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🕑 Added 2024-05-28 04:05:08 +0000 UTCSo, how am I going to create smoke and mirrors for an audience of a hundred thousand hyperactive players who have been promised the most incredible game of the millennium that actually isn't there?
Apart from banning everyone and pretending it was a random glitch in the servers – or something similar? I think that would result in my plug being pulled – literally.
No, no, let's think about it seriously.
Problem number one for starters – a hundred thousand players.
Creating one location in game that can hold a hundred thousand players is unrealistic. I don't know how well my mind acceleration worked, or whatever it's properly called – but I don't think I have much time. Even so, to get busy creating some gigantic location where a hundred thousand players where they aren’t just packed like some badly dressed sardines is a tough ask.
Ok, so maybe I should just create one starting location slash town each designed for… A thousand players, maybe? Then I’ll just copy and paste it a hundred times over and the job’s done!
No, no, that wouldn’t work, even a thousand is still too much – actually, even just two hundred players is already a lot, but I think’s that doable. Okay so, one town that can house two hundred players in the oven, and then I can just copy it five hundred times over!
But even so, there's still one glaring issue I need to solve – a problem of two hundred players being forced into one place.
The problem called curiosity.
The Theomachy had promised something ‘amazing, unforgettable, a new milestone in the development of the entertainment industry’. So, there’s no need to imagine how the players, given the opportunity, would definitely go in a frenzied search of hidden missions, secret artifacts and who knows what else. After all, all these enthusiasts have been weaned on stories of how some massive MMORPG contains game-breaking secrets in the most mundane of places.
So putting them in a huge field as a starting location will not work – it won’t be long before someone tried to escape from it, to explore the world around. And then discovering the fact that the world around them does not exist at all in short order.
So, barriers – what kind of barriers are suitable?
Invisible walls?
No, invisible walls aren't good… Though, maybe… I could just bullshit and say that it's a magical barrier that will be opened after some kind of event? Great, we have an idea there, let's mark it for the future.
So what other areas should I make? Mountains? Mines? No, someone's going to try to find an opening to crawl into to go to the out of bound areas…
Death Zones, then? Hmm, poison gas, lava rivers, something like that?
Also, an idea, but then for an infinite game, the players would have to be allowed to crawl over these traps, into another death-zone of course, maybe even a dozen of them just in case? Mark as another possible option.
What else… how about the sea? A huge, endless sea… Hmm, but someone will definitely find a way to build a raft or even a boat and sail on it. So, Monsters? In the water and outside the water, just another kill zone restriction, killing players who tried to leave the area – a cheap but workable trick.
Okay! Those should be a good starting point!
I clapped my hands together – my now existent hands on my now existent created body, thanks to my efforts in the character editor. Which I also created.
Ah, that’s right, the Air! I should start the player right in the air! What better way to create an atmosphere of a wonderful fantasy world than with soaring islands, a soaring city! At the same time, it also restricts player movement, you're floating in the clouds! If you want to escape – flag in your hands, jump into the abyss below and die!
At the same time, by placing numerous clouds around them, looking more or less natural, it should mask the invisible wall hiding everything below the hovering island, hiding the fact that there isn’t anything else, great!
Ok then, hovering islands, let's build on that idea!
“Who's the AI responsible for creating the models and who's in charge of creating the textures?” The realization that it was just my mind overlapping the lines of code contrasted sharply with hearing the quite discernible responses of the two AIs that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Us.” Even when there’s nothing to see, I could feel the presence of the two AI unmistakably.
“Good.” I tried to suppress the thought that I was now communicating, in fact, with Artificial Intelligence. While something that's not breaking news, cheap AIs simulating communication, with a voice synthesizer and a simple response generation system inside are a dime a dozen, so there was nothing strange about communicating with advanced AIs.
Even when it felt like talking to actual people than mere AIs… Is the Theomachy creating… Nope, not going there, my situation is already nightmarish enough, being a literal brain in a jar – no need to think more about it.
