3 Preparations Have To Be Done!
Walking out on the street, Nei remembered that a friend of his worked in a well rated ramen restaurant, not far from where he was. Thinking that it would be a great idea to catch up with an old friend while eating. He didn't hesitate anymore and walked in the general direction his memory was telling him.
After a few minutes of walking, he arrived. It was a ramen shop that was famous around this area for it's traditional ramen making method. Nei had always planned to come and visit, but in the end something always got in his way: things like job interviews, money, depression, you name it.
However this time it would be different.
Entering through the old wooden doors, that you had to slide open, Nei was greeted by the smell of fresh ramen ingredients being prepared. Taking a closer look he saw only a few people sitting at the counter and tables, slurping their noodles.
It was Tuesday in the morning, and a weekday at that, which made it unsurprising to see almost no customers.
Finding a free table to sit down at, Nei shouted for a clerk to come and take his order.
A woman, wearing the shops black uniform and white headband, turned around at the noise, yelling back, "Yees, only a sec.. ahh, Nei what are you doing here? Why didn't you write me that you were coming!"
The name of the dark skinned woman was Salla, she was the friend he wanted to visit here. Nei first meet Salla in high school, where they were part of the same class. He didn't have many friends back then but this woman was definitely one of the few.
After finishing what she was doing, Salla's foots immediately moved to Nei's table and sat down on the creaking chair opposite of him. "Why did you come so early in the morning? Didn't you have work till night yesterday?"
Slowly pulling his sleeves up while glancing at her—grinning from ear to ear; Nei burst into laughter. "Why? Do you have a problem with me being here?"
Looking at him with curios eyes, Salla asked. "What is that smugness in your face? Did a pot of gold fall into your lab or what?"
Both of them were already used to each other's teasing, and just laughed it off. They were to familiar to care.
Looking at the menu, Nei pointed at the picture of the speciality section. "Of course I came here for ramen. This one, the new one."
Glancing at the menu, Salla chuckled. "I hope you won't regret this, it's the most spicy we have... don't say I didn't warn you."
With these as her last words she got up, and went into the kitchen. Ready to prepare Nei's meal.
Nei could only look stubborn; after her walking silhouette, and mutter. "As if, I especially like it hot and spicy!"
Seeing her figure completely disappearing in the kitchen, Nei took his vision back. Taking the menu up, he pretended to read it, while secretly opening the Systems interface.
[Interface]
Missions: 'Making preparations'(in progress/click for details), 'Starting with a big bang'(locked)
Fame/influence: Unrecognizable
Inventory: High tech laptop
[—-not unlocked—-]
Looking at the familiar interface, Nei opened the mission details.
[Host mission: 'Making preparation'.]
Description: Host has to make preparations to open & start his game company.
—
Task (1): Choose a company name/color/logo.
Reward: 1 single player game creation pass (Finished)
—
Task(2): Officially register the company. (Automatically finished through the System)
Reward: none
—
Task(3): Get a support staff in 1 week. (Every good game company needs to have customer support, that listens to its players problems, and makes the game more enjoyable)
Reward: Game advertisements
—
Task(4): Build a 'single player' game in 3 days.
Minimum requirement: 500.000 player after a month.
Reward: Unlock multiplayer games
—
Task(5): Buy a house. (Company headquarters) (Time: unlimited)
Minimum requirement: Space for 100 employees.
Reward: Upgrade of the headquarters
—
[If you fail any of the listed missions, the System will search for a new host.]
"What does single player creation pass mean?" Completely disregarding the last line of the mission instructions, Nei asked.
[It means, you can't create endless games, you need to have a pass to create a game.(at least right now)]
Nei anticipated this answer already, so he didn't really get disappointed or dissatisfied. Systems always had to have restrictions, even the main characters in the novels he read had restrictions.
"Here is your food! The shop is still pretty empty right now, so I can talk a little bit" Putting the bowl filled with delicious looking noodles, vegetables and meat right before Nei, she went back to her previous seat.
Upon hearing her voice, Nei averted his gaze from the menu, and looked up into Salla's almond brown eyes, saying. "Thank you!"
"So what are you up to? Why do you look so happy, that's not how I have you in my memories." She said while anticipating his answer.
"Well.. I founded my own video game company, I am building a single player game right now. I even started searching for support staff—customer support to be exact, who is responsible for the communication with players. " Nei said while smiling seriously.
Seeing his lightly smiling face, Salla grinned. "Hee? Why didn't you ask me? You know I am studying communication in university, right? It would be helpful for my future if I can gain some practical experience in the field."
Nei thought it wasn't a bad idea at all. "If you're interested, we can try it out.. should I just call you before I start publishing?"
"Yes! And definitely let me try the game beforehand, or I wouldn't know how to help anyone." Chuckling to herself, and not taking Nei's offer to serious, she leaned back in her seat.
At that moment, a group of new quest entered, looking for a place to sit and order. "Ah, sorry Nei! I have to go back to serving. It was really nice to talk to you. Come and visit again sometime."
"Don't worry about me and go back to work, I will call you soon."
With an apologetic face Salla went over to the arriving guests and take their orders. While Nei on the other hand finished his ramen, that was far to hot for him, making him even cry; and returned to his home.
....
Arriving at his small apartment, he sat back down at his desk and brought the laptop out of his inventory. Starting it, he mentally prepared himself to write his first game.
When the desktop with its three icons showed, Nei double clicked on the Dream studio symbol, which opened a window.
The middle of it consisting out of a big white space for writing, similar to Microcon universe.
It even had an informative text inside of it.
<Please write all details you can think about the imagined game, down here. You can also use the mind connect option, in combination.
When you finished push the green play button in the corner, named 'TEST'. A test version of the game will start.
While testing you can use both mind connect and writing, to adjust the games settings.
Please consider pc capabilities while designing. Good luck and happy gaming!>
Reading the helpful tips, Nei became excited by all the possibilities he had. "Wow, that doesn't sound half bad.."
Although exhilarated, he didn't have a clue about what game to make yet.
Yes, he had and is still playing many games. But that doesn't mean he knows what makes a game popular, or how to design one.
Balancing the game where it was challenging but not unfair. Creating a game like this, was like walking on a thin line over lava; one mistake and the players would rip you apart!
However that wasn't all. What about the plot? Characters? Or game mechanics? Even the desktop icon and name were important!
Nei had to think and decide about all of this by himself, it might have sounded easy, to create a game, by using your imagination.
Yet in the end, it had almost the same difficulty, if not even a higher one than programming it with a team, because Nei was alone. The only one in his company! Everything had to be done by himself, with only one exception: programming.
"This will be a long week, I should call my teaching job and resign."
While looking at the white screen right before him, Nei called his workspace and quit, while trying to order his thoughts and compress them into a good idea. He didn't have a emotional bond to his work, neither did he become friends with any other teachers, which made his decision to quit by far easier.
After the call finished Nei sat in his chair for a long time, soullessly staring holes into his screen. "I should first start writing an outline and then do the details with the mind connection option. That's probably the most efficient way."
Taking his hands up to the keyboard he started typing the words(code) for MK's first ever to be published single player game. A game that even years after it's release, was still highly praised by the critics.
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