After picking up the call, what surprised Lucas even more was that the person calling him was the head of the Magic City Game Division, someone he had met a few times before.
"Minister David, what's the matter?" Lucas asked curiously, getting straight to the point.
"Yes, it's actually something pretty important. Did you see the news earlier? The overseas company Micro Valley Tech announced that their new generation VR game pod has made a big breakthrough. It can give players a more immersive experience," David said over the phone.
"I saw it," Lucas replied.
Lisa had been collecting industry news every day, so Lucas had already seen that report.
But back then, Lucas hadn't paid much attention to it.
The reason was simple. Based on the information available, this immersive mode required players to be fully absorbed in the game, with their attention highly focused. This meant players had to process a huge amount of information, which made VR games far more draining than regular PC games.
As for that kind of "subconscious dive" tech, like in SAO from his past life, where players enter deep sleep in a mental network, that kind of black technology clearly didn't exist in this world yet.
And the price of VR game pods, while cheaper than when they first came out, was still far beyond what most players could afford.
Mainstream VR pods cost around $7000, much more expensive than a PC that could smoothly run top games.
As for higher-end VR devices, those were even further out of reach.
That's why most players still went to VR experience shops, which were basically like internet cafés, to play.
All these factors meant that VR's market share still hadn't surpassed PC.
Then there was the cost of game development. Making VR games generally cost more than PC games.
Aside from the top companies that released dedicated VR titles every year, second-tier studios usually tested the waters on PC first, and only after doing well there would they consider porting their games to VR.
That was why Lucas had Nebula Games mainly focus on the PC platform for now.
"As for our country, our new generation VR game pod has already reached a testing stage," David said.
"But we don't have enough games to test with. And because this new generation pod gives players an even stronger sense of immersion, we also need to run a lot of safety tests. Some games may seem fine on PC, but once in VR with full immersion, they could create unusual and intense effects for players."
"Of course, it's hard to explain everything over the phone. Log in to the Game Division's official site and check the letter we sent. If you're interested, you can come by Game Division tomorrow afternoon," David added.
Although Lucas didn't know the full details yet, after hearing David's words, he already had a good idea.
Clearly, this was about competition in cutting-edge platform technology.
For Game Division, VR hardware clearly carried special weight.
It was like how consoles had worked in his previous life.
Back then, Nintendo rose up after the Atari crash and dominated the market for a time. Everyone in the industry had to follow Nintendo's rules, and the licensing system was born out of that era.
After hanging up, Lucas logged into the Game Division's official site. After going through the contents, he basically understood the situation.
It was just as he had thought.
The next day, in the Game Division building's conference hall.
Lucas was a bit surprised, since quite a lot of designers had shown up.
SkyNova, NetDragon, and many other well-known domestic game companies all had people attending.
Among them, Lucas also spotted some familiar faces, like the good-natured Mr. Marcus.
"Mr. Marcus, you came too?" Lucas went over to greet him.
Marcus, who had been chatting casually with someone else, heard the voice and turned to see Lucas walking toward him with a big smile. For a moment, the memory of that night—when Lucas held someone else's trophy—flashed in his mind. He showed a slightly awkward but still polite smile. "Lucas, you're here too."
But Lucas didn't get much time to catch up. On stage in the meeting room, David from Game Division had already stepped up.
"All of you here are top names in the game industry. The reason we gathered you today is actually pretty simple."
"The next-generation VR gaming equipment has already reached the testing stage."
"At the same time, we've made special adjustments to the development kit's game engine for this new VR device, opening up a new physics engine framework."
As David spoke, the designers, including Lucas, all basically understood why Game Division had called them together.
In short, the VR device and engine had made new progress.
It wasn't ready for the market yet, but overseas teams were at about the same stage—and they'd already started promoting it.
Naturally, the domestic side couldn't afford to fall behind, but the problem was that they lacked the right game content to use for testing.
Of course, they didn't mean full games—just demo-like experiences. And it wasn't without benefits.
First, Game Division was offering dedicated funding. The intellectual property created would still belong to the designers and companies. In simple terms, Game Division was paying them to make something, and the subsidies were not small. Of course, quality had to pass the bar, and Game Division would keep track of the progress in real time.
