Do You Want to Build a Holo Game?

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

♫​

D R A L L
The Corellia Digital Building

Overlooking the Boiling Sea, on the outskirts of the city of Meccha, was a curious compound that served a variety of purposes.

It had belonged to the Corellia Digital Corporation since the days of the Galactic Empire, originally constructed as a creative retreat for developers and, later, as the private home for the president of the company. In the wake of Corellia's destruction, what had been a wayside property off world became the new icon for a company rebuilding from the devastation. While the upper floor remained a luxury apartment, the lower floors were dedicated to the operation of the computer and communications industry. Two sub-levels served as manufacturing, research, and development facilities producing all manner of equipment from commercial comm units to military grade hardware.

But, at the core of the company's reinvention of itself was electronic gaming.

The ground floor was decorated and designed to be representative of that fact, with illustrations ranging from the artistic to the comical depicting characters from different franchises or titles of what had become familiar names. The Legend of Tofu. Build-a-Bear Knights. Sith Fighter Budokai. Outside of the corporate headquarters, a statute of a teddy bear wielding a double-bladed lightsaber against a serpentine-like dragon dominated the courtyard. It was representative of a scene from World of Build-a-Bear Knights, the company's ongoing massively multiplayer roleplaying hologame.

But, while sales and subscriptions remained strong, complacency was a trap that too many in the industry fell into. There needed to be new titles, new releases. But fresh ideas didn't necessarily require that they be new ideas. In fact, most of the successful titles in Corellia Digital's library had been around for more than a four hundred years. Updated and modernized to reflect current technology.

The trouble now was in identifying who owned some of the rights or royalties to titles that had disappeared behind the shroud of Four Hundred Years Darkness.

One could argue that any property that old would fall into the public domain, but the young Anzat preferred to hedge his bets and avoid any unnecessary litigation. If they could identify the proper claimant and negotiate an agreement, then the product could be developed without fear of potential lawsuits siphoning away profit. It had taken some research in this case. But, they were close enough to securing a deal that would ensure their newest product could move forward that the boy had decided to move to Phase II.

Playtesting.

And, for this most vital of holo gaming quality control measures, the company had reached out to an expert in the field of fun. In fact, this little funologist came very highly recommended. And by Firemane, no less. So it seemed he was, indeed, the foremost authority on the subject of fun.

With some luck, perhaps their new game might impress even him...

[member="Makai Dashiell"]​

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qsWFFuYZYI​

​

Makai Dashiell was no funologist. Did he have a HoloStation 4? Yep. HoloBoy Advanced? Check. Had he been begging his parents for a HoloLink?Double check. In all reality, he was just a typical young boy with a taste for gaming. Angry Mynocks was one of his favorites to play when he wasn't at home, thanks to the portability of the HoloBoy Advanced. Build-A-Bear Knights was his game of choice at home on Ceto. Makai was a level 47 Disciple of Jar'kai Bounty Hunter, something he thought was a fair achievement given his extensive travels and now school boy status.


Perhaps the only real reason he was here was due to his family and its ties with Firemane. [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] must have mentioned his love of the Corellia Digital products to someone at a business meeting. Makai had shadowed enough business meetings to know how these things operated. Still....Corellia Digital! His brain wasn't going to rack at all the possibilities of how he got here. Best to just enjoy it and possibly sneak into a side room to see what the company had in store for Build-A-Bear Knights.


After having his holo taken next to the large Build-A-Bear statue, Makai had been escorted into the building. It was an overload for any gaming fan. All of the most popular hits were up on display with various little props and one of a kind things scattered about. So entranced by everything around him, Corellia Digital representatives were having trouble getting him to focus on actually making it down the hall.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

The bad thing about Drall was that the Corellian Sector was claimed by the Sith.

Thus far, no star destroyers had come knocking on their door. Aside, perhaps, from a couple of Sith who'd availed themselves of the HoloNet to order some Corellia Digital merchandise. The boy knew that some Silver Sanctum aligned companies, such as Sasori, didn't do business of any kind with the Sith; however, these were not weapons or armor or vehicles... they were comlinks, chronometers, and gaming devices.

If the Dark Side wanted to play Angry Mynocks...

Why not? And maybe then the Anzat could discover whether there was any truth behind the long standing rumor that the Dark Side had cookies.

