“Okay, everyone, we are now here at our official studio. A few floors above us, the programmers, designers, engineers, and other developers are hard at work making their final preparations for the test. Below us is where your Dream Chairs are located. That’s where you will be stationed for the duration of this alpha test. Our project doesn’t have an official title yet, and the developers have had the toughest time thinking of a way to condense everything the game is about into two simple words. I’ve brought you here to this room to show off some of the game footage that we’ve captured. Are you all ready?”
A collective “yeah,” boomed throughout the spacious room. Anna’s micro mic broadcasted her playful laugh then she signaled for the lights to be cut. The chatter fell to pure silence as the group was covered in dark. Anna quickly shuffled off the stage and the huge screen displayed a bloodshot moon with symphonic background music playing from the speakers in the walls. The moon was soon engulfed in flames as a woman’s siren like voice cried out in a haunting soprano solo. Soon the video cut to a chaotic battle between two kingdoms. There were knights on either side, rushing forward on horses and on foot with swords or lances in hand. The battlefield was already littered with the dead and even more fell as the fighting intensified. The camera panned to two opposing captains then to a solitary man, an old grey-beard dressed in light armor with a dark cloak over it. The old man wielded what Sam thought was a broadsword in his right hand. He smirked then ripped his cloak off and revealed huge muscular arms clutching a handful of fire in his left hand which grew bigger and bigger until it exploded and engulfed the whole battlefield. The screen cut to a spiky red dragon flying through a blue sky. The scaly dragon landed on a rocky cliff and breathed an unending stream of flame unto a group of four adventurers who were trying to hide below it. The next screen was of a female mage fighting some kind of giant clad in armor. She acrobatically dodged his attacks and held up her staff, retaliating with a cluster of fast moving blue energy spheres that pierced the creature’s armor. There were then huge sweeping shots of several gorgeous vistas, including gigantic mountains, decrepit cities, a lava-filled volcano, a dark forest with skulls strewn about the ground, a green hilly valley, a roiling blue ocean, then there was a montage of intense and creatively designed creatures, creatures that Sam knew he would soon have to come face to face with. After that was a montage of deaths from all sorts of characters like knights, assassins, wizards, and what looked to be a cleric. Another round of deaths, most likely player deaths, was broadcast in first person, each one more gruesome than the last, with the final one being getting ripped in half and eaten by a giant Cyclops looking monster. The video ended with a montage of various weapons and spells being used. Once the lights came back on, Sam swallowed hard and breathed deep. He was definitely ready to play now.
“That was pretty kickass, right? And from the looks on many of your faces, terrifying. Okay, come on, everyone. We have one more person to meet before we get you all strapped in and logged into the game world.”
Anna then made her way through the crowd back to the door they came in through. She led them down the hall and into a huge room filled with padded reclining game chairs, arranged in rows and spaced out to allow a person to pass comfortably on each side. There looked to be medical attendants all around, mostly women. In the middle of the room was a tall woman who stood out from the rest of the staff. They were all wearing blue and white scrubs, yet she had on a green and white lab coat with what looked like professional office clothes underneath. She was wearing a skirt like Anna’s, only hers was longer and white. The woman’s long hair was tied into one thick braid and was a redder shade of auburn and her eyes were brown. Anna walked up to the woman and waved her hand over her as if displaying a prize.
“This, ladies and gents, is Alanna Moxley. She will be looking after you while you use our Dream Chairs and Full Dive headset. I will pass it over to her in a moment to explain more of the technical details about the medical facilities, but right now I’d like to say more about Full Core’s virtual technology. Show of hands, who here has heard of the lucid dream control theory?”
Sam and Robert raised their hands, along with a handful of others.
