I sat at my desk flabbergasted.
Why? Well, my game which had only previously gotten 2381 purchases had now sky-rocketed to 10,000... I had gained 7619 purchases over a week and that number was still increasing as the Twitch channel of Ned exploded past 2k views.
My points had now exceeded the 70k mark, my total now being: 74,210 P . That was just in pure purchases though, since playtime also gained me some points I was now sitting at 85,220 P. Survival was no longer an issue, now I could simply enjoy myself by updating Fallout and introducing new content.
Speaking of Fallout, the players had experienced many different aspects of the game since a week had passed... Darknight himself had gone to the Khan raiding group and killed the entire camp to save Aradesh's daughter; leader of Shady Sand's daughter. Spider had gathered a lot of ammo and random armour, giving his companion a weapon as well as running into Junk Town.
Both were still the bleeding edge of players, having spent over 200 hours each, in the game. Many had started to catch up, finding unique ways and builds over time that helped them gain advantages in certain areas. There was even one guy called Crimson who went pure Luck and simply walked around with looting on easy mode. Luck was powerful, not omnipotent, but useful.
Most of my effort for this week had begun to bleed into minor changes to how certain encounters worked. Boss balancing, loot balancing and of course core balancing to certain weapon damages and stat gains.
The first of my changes had been to include several new moves to each boss I had previously included. From shotgun boss-moves to sweeping claw strikes on the Death Claws, a plethora of unique and complicated mechanics had been added to the AI of the bosses.
Second was the readjustment of the stat system to make it more relevant to my 'Act' plan. Each Act would correspond to one of the different games made for Fallout, and thus the different time periods. The timeline of the games was complex and did very little to make the player feel as if their efforts in past version of Fallout were relevant... I planned to change that.
Items and a percentage of skill/stats will be taken to the next act. The player would essentially be playing as a descendant of their past character. For this to work however, the complexity of the AI will need to be sufficient, the story will need to reflect that in some way, small nods here and there to the past acts and finally a continuation of outcome lore throughout. Essentially, the lore of the Acts would change to accommodate the choices you had made previously.
For this to work traits and perks had been merged into a single category just called Perks. These, between acts, could be kept or changed out for the new character. Besides that, I had sprinkled in some advanced weapons alluded to by the existence of certain creatures in the game... Namely: Aliens, Mutants, Military, Robots and The Brotherhood. Ray guns from the aliens were added, new versions of power armour were in the works for the Military and Brotherhood. Fusion weapons were going to be introduced mainly in Act 2 and from Act 3 the armour would start to become more scarce...
Essentially meaning that if you didn't spend time finding Power Armour in Act 1 and 2, then there was less likelihood of you having one in later acts. Now, to make sure this wasn't completely a game killer I ensured that stim packs and other health regen items were increasing in affluence during Act 3 and 4. I was also wanting to add some personal flavours of sci-fi tech based off of the style of Fallout, namely personal defence shields later in the game that could protect from certain calibre firearms. I had some more plans, but these were the base things I had worked upon in the week.
Beyond that I was now considering expanding companions in single player mode to allow players to deck out their companions however they wanted. Armour and weapons would be equippable to the companions so long as they had pre-requisite skills for those weapons/armours if needed. If I was to make this change I would also enhance the AI complexity on the companions to be able to follow basic commands. In a way it would be like having your own tactical squad to manoeuvre around, if that is the way you wished to play. In consideration of the actions and consequences though, there would be an increased need for Charisma for gaining companions, and therefor it would become another gameplay style.
In the meantime I updated the game once more and watched as people became confused as to what the update meant this time... None of them knowing that they would soon find out, if Spider was going back to Shady Sands as it looked like he was close to doing.
"Hahaha, I should watch his stream to see everyone's reactions."
...
Meanwhile, In a SHIELD base somewhere...
"Director Fury there seems to have been strange movement in gaming spaces of late..."
Standing in front of a well-ordered and maintained desk stood an absolutely ravishing red-head woman with Slavic features, ruby red lips and a swept-back style to her entire outfit. Wearing black tactical armour and latex she had two long knives sheathed to her sides with a sniper rifle strapped tightly onto her back. Holding a small metallic sheet that projected a holographic display out she stared at the man that sat behind the desk.
"Are you seriously stopping my meeting right now, just to tell me about some video games...?" With a frown the eye patched Fury dropped his head and raised his brows soon after, his expression being a mix between 'What the fuck?' and 'really? for this shit?'
"Director, I would never bring pointless info to you." Straightening up he held his gloved right hand out and waited for her to give him the slate, her doing so very quickly. He looked down and began reading, his already frowning face frowning further.
