Chapter 37: Chapter 37
Fallout is one of the most beloved game franchises among RPG enthusiasts. The world of Fallout is a parallel version of Earth, where a nuclear war took place. The technology in that world is unique—it's obviously more advanced than what we had on Earth, but it has a retro look.
The world of Fallout presents a fascinating post-war setting, where, after the war, all the people who weren't in the vaults were supposed to have died. However, this is where human adaptability comes into play. Even amidst nuclear contamination, many people managed to survive.
These survivors ended up being deformed due to the radiation they were exposed to. Not only that, but this radiation granted them an extremely long life. Many of them eventually go insane, whether due to the radiation, the explosion of the bombs, or the sheer length of their lives. These individuals formed a new race called ghouls.
Fallout is filled with history and tragic events, bizarre occurrences, and funny moments. It is one of the most open-ended games ever made. You can do anything—you can kill anyone—but, of course, you'll have to deal with the consequences of your actions.
You can go around killing and capturing people and then sell them as slaves. Doing this will make you a lot of money, but as a consequence, your karma will become negative, and you'll miss out on many missions. Characters who could have accompanied you on your journey will refuse to even speak to you, and some might even attack you for being a crazy psychopath.
The same thing will happen if you're a hero. Some characters with negative karma won't talk to you, and you'll obviously lose out on some missions because of it. Fallout gives you total freedom to make your own choices. You can become a hero whose name is celebrated everywhere, one of the greatest calamities that place has ever seen, or just another face in the crowd—someone with neutral karma who is only interested in their own business.
All the games start with some major problem that compels the protagonist to go out and explore the world, walk through the devastated lands, and slowly uncover what happened in that place. You witness the devastation that war has brought, learn all kinds of stories, and make all sorts of decisions.
It's a unique feeling. The world of Fallout is simply fascinating. The more Alex thought about it, the more excited he became. To create Fallout, he wouldn't need a lot of manpower. He already had several things ready that he could use from God of War; he would just need to make some modifications.
The game had a retro-futuristic technology that was very different from anything people in this universe had ever seen. Moreover, being a post-war game would make it easy to attract an audience, because even though it's different, it wouldn't be enough to turn players away.
Alex got up and went to Luna. After chatting with her for a bit, he started making plans for the new project. To create Fallout, Alex planned to make a single continent where he would include all four games. He could let the player choose which region to start in.
Depending on the choice, the player would begin in different places on the map and have different main quests. Each region would have its unique missions, and the player would have to figure out how to access the other regions. Alex also intended to create some extra mutant enemies, as the original games didn't have much variety in these enemies.
Alex spent several hours creating various plans for the development of Fallout, but this would be a long-term project. He also needed to address one of his current problems, which was the lack of games on the holographic bracelet. Even though he had added many movies and series, Undertale was still the only game there, so he needed to expand the library quickly.
So after finishing the plans for Fallout, Alex opened another file called "Yu-Gi-Oh!"
When he was training Ed and Fred, Alex had started working on some side projects. He began creating several plans for small games to fill up the game library a bit, but he didn't have enough time while he was learning about programming.
During that time, Alex thought about making Yu-Gi-Oh! True Duel Monsters: Sealed Memorial, but after thinking it over, he felt this game would be better suited for virtual reality.
However, being busy with various things, Yu-Gi-Oh! had to be put on the back burner. After finishing Undertale and allowing Ed and Fred to have a small, very small break, Alex had time to work on Yu-Gi-Oh! again. But after opening the file, a thought crossed his mind.
(Playing in virtual reality would be amazing, but playing in real life would be simply perfect.)
"I've run several tests with solid light. Making a Duel Disk wouldn't be a problem, but creating all the monsters in solid light would be a challenge. Just buying an upgrade for Luna won't be enough. I'll need to find a programmer specialized in holographic bracelets and solid light.
I also need to think about the scale of the duels. Players will need to choose the scale of the duel: the monsters could fight on top of a table in a miniature duel, or at a medium scale, the height of an adult, or perhaps at a realistic scale, like in the anime.
No, that would cause problems. I'll need to limit the size of the monsters. Also, I need to think of a universal mission for the game, an objective... I'll think about that later; better start with the base of the monsters first."
After looking at the Yu-Gi-Oh! file, Alex also saw a file named "Horror." This is a small original project he is planning to create for holographic bracelets.
The idea was to use the holographic bracelet to scan the player's house, then place some cursed objects in random spots, which would move from time to time. The player would need to find and purify the cursed objects. During the search, various ghosts and monsters would appear to scare and stop the player.
This game would be extremely simple, and the idea would be to use it as a challenge among friends. It would also be a good test to see if people in this universe are interested in horror games.
"Looks like I've got a lot of work to do."
.......
Alex wasn't the only one working hard. William Freeman was pushing himself just as much, if not more, than Alex on his next game. After playing Detroit, Will was completely fascinated by everything Alex had done. After searching a bit and finding Batata Productions, he watched everything that had been released. As he consumed all that media, Will noticed one thing they all had in common.
