No More Lies. My Grandfather Was a Nazi.
In Lithuania, he was celebrated as a hero. But we can’t move on until we admit what he really did.
[The comments are in italics and square brackets, followed by BalticSSRs signature at the end. The rest belongs to Silvia Foti, unless otherwise specified. - BalticSSRs]
Silvia Foti’s grandfather Jonas Noreika. Family photograph.
By Silvia Foti
Ms. Foti is a journalist and the author of the forthcoming “The Nazi’s Granddaughter: How I Learned My Grandfather Was a War Criminal.”
When I was growing up in Chicago during the Cold War, my parents taught me to revere my Lithuanian heritage. We sang Lithuanian songs and recited Lithuanian poems; after Lithuanian school on Saturdays, I would eat Lithuanian-style potato pancakes.
My grandfather, Jonas Noreika, was a particularly important part of my family story: He was the mastermind of a 1945-1946 revolt against the Soviet Union, and was executed. A picture of him in his military uniform hung in our living room. Today, he is a hero not just in my family. He has streets, plaques and a school named after him. He was awarded the Cross of the Vytis, Lithuania’s highest posthumous honor.
On her deathbed in 2000, my mother asked me to take over writing a book about her father. I eagerly agreed. But as I sifted through the material, I came across a document with his signature from 1941 and everything changed. The story of my grandfather was much darker than I had known.
I learned that the man I had believed was a savior who did all he could to rescue Jews during World War II had, in reality, ordered all Jews in his region of Lithuania to be rounded up and sent to a ghetto where they were beaten, starved, tortured, raped and then murdered. More than 95 percent of Lithuania’s Jews died during World War II, many of them killed with the eager collaboration of their neighbors.
Suddenly, I no longer had any idea who my grandfather was, what Lithuania was, and how my own story fit in. How could I reconcile two realities? Was Jonas Noreika a monster who slaughtered thousands of Jews or a hero who fought to save his country from the Communists?
[Even "moderate" bourgeois nationalists use self-contradictory phrases like "save the country from the Communists" which sounds as stupid as "saving people from food", "saving people from a happy life" or "saving them from the defeat of nazism". The Soviet Union destroyed 85% of all nazi forces and played a key role in uncovering and investigating the Holocaust. The Socialist Revolution of 1940 transformed Lithuania from an agrarian fascist state into a highly-developed and industrialized country. But the nationalist nonsense about "saving the country from communism" is now state ideology in the Baltics. Credo quia absurdum. - BalticSSRs]
Those questions began a journey that led me to understand the power of the politics of memory and the importance of getting the recounting right, even at great personal cost. I concluded that my grandfather was a man of paradoxes, just as Lithuania — a country caught between the Nazi and Communist occupations during World War II, then trapped behind the Iron Curtain for the next 50 years — is full of contradictions.
[Again with the neo-nazi "double genocide" Holocaust denialism. So who's better? Those who perpetrated the Holocaust and served the German fascists? Or those who put an end to these atrocities and punished those responsible? Truly, a paradox. The nationalists, as usual, are too cowardly to deny the Holocaust and the Nuremberg Trials openly. So they hide behind this "double genocide" nonsense. And the Lithuanian people overthrew the fascist government of Smetona all by themselves in 1940, by declaring a general strike. So the Lithuanian people occupied themselves too? - BalticSSRs]
In this way, perhaps, Lithuania is like many other countries that spent 50 years under Soviet occupation. During this time, there was a deep freeze on the truth: Lithuanians were only allowed to talk about how many Soviet citizens were killed during World War II. References to Jewish victims were scrubbed away by the occupiers. I would like to think that if Lithuania had been a free and independent nation after World War II, it might have acknowledged its own role in the Holocaust.
[This is a damn lie. The Soviet Union has always acknowledged the systematic mass murder of the Soviet and European Jews by the fascist invaders AND the nationalist collaborators. Towns in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have Soviet memorial plaques in memory of the Jewish residents that were mass murdered. The Soviet people were united - the Slavs, the Jews, the Balts the Romas, the Greeks - all were subjected to the Holocaust. The hitlerites wanted to exterminate the SOVIET PEOPLE as a whole. Silvie Foti's demagogy vilifies the Soviet people by giving one targeted group mention, while omitting everyone else. And then she accuses the Soviet Union of doing what she just did in the article. The last sentence is a gem. "Free and independent" as Finland, for example, a known nazi ally and a Holocaust perpetrator? We know how West Germany "acknowledged" its role in the Holocaust - by sheltering high-ranking nazis and giving them cushy jobs. - Baltic SSRs]
https://preview.redd.it/sz0lvhpigquc1.jpg?width=549&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6abaca496accd70c17a47995e96cdd5a7e589fba
[the West "acknowledging" its role in the Holocaust - BalticSSRs]
Correcting historical memory turned out to be dangerous. When I publicly questioned the official story of my grandfather’s life, I was vilified by the Lithuanian community in Chicago and in Lithuania. I was called an agent of President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Lithuanian leaders still believe their country’s identity depends on holding onto its heroes, even at the cost of the truth.
[The snake is eating its own tail. But Foti had it easy. Compare that to Rūta Vanagaitė who actually lives in Lithuania. She published detailed research on the Lithuanian nazi collaborators and their leading role in the Holocaust in Lithuania. Vanagaitė was immediately declared a "threat to national security". Her book (How Did It Happen?) was immediately withdrawn in Lithuania - now de facto banned - and she was forced to publicly "apologize" for her "misleading claims" to avoid prison. - BalticSSRs]
The twists and turns of Jonas Noreika’s short life made it easier to hide the bad by accentuating the good. And yet there was so much bad.
[If serving the nazis and murdering Lithuanian peasants and workers is "good", then we have to question Foti's definition of good and perhaps her sanity, as well. - BalticSSRs]
In 1933, as a young soldier in the Lithuanian Army, he wrote “Raise Your Head Lithuanian,” Lithuania’s equivalent of “Mein Kampf,” which incited hate toward Jews as a solution to Lithuania’s problems. In June 1941, he led an uprising against the Soviets, even as he was collaborating with the Nazis. In July, he ordered the murder of all of the 2,000 Jews in Plunge, the town from which he led the uprising. In August, the Germans welcomed him as the new district chief of the Siauliai region, and the same month he signed orders to send thousands of Jews to their eventual deaths. Under his watch, roughly 8,000 Jews were killed.