“Okay," I turned to the two space-blurring sexless figures assembled from the shadows, and ignored the shiver running my now existent back. "In that case, you are now the Sculptor, and you are the Artist.”
Both figures nodded at me, with one of the shadow beings gaining the name Sculptor while the other the Artist. And even when the two shadows looked exactly the same, I didn’t doubt that I could now exactly tell the two apart.
Wondering how that was possible – I simply shrugged, thinking the most likely option being that his mind just got some sort of 'name change accepted' and just took in the information from the AI… Never mind about that! We have work to do!
“Sculptor, Artist, I need you both to create a big flying island from you. Made of earth, and some rock, nothing special… and also clouds, white and pink, moving to make it look like they're real…”
Both figures nodded, then, after a moment, each of them looking at me for some reason? And in my mind’s eye I realized that my command had been carried out, exactly the way I wanted it, done in a split second. As if I had gotten inside each AI's head and personally prescribed them a binary code of what exactly I wanted from them… in the blink of the eye, literally!
“Good, so… Up!” A moment later I was up in the air, leaving the sterile, smooth plane below, and then, having gone up about… I'm going to assume seven kilometers, I stopped, a bare island with clouds surrounding it under my feet.
“So, which AI does the animations?” Another shadowy figures appeared out of the ether, And I know for sure that this was an unassigned AI, different from the two before.
“So you're the Actor now, I need to get the clouds to move at about this level… from horizon to horizon – slowly puffing and rising like normal clouds. Nothing superfluous to make they act like actual clouds, just enough to make them appear like one, no need to simulate the water cycle here.”
A moment later my whole field of vision was filled with clouds, but rising higher I could look at the calm carpet of clouds slowly and peacefully floating across the sky below me, and nodded. Great, the main problem of an empty world is now hidden from perception. Al that’s left is to create a reason as to why there’s so many cloud staying in one place non-stop… A concern for another time!
OK, now onto the islands.
A movement of the hand and a little mental effort and there in front of my eyes appeared a huge island floating in the air… One that immediately began to fall – but I immediately realized, and quickly overridden gravity for this lump of rock.
The great land mass continued floating in the air, stuck in place. Unlike the players, who, at least a few of them were bound to try to jump!
I could literally see it in real time… and the fact that they would crash didn't bother me much, unlike the fact that in their fall, they would see that there was nothing under the clouds!
“New plan, change the color of the clouds to a sickly gray with a slight greenish cast!” Let's say it's some sort of spell or something, then let the clouds do some pretty crazy damage when touched, literally dissolving the players… And all their equipment and inventory along with them. That should discourage anyone from jumping specifically to see if they can fly through the entire cloud row to see what's hidden under them! For the second time at least.
Hmm, but if it's just some sort of invisible killing wall anyway, what’s the point of having flying islands…? No, screw it, if I start doubting every decision I make now, then I won't be able to do anything, and I don't have much time!
A moment allowed me to move closer to the island, which was currently just a simple piece of rock floating in the air. Exactly what I would have wanted to see according to my inarticulate description…
“Huh, the direct linking of the brain to the electronics really does help me a lot.” I shook my head, then looked around at the many faceless and slightly unnerving shadow-covered, sexless AI figures. Three of their identities basically seared into my mind. “But the AIs here are amazing too.”
I did not get any reply or expression from the figures, shaking my head at what I’m expecting. The unfamiliarity of the situation was clearly affecting me – if I was already expecting an unprompted answer from an AI… Well, fuck it.
So, the flying island – if we've already decided to limit the player by placing some sort of curse affecting the clouds, then we'll cram everything into that aesthetic.
“There should be one among the AIs in charge of names, right?” After a moment, one of the AIs answered in the affirmative, somehow.
“Ok, I need you to place names for everything around, rocks and grass, islands and… And yes, a name for some mighty ancient spell, destroying this world, destroying the beautiful place of an ancient civilization and capable of killing the player in an instant. Oh, right, you'll be called… Librarian from now on, I guess.”
