Full Focus

7th September of 1988

Diana trudged up the narrow staircase of her Brooklyn apartment, the echo of her office heels tapping against the wooden steps. The brisk autumn air nipped at her cheeks as she fumbled for her keys. Work had been long, the corporate world taking its usual toll, but she couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation as she entered her modest home.

Diana slipped off her shoes and collapsed onto her couch, the old cushions sagging under her. She stared at the TV for a moment, the glowing screen flickering in the dimly lit room. It was a quiet evening, just the kind she needed. She reached for the remote, eager to find something to take her mind off the endless reports and spreadsheets from her day at work.

A new show was premiering tonight—Friends or something like that. She had read about it in the paper that morning and was intrigued by the idea of a sitcom centered around a group of friends in their twenties, navigating life in the city. "Why not," she thought. After all, she could use a laugh.

As the episode started, Diana smiled as the characters came to life. There was something about them that felt oddly familiar, like seeing a reflection of herself and her own friends in their struggles, jokes, and awkward moments. The dingy but cozy coffee shop, the quirky apartment—it was a world she knew all too well. She laughed out loud when Monica scolded her brother Ross, and couldn't help but feel for him as he navigated the mess of his divorce.

It was only the first episode, but Lisa could already tell Friends was going to be something special. The warmth of the characters filled the room, and for the first time that week, she felt herself relaxing.

She thought of her own group—her friend Jenny who always had advice, and Mark, who had the same goofy charm as Chandler. In the glow of the TV, she felt a connection, not just to the characters, but to the idea of finding humor in life's everyday struggles.

As the credits rolled, Diana leaned back and sighed contentedly. Maybe tomorrow at work wouldn't seem so bad after all. Life was easier with friends—whether on screen or off.

8th September Thursday, Blue Star Interactive Headquarters.

In the dimly lit room, the faint hum of computer fans and the rhythmic clacking of keyboards create a steady background noise. The room is cluttered with papers, sketches, and empty coffee cups strewn across makeshift desks.

Monitors flicker with lines of code, animation sequences, and soundwave diagrams, casting a soft, eerie glow over the team's faces. It's late into the night, and the small group of six is deeply immersed in the final stages of developing Mortal Kombat.

Alex, the team leader, stands at the center of the chaos, directing the operations with a focused intensity. His eyes dart between the monitors and his team, occasionally glancing at a notepad filled with scribbled reminders and to-do lists. He's been pivotal in guiding the project, and now his role involves overseeing the sound design, ensuring that every punch, kick, and special move resonates with the right impact.

To Alex's left, working alongside himself Jack, a sound designer, is hunched over his workstation. His fingers dance over the audio editing software, meticulously tweaking sound effects. He's responsible for crafting the visceral impact of each fight move, from the bone-crushing hits to the dramatic fatalities.

As he listens to a replay of a particularly brutal sound effect, he frowns slightly, making minute adjustments to the volume and pitch. His thoughts race with the pressure to create immersive audio that will leave a lasting impression on players.

Across the room, Marcus, the lead programmer, is deep in concentration, his eyes fixed on a complex string of code. He's ensuring that the game's mechanics work seamlessly with the newly integrated sound effects.

His mind is preoccupied with debugging and optimizing, hoping that all the systems will integrate flawlessly. Every now and then, he glances over to Alex for feedback, his anxiety palpable as he waits for approval on his latest changes.

On the other side of the room, Lucas and Eddie, the animators, work side by side. Lucas is refining the character animations, smoothing out the movements to ensure they match the audio cues perfectly. Eddie is focused on adding final touches to the special effects, making sure that the visual elements synchronize with the sound.

They occasionally exchange comments about the realism of their work, each offering constructive criticism to enhance the overall quality. Their thoughts are filled with a mix of excitement and trepidation as they prepare to showcase their work to the world.

Finally, in the corner, Fred, who was now acting as the project coordinator, is managing schedules and overseeing the workflow. Checking off completed tasks and ensuring that all team members are meeting their deadlines. His mind is occupied with balancing priorities and ensuring that the project stays on track. The pressure of managing a project of like this for the first time is heavy, but he was determined.

Fred had been given this role by Alex, as his second in command. On top of his duties as the game's level designer for this project, Alex was key on cultivate talents from within the Game Studio from the ground up.

Especially, in key areas of the game studios as it slowly grew in scale. This is something Alex, wanted to stress as apart the game studio identity. This would become Blue Star Interactive identity when it came to it's shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices that define an organization.

It would shape how employees interact, make decisions, and approach their work. This would include everything from leadership styles, communication methods, work environment, and organizational goals to employee expectations and overall workplace atmosphere.

A strong culture within the Game Studio can foster teamwork, collaboration, and employee satisfaction, leading to better productivity and lower turnover. Some elements that influence company culture include:

1. Core Values: The principles the company stands for, like integrity, innovation, or customer focus.

2. Leadership: How leaders interact with employees, make decisions, and set expectations.

3. Work Environment: The physical and emotional aspects of the workplace, including flexibility, inclusivity, and support systems.