[Organizing fascist uprisings against the Soviet government IS helping the nazis. These nationalist groups never, ever fought against the nazis. Only the Soviet partisans did. Any Baltic anti-Soviet movement was affiliated with the nazis and/or recruited by the Abwehr - the nazi military intelligence. - BalticSSRs]
In the version of history that is now celebrated by Lithuanians, my grandfather and others like him were forced to sign those documents by the Germans. But when I dug deeper, I learned that becoming district chief brought him the best house in the region, about 1,000 reichsmarks each month and a job for my grandmother. That sounded to me more like temptation than coercion.
He did stand up to the Nazis, not by saving Jews but by trying to stymie recruitment for the SS. In March 1943, he was sent to a Nazi concentration camp. He was released in January 1945, then conscripted by the Red Army. Later that year, he began organizing the revolt against the Soviets, who had turned from Lithuania’s liberators to its occupiers. The Soviets captured him the next March. He was executed in February 1947 at the age of 36.
[This is another big lie used by the Baltic fascists. They are trying to paint the nationalists sent to the concentration camps as "victims of nazism". That's exactly WHY they were sent there in the first place. Realizing that the war is being lost, the nazis formed organized groups of collaborator fronts cleverly disguised as "independent/democratic patriots". Sending them to a concentration camp was a legend to create a convincing sob story of a prisoner who "miraculously" "escaped". In reality, these Baltic and Ukrainian nationalists were known as "honorary inmates". They virtually didn't work, enjoyed full rations and even received allowances to buy additional food, cigarettes and fresh newspapers. The Stutthof and Sachsenhausen camps had many "honorary inmates" acting as nazi spies and "patriotic" fronts, like Stepan Bandera and Bruno Kalniņš. By the end of the war, the average survival rate of death camp inmates was 1-2 months at best. If Noreika had been an actual prisoner, he would have most likely died. His "stymieing the recruitment" is just a part of the same fairy tale. The nazis recruited 36,000 Lithuanian auxiliary troops. "Stymieing" alright. - BalticSSRs]
Transforming a Nazi collaborator into a national hero requires four steps of manipulation. One step shifts all the blame to the Nazis, even though my grandfather, like many Lithuanians, willingly participated in slaughtering Jews. The second step creates a victim narrative, asking how a Jew killer could be sent to a Nazi concentration camp. The third step discredits counternarratives by labeling them as Communist propaganda told by enemies of the state. The final step refuses to accept that two seemingly contradictory truths can coexist: Noreika bravely fought against the Communists and shamefully participated in killing Jews.
[That is correct, but not entirely. Foti doesn't ask the question WHY the Lithuanian nationalists are doing this. The answer is based on class. The German fascist invasion gave chance for the defeated Lithuanian bourgeoisie and landowners to reclaim their former property - the fields, the factories and resources - the means of production that they lost during the Socialist Revolution of 1940, which they did not anticipate. The Lithuanian nationalists, in a typical nationalist fashion, are willing to whore themselves out to the devil himself if it means reclaiming at least some of the private property. Even if it means being a German/British/American slave and selling the people of Lithuania for pennies. A nation is a bourgeois concept. It is the essence of bourgeois domination over the people, especially so during the age of imperialist capitalism - the final stage of capitalism - BalticSSRs]
After researching his life for the past 20 years, I’ve dared to call my grandfather a Nazi even though he never officially joined the party. He worked with the Nazis, acted like them, was paid by them, hated Jews like them and, like them, facilitated torture and murder.
Did Lithuanian officials actively hide the truth because it would make the country look bad? Or were they in genuine denial in a democracy too fragile to face its own history? Unfortunately, this isn’t just about my grandfather. He is a microcosm of the entire national story, and that national story echoes across Eastern Europe.
[Our previous note makes it obvious that this is deliberate. It is a lie. And it doesn't matter whether it's a fabrication or a "convenient" lie by omission. The fact that the Baltic governments have to rely on these damn lies just to exist shows the essence of bourgeois nationalist hegemony in the region - it is a continuation of the same capitalist class, the same imperialism. In a sense, it is a continuation of the German fascist project, under a different guise. - BalticSSRs].
The passage of time has created the space to speak about the truth, but also increased the urgency of doing so before remaining memories fade and another generation passes. Analysis of a dark past is always traumatic. But we will never achieve clarity and healing if we base our history on lies. Although later generations might not know the details, they will still experience the emotional pain passed down from parent to child to grandchild.
[Again, the Baltic nationalists "stretch" it out deliberately, so that the last living witnesses would die. Otherwise, they could seriously harm the nationalist myth-making. - BalticSSRs].
I have made my peace with my grandfather. I have vowed to reveal his crimes by giving witness to the truth, and I have vowed to try to correct Lithuania’s memory of the Holocaust, in part by asking for honors bestowed on him to be stripped. This can lead to reconciliation between Lithuanians and Jews as we remember what happened and learn from it to ensure it never happens again. Perhaps acknowledging this truth will allow Lithuanians to have a healthier national identity and a pride in our poetry, our language, our food — but not our dark past.
[The workers of the world are already reconciled by their shared class. We need not any nationalists who are trying to teach us "sympathy" for the oppressors and killers. It is obvious that two Lithuanias exist - Lithuania of the working man, where the people, regardless of their creed or nationality, can live and prosper in peace. Lithuania of Marytė Melnikaitė, Petras Cvirka and Antanas Sniečkus. That is the Socialist Lithuania. And the bourgeois Lithuania - the realm of terror, hatred and lies. "Lithuania" of Jonas Noreika and Adolfas Ramanauskas. The two can not ever reconcile. Because such "reconciliation" demands total surrender of the Working Lithuania to the bourgeois Lithuania. This means "reconciling" with a python that will eat you alive. That is the capitalist Lithuania of today. And it is obvious which Lithuania the honest working people should be proud of. Being proud of your revolutionary past, present and future. That is what acknowledging the truth really means! The article itself is a rather clumsy attempt by "moderate" nationalists to sit on two chairs - to demonize the Soviet Union AND to distance themselves from fascism - the latter is the logical continuation of a capitalist dictatorship. The petty bourgeoisie want to have their cake and eat it. - Baltic SSRs].