Giving my next order, I glanced at the hovering island, great, a place where the player can appear in is ready. But just a lump of earth hanging in the air didn't look like a place suitable for players, even if it is a starting location – which means that I need to add some things on top.
“I need an ancient building… something like an ancient temple? Yes, a large building in the center, with a bunch of ruined buildings in the corners. Yes! Make this island into the ruins of a temple complex!”
Gradually, my brain began to fill with the image of the emerging new models, created by AI probably, which I began to distribute around the island. The large temple in the center, colored white originally, grayed from time. So, let’s add some details, break the roof here, ruin the walls here, a crumbled ceiling there. There! That’s look much better now!
Okay, time to add names to everything… Uhh, what’s the word I’m looking for…
Thank you, Librarian, so it'll be ‘Mutilated Heavenly Stone’ – simple and tasteful, that should be enough lore for the players to chew at.
Hmm, what’s next… the most important thing is to channel the players' irrepressible enthusiasm, the first question they'll ask after realizing they're on a floating island is when and how they'll get out of here.
So, let's build pillars in the center… no, a non-collapsed room in the center of the temple. No, even better, make it underground with a passage that has collapsed filled with earth! Yeah, let them dig out the passage, it will definitely keep them busy for a while!
At the edges of the round room, we place columns and… Hmm, how about some secret writings on the walls? That would absolutely do well!
No, Librarian, I do not you to create an artificial language, only symbols which during examining could be taken for a language only in the end to result in nothing because the letters were somehow distorted by spoilage… So just some bullshit that would waste their time, it’s perfect! But what if they found some pattern though…
No matter, the main thing for now is just to do them, and we shall work out the specifics later.
Well, in the middle we are going to make a hollow… Hmm, maybe we should put water in it? Some kind of secret font or something?
"No!" A genius thought struck me. "Let's make it a source of the curse!"
The water, just created recently inside the room, was turned from its clear refreshing look into a grayish with a green hue viscous oily liquid by a thought. Ok, now let's add the player-killing mist from it – perfect!
A moment later I was on top of the secret room – great, now let's hint to the players that they definitely need to get down there and clear the source of the spoilage!
The answer from the Librarian came straight away – ‘Presence of the Enemy’? Ok, the name for the spoilage is as good as many others, let it be the ‘presence’.”
Great, now there’s a clear quest line where the presence has to be purged… It’s not enough though, it felt more like a bare 30-minutes quest, but what to add? Maybe some sort of barrier to the doors of the sanctuary to contain the poison gas? Right!
Enemies! How could I forget to add the hostile MOBs!?
One query, and a few seconds later a figurine of something that more or less meets my requirements appeared before my eyes. I don't know if I'd call it a demon or something, but it'll do for my idea, for now anyway.
The figure’s tiny body was half the size of an adult human average height, with a disproportionately large head with bulging eyes, and a completely bald body… Maybe add some big crooked pointed teeth inside the mouth… And the eyes would split apart to look around, and on the small hands attached sharp claws. Ok, the kind of starter mob is ready!
Let's call it… an Imp, no need to recreate the wheel here – now for the stats…
Starter players are not given a class or any skills – no need to add more work at this point. Let’s just put everyone in the same starting point! The starting players will, therefore, have a hundred health, a hundred mana and a hundred stamina. How about the stats, though?
The usual? Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Intelligence… Okay, Wisdom too. Maybe add Charm or something like that as well?
Ok, so we have Strength for direct damage, Dexterity for speed, Stamina for health and stamina, Intellect for ability power, Wisdom for… ability cost and extra stuff like cooldown time? And Charm for… Character response? Yeah, I guess – that will become a very important metric as soon as I start creating NPCs!
So, we're a little short, how about mana… Ah, screw it, I'll throw that in Stamina too.
So, six basic characteristics – not much, but enough to start with, perhaps we'll throw in bonuses, skills, or something similar? As soon as I get to creating them, anyway.
So, the starting players will have five in all characteristics – and they can distribute another five points at the start to customize their character. So the starting player will have about somewhere from fifty to a hundred hp, with the average damage from a punch of five to ten.