"Fallout... Virtual Reality technology of unknown origin. Stark says he has no clue about it... Banner is missing right now and Bruce is apparently busy with his company... What are our own researchers saying about it?"
"They say that the source code of the game fries their computers out whenever they try to invade it. DDOS-ing, Malware, Curnal programs, IP scraping, nothing seems to work. We even attempted to use a program bought from Stark Industries, but it failed instantly, like the others."
Placing down the slate he steepled his fingers, entering into deep contemplation.
"From what we have seen director, when interfacing with the game to play it, the person goes unconscious. Whilst inside the game they can feel, smell and hear, but this is muted in comparison to reality but still evident. No danger is experienced by the players."
He broke his steeple and tapped the table with a single finger.
"I want you, Natasha, and Clint to enter into this game and attempt to find out who owns it and who is running it."
"Director, that is going to be almost impossible to do within the game. There has been no sightings of the creator of the game and the little interaction that has happened has purely been in updates."
Fury stood up and turned, looking out the large windows of his office. Hundreds of Shield agents were training in front of the building with a forest surrounding it. A small Shield base that was located, somewhere, in the USA.
"The chance is small, i know, but if there is any chance to locate them then it is through their own creation. Much like Stark, if you want to find him, you follow Stark Industries."
"I will tell Clint then, Director."
"Do so... But be careful, we don't know who or what this 'creator' is or represents."
Nodding, Natasha walked out of the office and left Fury behind to look out over the Shield base that he was currently staying in. He rubbed his forehead and covered eye before briskly turning and sitting down once more, looking at the screen of his computer once again.
"Where are you Cap?"
...
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters...
"Hey Logan! Want to go out for a drink?" A chipper man with red visor covering his eyes and flowing brownish-blonde hair poked out the side of a kitchen doorway as a white-tank top wearing man chugged a beer and rolled his eyes.
"Fuck off asshole, as if I'd want to drink with you..." He threw the beer bottle into the trashcan nearby and scowled at the man, stalking away in a moody disposition, slamming another door, adjacent, behind him.
"Shit, I just wanted to apologise for getting in-between you and Jean..." There was no response as the man shook his head and turned, only to find an ebony woman with stark white hair, blue extensions in her hair, a suave outfit on and a lovely smile.
"Cylcops, oh, I mean Scott... Are you stirring trouble with Logan again?"
"No... I was going to apologise to him actually. The guy just won't chill."
"He never will, if you keep annoying him like this."
Rolling his eyes Scott shrugged and began walking down the hall as the woman shook her head. Yelling a second later, down the hall.
"You need to stop this Scott! He will kill you...!"
"I know Storm...! I'll give it a break alright!?"
He rounded the corner as several children exited one of the classrooms, running down the halls with stacks of homework in their hands, laughing. Looking into that room Storm noticed the friendly smile of Charles Xavier greeting her in.
Deciding not to chace after Scott or think too much of his quarrels, she walked inside the now empty classroom.
"Professor. Nice to see you."
"Ororo, it's good to see you again after all that training."
"All well, you know, trying to control storms is busy work..."
"I highly doubt it was much of an issue for you, my esteemed student.
The bald and pale Xavier moved forwards a touch in his wheelchair, the mechanical instruments inside of it whirring as he pulled on the small movement joystick.
"Anyway... I wished to speak to you about a new game that the children are talking about."
Storm nodded and grinned a touch.
"Fallout? Yes, I have heard of it. Many of the kids want to play it but I see you have locked it down for now."
"I am thinking of allowing them to play..."
She recoiled just a touch in surprise as the man eased back into his wheelchair slightly, the folds on his forehead creasing further. No doubt he expected her questioning and prodding.
"Why such a swift shift in policy?"
He was right to expect.
"These children, we, are mutants Ororo... From what I have heard of this game from the thoughts of Humans who have played, it gives you an even playing field and no advantages. Even some mutants who play it have none of their abilities whilst they do...! I wish to give the children the chance to experience that, to feel normal for a change."
Storm froze for a while and considered the consequences, shaking her head in defeat.
"Very well... But I suggest before we just allow the students to play, you allow me, Logan, Scott and Jean to play."
"I had a feeling you'd be saying that. Thus I bought several copies and computers. The library has been closed for this afternoon..."
"I will assemble the X-men then..."
"Good luck, and don't be worried, I will be monitoring you at all times."
She smiled as she exited the classroom, leaving behind Xavier to his own thoughts.
'Hopefully this is the chance I hope it is for the children...'
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