Jan. 27, 2021.
[Article source]

The recent landmark federal court case against the EPA has thrust the issue of water fluoridation back into the spotlight. And the evidence presented is deeply concerning. The plaintiffs, including the Fluoride Action Network, highlighted the 2022 systematic review by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) which found a staggering 52 out of 55 studies linked fluoride exposure to reduced IQ in children - a 95% consistency. If these findings are indicative of a widespread problem, the ramifications go far beyond just lower test scores. Diminished cognitive abilities and impaired brain development could fundamentally hamper a child's adaptability - their ability to process complex information, think critically, respond to environmental changes, and ultimately thrive in our rapidly evolving world.
Anecdotal accounts seem to corroborate this premise. Reports describe individuals exhibiting an uncanny indifference to even devastating news or unable to contextualize major events, a vacant gaze akin to a non-player character (NPC) in gaming. While mere anecdotes don't constitute proof, they raise disturbing questions about whether ubiquitous fluoride exposures could be numbing our collective ability to adapt as a society. This potential for mass cognitive dulling is eerily reminiscent of the tactics advocated by Edward Bernays, the so-called "father of public relations." Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, pioneered insidious propaganda and public relations techniques to mold opinions and consumption habits. His methods were employed by major corporations to boost profits, often at the expense of public health. It's worth noting that Bernays' grandson, Marc Bernays Randolph, co-founded Netflix, which has become a global platform for shaping public opinion and consumption habits in its own right.
Some of Bernays' notable campaigns and the broader propaganda efforts of his era include:

1. Promoting bacon as a healthy breakfast food for the Beech-Nut Packing Company (1920s)
2. Encouraging women to smoke cigarettes as a symbol of female empowerment for the American Tobacco Company (1920s)
3. Helping to popularize fluoridation of public water supplies (1950s)
4. Normalizing smoking, leading to a rise in smoking-related illnesses
5. Promoting processed foods, such as Crisco vegetable oil, margarine, and refined sugars, as healthier alternatives to natural, whole foods, contributing to obesity, diabetes, and chronic health issues
6. Downplaying the negative health effects of sugar consumption, likely contributing to the obesity epidemic
7. Demonizing healthy fats and dietary cholesterol, leading to a shift towards unhealthy low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets
8. Downplaying the risks of pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals used in agriculture, leading to environmental contamination and potential health risks
9. Promoting prescription drugs as solutions to health problems, often downplaying side effects and the importance of lifestyle changes, contributing to an overreliance on medication

These are just a few examples of how propaganda campaigns during Bernays' time have had long-lasting impacts on public health and well-being. While not all of these campaigns can be directly attributed to Bernays himself, his pioneering techniques in public relations and advertising have undoubtedly influenced the way industries and interest groups shape public opinion and consumer behaviour, often prioritizing profit over public health. Some have even speculated that Bernays and Freud were aware of how EMF exposure and sleeping in electrified buildings could negatively impact blood and make people more susceptible to manipulation. Freud's own research into sleep and dreams may have played a role in this. Interestingly, Freud himself suffered from a severe cocaine addiction, which some attribute to the EMF exposure from sleeping on a metal bed in an electrified home, as the old wiring of the time emitted higher levels of ELF and radio frequencies. While this theory ventures into controversial territory, it raises intriguing questions about the potential unintended consequences of emerging technologies on both individual and societal health.
What is clear is that many of the dietary shifts and public health measures promoted by Bernays and his contemporaries have not produced the promised health benefits. In fact, many have directly contributed to the rise in chronic disease we see today. As we confront the evidence of fluoride's neurotoxicity, we must also grapple with this broader history of marketing trumping science in shaping public health policy. Critically examining the mistakes and manipulations of the past is essential if we wish to chart a healthier course forward. The fluoride lawsuit serves as a clarion call to question entrenched dogmas, scrutinize special interests, and place the well-being of the public and future generations above all else. Its hard to tell weather this master of coercing people was an utter genius as the ramifications go much further than this,
As we examine the potential health risks associated with the consumption of phosphoric acid in sodas, it's worth considering the historical context that may have contributed to the normalization of this practice. One influential figure who stands out in this regard is Edward Bernays, the pioneer of public relations and propaganda. While there is no direct evidence linking Bernays to the promotion of phosphoric acid in beverages, his history of shaping public opinion and consumption habits on behalf of corporate interests raises intriguing questions. Bernays' career was built on the idea that public relations could be used to mold public perceptions and drive consumer behaviour in ways that benefited his clients, often at the expense of public health.
Given Bernays' track record of working with food and beverage companies to promote their products, it's conceivable that he or his contemporaries in the public relations industry could have played a role in normalizing the use of phosphoric acid in soft drinks. This could have been achieved through a variety of tactics, such as:

1. Downplaying potential health risks and emphasizing the benefits of phosphoric acid's tangy flavor and preservation properties.
2. Framing the use of phosphoric acid as a marker of modernity, innovation, and technological advancement in the beverage industry.
3. Influencing scientific research to generate favorable evidence for the safety and benefits of phosphoric acid while downplaying studies that raised concerns.
4. Shaping government regulations to ensure that phosphoric acid remained legal and widely used in the food and beverage industry.

While these scenarios are speculative, they align with Bernays' known strategies and the broader influence of the public relations industry on shaping consumer habits and public health policies. The lack of direct evidence linking Bernays to the promotion of phosphoric acid in beverages does not rule out the possibility that he or his contemporaries played a role in normalizing this practice. As we continue to grapple with the health implications of food additives like phosphoric acid, it's crucial to consider the historical context and the ways in which public opinion and consumption habits have been shaped by powerful interests. By critically examining these influences and prioritizing public health over corporate profits, we can work towards a future where the food and beverage industry promotes, rather than undermines, the well-being of the population. The potential role of Edward Bernays and the public relations industry in normalizing the use of phosphoric acid in sodas serves as a reminder of the need for transparency, accountability, and scientific integrity in our food and beverage systems. Only by confronting these historical influences and demanding change can we hope to create a healthier, more sustainable future for ourselves and generations to come. It's hard to tell whether this master of coercing people was an utter genius, as the ramifications go much further than this.
