 'scaling' is the manipulation of 2D sprites or backgrounds to simulate 3D depth and movement.
Scaling requires complex multiplication to stretch a picture, which chips were too weak and slow to calculate in real-time.
Duke nodded slowly, letting the solutions sink in.
He didn't understand the technical matters but he could always just mention the buzzwords to an Atari Engineer and hope for the best.
Jobs cleared his throat, placing a hand on his partner's shoulder. "The game sounds fascinating, Duke. But returning to the investment offer, we need to ensure the valuation matches- our projections."
Duke didn't flinch. "The offer stands. I believe in what you're building. We can negotiate the specifics fairly."
Wozniak looked up from his sketch, a grin spreading across his face.
"You know, if you invest this much early capital," he said, nudging Jobs with his elbow, "we might have to name you the third official founder. Get you your own employee badge."
Jobs offered a tight smile, but clearly wasn't amused.
Duke chuckled. "I don't want to steal your spotlight. I just want a seat at the table."
They talked arcade hardware for another 20 minutes.
Wozniak mapped out memory layouts while Duke provided feedback on how pacing and difficulty should be.
When the meeting wound down, Duke stood up and walked them to the door.
He shook their hands firmly and handed Jobs a business card with his direct private number printed.
His Business Card looked similar to the business card of a certain man named Paul Allen.
"Take the weekend to review the terms," Duke said.
"Think about the university space, investment, partnership. We can finalize the paperwork whenever you're comfortable."
Jobs tucked the card into his pocket. Something in his demeanor had softened, just slightly. "I'll call you early next week. I appreaciate taking your time to meet us."
Wozniak waved goodbye, still clutching his paper full of sketches.
___
My original draft got deleted.
Check Tail Gunner (1979), the game, pretty interesting for its time
Ypu can play X-Trench Run online, just look it up on Google