Designing the interface on the Resonance Engine was a piece of cake.
Wasn’t it said that virtual reality is invincible and AI is a god for no reason?
[▶Creating Wilhelm Village.]
By simply adding game modes on top of the open world through conversation-based interactions.
The world expanded based on the map and the architectural styles of pre-built buildings.
Backgrounds, personalities, goals, and behaviors were assigned to NPCs, each given varying entropy values.
Security guards had lower values since they couldn’t leave the castle gate, while street bards had higher values.
The remaining detailed backgrounds were left to ‘ASI Hibris.’
Just as I was feeling the satisfaction of gradually completing the game, a question popped into my mind.
“Should I add music too?”
Music isn’t really a grading factor in the final project.
Well, if I’m feeling bored, I could use some AI-generated music, but it would be nice if the BGM suited the situation.
So I hurriedly called Daniel, who was studying at the Korea University music department.
[Hello? Whoa, Na-me! It’s been a while! Have you been well?]
We exchanged greetings and updated each other on our lives.
“Could you make a few BGM tracks for my assignment? Not a lot, just about three or four?”
[Of course, if it’s for Na-me. When do you need them by?]
“The final presentation is in two weeks, so it’d be great to get them before that.”
[The time is a bit tight… Do you have any gameplay footage? I need to understand the game’s vibe roughly to work on it.]
“I don’t have any yet, but I’ll play it today and send it by tomorrow.”
[Cool! I’m excited to see the game Na-me made!]
Thus, the alpha test was moved up from the schedule.
I contacted Adella, who returned to Korea a month earlier than us for school, and summoned her into virtual reality.
[Adella has connected.]
“Yaaawn, I was planning to sleep in since it’s the weekend. But it’s morning here.”
“Help me with my assignment. It won’t take long.”
“Game? Oh, so you solved that unreasonable gun issue?”
“I added a setting where I get summoned to another world a day before military discharge.”
“Yikes, that’s horrific! Are you a demon?”
“I made two types of bullets: subatomic and mana bullets. The subatomic ones can be supplied by mining minerals, and the mana bullets can deactivate barriers or cast spells remotely.”
This was the most challenging part of the coding.
It’s tough to leverage AI’s help to write rules that defy the laws of physics in an open world.
I set it up so that the mana stream moves together with the bullets and squashed minor bugs ensuring the rules don’t violate others at the boundaries.
“In any case, I just need to see the ending, right? Sure, I’ll wrap it up quickly.”
Adella rolled up her sleeves, boasting with confidence.
Meanwhile, I opened a game portal in the center of the Private Room.
In an atmosphere that felt like it would suck us into a storm of time and space, Adella muttered as she looked at the portal’s name.
“Hmm? What’s this? You still haven’t decided on the title?”
[NoName_OpenWorld_Programming_Final_Project_ReallyReally_Really_Final(3)_WhatShouldTheTitleBe.exe]
“Try playing it and come up with a title.”
“Sure thing. So what’s the goal of this game?”
The goal of the game…
Life is a series of choices and decisions.
If there’s death at the end of life, then the game’s ending is the ultimate conclusion.
“Seeing the ending.”
Adella chuckled and grabbed my shoulders with both hands.
“Okay then, let’s go, big sis. I’ll reveal just how shabby the game is!”
“Fine by me.”
A warning message faintly flickered in the portal beside us.
[▶NPCHYBRIS NOT FOUND]
“Lucky break, Hibris.”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing.”
I shook my head and grabbed Adella’s hand, leading her into the game.
*
“Dad, I’m off!”
The cheerful voice of a girl echoed.
In a small village on the southern continent of Wilhelm, surrounded by green hills.
The sky was covered in dark gray clouds, looming as if it hadn’t seen proper sunlight for days. A girl with green hair strolled through the village, murmuring.
The small shops were barely noticeable, and raindrops turned into dew on the glass windows, sapping the village’s vitality.
With the dim light from lamps as her guide, she navigated through the fog.
Graffiti from doom-mongers written in black coal decorated the walls.
[If you scatter, you live; if you gather, you die.]
The girl, Hibris, smiled wryly.
Being able to write at least suggests a level of intelligence.
If even such intellectuals firmly believe in the world’s end, the anxiety of the people must be hard to fathom.
Yet, Wilhelm still maintained its village shape well.
Many of the elderly, not wanting to leave their birthplace, stayed.
It wasn’t a monster-infested area, nor was it far from any major wars.
Reassuring herself that it was better off than other regions she heard rumors about, Hibris climbed the mountain.
Halfway up the hill, an abundance of raspberries hung.
As she plucked the fruit and put it into the basket, the raspberries tumbled down the slope again.
“….? Oh the basket!”
Realizing she left the basket at home, Hibris sank to the ground in despair.
As a makeshift solution, she gathered her apron and filled it with raspberries.
Her smooth legs were clearly exposed, but that was alright.
By the time she goes down the mountain, it will likely be dark.
Rustle-
Then came a hint of presence.
“…!”
Hibris snapped around in surprise, widening her eyes.
A cute squirrel suddenly puffed out acorns from its mouth and fainted.