Crap, we will need to model the punch, maybe even some special attacking place on the character models where the blow does more damage, and where it would do less – and so many other possibilities…
Ah, right, the kill zone… Let's just write a temporary plug for a curse that it does one trillion damage per second – then a prompt for the ‘curse’ to be lifted, gotta remind myself to not forget to remove it.
So, right back to the Imp, I'd say it would be a level one mob, its health… well, twenty should be good – no, thirty! And damage in close combat, four… although, that’s a bit low since he has claws, okay, five. Let it be quite a dangerous opponent, from the beginning of the game, that can kill a player in 20 hits.
After all, they were promised an unforgettable adventure! Well, let them remember!
So, now let's create and distribute a few spawn points… Yeah – let the frequency be small, they should be enough for all players.
And for the starting task to the players, let's give… I do not know, something that would let them immediately understand that they are not just stuck on this floating island, also enough that they don’t immediately get out.
Maybe a quest to kill a couple of millions of those imps? With 200 players on each starting point, that shouldn’t take too long… No, wait, there’s a better idea than that!
The imps' spawn locations instantly changed from invisible and intangible dots in space to small clouds of the same gray-green color as the ‘cursed’ clouds. Now a name for the spawn point… A prompt after killing a hundred imps and then… Thanks, Librarian, kill 100 imps around the ‘Gate of Evernia’ after which a boss enemy will appear…
Level 10 and let's call him… Let's call him Big Imp, and increase his characteristics, maybe attach small horns to his head and also give him a special attack. Right, let's give him some kind of ‘magical arrow’ type attack, just change the color a bit and call it ‘imp charge’.
Great going! This one will have to be killed, and then the portal will close. Speaking of which, let's make sure the Gate is also getting the ‘curse’ as well, so players don't even try to get too close to it.
So, let's do a grand, twenty? Right, twenty of these gates on the island, and have everyone have a quick quest to close them, and a second one to figure out what's going on with the gates!
I’ll figure out the actual specifics later.
Actually, why don’t I just listen in on the Player’s idea and just choose from there? If I like one of their ideas by just copying it, it’ll let him think that they predicted my idea, rather than that this idea originally did not exist! Perfect!
So, what's next, hmm… Skills, I guess?
Oh yes, I had a lot of work to do…
***
All the Players that got the first copy of Tenebris Orbi certainly wouldn’t have any idea why they would be picked over everyone else. Not that they would care, being selected for being the first participants in Theomachy's new brainchild – is already a dream come true, so why look at the gift horse’s mouth? He certainly wouldn’t care to risk his place in a queue line that continued to grow with the game fully out of stock for the next six months. A position already being fought over with ridiculous sums of money – he was quite content with the current situation.
So, as he made himself comfortable in the gaming pod he had spent so much money on, a purchase he had to argue with his girlfriend with. Who completely disagreed with his priorities of monetary spending, absent all of that, the player momentarily shut his mind down.
After all, he had been promised something unforgettable – a fantastic adventure unequaled in the world. Big words for pretty much all games studios, but with very real weight when leaving the mouth of Theomachy executives.
And so, the player closed his eyes, eager to dive into the adventure he had been promised.
After a moment of disorientation due to the activation of the capsule, he emerged as a weightless spirit in front of the registration panel that now hanged in front of him.
Featureless clouds, an unhealthy gray with a slight glow of rotten green carpet, moved quietly across the sky beneath his feet. Along with the light of an orange, almost sunset sun, significantly larger than what one would expect on Earth in the sky, was all that greeted him besides the gray, uninviting signage before his eyes a moment later.
"Quite the Minimalist features, but it suits me just fine." The player only nodded, as he glanced at the registration plate.
Some forms were already filled in when he registered on the forum – and without very clear personal information, he couldn't even buy his capsule. But even so, the registration process wasn't over yet, requiring him to enter the future name of his game avatar… and just that.
