First of all: Hi!
I'm a noob trying to write something, I'm somehow satisfied with the history so far (1/2 of ch2), but in spanish, the main problem is the translation, so any comment or correction would be much apprecited.
Thank you in advance.
0.- Prologue
AICo was about to launch its second great game. 12 years after its first great hit, The Codex, and almost a decade of delays and cancelations, finally would be answering the expectations from its fans.
That first game had been a great achievement in the games industry, the first game with an almost full drive in Virtual Reality, where you could act from the viewpoint of your character straight into your eyes, and not through a computer screen. Despite the slow level of approval from the public in its beginnings, it had been a never before achieved success. But, who would buy a game if you need to buy a special device to play it, too different to any other system in its time.
In the game, an VRRPG, as many named it, you were in the role of a character in the Hamial Kingdom, where you had to try and acquire all the codex’s pieces. The most attractive aspect in the game was its quasi-absolute freedom, since there weren’t two identical playthrough, each time you played, times and actions determined the history’s development, and even though there were some predefined events, everything else was completely dependent on the way you completed tasks and missions.
You could be a royal knight, and rise through the military scale to general, and then use your influence and contacts to wager war to the pieces’ owners, or be a theft sneaking or breaking into the manor, or a mage, opening a path straight to the treasure vault, a merchant… well, been a merchant, is there a non-obvious way to get something? And that wasn’t everything, that was just the beginning, the most “casual” approach to the game. For those more into “hardcore gaming” there was the option to become a gardener in the manor, and rise up to counselor, start from kitchen assistant and become the butler… there were thousands of ways to solve each problem, all of them environmentally affected.
But, for every action, there was a reaction, and the history was developed in consonance with your actions. I.e. if you for no real reason used your army to siege the property of one former ally to get one of the codex’s pieces, even if you were no expelled or get a bounty on your head, the relationship with the remaining lords would be impaired, or improved, depending on their relationship with the victim, changing therefore the environment completely.
Originally only some thousands of player showed any interest toward such an “exclusive” game, no many people would willingly pay what could easily amount to 2 monthly wages for a platform with a helmet and a pair of gloves, where you would have to be standing up most of the time, just for a mere game.
Two months later the game had no really take off the shelves, no matter how much the company spent in advertisement, and the good media reception, the company was close to bankrupt. But then some videos started to appear all around internet, displaying the richness and variety of contents available in the game, slowly changing the public opinion, and rising the sales. By the end of that first year it became one of the most relevant games in the world, albeit its main flaw: it hadn’t a multi-player option, but it never stopped its growth.
Two years after its original launch, at its peak, thanks to the possibility of playing a completely different history each time, the company announced they were starting the development of a new game. IACo, by then, was completely different to the small company with barely 50 employees, growing to become a terrifying monster with a great international relevance. They had a number of different projects always running, working for the military, the entertainment business, health institutions, always ahead the competition. But this was the first time after The Codex they were announcing a new videogame, and there was a great hype about what was to be it about.
But the diverse fields covered by AICo, and the always growing greed its president had, started to delay the launch once and again. First, because one of the medical/military projects developed a module to separate mind and body, allowing new trainings for soldiers and to apply delicate surgeries with minor dangers. After some considerations, the president decided it would be the “user control system” for the new game. Another, because a small company developed (finally) a full AI, and they bought the company to implement it as an absolute GM in the new game, meaning a complete change in the system to adapt it to the new “world rulers”.
And this way, change after remodeling after cancelation, the world was always onto it, always expecting the announcement and always going down with each delay. Until, finally, 10 years after they released The Codex, AICo’s managers announced the most awaited release ever.
In a press conference there were Alberto Cifuentes Santaella, co-founder and president, Miguel Rubio Sánchez, co-founder and chief developer, and Andrew Gordon, game-developing director. They were about to launch their long awaited jewel.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
After some introductory minutes, the director of communications presented Mr Cifuentes, who started to explain the game new concepts.
“Ladies and gentlemen, players and press, after ten long years, after thousands of adjustments and delays, we can finally tell all of you that in a 3 month period, we’ll be releasing the first really virtual experience ever. I know this may sound as an exaggeration, indeed, but by the end of this conference you’ll agree with me. You already know some of the reasons for those cancelations and delays, and even before we start enumerating them, all of you also know some of the new features of our game.
One of the main new features is a never before achieved level of freedom. We’re no gonna reveal any relevant aspect of the game itself, but I can tell you some things, like the changes in the classes system, the classes will only be a reference in the avatars build up, instead of choosing a starting class, later on some players will be able of choosing a new class, or even change the ones he or she has, depending on his or her actions so far. And that is but an example of the huge changes with everything you know so far.
The biggest change so far with our previous game, and main reason to hold this press conference, is that, where The Codex was an stand-alone game, The Codex Online will be a MMORPG, or VRMMORPG as part of our staff started calling it already, as in Virtual Reality Massively Multi-Online Role Play Game.”
He hadn’t finish the sentence when everybody in the room stood up and started to talk, all at once, each trying to outtalk the others, asking once and again. Seeing the reaction to his words Alberto smiled and rose both hands, this actions managed to, gradually, clam the people in the room.
“We know you must have a lot of question for us, but please, sit down again and listen to everything we have to say, once we finish there will be plenty of time for your questions, and we’ll try to answer to the best of our knowledge, rest assured.”
Part of the press didn’t seem too eager to accept it, but when everyone else sat down they gave up in their attitude and sat down as well.
“As I was saying, indeed, it will be an online game based on a VR world. Unlike every online game up to date, there will be only one server, but worry not” added when he saw the doubt in the face of many reporters “its size won’t be affected. Actually, so far the first continent, Areis, has already been completed, and for the expected release date we’ll have another two at 90%.
The development will be continuous, but Mr Rubio will give you more information about that later on” saying this he pointed to the man at his right, who simply nodded “but I can advance that the system is dependent on the Artificial Intelligences. Those AI will be monitoring everything all the time and adjusting to every player game style and preferences…"
He went on for another half an hour, enumerating the main characteristics of The Codex Online. After that, Miguel Rubio started to show different in-game images, using them to explain the development system, and how the different AIs took care each of different game functions: create and manage environments, player’s decisions evaluation, players follow-up, etc. He also have to stop his speech at some point when he tried to explain how would the NPC interact within the new world, how he called the world inside the game. Those Non Playable Characters would be fully developed, and while some of them would be bound to certain events or conditions, most of them would be completely unbound, free to change in any way at any moment.
Also explained how worked the connection unit, a system that, albeit having been 2 years already in the market for other uses, and was well known thanks to its versatility, hadn’t shown yet all it’s potential, as it would with the game. It would allow the user to enjoy the experience in a revolutionary form. Separating the conscience, with a completely tested and 100% safe system, as shown in the hundreds of essays and papers released on this subject, and the complete acknowledge of public and private companies, it was possible to create a different time inside the game, up to a 50:1 ratio, but the game would be usually at 5:1 except for some especial abilities and events. This would mean that 5 minutes in game would be just 1 minute in Real Time.
Much more information was revealed in the press conference, parental control, the character creation system, leveling, agreements for medical usage, etc.
Once finished the 2’5 hours of the official presentation there were another 3’5 hours of Q&A. The press left it baffled.
<-- N/A
The Codex Online Ch. 0
Chapter 1 -->