"Did you say Runestone?!" The male voice said in shock.
Looking in the direction of the voice, I realized that Mike, with an empty glass of water in his hand, had a completely wet shirt as he stared at me in disbelief.
Smiling at him, I nodded, not caring about the interruption. "Yeah, Runestone."
"Broo, I'm one of Runestone's biggest fans! My brother's a Player and every now and then he lets me play through it!!! I always wondered why there wasn't a version for ordinary people of this game, now I see why!" He said excitedly as he ran up to me and squeezed my hand tightly, ignoring my wet shirt.
But something in what he said caught my attention. "What do you mean you played Runestone through him?" I asked.
"He makes a stream and I tell him what cards he has to play, so it's practically like I'm playing, since the game only depends on strategy." He said with a proud smile. "I even helped him climb from Silver Rank to Platinum, with him almost reaching Diamond Rank!"
This opened my eyes.
I was seeing the emergence of EloBoost in my own game, with the Booster even admitting to the game's creator what he was doing?
With such a funny situation, I couldn't help myself and started laughing. "This is completely new to me, so new that I don't even know how to deal with it."
"Deal with it?" Mike asked confused.
"You as a Player probably have the level of someone in the Diamond Rank, while your brother is probably between Silver and Gold. Because of you, your brother gets higher Feedback in Neurological False Feedback, which means that someone who deserves it more than your brother would no longer get that enhanced Feedback..." I explained to him, making him freeze.
"So I just admitted to the game's creator how I was helping a Player cheat in his game?" Mike asked while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Basically, yes." I laughed as I admitted it.
"Excuse me, Mr. Brooks." Evie caught my eye, a little embarrassed.
"I said you can call me Theo, Evie." I smiled at her, noticing the change in her attitude after hearing the game I wanted them to play.
"Right, Theo, do you really plan to let our little studio handle your game? You know that any big studio could do it faster than us with the resources they have, right?" she confirmed.
Her honesty put me even more at ease, showing me that I didn't need to hide the game so much.
Turning completely to her and changing my expression from playful to serious, I finally told her my plans. "Actually, my reason for coming to Arcadia Games was to discuss with you a proposal to buy your studio. This would make Arcadia Games a FrostHaven Entertainment studio."
Hearing my proposal, Evie was shocked. "You want to buy Arcadia Games?"
Nodding my head, I confirmed, "Yes, I want full control over the development of my games, and for that I can only have being the head of the studio. Sure, I still need a CEO to manage it, but the final word when it comes to the development and maintenance of my games will be reserved for me."
Evie was momentarily surprised, but quickly thought of something. "You came because of the announcement I made that the studio was accepting investment?"
"Yes." I nodded in agreement.
"I... I only intended to accept investment, not to sell the studio outright..." Evie was a little sad to hear that.
From what I could see, the studio was more than a job for Evie, more like her dream.
"Evie, what's your purpose with the studio?" I asked as I crossed my legs and looked at her seriously.
Mike remained quiet and watched Evie too, curious as to how this discussion would progress, since it would affect his future work.
"I... I always dreamed of making games for ordinary people, games that ordinary people could enjoy, games that ordinary people could talk about and be proud to play like the Players." She said as she looked down at her hands.
Looking at her hands, I noticed that she was a little uneasy about this.
"Right, out of all the games you've played, how much do you think this has served your dream?" I asked sincerely.
Evie just shook her head and answered quietly. "Not much... most games are very boring, ordinary people aren't that interested in them."
Seeing that this was going where I wanted, I continued. "And how much do you think Runestone will help you advance along this path?"
This made Evie look up from her hands to me again. "A lot... I only know Runestone because I've heard about the potential this game has with normal people. Honestly, when I'm bored I even think of some ideas that could be implemented in the game, even though I don't think I'd ever get in touch with the Game Creator who made this game..."
That got me excited. "Really? So why don't we work together? My dream is very similar to yours, but instead of just focusing on games that ordinary people, or Players, enjoy, I want everyone to be able to enjoy the games I make."
Hearing that, I saw the twinkle in Evie's eyes.
"That's why your games are so successful!" She realized.
"Yes." I smiled.
Evie took a deep breath, reflecting on everything I'd said.
Mike, off to the side, still seemed to be processing the information that I wanted to buy the studio.
"So... if I accept this offer, Arcadia Games will become part of FrostHaven Entertainment?" She asked, measuring her words.
"That's right." "And with that, you and your team would have more resources, technical support and the creative freedom to develop games that really hit the mark. I don't want to just swallow up Arcadia Games... I want it to grow!"
She hesitated for a moment, but then smiled slightly. "If I say I'm interested... how would that work?"
"Well, first, I would buy Arcadia Games outright. You'd have the option of staying on as creative director or even CEO, if you wanted to." I explained. I explained. "The team would probably remain the same, but with more investment and the possibility of expanding. Runestone would be our first big project together, followed by my second game."
Evie looked at Mike, who just shrugged. "Hey, I just do the coding, you're in charge."
She laughed and then turned back to me.
"If I'm honest, I like the idea. I started Arcadia Games because I wanted to make a difference in the games industry for ordinary people, but after all the failures and difficulties I had along the way, I realized that there was always something missing... something more."
She took a deep breath before continuing.
"If you really believe that, Theo, then I agree to discuss the details of this acquisition." I smiled.
I smiled. "Good. Let's discuss the terms and sign something official as soon as possible!"
-
As neither of us had any experience in this area, we decided to look for a professional team in this area, both legally and in accounting so that neither side would be harmed, which would take a few days longer than I had imagined, but was still on schedule.
As I left Arcadia Games, I heard an excited shout from Evie, calling everyone into the meeting room, probably to explain to them the next steps the company would be taking.
As this wasn't relevant to me, I just left, asking for a taxi to a nearby dealership.
There I looked at some beautiful cars and motorcycles, until I saw a matte black Honda CBR1000RR and was mesmerized.
When I learned that the price of this bike was only $17,000, I didn't think twice and made the payment, leaving with my new bike, a black helmet to match it and the freedom to no longer depend on taxis.
With the purchase of Arcadia Games, it would take me a little longer to save up the money to buy my own car, so in the meantime the bike would be put to good use.
On the way home I bought some cooking ingredients and decided to have a little celebration again today.
Seeing how much MP SyncStrike had accumulated, tomorrow I could use it to develop the Hard difficulties of some of the songs in the game.
As I wanted to do some special things for these difficulties, the cost of this was much higher than I had imagined.
But at the level of these effects I was aiming for, I could even release other MVs on MeTube for players to hear more of the songs outside the game too!
With so much going on, I was excited for the future.