The good thing about Drall was that this wasn't just a company and it wasn't just a corporate boardroom. This was his home. This was his own backyard. And that meant not having to always be on his best behavior. Not that he was ever on his worst behavior, but it was difficult being a youngling in a Jedi Temple. There was all sorts of social pressure to not be yourself. Never be yourself.

Younglings were told that they were expected to behave like future Jedi. And not just any Jedi either, the dictates were quite clear. One should aspire to be more like Ki-Adi-Mundi or Luminara Unduli. But not like Qui-Gon Jinn or Quinlan Vos. Therein lay everything a youngling needed to know about how to act like a Jedi. Perhaps the idea was that such imitation would become habit, and that habit a behavior. The reality was, Sor-Jan had just gotten quite good at pretending. He knew how he was expected to act, or what he was expected to say, and played the part laid out for him.

But here? Here he was free to be himself.

Even if he didn't always recognize who that was.

The nice thing about the hard wood flooring was that it was great for sliding across in socks. Shooting across the floor, the young Corellian had hoped to slide over toward where the newcomer had been escorted inside of the building. Instead, he overshot that mark and went straight into the wall. Giggling, the youth turned back toward the guest, his feet continuing to slide as the boy seemed like he was ice skating in socks over the well maintained and waxed wood floors. "Hi!" the dark-haired boy offered brightly. "You must be Makai."

The youngling was a boy with hair as dark as [member="Théodred Heavenshield"]'s, but didn't seem as old as he was. If anything, he looked as though he might be a year or so older than [member="Zak Dymo"]. He had on an oversized t-shirt with a graphic from the animated holo Tofu! that had been loosely based on the Legend of Tofu game series, and in addition to his socks was wearing pajama pants.

Why was he still in his pajamas? This was his home and his house was a video game design company. Why wouldn't he still be in his pajamas? Plus, he didn't have any meetings today. Well, he did, but he was sending [member="Jon Jon Nemo"] to take care of those. That's why he had employees! Even still, the nice thing about being a Jedi businessman was that Sor-Jan could always throw on a Warden Cloak over his pajamas and people would think he was just dressed in Jedi garb.

Not to mention, people doing business with a respectable company such as Corellia Digital were probably expecting more of a Gungan lawyer than they were a vampire wild child who was also a Knight of the Old Republic. Even [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] had a hard time adjusting to that one when she'd first met the little entrepreneur.

"I'm SJ," the boy supplied in greeting, reaching up to brush an errant strand of dark hair from out of his eyes. "I'll be your tour guide!"

Tour guide. Temporary employer. Researcher. And archivist currently unraveling the mystery and history of what had happened to the rights to the once famous holo arcade game Wookiee Warpath. And scheming how to update its engine and graphics for modern holo game systems. And the key to that, was the kid right in front of him.

[member="Makai Dashiell"]​

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]


"Bye Dad!"


Makai shouted down the hall as his father would be waiting around in a luxury lobby. His Dad had brought along a shoulder bag full of work that needed to be done so Makai didn't feel so bad about running off to play games. At least there would be something to do besides staring at giant indoor statues of various Build-A-Bear Knights characters.


Makai followed the kid named SJ, one that said he would be tour guide. The boy was dressed in various Corellia Digital gaming apparel, along with some fun looking socks that he was sliding all over the floors with. He found himself putting his scale-speckled hands into the pockets of his khaki colored pants as he started to follow along. Iced azure eyes looked at the hallway walls, taking in all of the product advertising, awards and memorabilia.


"We're taking a tour? Are we goin' to see where they work on the games?"

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

♫​

Interesting.

Most people who visited the Corellia Digital building wanted to see the game library, or asked to see the latest closed betas. Not many were interested in how the games came to be. "Yep!" the small Anzat offered brightly, sliding sideways as he gestured toward a grand staircase that looped both a floor above and a floor below. Spinning so that he was facing toward the stairs, the boy stuck an arm and a leg out like a marionette that was about to go marching. "Follow me!"

And, with that, the raven haired boy proceeded down the spiral steps into the basement. Or, the first basement anyway. The factory and manufacturing plant was another basement level below.

Collaborative work stations were arrayed throughout a vast, open area that was colored in bright swaths of color. There were round couches, comfortable chairs, and cushions strewn throughout the floor. And dotting the landscape were any number of artists, jewelers, programmers, and engineers. The boy paused a moment to look for a pink-skinned Zeltron, but it seemed as though [member="Marque"] was absent at present. "This is our creative space," the youngling explained, as he led the other boy through the floor. "Here, people are working on everything from the next generation HoloLink to software patches to our games."