“Wow, you startled me, Mr. Squirrel.”
Hibris poked the squirrel’s cheek and burst into laughter.
Soon the dazed squirrel left the acorns behind and scampered up a tree.
Just as their brief encounter was about to end.
“@#$@(&(#$(#(@!”
“&@&$&@.”
This time it was clearly the presence of people.
She instinctively hid her body in the bushes.
On the path, a pretty girl and a doll-like little boy were descending, bickering.
“Is this someone claiming to make a game that doesn’t even have a proper spawn location set up?”
“Yeah, you might forget things while making it, there’s a lot to consider.”
“Well, it ends up having a fall-off angle as soon as the game starts. It’s doomed.”
“… You do your thing. I’m not helping.”
“They’re calling you a loser. They’re calling you a loser. Big sister Na-me is a loser.”
They didn’t look like bad people.
But given the time and place, it certainly felt uneasy.
Hibris quickly cast a fear suggestion on them to get them to leave.
‘The back mountains of Wilhelm are dangerous places where bandits and monsters appear. If you don’t leave quickly, you will die!’
The girls suddenly halted in their tracks.
A woman with cat ears suddenly extracted a metal rod strapped to her back.
“What’s that…?”
At that moment, a bang-! like thunder reverberated, causing the resting mountain birds to take flight.
A large hole was blasted into the tree behind Hibris, with sparks flickering all around.
Magic?
She hadn’t even seen the moment it was cast.
Hibris trembled in fear.
“W- Witch…”
An incomprehensible being leading the world to its end.
Her stiffened body toppled forward.
*
Adella shook Hibris’s shoulder to wake her as she lay there air-headed.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for misunderstandings to clear up.
“I’m Adella, and this is NoName.”
Adella rubbed her one red cheek as she introduced themselves.
She had just been slapped by Na-me for telling her not to shoot guns randomly.
“Ah! I’m Hibris. Did you cross the border? I’ve never seen clothes like yours before.”
Hibris narrowed her eyes.
The drab green-patterned uniforms they wore were also types she had never seen.
“Oh, this is called modern military uniform.”
“Military? Ah… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. If it’s okay, I can take you to my house.”
“Eh?”
Hibris suddenly teared up.
“I’ve heard from Uncle Berry that the war was serious, but I didn’t think even a ten-year-old girl would be drafted…”
“Haha…”
“Little one, it must have been tough, right? I’ll make you a delicious raspberry potato soup when we get home.”
“Get your hands off me.”
Na-me coldly brushed off Hibris’s reaching hand.
Adella awkwardly smiled and comforted Hibris.
“Our little sister is just a bit special, so please understand.”
“Huh? Special in what way?”
“Anyway, it’s a thing! Oh, look at the village!”
The view of the village unfolded brightly before them.
Hibris led the bedraggled boy soldiers towards her home.
In front of her house’s yard, there was the fruit basket she had forgotten.
“Dad, I’m back! I also brought special guests today!”
Her sweet voice calling for her father rang out.
A man polishing a shiny iron helmet in the living room turned sharply.
Hibris ran up to her father and hugged him, while the man just stood there unfazed.
His bandit-like physique and large scar felt like a jolt to Adella.
“Who are these?”
“I found them in the mountains. They seem like boy soldiers who probably escaped across the border. I want to let them stay for a day, can you allow it, Dad?”
Hibris hurriedly spilled her words.
Suddenly, the one remaining eye of the man grew fiercer.
“Get out. There’s no place to stay.”
At the adamant refusal, Hibris clung on more desperately.
“Why, Father…! Helping others during hard times is always a virtue, you said.”
“Do you even know who they are?”
“No, Mr. Brooks! Do we need to know who they are to help?”
“What’s certain is they’re not soldiers. I haven’t seen such uniforms on the front lines. Don’t insist, just give them a piece of bread and send them off.”
Brooks shrugged his arms and rejected his daughter’s earnest plea as if it were trivial.
Though he glanced sideways at Adella, who was the target of that look, and stroked his chin a few times.
Feeling his gaze, Adella bowed her head.
“Ha haha, hello! Even in these troubled times, if you could show us some mercy, I, Adella, will never forget your kindness for the rest of my life.”
“That cursed ear and tail of yours.”
“This? I’m not an ordinary human but a proud Cat Beastman. Do you think these people know what a Beastman is?”
“Are you a whore?”
“Eh?”
Upon hearing that, Adella turned speechless.
Hibris gasped, covering her mouth, while Na-me spun around and waved her fingers in the air.
Adella’s face soon turned bright red, brimming with indignation.
“Are you just saying that because you’re foolish?!”
She pulled out a hidden dagger behind her waist to threaten.
“You reveal your true colors! Hibris, quickly bring a weapon from the room!”
“Yeah, come to the yard, you son of a—! Let’s have a showdown!”
Hibris could only stare, bewildered by everything happening.
Na-me sighed deeply, scratching her head.
[▶Language module for a total of 87 NPCs (Violence Rating) has been adjusted.]
“I thought it was perfectly planned, but there’s always one problem every time you check.”