Each of these movies seems to want to convey a message. He noticed that all the films had stories that, even subconsciously, made the viewer understand, if only slightly, a bit of the message they aimed to pass on.
This kind of thing wasn't strange to Will, but now that he was reflecting more deeply, he realized that all the stories Alex was telling had a purpose: to teach and impart a bit of virtue to everyone watching.
This was a rare message to find these days, after all. The message that most games and movies try to convey is about how you should love your race and be willing to do anything for the greater good, even if it means death.
Will wasn't a fan of movies, precisely because of the way they so blatantly conveyed this kind of message. It just left a bad taste in his mouth.
Even though he was a fanatic about history and loved war like any normal person, Will definitely didn't like the idea of people sacrificing themselves for some grand, senseless cause.
Even those space vigilantes who protected the galaxy in the past didn't do it for some great reason, but simply because it was their home galaxy—their family, friends, and everyone they knew and loved lived there.
So after playing Detroit and watching these movies, Will felt excited, thinking about the different things he could do. He just wanted to find inspiration, no matter where it came from. After spending days watching everything Alex had ever made, there was one in particular that inspired him.
Lilo & Stitch. As silly as it may sound, after watching this movie, Will started remembering some conversations he'd had with his mother. From time to time, Will's mother always had the same conversation with him.
She often said that Will should take pride in his family, be proud of everything they have, and take pride in the achievements his family had in the past, and that he shouldn't be ashamed of it. Will would always roll his eyes when she said that—he simply didn't understand what she meant by it.
To Will, there was no reason to take pride in family things. Being a farmer was just another job, like any other. He wasn't ashamed of being from a family of farmers, but he didn't see a single reason to feel proud. Yes, they had a planet that was almost like their property, but what does that have to do with him needing to be proud?
But watching that movie made Will think more about his mother's words. When she talked about being proud of the family, she didn't mean that he should feel honored to be part of the family or feel better than other people.
She wanted him to understand the family's history and feel proud of it, no matter where he went or what he did for a living. He should walk with his head held high, knowing he would always have a family to come back to.
Will felt stupid. He had always thought of himself as very intelligent, but it had taken him a long time to understand something so simple. Perhaps to his mother, he seemed to be distancing himself from the family, out of shame or for some other reason. Thinking about this, Will decided he couldn't leave things as they were.
(OHANA means family, hahaha, what a stupid thing. I'll never tell anyone that's what inspired me.)
Will went to his mother and asked her to tell him the family stories. After that day, Will spent an entire year with his parents, learning about the family history and helping with the work. His mother asked several times why he was so suddenly interested, and Will would only smile when he answered.
"Just wait, I'll show you how proud I am of this family."
Though confused, his mother was just happy to see her son's interest. Will studied his family's entire past while helping with the work and creating his game for the second stage of the competition. Will was extremely focused on making a game that could showcase his love for his parents and appreciation for his family, while also aiming to take first place in the competition.
After that year working and learning with his parents, Will finally began putting his project into motion. It took him two whole years and a massive amount of credits to complete the project in time. Now that everything was ready, he only needed to wait to pass the second stage, and he could enter this game into the final stage of the competition.
Will was lying on his bed with a smile; he had just finished playing Journey.
"This kid never stops surprising me. This game is perfect for relaxing and making the player reflect on various aspects of life."
While Will was thinking, he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in."
"Son, what did you want with us?"
Will's mother and father entered the room. Today was the day he had finally finished his game, so he invited his parents to do a test run.
"Mom, Dad, today I want you to test my new game."
"Son, you know I don't like these games."
"I know, Dad, but don't worry. This game is totally different from what you imagine. I told you I was going to show you how much I love our family… and here's the proof."
......…
Note: Sorry, I should have posted this chapter on Sunday or yesterday, but I have a cold. I had a high fever and couldn't finish the chapter.
Honestly, I didn't want to post this chapter today; I was excited while writing and wanted to include Alice's reaction to Undertale, as well as some reactions to Journey. But it would take too long to finish, so I'll include it in the next chapter, which I'll release on Thursday.
Maybe you don't know this, but I'm a fan of the Dragon Age saga. The first one, Origins, is definitely my favorite; the second one I don't like much, and Inquisition is good too.
So a friend of mine came up to me and said:
"Potato, did you see that the new Dragon Age is about to be released?"
"New Dragon Age??? What do you mean there's a new game coming out, and no one tells me?"
And there goes Potato, all innocent and cheerful, to see how the new Dragon Age is coming along, only to see a monstrosity. What did those bastards do? When I saw the trailer, I even thought I was watching a Fortnite video.
A trailer full of diverse and cheerful characters, my God, what rage. I even thought it was a joke and went to check out some news about the game, and you know what I found…
I found the developers saying they're going to include an immortal mode so everyone can play without dying... tell me, my God, what did I do to deserve this?
٩(╬ʘ益ʘ╬)۶
Urgent on POTATO NEWS: Latest news from the gaming world, Concord had its servers shut down just 10 days after launch. This was the most pathetic and ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I don't know what Sony was thinking when they made a game like this, but at least they're refunding everyone's money.
So if you bought this bomb, you can get your money back.