Chapter 18: Chapter 18

After agreeing to buy YouTube, I ended up having to spend an extra week in California. This was due to needing to have Sandra fly over, write up the contract, as well as introduce myself to all the employees. There were a few other things I did as well, namely keeping this building open but having it work as a branch to the main one. This branch would focus development on certain aspects of YouTube, while I planned on opening the main headquarters in Michigan or Ohio. For that to happen, i'd need to build it which would take time. So for now, this would continue to work as the main site.

While I was here, I decided to write down what features I wanted YouTube to have, and when they should be achieved. This would keep the company on a clear track for the future.

Once everything was finished here, I flew back to my home state with my partner. She went back to the house that I brought early this year, and I headed to the office. While I was busy with my company, she was set on becoming America's next top model. We lived two different lifestyles, hers was fast-paced at times, while mines was slow. I never had a lot growing up, and when I did become an adult, I worked hard for everything I owned. I was alright with not having the most expensive merchandise, she however, wanted a lot.

But, it all came from her pocket not mines. It was not something I would support, unless it was a special occasion. As I thought about the two of us and why we were together in the first place, I ended up back at my game company. The Building did not change, but there were close to a hundred people working for me now. They were developing the games, while the fifty employees I had on the first floor were managing the resources we had and made sure everyone was paid.

"Morning, sir." Natasha the secretary, greeted me with a smile as I walked through the door.

"Morning, have anything for me?" I asked her.

"Yes." Natasha said as she flipped open her notepad that was laying on the marble desk. "Mr. Evans stopped by Friday looking for you, but since you were not here he said he would be back today. I can tell him your absent if you want me to..." Natasha paused and looked at me.

"No, it's fine. Send him up when he arrives." 

"Miss Berkley asked for an interview, she left a message six times. No one has been inside the company that doesn't work here, so they are all curious as to what is going on here. There are a few people that want to invest in the company, namely..." Natasha continued giving me the rundown of what occurred while I was away, and I made a mental note of what was important.

I had no plans of allowing anyone to own a portion of my company. YouTube was a different story, but the game company and film studio were all mines. Once others got their hands on some shares and wanted to have a say as to what went on here, the direction of my companies would be led in a different direction than I wanted. That's why this was all mines, and as long as my dream of making a game was fulfilled, I was ok with that.

"Hey Alex."

"Hello sir."

Various people greeted me as I went upstairs. There were fifty people working on Projet K, most of them were hired to help with coding the game, and developing the extra characters. Amy my lead artist worked with Artur and Victoria on the concepts for these extra characters. Their backgrounds, storyline, abilities, and more. With that knowledge, she then gave it to her team to actually put those bits of information into an actual design.

Thirty people were dedicated to the game engine Harold was in charge of making. He asked for an increased budget, but he ended up having to need more hands for the development. Which was fine by me, because I already wanted to increase his team numbers. They would play a key role in the company.

The last fifteen people were working on the single-player game based off the fantasy series, the Malazan. At this moment, there were zero plans on adding another title to the company because I was more worried about quality than quantity. Although there were only fifteen of them, they were working hard and even added a few concepts that Project K had in theirs.

"Julien, how is it going?" I asked as he was one of the lead developers for the game along with Johnathan.

Julien turned around in his seat after I said something. He was focused on his work that he did not even notice me behind him.

"Alex! You've returned at just the right time, we've just finished the animations for the Shadow Walker. Check them out." Julien sounded excited as he spoke, and he quickly switched to another tab.

"Why does it seem like the graphics just keep getting better whenever I receive an update?" I asked Julien as I stared at his screen. He was standing in an open field with the grass swaying and leaves moving on the trees. It looked amazing, especially for this time period. I don't think any games in 2006 could compare with the current graphics, but even then it would only become more realistic once our engine was finished.

"It does because we keep pushing the engine to the limits. The software team also created various plug-ins for us to test out which only helped bring forth this realism. We are still working on the equipment rendering, but we have finished this basic cloth outfit. This class uses a wakizashi so like the other assassins it has a short range. Creating the movements for a full action game was a bit challenging but we are managing it. But, look at how smooth the actions are."