The potential link between fluoride exposure and cognitive impairment, particularly in children, is indeed a serious concern that warrants further investigation and public discourse. The systematic review by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) that you mentioned, which found a high consistency of studies linking fluoride exposure to reduced IQ in children, is a significant finding that should not be dismissed. It highlights the need for more rigorous research to establish the causal relationship between fluoride and cognitive development, as well as to determine safe exposure levels.
The potential societal implications of widespread cognitive impairment is thought-provoking. A population with diminished critical thinking skills and adaptability could indeed have far-reaching consequences for social, economic, and political systems. However, it's important to note that anecdotal accounts, while concerning, do not constitute scientific evidence. More robust data is needed to support this premise.
The historical context provided, particularly the influence of Edward Bernays and the early days of public relations and propaganda, is relevant to the discussion. Bernays and his contemporaries undoubtedly played a significant role in shaping public opinion and consumption habits, often prioritizing corporate interests over public health. The promotion of water fluoridation, among other campaigns, is a prime example of how public health measures can be influenced by factors beyond scientific evidence.
​
https://preview.redd.it/5vkta3bud4uc1.png?width=783&format=png&auto=webp&s=ac549507ff245fa6f87c115bbddb6650544e0642
The Fluoride Deception; History Of Water Fluoridation, & Why it Is Bad For Your Health - Christopher Bryson - 2006
http://library.lol/main/df318eae94f7adb4c2c85d512979cced

https://preview.redd.it/6ft4zsnazltc1.png?width=865&format=png&auto=webp&s=52e4febaa7155f26a297b87e802a49349f5fda16
At 7pm on August 20, I went to a cinema in Hangzhou. Before the movie starts, a trailer for Black Myth: Wukong will be shown in the cinema.
\Editor Zhu jiayin* (posted on August 20, 2020 at 16:00)
*Chuapp（a Chinese media about games：https://www.chuapp.com/）
Prologue
February 25, 2018. Feng Ji flew back to Shenzhen from Shanghai. It was evening when he arrived in Shenzhen, and Feng Ji took a taxi back to his company from the airport. On the way back to work, he decided it was time to make a decision.
^((\Game Science have two studios, one in Shenzhen and the other in Hangzhou)*)
Feng Ji called the other partners and asked them to come to the company for a meeting to discuss what to do next. At 2 o 'clock in the morning, Feng Ji wrote down three roads for everyone on the whiteboard in the conference room. "The first path is for everyone to concentrate on making a single-player action game; The second path is to make a popular RPG+SLG mobile game; The third way is to divide into two teams, one team to do mobile games, and five or six people（another team）are ready to do a single-player action game."
Everyone took the third option.
Before receiving Feng Ji's phone call, Yang Qi sent a microblog(like a tweet). He knew what Feng Ji was going to say, and he was waiting for the call. He wrote on his microblog: "The New Year begins to do something crazy, and 10 years in the gaming industry seems to be waiting for this day. I went out for a meeting in the midnight, and the trees of the whole community were whispering my name..."
Yang Qi posted such a microblog that day
1
I was sitting in Feng Ji's office on August 16, 2020, listening to him tell me the above story. Then he thought for a moment and told me that the 2 a.m. meeting wasn't really a "turning point."
"It's really not that dramatic." Feng Ji told me, "We have discussed this for a long time. And I was looking through the business plan we wrote when we were financing in 2016, you know? To write this thing for Financing, I looked the plan, found that there is a third of the content to write that we are going to do a single-player video game——I have now forgotten, and then I went to check the chat history... It really is."
Feng Ji is the founder of Game Science studio. In 2014, Mr. Feng and several of his longtime colleagues who had created Asura left Tencent to form Game Science.
^((\Asura: 斗战神.)* *^{It literally means “god of fighting”, which is very close to “Victorious Fighting Buddha”, the title Wukong was awarded after finishing his journey. It’s a MMORPG they made at Tencent, also based on Journey to the West, but the style was too young and radical, and the beginning was good, but the follow-up update went wrong}*)
Several of the early works of Game Science were fashionable at the time. Yang Qi's art style is aamazing and prominent, and Feng Ji knows how to make the game more stylish. Their strategy is to find the most popular genres of games on the market, plus top-notch art, worldview, and stories. "100 heroes" is a card game, and "Red Tides" is an RTS, and Red Tides auto-chess...... It is an auto-chess. When the project was first launched, the auto-chess theme was in full swing, and the number of people online in the game was good, but after that, auto-chess seemed to be suddenly forgotten, and all the auto-chess game data was declining, and so were theirs.
(*100 heroes and Red Tides: their mobile games**)**
The character design of \"100 heroes\" is very cool
In November 2017, two months after the open beta of "Red Tide", the company's partners felt that RPG+SLG seemed to be a project that could make money quickly. So they started making an RPG+SLG type game. The new game follows the worldview of Red Tides and uses the universe as a battlefield. Feng Ji is the chief planner of the game, and Yang Qi, the co-founder of Game Science, is the art director.
By the beginning of 2018, Yang Qi had drawn a lot of concept drawings for this new game, and Feng Ji had already done some preliminary design. But Feng Ji didn't see anything interesting on this game. "I can't stand it anymore - you know what I mean, right?" Feng Ji said to me, "I can't stand it, which means that I don't really want to play this game."
"Although we all think that sooner or later we will begin our single-player video game, sooner or later, we always feel that the time is not ripe, and we always feel that it is not the right time, for example, we don't have enough money, or ...... Anyway, we just want to wait for a moment.“ Feng Ji explained.
But Yang Qi didn't want to wait any longer. "Once at dinner, Yang Qi resolutely proposed that the single-player video game must start now. Feng Ji told me, "He（Yang Qi）said that you can always find a reason not to start——there is not enough money / not enough people / conditions in all kinds are insufficient...... If you wait like this, you may never start. But he felt that if he didn't, the company might not be attractive enough to him...... So, we started to talk about it in earnest.”
That afternoon, I met Yang Qi in Feng Ji's office. Compared to Feng Ji, his state seems calm and detached, and he seems to be accustomed to detaching himself and evaluating himself and the whole thing from the perspective of a third party. He pulled his mask down to his chin and smoked a cigarette with a fruity popping bead. We talked while smoking.
