noteworthy. He wanted great. He wanted the characters to turn into cult classics.
He continued. “I see that on the surface, the computer game is about angels battling demons. But there’re more nuances to the premise—in the world, not everything that seems to be perfect actually is perfect and not everything that appears to be evil actually is evil. In some cases, angels and demons switch sides with each other or transform back into humans.”
“Exactly. Mythology is important. The users have to buy into the rules of the world or else nothing matters. Having interaction with the humans is going to be the big buzz. I think their roles can be ramped up.” Danny didn’t seem to take a breath during his response.
“I’ve been working on that.” Now Jax sat forward. His posture always seemed as if he was poised to lift off. “Humans are agents to the angels or demons, but only certain ones can be turned.”
“What’s preventing all of them from being turned?” Grant looked at his notes. When world building, there couldn’t be any holes. Other gamers lived to find faulty logic. Having a recall to fix a hardware issue or launching an upgrade to fix the design didn’t fit with his standards for quality and delivery of the product. He’d never had to do that for any other project.
“That’s not the goal of the angels or demons.” Jax stroked his beard.
“Okay, but it doesn’t explain why all humans aren’t turned,” Grant pushed. He popped his soda, already preparing for a long morning to iron out these important details.
“The goal is for one side to annihilate the other. The humans are caught in the middle of the battle. Their loss is collateral damage.” Danny jumped in to explain.
Now that the conversation got under way, Danny seemed to be in his comfort zone. Even Jax’s suspicious attitude had softened.
“I think one of the levels should be a scenario where the humans could be used by one group,” Grant suggested.
Jax nodded. “We can take a look at that.”
This brainstorming process got his juices kicking. Grant sat back in the chair and sipped his soda. “We will do this.” He raised his soda can and waited for Danny to follow suit, then they tapped the cans to their mutual success.
Now that his creative well had opened, he couldn’t stop the flow of ideas. They remained in a huddle tossing around ideas, inventing, imagining and creating. Grant wrote copious amounts of notes to register the rules for this world. He scratched his temple, still thinking of additional possibilities.
More research on angel mythology from various cultures needed to be conducted to enrich the background. A vivid world paved the way for designers to create colorful, realistic scenes. Gamers were sophisticated end users who had to buy into the new world. They would form their expectations based on the intricate interweaving of the plot, their favorite characters and level of interaction with other gamers. Those components dictated if, at the end of the day, the gamers would spend the dollars to buy the new series.
After the men left to meet with Hadfield and Norton, Grant returned to his office. At his desk, he pushed up his sleeves, ready to sink his teeth into the work ahead. The power to create was intoxicating and made him feel as though he was floating high above the world, where he could admire its beauty. Most of his waking hours were consumed with his passion. His parents had gotten used to not seeing him for days, even though they lived on the property together. Meanwhile, he didn’t give dating even a second thought. He couldn’t split his time, his thoughts and his heart between his passion for games and a woman. It was out of the question.
Or so he repeatedly told himself whenever an aching loneliness did manage to sneak in and take hold. The increasing frequency of that loneliness was annoying. Lately, the feeling came whenever he thought of the stern face Tamara Wendell had made when she
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