“That’s more than I expected. To summarize, for those of you who are not familiar, the theory posits that lucid dreams—a very powerful and vivid visual medium—can indeed be controlled. The theory suggests that not only can lucid dreams be controlled, but they can be created. Scientists have been looking at ways to create new dreams for decades now. They used music, suggestion, art, and symbolism but none of them have yet used the most obvious tools: game creation software. We here at Full Core Studios, are led by a master in the field of full immersion virtual reality. His name is Fulton Milner and he is the director and lead designer of this very project. What he has done is quite brilliant. He used electronic tools to enhance brainwaves and has found a way to mix these brainwaves—that are most active during lucid dreaming—with his own game program and has created the most immersive videogame ever made. This is possible through the breakthrough technology of the Miyabi Full Dive headset and the Dream Chairs, which Mr. Milner has created just for this game. We here at Full Core are proud to say that we have created a game with the absolute maximum level of immersion. Every other VR program that has come before is now what we call half-diving. And believe me, as much as we’d like to brag, we’re not. But I suppose you’ll just have to experience it for yourself,” she explained.
Anna winked, bowed, then walked over and stood behind Alanna. Sam thought a little about the lucid dreaming theory. It was a mostly safe science, but it was the sort of thing that scared a lot of people. Everyone was always on the lookout for negative psychological effects and dream manipulation had always seemed like it’d be a one way ticket to an eventual mental breakdown. The science just didn’t agree, at least when it came to those who were well adjusted. Those with a history of mental illness were the most susceptible to any negative effects, but even those were negligible. Alanna stepped forward and addressed the group, her voice projecting a heavy English accent.
“Hello everyone! Welcome to the dream room! I am Full Core’s resident medical authority, Alanna Moxley. I am here to look after you while you are immersed in the Miyabi Full Dive virtual world. Today I will be explaining all about our little facility here. Let’s start with the Dream Chairs. They are there to provide comfort to each of you testers and to also help immerse you even deeper into your game worlds. They are made with infused memory foam to shape to your bodies and have small speakers and subtle vibration features installed. We will be strapping everyone down to the chairs with Velcro wrist and ankle restraints. Don’t be alarmed, it’s not some BDSM experiment, I can assure you,” she explained.
The group laughed, which Sam noticed alleviated much of the tension that had been building, mainly his own. Alanna continued.
“The restraints are for your own safety and the safety of our medical staff. A small percentage of people’s bodies may react to what they’re seeing in the game world. It’s usually quick, sporadic hand and leg movements. It’s very unpredictable and our medical attendants are always patrolling, so it’s best to restrain those limbs to avoid potential injuries. Now I’d like you all to go ahead and pick a seat and we will begin.”
Sam and Robert hurried down the aisle and grabbed two chairs across from one another.
“For those of you who can’t find chairs, follow me to the next room,” Anna yelled, over the commotion.
Anna left the room with a huge group of people in tow. Alanna issued orders to those who remained in this room.
“Alright you all, sit back. The attendants will stop by each of your Dream Chairs and secure you with your restraints and hook you up to the heart, body, and blood pressure monitors. While you are playing, we will be diligently monitoring you. If any of you have any negative reactions, we’ll know immediately and we’ll stop the game. Remember also that you can log out of the game if you feel
any sort of deleterious health effects. You’ll receive further instructions once you are inside the virtual world. If any of you have to use the restroom, I suggest doing it now.”
If not for all the buzzing around him and his own perpetual excitement, Sam would have easily been able to fall straight asleep in the Dream Chair. He and Robert were soon strapped to their chairs via restraints on their wrists and ankles. The restraints were rather loose, giving Sam as comfortable a range of movement as he could get while still being restrained. They also weren’t as abrasive as he thought they’d be.
Soon after that, they hooked him and Robert up to a tiny device that monitored their heart rates, blood pressure, and other data from their bodies. The device was much more sophisticated than the one they sold in stores and was completely wireless. The devices were set directly against their chests, under their shirts. Then the headgear was brought out and it looked as cutting edge as Anna had said and was sort of intimidating, all black and glossy and maybe too small to fit his head. There was a large opening at the front where Sam guessed his mouth and nose would go. It reminded him of the over-the-top classic movie Robocop. Inside the mask was a network of gadgets, mostly concentrated around the ears, eyes, temples, and top of the head.