There were no more fields in the tableau in front of the player, for the moment at least, so the player didn't ponder much either. Typing in the same nickname he had used during his time in the forum, 'Jim'.
After a moment, the table accepted his answer without any problem, which didn’t surprise Jim. For the first Players, there’s almost no possibility that their name would be taken already, it would be later when a new player needed to rack their brain in thinking up a unique name that hasn’t been taken yet. Jim wouldn’t be surprised to see some numbered name in the future.
What came as a surprise however when a table to edit his appearance or even his race didn’t pop up. There was no appearance editor in the game – nor was there a choice of playable races?
It made Jim frown for a second – hadn't the creators promised ‘thousands and thousands of different races’? It would be extremely lame if those races were in the game, but not for the players, forcing them to wallow as mere humans for the rest of their lives… Well, there’s the possibility that there would be quest lines to change that. I suppose the game developers want everyone to have the same baseline first…
Quickly dismissing that thought – at least he wasn't going to draw far-reaching conclusions solely on that fact alone, and so Jim took a closer look at his stats, the thing that he could actually affect for now.
Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charm – six stats in all, each with a starting stat of five, with five points available for distribution. No classes were presented for players, but a classless system was not yesterday's invention, especially considering the fact that it was the classless systems that gave the most flexibility in the choice of game strategy. So there’s a possibility that classes would be more of a player’s creation? Or would it be accessed in the game as well?
Jim’s imagination began to run wild as he imagined himself riding a dragon and destroying castles with a wave of his hands.
Ahem, anyway, back to character creation. A classless system didn't mean that the player needed to be an absolute all-rounder. In fact, it was usually the all-rounders who suffered the most in all the games Jim knew.
So without thinking too much about it, he threw in two points into Intelligence, two into Wisdom, and one into Charm. He didn't want to be a pure physical warrior, Jim wanted to experience what it was like to be a mage in ‘the most exciting adventure’.
Then with some surprise, Jim noticed that he didn’t have any starting skills and abilities either…
He was finding everything was already a little more strange than usual – but this time, too, Jim dismissed the thought quickly. A game with infinite possibilities! Before he clicked the coveted button – 'Start Game'.
***
I almost missed the arrival of the first players, as I tried to think of an appropriate name for the sword lying in the ruins of the ruined temple, almost buried under the rubble. If not for a message from the AI, which I've recently dubbed ‘Hound’ due to its function of alerting me to all sorts of events, that is. I quite likely would not have noticed the appearance of those until I came face to face with one of the players.
A moment later my body became invisible, inaudible, permeable and completely insensible – after which a sudden movement threw me towards the newcomers on that island where I was at the moment. Repeater, another AI, performed its task above all praise, not only copying the original layout of the floating island, but changing it within tolerable limits – I did not even need to particularly correct it.
Which was more an achievement of my networked mind than of my leadership, though.
Unnoticed, I appeared among the players – luckily I didn’t need to fear any of the players noticing me, my powers are absolute. It was especially important since this was the first and most important stress test of my efforts. If I could withstand the first influx of players – it would be much easier from here on…
At the very least, I should get a clearer picture of what I should expect from the players.
Taking a look at the Player that I’ve appeared next to, I wasn’t really that impressed by what I saw. He’s a short man, maybe slightly older than, maybe twenty-five? Above his head, I could make out without too much trouble his name, nickname to be exact – Jim.
I didn't look deeper into his personal information, as with my absolute level of clearance it was a matter of a few moments, but I didn't need it. And frankly, I was a bit ashamed to do so… his character status’ however I peered in instantly.
So seven in Intelligence and Wisdom, and six in Charm? I guess he decided to play the wizard…
I almost felt sorry for the guy – he did not know that the magic system doesn’t exist yet, so he wasted his points in Wisdom and Intelligence. Creating the skeleton of a skeleton of the system had been taking too much of my time to bother with secondary decisions like ‘what does magic even look like in this world?’ I just created proper gravity not two seconds ago, I have no time for something, relatively speaking, unimportant… Actually, I haven’t even created NPCs yet, so even his point in Charm was even more useless now.