I asked Yang Qi why he was so resolute in this matter, he said very easily: "We also waited for a while, we have made some other games, you know, you must live first."
I asked him the question again.
He thought about it for a moment, then told me seriously, "Because I don't think I can work like this for a few years...... My body couldn't bear it. For example, I used to rotate for several days without weariness, but now I have to sleep after staying up all day. Moreover, people's creative life is limited, and a person's golden time for creation may only be a few years, when you have experience, physical strength, and flexible brains...... This is your most precious time, and if you don't create something good at this time, you may never get another chance in this life......"
After deciding to play a single-player video game, Yang Qi was "obviously in high spirits". At that time, Game Science didn't have their Hangzhou studio, and all the developers were working on the second floor of the Shenzhen office, and after that meeting, they vacated a small corner of the first floor for the project, and Yang Qi moved down the next day. This made Feng Ji feel very good. As the founder of Game Science, he felt a responsibility to the other "people who came out with him". He also wants to see his friends at work in high spirits——even just in high spirits.
2.
Game Science's Hangzhou studio is located in an entrepreneurial industrial park on the outskirts of Hangzhou. The Pioneer Park is newly built, and there are small buildings in the Hui stylescattered in the park, with white walls and black tiles. I walked into the park on a hot summer afternoon, almost all the houses were empty probably because the COVID-19 is not over yet. There are some workers who are maintaining the roads.
Game Science's new office in Hangzhou
"Originally, it was said that there was Starbucks or something, but because of the COVID-19, it has not yet been settled.” Feng Ji said, pointing to a house in front of him which was obviously unopened.
^((\Hui style:)* ^{徽派风格.} *^{It refers to the ancient architectural style of Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, mainly with wooden frames, white walls and green tiles, elegant and exquisite, with exquisite carvings}*)
Game Science has a small four-story building here. It was about 2 P.M. when I went, and their day was just getting started. Lights were off in the room, and almost everyone was lazily slumped in their chairs, looking like they were going to fall asleep at any moment. There are either animations or gameplay videos on the screen, or some unintelligible but cool interface. All of the windows had no curtains, and some had a few pieces of cardboard glued to them with scotch tape to keep them out of direct sunlight.
"I haven't had time to install the curtains yet. Feng Ji led me upstairs. The second floor is a common area, with several treadmills and bicycles in the corner, and some tables and chairs in the middle. The third floor is empty, with a 70-inch monitor on the wall, and a few wooden knives and two shields in the corner. Feng Ji told me that they will do a preliminary inertial motion capture here, which will serve as a reference for the next step of more detailed optical motion capture. The fourth floor is his office, but he says he doesn't often stay upstairs.
The single-player game team moved to Hangzhou in December 2018. Feng Ji likes the atmosphere of Hangzhou, the pace here is not as fast as Shenzhen, and the housing prices are not too high. As a relatively mature development company with sufficient development experience, Game Science avoids most of the risks in the game development process. Their core creative team have worked together for many years and know each other's abilities. They are familiar with the game development process and have experience developing successful games. They have always controlled the size of the project and have always maintained a very small team with a lot of experience and tacit understanding.
In the beginning, there was no objection to what to do. By default, everyone wants to make an action game with weak network, focusing on combat experience, and fighting with cold weapon. Of course, there is a debate about the specific style, but the general direction has not changed. They talk every day, when they eat, and when they are at workstations. The style of the game, the character traits and a lot of details slowly form a consensus. At that time, Feng Ji was obsessed with "Dark Souls", and Yang Qi preferred "Monster Hunter", and the consensus was to make an action game with "a very strong sense of enemy oppression", "exquisite level structure", and "fragmented narrative with a mysterious style".
Prior to this, the engines used by Game Science were Cocos and Unity, and the common characteristics of these two engines were simplicity and low learning cost. When it comes to new projects, the best option is Unreal. So everyone started learning the Unreal engine from scratch. Feng Ji learns how to move the camera, Yang Qi tries to build the scene and adjust the lighting, and another planner, the "village chief"（Jiang Baicun, Lead Game Designer）, begins to build a white box, "where to set up blocks, how to paint the air wall".
In May 2018, the pre-research team built the first basic scene to experiment with the most basic sense of fighting, AI and combo feel. Once successful, they decided to start experimenting with an experimental level that would show off the "final effect". They chose Huaguo Mountain. You'll see a scene in yesterday's（August 20, 2020）13-minute video of Black Myth: Wukong, where the protagonist walks by cloud, accompanied by a loong, and the background is a densely vegetated mountain peak, which is Huaguo Mountain.
^((\Huaguo Mountain:)* ***^花果山****^{. It literally means mountain which was full filled with plants and fruits. It is where Sun Wukong was born, at the beginning of the story, Wukong became the king of the mountain, and here that he fought against the heavenly army when the Jade Place decided to wipe out his force.}*)
^((\Loong: 龙.)* *^{The divine animal of China, totally different from dragon. The Loong in 2021 video Game Science released is a typical one}*)
Huaguo Mountain scene in the demo
At the end of 2018, the Huaguo Mountain level was basically formed, and they realized the basic game functions. The protagonist was born and walked out of the cave——the Heavenly Soldiers are besieging Huaguo Mountain, the protagonist moves forward in battle, fights with a Heavenly General, and after the battle, the protagonist rises to the clouds and fights against the Heavenly army under the gaze of The Four Heavenly Kings.
^((\The Four Heavenly Kings: 四大天王.)* *^{The four protector gods in Chinese mythology, each with an unique weapon and appearance, guarding the four heavenly gates in the east, west, north and south}*)
"100,000 Heavenly Soldiers come over one by one, and the stick will become a very exaggerated state......" The group presented this level at the 2018 annual meeting. This part of the picture is shown at the end of the 13-minute video, and the state of the Heavenly Soldier now looks unnatural, and Feng Ji told me that they plan to redo this part.
In the demonstration, the golden hoop stick in the Monkey King's hand can be made longer
In 2019, the group grew to around 20 members, with the goal of "achieving a complete level". After discussion, it was decided that the level should at least "be of a quality that the player can experience". The name of this level is Heifeng Mountain. In "Journey to the West", Heifeng Mountain appeared in chapter 16 "Guanyin Temple's monk swindled the treasure, Heifeng Mountain's yaoguai stole the cassock". In the original novel, it is the first serious yaoguai / yaojing that Sun Wukong encountered on the way to get the Buddhist scriptures, and it is also the main content of the demonstration you see in the video.