Making his way over to one side of the open room, the pair approached a Gran who was working with a variety of holograms. Sensors tracked the movements of his hands, so that he appeared to be manipulating the contents of one 'window' and moving it around to the next. Or even re-sizing and re-shaping them with a gesture. He wore comfortable looking sweatpants and had on slippers. "This is Auron," the boy remarked, indicating the Gran that was lounging against a pile of pillows as he worked. "He's responsible for the character designs of the game you'll be testing for us."

Turning to his left, the boy pointed to where an Atrisian women seemed absorbed into whatever she was listening to behind a pair of headphones. "That's Laya. She designed the music."

[member="Makai Dashiell"]​

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]


If it was possible his feet wouldn't even be touching the ground. Makai was incredibly happy at the days events thus far and so far it was only walking down hallways. As he walked with SJ, Makai had to look in every opened or cracked door. People were set to work in most of the rooms, laughing during meetings or gathered around playing games on overly large screens. It was a little different than visiting the offices of his fathers company, or even the offices of Arceneau Trade.


"Wizard!"


Looking around the room, eyes fixed on some of the character design, it was clearly unreleased because it was nothing he had ever seen before. Was he getting an ultra exclusive sneak peek of something exciting? Granted it only looked like some add in components for the game but...it was was still something.


"It only took this many people to make a game? I thought it would be a whole lot more....like....rooms full of sentients."

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Rooms full of sentients...

Sometimes it did feel as though making a new holo game required rooms full of lawyers. "Just a lot of different kinds of artists, who each have their part in the project," the young Anzat remarked in answer, before noting, "People are surprised at how many musicians we employ."

Not to mention the contract with the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Talus and Tralus, who famously performed the soundtrack to World of Build-a-Bear Knights. Of course, that was a two way street. The rights to use the Corellia Digital music proved a substantial credit raiser for the annual Holo Games Live event, which drew crowds in spite of the Sith occupation of the Corellian System.

But, enough talk about how the holo game was made. "You ready to see the play test room?" the boy inquired eagerly. He was exited to get the beta loaded for its first go-round on the holostation.

[member="Makai Dashiell"]​

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]


"The music is really awesome, so I don't think I am too surprised."


In reality, Makai wasn't thinking an entire Orchestra of musicians though. A room full of talented people is what was coming to his mind rather than an entire Hall full of sentients working in tandem to create every nuance of music for the game. Music any Build-A-Bear Knight fan would surely know by heart, each note defining the various levels and scenes scattered throughout the game. Enough about the music, did SJ just mention the game testing room?


"Of course I'm ready!"


Makai started to follow the boy out of the one room.


"How many games do you normally test in a year?"

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Guiding the other boy up the winding staircase which led from the first sub-level to the ground floor of the main building, the small Anzat looked back as he answered, "In a good year, only about six or eight titles make it to this level of production."

They'd field upwards of twenty-five. Or more, in the case of game concepts that never became anything more than a rough idea on a paper napkin someone might, or might not, mention at a staff meeting."I prefer to focus on making one quality product, rather than a lot of crappy products," the Anzat offered, explaining how he saw his own approach to business.

Like most of the interior, the play test room was a little non-traditional. Instead of being cubicle workstations with a corporate feel, Makai might have thought that they'd just walked into the den or living room. There were comfortable couches, bean bag chairs, and soft area rugs spread throughout the room, creating the obvious feel for play testers to test the games in an environment that was more natural to how they normally played their games. For those who liked a desk, there were several at the corners or along the walls of the room.

"Make yourself at home," SJ offered cordially. "I've got two games ready for testing," the Anzat declared, getting to the business of business. "Would you prefer a puzzle-based adventure game, or more of a shoot-em-up adventure game?"

[member="Makai Dashiell"]​

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]



"Uh...the puzzle one sounds fun."


Makai enjoyed the challenge of the puzzle based game versus a shooter. Not to say he didn't enjoy all game types but there was something about spending hours trying to figure out and beat a game. There was stuff scattered all around the room, things to sit on or lounge across. Was he supposed to take a seat? Well, how else was he going to play the game? Standing up in front of the holovision wasn't an ideal way to enjoy a game. Especially a new, unreleased one.


Carefully he sat down on a couch, at end near arm. Legs dangled a little, idly swinging them while he waited to start.