4. Communication: Openness, transparency, and methods of communication across the organization.

5. Employee Engagement: The ways employees are motivated, recognized, and involved in company decision-making.

A company's culture can evolve over time but is often deeply rooted in its founding principles and leadership approach. Alex certainly didn't want the studio he, Michael and Mark started to turn into the next Ubsoft, or EA.

Or basically any game studio or publisher that was solely driven by profits, and political ideology in the future. He had a very clear understanding of how that would turn out in next couple of decades.

Alex's voice breaks through the focused hum of the room, giving direction and encouragement. "Jack, that new sound effect is great, but let's push it a bit further. It needs more impact. Marcus, how are we on the sound integration? We can't afford any glitches now. Lucas and Eddie, let's make sure those animations and effects are perfectly synced. Fred, how's how fare are you with the final stage design and hows schedule looking?"

" I'll finish the seventh level stage by tomorrow of the day after, as for our schedule. " Fred paused for a second, before continuing as he found the words. " We're two weeks behind from our initial intended schedule. "

Alex nodded his head in acknowledgement, this was actually all his fault due to putting himself into. He had been too in gross the creative juices of television and movies production the last few months. Leading to Mortal Kombat planned development time to drag on.

" That's ok, the we should be able to wrap things up in the next three weeks or so. " Alex calculated, mentally in his head with all that was left to do. " Fred schedule a meeting with Laura and the marketing it's time we get started on promotion of the game. " Alex spoke, once again before glancing around to see everyone reactions to his words.

Everyone in the team give nods of understanding in responds, each absorbed in their tasks but united by a shared goal. The atmosphere is charged with both the excitement of nearing completion and the tension of ensuring everything is perfect. Each member is fully invested, their thoughts driven by the magnitude of their first major project and the desire to deliver something truly memorable.

As the hours tick by, the room remains a hub of concentrated activity, with Alex's steady guidance and the team's collective effort pushing the game closer to its final form. And Alex team wasn't the only one charged up and in full swing at this time.

With four projects going on simultaneously, in both building. Mark was and his team are hard at work with Shadow Strike: Ninja Uprising which is the name they settled upon. Alex had given his own input on the project, as well as writing the game's story.

With four projects in development simultaneously, in both building. This being Mortal Kombat, GTA, Simcity, along with Mark's new project he was hard at work with. Will Wright joining his new team one month ago had now fully immersed himself into the process.

The first two weeks had been he and his team along with Alex, Mark and Michael. Brainstorming idea on how to better improve the game's mechanics along with gameplay, insuring constant engagement by the player's.

The creation of SimCity had began when Will Wright, initially working on a helicopter game called Raid on Bungeling Bay, discovered he enjoyed creating the game's city more than the gameplay itself. This led him to design a city-building simulation, but the concept lacked conventional "win" conditions, making it difficult to pitch.

As Wright developed his original design, his small team of six helped refine the project. Their focus was on transforming the concept into something engaging for players. Wright having already built the simulation engine, his team members worked on the interface, graphics, and balancing the simulation's complexity. They mapped out key aspects such as resource management, zoning, and natural disasters, which became core elements of SimCity.

Along with citizens approval rating of player's management of the city were added. To the game's core elements with other additional gameplay elements. Through Alex's and the others suggestions.

The team was highly collaborative, testing and tweaking the game mechanics. For instance, they optimized city growth algorithms and the interactions between infrastructure and population. Early versions were tested rigorously, with adjustments made to ensure players felt both control and challenge in building their cities.

Strike: Ninja Uprising was the name that Mark and his team finally agreed upon for their project. Alex and Michael had also contributed their ideas, with Alex taking the lead on writing the game's story.

What had initially been planned as a four-month development cycle had now expanded to a full year. Alex, after some reflection, suggested this change to allow the team more breathing room and to reduce stress. It also aligned with the current culture of the game studio, where each project was typically given a year and a half for development.

This approach ensured equality among the projects and established a standard for the studio. Mark sat in front of his computer, his fingers dancing over the keys, a steady stream of code appearing on the screen. His eyes were glued to the monitor, focused and intense.

Mark's team, along with members of Alex's second team, Team 5, had been reassigned to help with the new project after the setback with DOOM. Team 5 had originally been scheduled to work on another project but was now lending their efforts to ensure the success of Strike: Ninja Uprising.

"Hey, boss." Mark was pulled from his concentration by Nicholas's voice. He turned, confused, only to see Nicholas pointing at the clock on the wall. It was already 1 o'clock—lunchtime.

Mark removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes with a tired sigh. Ever since the DOOM incident, he and his team, along with members from Alex's Team 4, had been working non-stop. Their teams, divided into groups of three, had been working every day from 7 a.m., with an additional 4 to 5 hours of work on weekends.

Mark fought hard against his two colleagues about working on weekends, something he and his team had been pushing for. In the end, he only managed to secure three months of overtime for the project, which, unfortunately, wasn't as much as they'd hoped for.