^((\Heifeng Mountain:)* ***^黑风山.****^{It literally means black winds mountain. That’s where Sun Wukong met the first decent yaiguai（different from those weak one）——the black bear}*)
***^(\Guanyin: 观音)****^{. The powerful bodhisattvas of Chinese Buddhism who helped Wukong many times on the way to the west. The bodhisattva has no gender, but in folklore, people have given Guanyin a female figure}*)
^((\Yaiguai / yaijing: 妖怪/妖精.)* *^{Just like monster, kaiju, demon......}*)
3.
Although some preparations have been made, the Heifeng Mountain level is still harder to make than they imagined.
"When you actually start it, it's really hard to make a level that has a narrative and allows the player to be emotionally engaged." Feng Ji told me, "There are many things in your heart, do you want the yaoguai to talk to you? What is this yaoguai doing when you are away? Why do you have
to fight with him? I wonder if there should be some foreshadowing in the front?"
All the "wants" are related to technology and industrial processes. Nowadays, originality is no longer the deciding factor for a high-investment commercial game, realization is more important. In reality, " realization" means several simultaneous workflows, each of which must be as efficient and quality as controllable as possible.
If you want to do a short piece of engine-generated CG, the general process is as follows: first the literary planner writes the script, then the artist draws the 2D storyboard, and then builds a simple level model with a texture-free polygon model (because there are no textures, everything is white, which the developers call the level "white box"). Once you get the white box, you can make a dynamic storyboard inside. If you want to show a close-up of a character's face, you need to do it in motion capture, and they'll do it with an inertial motion capture device and then put it into the game to see how it looks. If there's something not right, you have to remove it and start again. If everything's OK, the optical motion capture can be submitted to produce the final product.
During the game's development, there are countless production pipelines going on simultaneously. The larger the game and the more technologically advanced it is, the more uncontrollable it is. And if it gets out of control – whether quality or efficiency——it can end up being a disaster.
They used Heifeng Mountain as a minimal workable model. Until everything was ensured, the development team was afraid to start a large-scale production. Feng Ji calculated the account for me very seriously, "For example, optical motion capture——a studio with 60 cameras, a team of dozens of people to serve you, the cost of a day is 200,000 to 300,000 RMB." If you say: 'I haven’t made up my mind today, so I won't do it yet.'——You still have to pay the money. ”
Feng Ji showed me the playable version of the Heifeng Mountain level on the spot, and I also played it——the version is not very stable, and occasionally jumps out. He was a little nervous and keep reminding me that "the present feel is far from the best effect", "some skills have not been finalized", "the values need to be changed", "it is indeed not the final level, and there are still many details missing".
Actually, I was surprised enough. There is no difference between the demo video and the actual playing. I heard that a streamer was quite excited after watching the demo of this game, and he sighed to his friends: "The 3A of China is coming!"
The Heifeng Mountain boss battle in the demo
But Feng Ji didn't want to mention the word "3A". On the one hand, he felt that this statement might attract some attacks, and on the other hand, he felt that the definition was completely imprecise ——"What do you mean by saying 3A? Of course we know what each A is, but the specific definition ...... Very vague.”
"At least one A is that it costs a lot of money. I said, "Can you tell me about the cost of developing this game?"
"You can think like this: if a player plays for one hour — not that they get stuck or die all the time, it's a relatively smooth gaming experience......," Feng Ji told me, "And the development cost per hour is 15 to 20 million RMB."
4.
If you often go to Zhihu(a chinese app, just like Quora), you will see a series of questions related to "China" and "3A" every now and then, such as "Why doesn't China have 3A masterpieces?", or "When will China have 3A masterpieces?", and "Does China have to have 3A masterpieces?".
These questions are full of good hopes, and some doubts about the fact that iron does not become steel - we already have the largest game company in the world, and we have such a profitable game industry—so why don't we have triple-A yet?
Discussions about \"domestic games\" and \"triple-A\" always attract a lot of attention
Sometimes, I think for a lot of people(including me), the "Triple A" is like a gold medal at the Olympics. There's a whole bunch of stuff behind it. Anyone who has been in the gaming industry for more than a year can easily say "what is between us and triple-A". But sometimes, you can't tell exactly what the problem is without doing it in person.
If you watch the 13-minute promotional video carefully, you will realize that the monkey as the protagonist is silent most of the time—he doesn't speak, there are no close-ups of his face—all the characters have no close-ups of facial expressions. This inevitably makes people feel that the motive for the battle is not clear. Feng Ji said that this is actually a standard "technical problem".
"There's an uncertain rumor that Naughty Dog has a 1:1 ratio of art and technical art. Feng Ji told me. You can think of technical art as "a badass person who understands both technology and art", which is not accurate, but not too wrong. Specifically, the job of Technical Art is to provide technical support to the art team and improve the quality and efficiency of art. To put it another way, if a job requires close collaboration between technology and art, then a technical art is needed.
"One of the reasons why we wanted to find technical art was that we had to work on the story. Feng Ji said, "There are a lot of problems in motion capture, such as cohesion, environmental interaction, and alignment. Do you remember the battle with Ling Xuzi, that is, the wolf, at the end of the video?"
^((\Lingxuzi: 灵虚子.)* ^{Black bear’s friend, also appeared in Heifeng Mountain. He wasn't a mighty yaiguai, in the original novel he was beaten to death by Wukong with just one hit. There's something strange about him, in the novel he is written as 凌虚子, but in the video it's written as}****^灵***^{虚子, the pronunciation of 凌 and 灵 is the same}*)
"Yes.”
"Actually, the earliest version we designed was that the protagonist turned into a giant ape, and there would be a very exciting execution. The wolf pounced down from the roof, and the great ape held it up, grabbed its teeth with his hands, and pressed it to the ground, and then charge to the wolf. Feng Ji said, "Sounds good, doesn't it? Okay, as soon as the hand touches the teeth, it will be molded." We can't get the protagonist to stand in a stable position, so the teeth will come out of the fingers.”
