Alto's DMs were flooded instantly, giving him a splitting headache. Still, he patiently forced himself to review them one by one, sorting through the chaos. Thankfully, he'd been smart enough not to post a specific physical address in the recruitment notice. Otherwise, the shop entrance would probably have been completely crushed by desperate crowds camping out for interviews.
He quickly implemented a strict filtering system, automatically blocking anyone without verified designer qualifications outright. The sheer amount of random garbage mixed into legitimate applications was staggering and frankly exhausting.
Some people were clearly just trying their luck with zero relevant experience. Others were overly enthusiastic fans desperately chasing their idol with cringeworthy messages. Some audacious individuals even sent suggestive photos with thinly veiled propositions asking to be financially supported or "kept" as companions.
Out of morbid curiosity, he clicked on one such message. The absolutely eye-searing image that appeared nearly made him want to claw his own eyes out in horror. He immediately closed it and added stricter filters.
Their behaviour was completely absurd.
After implementing those essential filters, his inbox instantly became significantly cleaner and more manageable. Then he began the meticulous process of carefully selecting qualified candidates one by one, reviewing portfolios, experience levels, and previous work samples.
Whenever he identified someone with genuinely suitable qualifications and a compatible creative vision, he promptly replied with detailed interview scheduling information and the shop's address.
The following week became filled with nonstop interviews, portfolio reviews, and candidate evaluations. After conducting multiple rigorous rounds of screening across dozens of applicants, he successfully recruited eight talented designers who met his exacting standards.
The group included both men and women with diverse backgrounds, mostly under 150 years old in age. Their professional levels ranged generally between level 2 and 5 in dream design capabilities. None were particularly high-level veterans, but that was intentional. He wanted people hungry to prove themselves.
He signed comprehensive employment contracts with every single one of them under carefully negotiated terms.
Since these people would be directly assisting him in constructing complex Dream Worlds and handling sensitive intellectual property, the contract details naturally couldn't be casual or lenient.
First came strict confidentiality agreements and ironclad NDAs. The upcoming design work would necessarily involve enormous amounts of proprietary content, trade secrets, and innovative mechanics. Any individual harboring ulterior motives or corporate espionage intentions could easily cause catastrophic damage to his business.
Then there was the controversial thirty-year employment contract stipulation. Once signed, employees are committed to working honestly and professionally until the full term is concluded. Breaking the contract prematurely would trigger severe financial penalties and legal consequences.
As for why specifically thirty years, Alto had given it extremely careful thought and consideration.
For humans, thirty years essentially constituted a lifetime commitment, sacrificing the absolute prime of their productive years to a single company. It would be unconscionable and borderline slavery.
But for elves? It was practically nothing at all.
For Moon Elves possessing an average natural lifespan approaching five hundred years, thirty years barely registered as noteworthy. It represented roughly six percent of their total expected life, comparable to a human signing a two-year contract.
Thirty years provided more than sufficient time for Alto to develop his vision, establish market dominance, and build something truly revolutionary. By then, he'd either have succeeded spectacularly or failed completely.
After extensive deliberation, careful analysis, and strategic planning, the new flagship game project was finally and definitively finalized.
Grand Theft Auto, commonly abbreviated as GTA among players.
The chosen version for adaptation would be one of the earliest beloved entries in the franchise: Vice City. However, to properly fit this fantasy world's unique cultural setting and avoid jarring anachronisms, the background lore and substantial content would require extensive creative modifications and reimagining.
The next several days became genuinely, exhaustingly busy beyond anything Alto had experienced before.
He systematically gathered massive volumes of historical records, architectural reference materials, cultural documentation, fashion trends, criminal organization structures, urban planning blueprints, and countless other research resources.
All of these disparate elements would be carefully synthesized and incorporated into the new game's intricate worldbuilding, creating something that felt authentic to this world.
Helena had been unusually subdued and well-behaved these past several days, clearly still processing what had happened between them. She barely spoke directly to Alto and seemed to unconsciously avoid him whenever possible, finding excuses to leave rooms when he entered.
It gave him a persistent headache and made him feel guilty.
He knew he'd eventually have to properly clear the air and discuss their relationship honestly. After all, they had definitely kissed, and quite passionately at that. He absolutely wasn't the kind of despicable scumbag who would simply pretend nothing happened and ignore the emotional consequences.
