Chapter 19

Pov Albert Lenkov

.........

What a shame, I thought I could spend some time alone with my dear Mari, but it seems like she really enjoys being with these kids. Sigh Oh well, I'll just play for a bit and then politely decline.

"Finally, I get to see this mysterious game."

"Jade better get ready, this game is quite unique."

The boy seems confident, I hope at least Mari can have fun.

After Mari closed the store, everyone sat on the couch. I tried to get as comfortable as possible and put on the glasses.

My vision went black, and then a sentence appeared.

"DreamHeart Productions presents."

Then the darkness disappeared, and a vast desert appeared. The image showed several stone pillars, and the scene accelerated, showing the desert until it reached the face of a creature.

The creature was tall and very thin, with completely black skin, covered from head to toe in a large red cloak with golden details. It stood up, and I took control.

Looking around, all I saw was a vast desert. In front of me was a small sand dune.

I slowly climbed up, but as I approached the top, I lost control of the character. Looking from behind, I saw a scene that made my heart race.

"So beautiful."

The sun was high, making the sand shimmer. The entire sky was filled with light, and a word appeared.

JOURNEY

A string instrument played in the background. I couldn't recognize which instrument it was, but somehow, listening to this music and looking at the landscape, I felt like I was gazing at vastness.

Slowly, the light dimmed, and I took control of the character again. I started walking forward, only to slide smoothly on the sand.

"Hahaha, this is fun."

I began to explore the place, passing by some stone pillars until I reached a small destroyed structure. As I climbed, I saw some red fabrics flying.

"But what?! Is this some kind of bug? It seems like the boy didn't fix the errors. Well, that's better for me. I can decline by saying he needs to work more to fix these bugs."

Just as I was about to ignore the flying fabrics, they started to fight with a white light before flying and attaching themselves to me, forming a kind of scarf.

The wind blew gently, lifting the sand and forming a word in front of me.

JUMP.

"So it wasn't a bug?"

Without much thought, I jumped off the edge of the structure.

"What?! So I can float, haha, this is interesting. But this desert is really beautiful, it makes me want to keep exploring."

I continued walking until I found another destroyed structure. As soon as I entered it, my clothes glowed slightly. When I approached the wall, the sand rose again, writing another word.

INTERACT.

As soon as I touched the wall, the character let out a small scream and a pulse of energy emitted from them. Then a drawing appeared on the wall.

It was easy to understand. Those stone pillars I found earlier were actually tombstones.

"So this is the World of Heroes? But I don't remember there being deserts on that planet, and these creatures are obviously not human."

(For those who don't remember from chapter one, I mentioned the World of Heroes, also known as the Tomb Planet.)

Curious about this, I continued exploring. I found more destroyed structures, more of those flying fabrics. I got a little lost, but soon found an exit.

Without even realizing it, I started to have fun floating and sliding on the sand. I found small murals that seemed to want to tell a story.

I became more and more curious and intrigued by this world. Then I found myself in front of a massive descent. Taking a step forward, I started sliding.

"Hahaha, this is incredible."

The wind hitting my face, jumping and avoiding obstacles, my heart was pounding. Entering a covered area, I saw one of the most beautiful scenes I had ever had the pleasure of witnessing.

The late afternoon sun was descending, and the light touched the sand, turning it golden. I felt like I was sliding on an infinite mountain of gold dust.

"Hahaha, what a wonderful feeling. If Mari were here, it would be perfect."

I was enjoying this with all my soul until I lost control of the character.

"What?! No!!! Wait."

I could only watch as the character slid alone, getting further away in that beautiful landscape, until a message appeared.

THANK YOU FOR PLAYING THE DEMO.

"Demo? What is this?"

Completely dissatisfied, I took off the glasses, ready to complain to the boy, but I saw Mari standing with her arms crossed, giving the boy a stern look.

Jadelyn seemed furious, throwing away her polite demeanor. She had the boy in a headlock.

