7 Site Developments

-Elsewhere-

I shrugged when looking at my latest check. Last check too. Got laid off with a bunch of other people. Which sucks, I'll have to find me a new job, probably going to work as a cashier or something till I can find me a better paying job. Going to have to give up a lot of privileges in that case. Goodbye monthly video subscriptions, goodbye internet, goodbye expensive car.

I know something that can make me happier, I can play Half Life. I need to finish the campaign anyways. First let's pull up the IndieGameDevForums, I need to see what the rest of the development team is doing. I am the graphics artist for our indie game.

[DragonFlame: Guys, did you hear? Guardian'sLureStudio is going to launch their website in three days.]

Three days? If people like our indie game we could make a ton of money. I start typing.

[OriginGraphic: Is our game polished enough to send it in?]

[HeroicSpider: Ofcourse! Guardian'sLureStudio did say they would go over all the submissions they could to check for quality and fix bugs though.]

That makes me worry, [OriginGraphic: What if they steal our game? Like what happened to the Journey Team?]

[HeroicSpider: We got the original code and binaries, we can sue them if they try to steal our game.]

[DragonFlame: Hey I just got a message back, our game was approved. They sent this:

Dear Eternal Heights team.

Your game has been checked over and approved for release. You will have to set up the sale price to your choosing. As this website is only just starting up, the initial release fee of 100$ has been waived. You will earn 99% of a total sale. Sale Price is set to your discretion. You can access the website with the following code: Steam101. There you can add tags to your game and set up the genre of your game as well as a description, pictures, and video previews. We recommend you all set up accounts on the website and link everyone together in a studio so we distribute funds automatically. You can also choose to link a bank account and distribute the funds on your own.

Sincerely: Guardian'sLureStudio's.]

I pulled up the website, the domain had already been purchased. NetworkGaming. It has its own launcher app already that has been setup and everything. This is several times more advanced than the current popular game stores. Community marketplace and everything. Even stats for us to view. I clicked on the store page, it brought up a rather detailed list of games. Only around thirty had pictures and descriptions. But if I refreshed the page they were rapidly gaining more tags and details. But the main thing I noticed was the 20$ game bracket, which had four games ready to be purchased. The sequel for Halo and Half Life, a war game that didn't feature Captain America, and a strategy game under the tag Real Time Strategy. All of them looked interesting. Especially the trailers displayed. If I could afford it I'd already buy and download them. How the heck does GLS already have four more high quality games.

Regardless I am extremely impressed, the quality and style alone is enough to attract players. Plus all the games thus far were extremely popular upcoming games on the IndieDevWebsite. There were also a couple 60$ games in it from popular known studios. Mostly rehashes of Captain America's adventure. But it still shows how popular Guardian'sLureStudio is. It came out of nowhere and gathered a popular following nearly instantly. Some might think it was suspicious but then you can take a look at the quality of the games and realize, yes this is a real and powerful studio.

With this I shouldn't fall too far behind and-

Huh, I got pinged.

[HeroicSpider: We got invited to assist on an indev game by the GLS! @OriginGraphic]

[OriginGraphic: Really?]

[DragonsFlame: According to this the dev is working on a full dive RPG VR game and needs several questlines. We are one of the people they are reaching out to.]

Wait. What? [OriginGraphic: What do you mean by full-dive VR?!]

[DragonsFlame: It's something they are working on. They didn't reveal too much in their message, just said it will be ready in a couple of years.]

[OriginGraphic: Wait, so your saying full-dive VR might be completed in my lifetime? Really? Not a joke?]

[HeroicSpider: It looks like it. I wonder how it will work.]

[DragonsFlame added Guardian'sLureStudio to the chat.]

[Guardian'sLureStudio: I was asked to come and talk about the Full Dive VR stuff?]

[HeroicSpider: Yes please!]

[Guardian'sLureStudio: Well, it's a work in progress but it basically uses programming as a sort of magical medium to pull your consciousness into an digital avatar that can be used to explore the virtual realm. Currently it's only semi-functional and highly dangerous. But give it six or so years and we will have a fully functional program that allows people to experience games as if they were actually there.]

[OriginGraphic: Magic? No wait, aren't you afraid someone will go after you guys for that kind of tech?]

[Guardian'sLureStudio: They would have to find us first. Plus MAGIC! Or well, technomagic. Regardless it will take a while before it is fully functional and safe.]

[HeroicSpider: How many groups have you told this to?]

[Guardian'sLureStudio: Ah it's publicly known, I have it shared on Guardian'sLureStudio's profile.]

I sat back in my chair. Shocked. In a few years I will have access to those VR games I read in novels. Wait, he's making a group to develop quests for a full dive VRMMORPG aren't they? [OriginGraphic: So you need us to help with quest lines in the game you're working on for it?]

[Guardian'sLureStudio: Yeah, Don't have enough people fill up the questlines for a world that big, so I'm gathering writers and indie-devs and getting them to submit quest lines for it. In the long run it will be heavily rewarding for those who helped.]

[HeroicSpider: I will have to talk with the other two alone, we will contact you if we decide to help.]

[Guardian'sLureStudio: Take your time, we got time anyways.]

[Guardian'sLureStudio has left the chat.]

I stretched, before I called up my friends.

—POV SWITCH: Eric Williamson

I stretched. That was the 7th group I talked to in the last few hours. I've been getting in contact with the devs that develop the really good indie games that I actually like. Those who proved they can write a good storyline basically. It was basically prep for when I buy the Full Dive VR function from the system store. Which is inevitable due to the way you earn points in this system. In fact with my current progress I think it will only take a few months to get to the point where I can buy that function. Then why am I not doing it yet? Well it's simple. I read more into it. The function allows your players to go into a VR world yes, but it doesn't guarantee exit or assistance. You have to work on everything about the game besides the VR entry function yourself. So I made a plan, I would accumulate points to purchase all the supporting functions I can then when I have as many as possible I would start accessing VR. This would delay my plans tremendously but it would guarantee my players safety.

No one can track the system space regardless. So I got that goin for me. Plus with buy value I can hide my traces even more. The only problem is that I will eventually lose my creative drive. So I need others, so I am not spending 24/7 making new games and become a slave to my own efforts. I still want to live my life after all. Two days till my website goes public as well, the A.I. It is massively helpful in policing the requests that want to be added to the website. What is sad is that I am already getting takedown requests from other gaming websites. They don't want others entering the market. I proceeded to just ignore them, I had my A.I. check the law, they couldn't actually do anything to me besides threaten me. I suspect that is what happened to the other gaming websites that tried to launch with better offers than them. I smiled, everything's coming together fine. I feel like life will get monotonous soon.