And honestly, no one invited here was some rookie. They were all at least mid-tier in the industry, so no one would be dumb enough to waste the chance just to cheat subsidies.
Another perk was that those who joined the testing would be the first to get access to the new technology. It wouldn't be rolled out to every designer for free right away.
Those who didn't join, well, just like before—they'd have to pay extra for the extra resources or access.
After David's short introduction,
The group of designers followed Game Division's staff and got into cars heading toward the company's research park.
Led by staff, they personally got to try out the new system.
Soon it was Lucas's turn.
After stepping into the VR pod, the scene he saw was a bare, unfinished-room environment.
At the same time, Lucas understood what David had meant earlier.
He had tried the VR pods in the parallel world before. The sense of immersion was strong, sure—
—but there were still flaws.
The new VR pod, however, gave an almost perfect response.
Wearing a full-body feedback suit and gloves, lying inside the pod, every move he made gave an incredibly realistic reaction.
Walking, jumping, punching—Lucas tried a few moves. The feeling was still a little different from real life, but the feedback was now almost indistinguishable from reality.
"The level of immersion this VR device gives… it's already reached this point?!" Lucas exclaimed as he climbed out of the pod.
But he also understood the issues ahead.
The most obvious one was that an overly strong sense of immersion could bring negative side effects.
Using Dark Souls as an example, if it were made into a VR game with the level of immersion Lucas just experienced,
most players probably couldn't handle it—not because of the difficulty, but because the immersion would scare them off.
Just think about the sewer rats, the creepy underground prison scenes, not to mention horror games!
After all the designers on site had tried it, David also explained a few things.
In short, if any designer here is interested, they can create a demo game for the Game Division to test. Based on the feedback, adjustments will be made to the immersion level in the game pod.
Because the immersion is so strong, some parts may need to be toned down.
It sounds a bit funny and contradictory, but after experiencing it himself, Lucas understood what that meant.
Next came the sign-up session. Aside from a few designers who were busy with their own projects,
there were thirteen senior designers who stayed, including Lucas. Marcus was there too.
"Lucas, are you planning to join the Game Division's demo project?" Marcus asked curiously as they stood in line together.
After all, rumors about the Dark Souls sequel were all over the internet. Shouldn't Lucas be fully focused on developing Dark Souls right now?
How does he have time to take on the Game Division's task?
Could it be that the development of Dark Souls is so far ahead that Lucas doesn't need to oversee it anymore?
Thinking about it, that didn't seem impossible.
After all, it's just a sequel. In the gaming industry, it's almost an unspoken rule that sequels can reuse a lot of art assets, which saves a lot of development time.
Completely unaware that Marcus was overthinking things, Lucas smiled. "I'm just curious. Plus, this will be my first time making a VR game, and I have a few interesting ideas."
That was true—given this chance, Lucas really wanted to try.
Hearing this, Marcus's eyes lit up. "Actually, designing a VR game isn't that different from a PC game. The biggest differences are the controls and the sense of perspective. Most VR games use first-person view, but in some cases, third-person works better—like in action games focused on visuals."
"Then Marcus, let's share ideas later," Lucas said, looking at the enthusiastic Marcus. He couldn't help but think, Marcus is really a nice guy!
"Of course." Marcus grinned. After losing in the first contest, getting overshadowed in the second gameplay showcase, and winning nothing at the Game of the Year awards, this was his chance to shine again.
Since Lucas asked him, this time he would really play the role of a teacher!
"Oh, by the way, Lucas, do you have any ideas for the new game?" Marcus suddenly asked.
"I do have one. The name for the PT game," Lucas said with a smile and a nod.
"PT? What does that mean? Sounds kind of strange," Marcus asked curiously.
"It's short for 'Playable Teaser.' After all, this demo is basically a playable preview. We could even add a prefix and call it 'Silent Hill PT,'" Lucas said with a grin.
"Silent Hill PT, huh? That sounds pretty meaningful. Let's talk more about it later, Lucas!" Marcus said with a smile.
"Definitely," Lucas replied with a nod.
(End of The Chapter)
---
Read +100 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---