"Demo, demo, is that all you can say?! Just give me the full game already."

"I already told you, I only brought a demo."

"Alex dear, seeing that incredible scenery, I had several ideas for new songs. Even though I retired a long time ago, I felt like singing once again. But just when the most beautiful scenery appeared, I couldn't play anymore."

"....."

"....."

"....."

"I'll send you the full version later."

Pov 3rd person

After everyone calmed down, Alex talked to Albert.

"So, what did you think of the game?"

"I have to admit, it's... unique. I really had fun, but honestly, I don't think something like this would be successful."

"Huh?! Haha, I think the same.

 Alex was not stupid, even in his past life Journey was not really a huge success, but everyone who decided to give the game a chance really liked it.

 The problem is that most people didn't even give the game a chance, or they just watched a gameplay with a streamer or YouTuber they liked and didn't feel interested in playing it alone.

 Now, in a completely militarized universe, such an artistic game would hardly catch attention.

 "...If you know that this player is not going to succeed, then why..."

 "Well, I'm preparing to participate in the game designer competition, and I intend to submit this game as an innovative gameplay, but as you may have seen, something is still missing." "Yes, besides the initial music, there was no other soundtrack."

 "Yes, and that's exactly why I need someone to help me with that."

 Albert fell silent, closing his eyes as he began to think deeply.

 (This game has a very strong artistic vein, it will hardly attract the attention of the general public, but for a competition, maybe it has a chance.) 

"Alex, this is not my area of expertise, but I have to admit that walking through that desert filled my mind with ideas for new melodies."

 Sigh 

"Alright, I'll help you, but first I want to see these games."

 "GREAT...hehe, you won't regret it, I'm sure you'll love the games." 

"And there go my vacations."

 Both of them smiled and shook hands, at that moment neither of them knew, but that moment would be remembered as a milestone for the world of games. A new area in the music market would be opened, new groups of artists focused entirely on creating thematic music for games would be born, and Albert Lenkov's name would be marked as the father of epics. But that is something that would happen many years later

. .....

 POV Alexandre Lockhart

 .....

 After Albert decided to help me with the music, we started working on Journey first, the only music I managed to make was the introduction music.

With my tiny knowledge of the violin, but all the other songs are very difficult, now with Albert by my side, all I need to do is define the melody and guide the direction the music should take the player. 

Without the worry of the music, I could finally focus on finishing God of War, my initial plan was to make the three first games at once. 

That way, the player could follow the story until the end without stopping, but with limited time, I will only make the first game. 

Additionally, I will need to block some parts of the world, like a virtual reality game, I made the world a little more explorable, even though it is still completely linear. But my main focus is on the creation and design of the monsters, I am using both the originals and creating some extras, in the original game, the variation of monsters was not so great.

Even in the new God of War games, the monsters repeated themselves many, many times, and that always bothered me. 

To fix this, I used the same tactic as Dark Souls, each area that Kratos visits will have its unique monsters that will not repeat in other places. But obviously, this method has its problems, after all, I will have to create a huge number of new monster designs, but with the gigantic gallery of games that I have in my memory, this will not be a problem. I am getting more and more excited about all this, but the girls have been complaining a lot, as I am almost completely dedicated to the games, I am no longer making many movies and animes. 

(I think I will set aside some time to finish the animations I started, after that I will not make them for a while.)

 ..... 

Time is passing like a meteor, today is my 18th birthday, the competition will be in two months. I did everything I could, and the games are almost perfect, at least I think they are. But that's not what I'm worried about, today is the day I will receive my last karma reward, but I have no idea what it could be. After my party, there I sat on my bed, and waited until I heard a familiar sound.

........ 

Note: Sorry for the delay, the Elden Ring DLC was released, and it held me hostage, hahaha.

 Anyway, I should release another chapter four if nothing goes wrong. 

Now a question, do you want a system? I talked to a friend, and he told me it would be better to give the protagonist a system, but honestly, I find systems a bit boring, they make things too easy.