The young woman smiled as she approached and stretched the headgear out to fit Sam’s head. It was definitely snug, uncomfortable even, and seemed to tighten a bit when she snapped it on. Sam could hear electronic buzzing and clicking inside the headgear as several mechanisms shifted around. He couldn’t see much inside of the dark headgear, but he did see some kind of visor or screen shift down in front of his eyes.
He was now at his wits end waiting for the darn thing to boot up. He squeezed his fingers and felt his fleshy limbs squirming impatiently against the Velcro restraints. Worse than that, he felt the sweat pooling and dripping all over his rotund body from his head all the way down his pits then to his toes. His excitement was building. He hadn’t gotten to alpha test any VR games in a long while and never had he tested a fantasy simulation. He had no clue what to expect. He could hear the animated whispers and excited whimpers of all the other lucky alpha testers around him who were also strapped up in comfortable recliners and unable to see. Sam yelled out to Robert, who he had quickly forgotten was across the aisle from him.
“You ready buddy? It’s about to get real.”
“Dude, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop shaking until they start it,” Robert yelled back.
Sam could hear Robert nervously laughing and he laughed as well.
There was a sudden whirring in the headset and all the talking in the room quickly died down to mere murmurs. The headset tightened itself even more on Sam’s head, some kind of headphones inside it cupping tightly around his ears. He couldn’t hear anything but the seashell effect and he panicked a little bit at the seeming sentience of the machine. Chills ran down his spine as a quiet voice travelled through the headphones into his ears.
“Hello and thank you, alpha testers. I am the lead designer of this game, Fulton Milner. In a few minutes you will be in a virtual world created by me and my talented team of artist, designers, and programmers at Full Core Studios.”
It was the voice of the genius who spearheaded the game. He sounded calm and confident, like most of the other tech geniuses when they did presentations at their annual conferences.
“This whole project has been a labor of love and intense effort for all of us, but we need you to help us make it into true perfection. I’m counting on you all. With that said, we’re offering bonuses to the best of the best alpha testers. Those who give us their all in finding errors we could not find ourselves. Right from the start, we’ll be giving a monetary bonus of seventy-five percent added to your current pay rate to the first person to find five game breaking glitches. We’ll also be rewarding testers for reaching all sorts of milestones within the game.”
Sam’s breath caught in his throat for a second. If he could get that bonus, he could actually treat himself to something other than instant ramen and lunchmeat sandwiches. Hell, he could even get some extra art supplies for his next commission, whenever that would happen.
“It probably won’t be possible to find very many glitches. You can thank my world class elite team for that. If any of you miraculously find any more than that, we will decide on an even greater reward. We haven’t planned anything yet because we don’t think it’s possible. It’s up to you to prove us wrong. Of course, lesser bugs are to be found and reported as well. We expect full reports from all of you, even those who don’t find bugs. We will walk you through the reporting process as we go. Go forth, alphas, and work hard, so we can make the best game possible, but remember to play even harder. In one minute, we’ll start the countdown.”
Sam felt goosebumps all over his body from the announcement. The addition of bonuses made this gig even sweeter and made his excitement levels reach a fever pitch. They were all mere moments away from delving into the game. He couldn’t hear himself, but he felt his lips mouthing, “I hope this doesn’t suck.”
He couldn’t contain his childlike grin after that. The minute long wait was agonizing, but soon after he heard a robotic system voice. A large white number ten and some text appeared on the screen in front of him, in a strange script. The numbers were all different and seemed to play with his eyes.
“Initialization in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ...”
........
...........
