Getting out of the taxi in front of the address Evie had given me, I regretted not having bought myself a car or a motorcycle yet.
The car stank of cigarettes and the taxi driver, although friendly, drove very aggressively, as if every second with me in the car was money he was losing.
The experience was terrible...
"Even if I can't buy one of the cars I've been dreaming of, nothing would stop me from buying a nice motorcycle, right?" I asked myself as I looked at the taxi driving away.
The car I wanted was costing around $200,000, while in terms of a motorcycle, I'd be satisfied with one costing $20,000.
'I think I'll buy a motorcycle after I get out of here. I thought resolutely.
Just the freedom that having a vehicle would give me would be completely worth it to me.
Even more so considering that the college funded the students' driver's licenses before we graduated, the only thing I needed was a car.
Shifting my gaze to the address Evie had sent me, I looked at the entrance to the commercial building, a modest entrance, but one that even had a reception desk, which was a good sign.
"Good afternoon, what's up?" I smiled politely as I approached the reception desk.
The receptionist looked at me a little surprised and smiled politely. "Good afternoon, sir. What can I do for you?"
I was still wearing my simple clothes, which don't normally attract attention from people like this, but the receptionist still maintained a polite attitude despite this, which gave the place a few points.
"I have an appointment with Arcadia Games in room number 403." I explained.
"Right, just a minute, I'll call them to confirm." She said as she picked up the phone.
I was soon cleared to go upstairs.
When I reached the fourth floor and the elevator door opened, a young black-haired girl was looking at me with a polite smile.
"Hello sir, I'm Evie. I think I forgot to ask your name during our call..." She said a little embarrassed, but still maintaining an elegant attitude and extended her hand to me.
"Hi Evie, I'm Theo Brooks, but you can just call me Theo." I smiled as I accepted her handshake.
"So hello Theo, shall we come in so you can see our studio?" she asked.
Nodding my head, I began to follow her.
As I followed Evie down the corridor, I noticed that the structure of the studio was very modest.
The place smelled of cleaning products, which showed that they had probably just cleaned it, hence her concern at my insistence on coming to the studio, which wasn't a good sign, but it wasn't that worrying.
"Well, this is Arcadia Games." Evie said as she showed me around.
The space inside was compact, but well used.
A few tables were lined up along the wall with double monitors, with young people our age working on something on their computers.
A few action figures and posters of series or monsters were scattered around, making the place cozier than I imagined for a work environment, reminding me a lot of my room in the other world.
"We at Arcadia Games are a small studio. We currently have eight employees, including me." Evie explained as she led me to a small living area at the back of the room, where a battered sofa and a coffee machine were strategically placed. "Most of us rotate between multiple roles, but I think you might like to meet the team."
She turned to a group of three people who were focused on their monitors. "Guys, this is Theo Brooks, the Game Creator who's come to see the studio."
A guy with shaggy blond hair spun around in his chair and waved at me with a lazy smile. "What's up, man? I'm Mike, programmer and handyman. If something breaks, I probably fixed it."
"Or broke..." Evie commented with a smile, and Mike shrugged.
Next to him, a girl with glasses and short hair waved slightly. "I'm Claire, a 3D artist. If you've seen anything visually decent in our games, I probably made it."
"And modesty is a talent of yours too, huh?" Mike joked, getting elbowed by Claire.
The third, a guy with a lumberjack beard and huge headphones resting on his neck, just raised his hand. "Zeke, sound design and score."
"They're the heart of the studio. But we still have a few more people." Evie said, pulling me to the other side of the room.
In this area, a middle-aged man with glasses was adjusting something on his monitor. "This is Peter, our lead game designer and scriptwriter. He's worked for some big companies like Ubiverse Interactive, but he preferred a smaller environment."
Peter just raised his hand without taking his eyes off the screen. "Nice to meet you, Theo."
Hearing that familiar name, I thought of the company that was vying with me for ranks among the most played games in California and wondered what coincidence that could be, but I didn't say anything.
We kept walking and passed a table where a woman with red hair was scribbling concepts on a tablet. "This is Lauren, our UI/UX designer."
Lauren looked at me and smiled. "Hey!"
Finally, Evie led me into a small office separated by a glass partition. "This is where I stay, Arcadia's project manager and producer. I'll make sure we don't kill ourselves trying to do a thousand things at once."
Noticing that two people were missing, I asked curiously. "What about the other two people you said worked at the studio?"
"The last two employees are our 2d artists. They contracted an illness and asked for time off today, so for now it's just us in the office." She explained a little embarrassed.
I was confused as to why the two 2d artists were ill on the same day, but Evie didn't intend to pursue the subject.
Evie laughed a little awkwardly and turned to me. "And that's it. Our small but dedicated team. So, Theo, what do you think? Are you interested in playing with us?"
Although I saw a few small problems with this team, the benefits outweighed them.
Their group dynamic seemed very good, which was already a big step forward for my future goal.
"Yeah, I actually have two games and I'm interested in making these two games with this studio. How would that work?" I asked curiously.
The games industry for ordinary people was very small and scarce in this world, so finding information on how this process worked was very difficult.
Evie was surprised by what I said. "Two games? That definitely changes things a bit, but it's still something we can discuss..."
Putting her hand to her chin, Evie looked a little thoughtful as she explained the basics of this process to me. "Normally, the development of a game here works in a very straightforward way. You, as the owner of the intellectual property, bring your idea to the studio and we define an initial project scope together, where we basically establish what can be done within the timeframe and budget available."
She gestured for me to follow her as we headed into a small meeting room with a very simple wooden table, a few chairs around it and a whiteboard, which she took a paintbrush to and began to illustrate what she was explaining, not that it was necessary for me, but it apparently helped her to better formulate what she wanted to explain.
"As we're a small studio, we don't work to absurd deadlines and our clients generally pay a fixed amount for development, plus a percentage of the profits if there's a partnership agreement."
Looking away from the painting and towards me, Evie continued.
"In your case, Theo, if you want us to make both games with a team as small as ours, we can work with the same team on both at the same time or make one game at a time. This could affect the speed of development. We also need to know what level of control you want to maintain... whether you want to be involved on a day-to-day basis or just keep track of major milestones."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"Finally, we need to discuss the software licenses and tools that will be used, as well as the servers if the games have an online component. All of this influences the budget and the way we work."
Then Evie sat down at the meeting table and leaned her elbows on the table, looking at me with a curious smile.
"So? Do you already have in mind how you'd like this contract to be structured?" She asked.
Thinking about the two points she'd given, it really wouldn't make sense to put such a small team to work on producing both games at the same time.
"Considering that one of my games is much more marketable to ordinary people, I'd prefer to focus on it first and after it's finished, we'll switch focus to the second game." I said decisively.
"Right." She nodded and picked up a tablet, quickly clicking to open the California Federation's website. "What's the name of the game you want us to produce?"
"Runestone." I said in a calm voice.
But the calm and confidence that Evie was showing completely crumbled after I said that.
Shocked, Evie didn't even type anything into the tablet and just looked at me.
"Can you... can you repeat that?" She asked while stuttering.
"You heard right, I'm FrostHaven, the creator of Runestone." I smiled at her, enjoying the reaction she was showing.
"Oh my god..." She sighed quietly as her breathing quickened.
Suddenly there was a sound of someone choking followed by a male voice speaking in surprise behind me. "Did you say Runestone?!"