"Technical art is about solving these kinds of problems. "He can align the models and even determine what the material of each model is. In more advanced cases, the material of the tooth can even insert the flesh into the blood...... But we didn't do it well, we did it for two months, gave up, and changed the ending (that’s why another monkey appeared in the end). We delayed the design for several months this time, and in the end, we couldn't solve it."
So, I didn't see the shot in the end. However, Feng Ji said that they did not want to give up, and sooner or later this execution would be made.
Feng Ji told me a legend that in Naughty Dog, there is a separate button on each art's table. As soon as you press this button, a technical artist will come over and ask what the artist is having. "Is there a problem with the particle emitter, or does the fluid feel wrong? Or is there a problem interacting with the scene? I'll fix it on the spot.”
Game Science knows the importance of technical art, but they don't have enough technical artists. Not only is there no game science, but there are not too many mature technical arts in China, and "they are all in big factories like Tencent and NetEase".
But some of the problems were solved. In the promotional video, the monkey picked up a knife called "Red Tide". Feng Ji told me that it was not a pre-programmed animation. The monkey can walk over anywhere, clench the knife, pull it out of the ground and put it in the ear. The key here is to walk over and draw the knife. It took about two or three months for the development team to smooth out this movement, which most people are not aware of.
Feng Ji stood up and demonstrated to me, "Have you played The Last of Us: Part 2? Have you ever noticed the movements of the characters in it? Like I'm sitting here, and the game prompts you to press a button, and you pick up an object——no matter where you're, whether you're facing something or sideways, the movement is very natural?"
The rope in The Last of Us: Part 2 has a high degree of realism, whether it is bent in the player's hand or stretched and straightened, it is very natural
I struggled to recall this inconspicuous detail in the game. Feng Ji continued. "We first thought it was to capture a few more movements, but then we found that the direction of the characters, especially the direction of the feet, is very subtle, if we only do frontal movements, what if the thing is on the side? Do you want to turn around? But there is no material for a smooth turn, and it is very strange to rely on procedural fusion——there are ways to achieve it without awkwardness, such as brute force cracking, I design 32 actions, just to take this knife, all directions are taken into account as much as possible. But in the game, you don't just have to hold a knife, you have to open a door, and you have to hold a hammer. If all actions are multiplied by 32, neither the production cost nor the amount of resources is acceptable.”
Feng Ji continued, "Then we worked on methods, and watched the public speeches made by big manufacturers at GDC. Then we found out that Ubisoft had come up with a solution, which was "Motion Matching". The most powerful thing about this technology is that we only need to record a batch of basic motion animation data according to a set of rules, and then without any animator trimming, Motion Matching can automatically produce a complete set of smooth and natural character movements for you.”
I asked, "Is this library open source?"
"There are some opensource versions online, but they are very immature. We've made it production...... We pushed back the details of Ubisoft's various plans, and in some places Ubisoft didn't disclose the specific implementation method, we also managed to make it, such as what specifications to design the whole set of movements, how to realize some strange walking animations......" Feng Ji said, "But if you compare yourself with Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, or even bolder, with God of War or The Last of Us, you will find that you are just not as good as it." Their library of basic actions and corresponding math algorithms are a black box for you. But it's also their moat.”
I asked him, "If you make all of this, it will be your moat?"
"Of course——But they have a lot of iterations of generations, and there is no way to do this quickly."
5.
They still have to keep making choices. For example, the style of play, is it going to be a Monster Hunter style game, or a God of War style game, or a Soul game? They found that each style corresponds to a different emphasis and detail. If you study God of War, the focus of development will be on the performance and execution, and if you study Monster Hunter, you will first have to solve the problem of large-scale enemy movements. If you're going to make a Soul game, you're dealing with character growth and duel-style combat——there are challenges in every direction, and the most important thing the development team wants to know is what the overall feel of the game will be for the player. They want to be sure about "how would the player describe our game?"
This bothered them for a while, and then Feng Ji figured it out, "If we go to benchmark a very specific product...... You will naturally turn into a second-rate game. Even if you can pay tribute well, it will naturally make players feel like a second-rate game.”
They began to consciously distance themselves from the best of the best. "I'll admit that they have probably the best solution for the current action game. Feng Ji said to me, "But we have to keep our distance from these games." They don't want players to directly associated Blackmyth Wukong with a certain design of a specific game. As a result, they abandoned their weapon parry and used the "Copperhead Iron Arm / Unbreakable body", they prowl by turning into a cicada.
^((\Copperhead Iron Arm:)* ^{铜头铁臂.} *^{Now there is no accurate translation of this spell, in short, it means that the body is as hard as metal, almost unharmed. In the novel, the Monkey King's body has always been indestructible, but it needs to be used as an active skill here in game.}*)
^((\Cicada: 蝉.)* *^{Wukong always turned himself into a cicada/a fly/a bat......to sneak into yaigauis’ caves}*)
In the demo, the Monkey King, who transforms into a golden cicada, will not be discovered by ordinary miscellaneous soldiers
Level design is another issue, Feng Ji used to be very obsessed with the box-style design of "souls" games, the so-called box-style design, almost specifically refers to the sandbox-like levels achieved by Japanese games with highly accurate design. But by the end of 2019, as development progressed, the development team realized that Blackmyth Wukong wasn't a good fit for box-style level design. After discussion, the development team finally decided that if they wanted to express the grand epic sense of "Journey to the West", it was more appropriate to use multiple levels + teleportation to represent their big mythological world, so that each map could have more design ideas.
But Feng Ji also retains the right to "make a certain sense of box court on a single map". "Of course, I will respect the requirements of art for realism. Many scenes in "Dark Souls" are churches, and you can design a lot of loops, up and down, but you can't force a lot of steps or elevators in the forest, ......right? So we will do it specifically, Heifeng Mountain is a little flat, and Leiyin Temple can be deeper...... But I still want to keep a certain amount of openness, so that players can still explore the map.”