Sam had the strange feeling that he had just woken up. Did they knock him out? Whatever had happened, he couldn’t feel his limbs or his excess sweating anymore. He couldn’t even feel his face and he still saw nothing but blackness all around. Suddenly, his world lit up all white, nearly blinding him. He wished that he had his hands to block out the brightness. For whatever reason, he couldn’t even squint. He was soon after surrounded by a beautiful blue sky and moving clouds that seemed to have come from nowhere, but there was nothing else. Text popped up on screen as if someone was typing as they went.
Sky Eden initialized...
Textures 100%...
GUI 100%...
Packages - H 100%...
Packages_I – Z 100%...
Maps 100%...
Audio_Packages 100%...
Char_Resources 100%...
Objects_Resources 100%...
Babylon language packages initialized...
.....
VR Systems booting...
The text disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Then more text appeared, but this time it lingered.
Personalization in progress...
Sam heard Milner’s quiet voice all around him then the man was slowly digitized into existence right in front of him. Virtual Milner was a tall and absurdly thin man with short black hair that seemed to fly in every direction. It was cut shorter on the sides, but each strand seemed to have a mind of its own up top. It was like he tried to take care of his appearance, but didn’t follow through. There was dark stubble all around his chin, but the hair growing atop his upper lip was a little fuller. He had bags under his thin dark eyes and a blank tired look as he seemed to stare right through Sam. Sam had no idea why the man was wearing an unbuttoned white lab coat with rolled up sleeves either.
“Welcome to the personalization process, alpha. This is a prerecording of my voice. I’ll be feeding you instructions that will allow the Miyabi Full Dive technology to perfectly sync with your movements. Follow my simple instructions for the best results.”
Milner disappeared after his message and left Sam with control of his head, but he could only move it left and right.
“I want you to look at the clouds.”
Sam looked around at the various white clouds.
“Good. Now look at that red cloud behind you.”
Sam quickly turned his head and spotted the bright red cloud.
“Good. Now I want you to find the dark blue cloud.”
Sam could see part of the cloud already.
It was above him, but he couldn’t lift his head.
“Can’t look up at it, can you? Sorry about that. I’ll need you to ask for my permission to look at it.”
That annoyed the hell out of Sam.
“You’ve got some nerve, asshole!”
He heard himself speak for the first time and it astonished him.
“Good, you can talk. But I still need you to ask for my permission to look up, to complete this trial.”
“Fine, jerk bag.”
Sam was amusing himself, but he hoped that this creepy man couldn’t hear him.
“Will you please let me move my head like a normal person, Mr. Full-tan?”
“Yes, I will happily comply with your request, but my system detects heavy sarcasm. No need for such an attitude,” said the seemingly omniscient designer.
Sam decided to keep any further smart aleck comments to himself and hoped that the system couldn’t read minds as well. Still, that was impressive. For a game to be able to detect emotions in someone’s tone of voice was pretty advanced. This was stuff that developers had promised ten years ago and were still struggling with today. He complied with Milner’s request and looked up at the blue cloud above him.
“Good, now find the yellow cloud.”
That one was below and to his left.
“Perfect. Your system now fits you like a glove. Movement here should feel as natural as it did in the real world, at least when it comes to the camera control. Personalization complete.”
The screen went black again, then some words formed in thin white mist in the middle of the screen.
Project_DH
2 Create-A-Character
The title faded to black, then the screen showed a panoramic view of a thickly canopied forest that was mostly shrouded in shadows, but had some open paths bathed in beautiful moonlight. The trees were various shades of grey, with leaves ranging from dark green to deep purple. It all looked both enchanting and deadly. Sam tried to take in every detail of the forest as he waited for the next phase of the game. The camera stopped in a small clearing, visible by moonlight. A single empty textbox dropped down, asking for the player’s name. A two-dimensional, nearly-transparent keyboard appeared in front of Sam and he wondered how the heck he was supposed to use the thing. He didn’t seem to have hands at this point. Fulton’s voice seemed to come from the very shadows.