You are reading story Return to 2004 at novel35.com

I watched Julien move the character around in various motions before he started swinging his weapon. The animation was not on par with games I played in the future, but it was definitely solid. The combat in this game would have to be better than amazing, I wanted people to see the fun and challenge action combat games would have.

"There is no sound yet, but you get the general idea. This is not the final version, it could still use some tweaks but unless we get more plug-ins or the engine is finished, it is essentially all that the CryEngine can dish out. I don't like the way the phantoms look but its been a tough job for our team to design it in-game. So, what do you think?"

"It's amazing, did you make the character invincible during certain animation periods of specific moves? This will create an interesting dynamic for the future of battles, so we have to get this right." I asked him.

"Yeah, we limited the number down to two skills. There is even animation canceling if done right, but I really want to create a combat system where instead of canceling the animation, it becomes altered. We can't do that here because of engine limitations, and even if we tried to do it with our own engine I believe it would take a long time to develop. But one day I'll create it." Julien told me.

His idea was an interesting one, and I knew that there were many games that had the ability to link skills together. I was not sure if that was what he wanted to do, or something different. But, I did know given time it would be possible.

Me and Julien spoke for a bit longer, before I switched to chatting with Eric and Johnathan. While Julien was more focused on the combat of the game, Eric was working on the monster settings. Johnathan had the hardest job as he was creating the world. I asked him to make the world be destructible, and have players be able to interact with it. This was going to be a core aspect of the game, as I would like players to be able to chop down trees, grow crops, and so much more. This concept was not really thought of in this time period, but he was trying his best to make it happen.

After I finished there, I headed towards Amy. She was hovering over an Asian woman while pointing her finger at the computer screen. I could see her mouth moving, so I knew they were talking about some sort of character or creature. I still approached but said nothing to interrupt them.

Amy soon noticed me. "Alex, take a look at Arthur, the Redeemed."

The Asian woman having noticed me smiled and did a slight bow with her head. I returned the greeting then looked at her screen. It had the image of a knight in white and gold armor. His hair was golden and eyes azure blue, and although the colors seemed to be basic it still looked very vibrant. I was amazed by the design and knew that Amy had not designed this character. Her character designs were extremely well made, but the color scheme was different.

"Miss Sachiko came up with this after she read the lore about the Church. She wasn't sure if it would fit within the world as the world is a bit more darker, but I think it would work."

"It's different, but in a good way. How are you adjusting to your new environment miss?" I asked Sachiko.

"I like it. It's... a bit different than Japan so it's taking a bit getting used to. It's erm..." Sachiko said then paused as she tried to think of the correct word. " Problematic at times especially when out shopping." She told me.

"Yeah, it can be. There are different in spices, and finding a good market that does sell the same type of ingredients that you use is hard. At least your english is improving. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you."

She shook her head. "No, no, this is more than enough."

I smiled then looked at Amy. "So this is a character belonging to the church? I thought we weren't working on society gameplay?"

"We aren't really working on it persay. The writers have had a lot more time to add in more lore, so we've decided to flesh out those future societies. These storylines will be side quests, but will get players interested in these societies. As for Arthur, he is one of the raid bosses at the start of the game. This is how he looks after he is no longer corrupted and will only make an appearance later on."

"As long as we are making sure the systems in the base game are functional with little to no bugs, then that's fine. How have the designs fared for the world bosses?"

Once Amy went over the artwork for the world bosses, how they were tied in to the story and their skills, I only asked her a few more questions. When we were done talking I spoke with the writers, mostly Artur. Since we began on this project, the story has come a long way. He was writing the plot for the third expansion, while everyone was still busy fleshing out the base game. When I told him my plan for the story's end, he was excited about it. I think it gave him more motivation that helped him when he started writing the storyline for the game.

A mmorpg is the type of game where the story is endless, it only truly ends when the player decides to stop playing. That was not the case for Project K, it had an ending and I couldn't wait to see how it would end. I knew that it would, I even gave him my idea on it. But Artur was writing it, and as much as I could read ahead I did not want to spoil myself for what he had in store.

You can find story with these keywords: Return to 2004, Read Return to 2004, Return to 2004 novel, Return to 2004 book, Return to 2004 story, Return to 2004 full, Return to 2004 Latest Chapter