They had already spent around $125,000 on the project over the past six months, which meant they were now in the red. The budget for each project was typically between $250,000 and $350,000, and with four projects currently in development, the studio was projected to spend about $1.2 million this year.

This was only manageable thanks to a few key investments the studio had made in recent months. Due to the setback with DOOM, Michael, Alex, and Mark had all agreed to chip in from their own pockets if the project's budget wasn't enough.

Alex had also decided to delay his second project until next year to free up resources. However, it was unlikely that a 2D action platformer would cost more than $300,000.

Many factors could influence the cost of developing a game like this:

Where the developers are located

How experienced the developers are

How many other projects the developers are handling

The amount of time given for development

Whether the game needs to match an existing art style

The level of direction or resources provided by the studio

The review and revision process

The range of web browsers and versions the game needs to support

After examining the project, Mark believed there were developers out there who could deliver a similar game for $100,000–$250,000. Most of the cost would likely come from the artwork, especially given the number of animations that needed to be done.

It was estimated that Shadow Strike: Ninja Uprising wouldn't cost more than $250,000 to develop. With everything being done in-house and most of the team having three to five years of experience in developing 2D action platformers, they were well-equipped to handle the task.

The overall cost of the game wasn't excessive, except for the team size being bumped up to eight members.

As everyone left for lunch, Mark had a different plan—he needed to pick up his younger sister from kindergarten. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his car key as he approached a bright red 1985 Chevrolet Cavalier, a car he had reluctantly purchased at the insistence of his parents and brother. They reasoned that, since he had his driver's license and was financially stable, he should own a car. Unlike many of his peers, Mark was modest with his spending, as shown by the green Oldsmobile 442 parked beside him.

Opening the car door, he quickly started the engine, buckled his seat belt, and drove off. As he navigated the road, his thoughts drifted back to his new project.

The key elements of the game had long been finalized, with heavy emphasis on the setting and gameplay mechanics. At Blue Star Interactive, they placed a stronger focus on gameplay rather than visuals or storytelling. While visuals and story were important, they ranked second and third in priority, with the game's setting playing a vital role in differentiating their projects from competitors and creating an immersive world for players to lose themselves in.

Mark, Alex, and Michael had spent countless hours debating what made a great video game. They eventually concluded that gameplay was the most crucial element, with story coming in second. As Mark often thought, "What's the point of having a great story if the game isn't fun enough to keep players engaged for days?"

Alex had summarized it perfectly when they were planning to start their own game studio: "We're not making a movie, so why should we put visuals and story at the forefront?"

He was right. Mark and his team had spent nearly a month figuring out how to make the gameplay addictively engaging. It was a tricky challenge, but Alex's storytelling and world-building gave the game a strong backdrop.

Shadow Strike: Ninja Uprising was set in the distant future, where the player character—a ninja—faced enemies with advanced technology. The contrast between ancient ninja techniques and futuristic enemies provided a unique gameplay experience. Of course, they planned to embellish some of the ninja's abilities for added flair.

What Mark and the others didn't know was that Alex had been drawing inspiration from various ninja-themed movies, games, and other forms of media, blending story elements from all of them into Shadow Strike: Ninja Uprising. He was aware that Ninja Gaiden was already well into development and felt the pressure to ensure their game could stand out—though not directly competing with Ninja Gaiden, as the American arcade version would release in December that year, followed by the console version in March of the following year.

The upcoming version of Ninja Gaiden was poised to innovate with a groundbreaking feature: telling its story through cutscenes, something that hadn't been done before in video games. Alex understood the significance of this development and knew his team would need something special to keep up with such a trendsetting title.

Fire Foxx Production Studio

Headquarters: New York City

Harry sat in his sleek, minimalist office at Fire Foxx Production Studio, anxiously waiting for the ratings report for the latest episode of Friends. They had invested heavily in marketing and promotion for the episode, and the anticipation in the room was palpable. Harry had always been a stickler for details, but the whirlwind of work surrounding Saw over the past few weeks had consumed him, making it easy to forget about Friends. Now that things were finally slowing down, he could focus on the numbers that would tell the real story of the show's performance.

They already had a theatrical distributor secured in the UK for Saw, but Lisa's efforts had opened even more doors. Thanks to her industry connections, they managed to secure a prestigious screening at the International Film Festival. This was a critical opportunity. Harry had heard through the grapevine that the event was a magnet for distributors from across the globe, and he hoped it would spark additional interest in the project. Expanding the film's reach was essential, especially if they wanted to strike deals in territories they hadn't yet explored. With the potential of more international distributors, the studio could see Saw evolve from a regional success to a global sensation.

As Harry glanced at his watch, his mind raced with possibilities. Would Friends be a ratings it or a disappointing failure? And could Saw break into new markets after the festival? There was a lot at stake, but Harry thrived on these moments. The future of both projects hung in the balance, and all he could do now was wait.