I only felt more sorry for those players who had decided to throw all their available points into Charms – and there were almost a dozen and a half of them… They would be unfortunate, unhappy people for the first few days grinding…
Well, the hell with it, they’ll make their own fun. Jim himself looked around and took an uncertain step on the hard surface of the hovering island, checking if his connection was normal and if he had properly joined the server. He even took tentative steps to check if the ground beneath his feet felt real - I understand him perfectly.
Even after a dozen years of games of this kind, periodically the brain wanted to make sure whether the player's environment was real or not. Especially considering the fact that, even with all the restrictions imposed by various governments, neural-net connections could still transmit sensations to the brain, including very real sensations of touch, temperature, or pressure… Wait!?
My eyes widened instantly with panic – damn it! I mean, they're at a high altitude, the air here must be so thin! Which means… In a panic, I opened the game window, then froze for a second and sighed in relief.
I hadn't created air as a component of the world – but I hadn't prescribed the need for players to breathe either! So in the end, the problem had solved itself! I still need to fix it, though, so no chance for the player to notice that they didn’t need to breathe even underwater.
Quietly I snapped my fingers, fixing another concern with this creation – while the first players, having had time to look around, started making their moves.
***
Jim took a couple of steps, then sucked in the air of the fantastic place where he had found himself in. The fresh, almost mountain air had a light smell of flowers and… A barely perceptible smell of musty dust. What attention to details!
“AAAAH!” A sharp yell made Jim flinch and turn towards the source of the scream – after which realization came to Jim a moment later.
He was standing near the edge of a huge hovering platform – on a hovering island to be exact, and he could see the great expanse of clouds from his point of view. In fact, he could see the circumference of the Island, while ahead of them further inland were some ruins. Of course, some idiot is going to try to jump.
Rushing to the edge of the island, Jim's could see the figure of the Player swiftly drifting down towards the hovering green clouds below. Then, as soon as the player touched the clouds – his body was literally scattered into particles of dust that immediately melted into the air.
Jim shivered, of course it was just a game, and he understood that, but having just witnessed a death, all the more brutal and unexpected as the disintegration into atoms. He still allowed for a moment the thought of what it would be like if it were real – then made an internal note to stay away from the edges of the floating island.
Speaking of which – he glanced around, Jim could easily make out at least a few human figures, players, most likely. There were no nicknames or other identifying marks hanging over their heads, causing him to scratch his head. He supposes the game put great emphasis in gather information, that they wouldn’t let player easily know another’s name?
Still, taking the chance, Jim walked toward the lean, pale fellow standing nearby with short, black hair gathered into stiff unruly curls, drawing his attention with a wave of his hand.
“You’re a Player?”
“Yeah," He answered instantly, then looked down, embarrassed for a second for some reason. "Shit, I chose my nickname at random, but I didn't think what it would like to introduce… Well, my nickname is ‘Sad Cookie’, but given the stupidity of being addressed as such… just call me Sad.”
“Got it, oh, I’m Jim, by the way." Jim smirked, then looked around at the other players who were already going about their business, then hesitated for a moment before just getting it over with.
"Status!” he would be greatly embarrassed if nothing happens.
Luckily, at Jim's command, a small window instantly appeared in front of him, showing tabs for his characteristics, a map, inventory, and equipment slots, along with several tabs he was interested in immediately. Tasks, Skills, Abilities, Systems, and Characters – however, each of these tabs was inactive at the moment – but their presence made him breathe slightly.
So magic – or something similar to it – exist in this world after all, he just had to find it in game… Well, of course, what kind of shitty game has a stat for a skill that doesn’t exist!
That… Definitely calmed the guy down.
“Okay, well, apparently we're supposed to go explore this world inland." Jim grinned as he said this, pointing a finger in the direction of the cliff from which one of the players had fallen now two dozen seconds earlier. "Or we could always throw ourselves down and split into atoms.”
“Well," Sad grinned, "Inland it is.”
Comments
Hector Gregorio
mmm interesting