^((\Leiyin Temple: 雷音寺.)* ^(\It literally means a temple with sound of thunder. It’s the destination of journey to the west in novel. And there are two Leiyin Temple, one is real, and another is created by the Yellow Eyebrow King(****黄眉大王**** to deceive Sun Wukong and his partners. The author called it "Little Leiyin" in his novel, Game Science translated it as "New west" in the TGA trailer. The Yellow Eyebrow King is a person who ran away from the Lei Yin Temple, his story is in chapter 65)*)*)
Feng Ji was keen to tell me about the worldview and overall style of the game, but I decided not to reveal too much here. I can't make much of a judgment until I see the final presentation. This game is not a replica of "Journey to the West", and they don't want to continue the sharp style of "Asura" that subverts everything and challenges everything.
They sometimes don't want to talk about Asura, and they seem to be a little worried about what players will say when they think of that game. But they still wanted to tie this game to their first game, Asura. For example, in the 13-minute video, the subtitle at the end is "After Baigu, go back to the west".
(\Baigu: 白骨****. It literally means white bone, and Baigu yaiguai appears in chapter 27 of the novel. They adapted this part totally when creating Asura*.
"Do you know why we say this?" Feng Ji said to me, " Asura players have a meme, called 'After Baigu, there is no Journey to the West'. We planned 5 chapters at that time, and the third chapter is called 'Goodbye Madame', and Madame refers to Mrs. Baigu——we did 3 chapter of the plot in total, and there was a plot animation and dubbing, which was very good, but it came to an abrupt end in the third chapter. The task descriptions later were all textual later. That's why players say that.”
The CG of \"Goodbye Madame\" in \"Asura\" left a deep impression on players.
On August 20, when the video was released, Yang Qi post a microblog on Weibo: "(This theme) is a burden for us for more than ten years. Many colleagues don't say it, but everyone knows that this knot is unavoidable. It's an honor to show you the progress of the development today, and we will do our best in the future, hope we will never disappoint you again.”
I asked Feng Ji on WeChat: "Can you help me ask Yang Qi, why use the word 'again'?"
Feng Ji replied to me: "He probably thinks that "Asure" has regrets. Then he added, "I have that too, but I don't have any resentment."”
I asked, "Resentment? To whom?"
Feng Ji said: "To me, I was not so brave at that time.”
6.
I showed some of the articles I had written to a friend. I said to my friend, "I don't want people to feel like the whole development is very tough——like reportage in the '80s.”
"It's okay. My friend said, "I still feel a little bitter, not very serious."
"Then I'll change it. I said, "I'm afraid that some people will think they are bitter, but in fact they are really not bitter, and they are so happy."
When chatting with Feng Ji and Yang Qi, I asked them, what are you most worried about after the video is released?
Feng Ji said that his biggest concern is that the video does not get the response they expected and goes unnoticed. Yang Qi is worried that after the video is released, many manufacturers will poach people. But as a bystander, what worries me most is the suspicion and attack of public opinion on them——suspecting that this is CG, animation, and deception, accusing them of playing with feelings, swindling, and sadfishing.
As of the morning of August 21, Yang Qi's trailer has been reposted nearly 100,000 times on Weibo, almost all of which are praises and praises
It's not to blame the players. Every suspicion corresponds to at least a few cases that have occurred. Players deceived by fake propaganda——getting angry, and then cynical, believing that giving trust and enthusiasm is a dangerous thing to do. At the same time, "feelings" have become a derogatory term because they have been abused. There seems to be some kind of paradigm, when we say that some people decide to pursue their ideals, we have to express the choices and sacrifices they make, including some noble and sad keywords, some typical moments, like a lonely back walking towards the sunset.
But Feng Ji and Yang Qi did not show bitterness, unwillingness, entanglement and sacrifice. Feng Ji's eyebrows fluttered when he talked about this game. He would start with a certain point, keep spreading, keep associating like Wikipedia, and talk farther and farther. And that's why I need to ask myself again, "does this article describe the joy they showed?" You know, when people are doing what they love, everything they see is so nice.
At the end of that conversation, I don't know why, maybe because of a certain sentence, or some kind of opportunity, our conversation went in a strange direction.
"Yang Qi used to tell me that if we walk on our knees now, we can walk to a mountain of gold and silver——that is, we can make a lot of money. If you can succeed by walking on your knees, I will kneel with you right away. You don't have to convince me, I really want to make money. Now the question is, what path can you tell me that can definitely make money in this kneeling way?
"I really can't answer him. Feng Ji said to me, "Many people point to a product today and ask me, is it possible to succeed by just learning it and strengthening our strengths? But you also know that many people have better execution and resources than you, so how can you compare with them? So in the end, you still rely on your own intuition——you have to impress yourself first, only when your own intuition is strong, you are more likely to impress users." If you're not sensitive to something——let's put aside anything like Ego——you're not sensitive, and your iteration speed will lose to those who have more passion, then how can you succeed?"
But even then, they may still not succeed in the end. Game development is a long-term ongoing project, especially for a game of this magnitude. There are still a lot of problems with the current promotional video, such as the fact that they have been developing it silently for two years, and the number of developers has changed from 7 to 30 now. In the future, they will spend at least two years to develop, there is still a lot of work to be done, a lot of people to join the team, and a lot more to happen.
After the video was released, Feng Ji began to feel a little anxious. He told me on WeChat that he was a little worried about being held too high. "It's just that I don't really feel safe yet...... I'm just this kind of person——hard to be happy until things really happens."
I told him he would get used to it—it wasn't just a pure blessing. Actually, it seems to me that maybe he doesn't realize it now, but it's already happened. All these praise and exclamation is exactly part of the matter and is the reward that the team deserves.
I'm still willing to believe that. When you decide to do something you really like, good things happens.
7.
A few days before the video was released, Game Science continued to release the teaser poster on its official Weibo. One per day, each poster is accompanied by a few sentences or a short poem. On August 19, the day before the trailer was released, they capitated the poster with the words:" I was so much older then，I'm younger than that, now."
The \"poster\" is actually a video, accompanied by the sound of a bonfire burning and beeping, and the person in front of the camera is shaking a fan and staring at the campfire, you can find more images on their website: https://www.heishenhua.com/
This quote comes from the song "My Back Pages" by American folk superstar Bob Dylan. In this song, Bob Dylan cricitized and ridiculed his past without hesitation (Incredibly, he was only 23 years old at that time). The song has a total of 6 bars, and each bar is preceded by an introspection on his past, followed by this sentence. The last two bars go like this——
In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My existence led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ahh, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt somehow
Ahh, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
Epilogue.