But right now, he was completely swamped with his work and barely had time to breathe properly between meetings and design sessions. The conversation would have to wait until he could give it proper attention and emotional energy.
With GTA officially greenlit for full production, Alto began methodically laying out the essential core framework and fundamental narrative structure.
After thoroughly reviewing enormous quantities of geographical data, political maps, cultural studies, and historical conflicts, he ultimately decided to set the story background in the volatile borderlands region where elven, beastmen, and human territories all converged.
A chaotic small city functioning essentially as a lawless zone, a true no man's land beyond any single government's effective control or jurisdiction. A place where outcasts, criminals, fortune seekers, and desperate refugees all mingled with each other.
As for conducting actual on-site investigation and field research in that notoriously dangerous region, he quickly decided against it after consulting security reports.
He was still fundamentally a civilian rookie designer. Getting kidnapped by bandits, enslaved by criminal syndicates, or casually murdered, it wouldn't be worth any amount of authentic research material.
Instead, he posted a lucrative commission quest at the local Adventurer's Guild chapter, requesting detailed aerial magical projection surveys of the target area, including architecture, population density, infrastructure, and geographic features.
The collected architectural references and cultural documentation he'd gathered served primarily as creative inspiration and atmospheric foundation rather than direct copying templates.
Wholesale plagiarism was completely out of the question ethically and practically. Instead, he deliberately blended everything together with a heavy, experimental dose of magical realism to create something genuinely new.
For example, he boldly set the timeline several hundred years into this world's speculative future rather than the present day.
That creative decision provided natural justification for introducing ultra-modern technological elements that would otherwise feel impossibly anachronistic and immersion-breaking.
Elements such as sleek magitech-powered automobiles filling busy streets, steam-powered trains running on extensive fixed track networks, creating a fascinating hybrid world where medieval fantasy aesthetics and modern urban society intersect in unexpected ways.
He also carefully incorporated this world's existing supernatural power systems: elemental magic, aura, miracles granted by gods, and various other mystical elements that would make the setting feel authentically rooted in local culture.
That said, the fundamental core gameplay design philosophy remained completely unchanged from the original: absolute freedom, meaningful environmental interaction, complex gang dynamics, crime mechanics, and controlled chaos.
This fantasy world didn't possess any established concept of science fiction as a genre. In that unique sense, this innovative approach represented a kind of alternative sci-fi introduction through the back door, planting the seed for future projects.
Whether the audience would accept such a radical departure from familiar entertainment remained to be seen. This was genuinely experimental territory.
This project also functioned as a crucial market experiment and cultural test.
Going forward, many classic game adaptations he envisioned would necessarily involve conceptual elements, technological ideas, and social structures that didn't exist whatsoever in this world's current understanding. They had to be introduced gradually, carefully, building audience comfort and acceptance.
As one of the greatest and most commercially successful video game franchises in all of gaming history, this legendary series, originally produced by Rockstar Games, had absolutely dominated the era when internet cafés ruled pop culture and social gaming.
Vice City and San Andreas in particular remained treasured childhood memories for literally millions of people across generations.
In 1997, the original Grand Theft Auto launched in the United Kingdom to a modest but promising reception. At that early developmental stage, the studio DMA Design had not yet been acquired by the publishing giant Rockstar.
The earliest GTA installment featured no complex branching storyline and no particularly stunning visual presentation by modern standards.
It was simply a charmingly crude pixel-style 2D game viewed from a top-down perspective, allowing players to cause mayhem however they wanted throughout a fictional American city inspired by real locations.
Despite genuinely primitive graphics that would look laughable by later standards, the game's extraordinarily high degree of player freedom allowed it to sell explosively upon initial release, catching even developers by surprise.
In an era when quality games were genuinely scarce and overall development standards remained relatively primitive, this kind of groundbreaking gameplay innovation hit people directly at their psychological sweet spot for wish fulfillment and consequence-free experimentation.
Two years later, in 1999, an ambitious sequel was released to capitalize on the original's success.
But by that transformative point, cutting-edge 3D games had begun completely dominating the rapidly evolving market and consumer expectations.
Naturally and predictably, the outdated 2D sequel flopped commercially despite solid design, unable to compete with flashier competitors.
It was precisely during this vulnerable transitional period that DMA Design was strategically acquired by the rising publisher Rockstar.
With massive venture capital funding suddenly injected into development budgets, the talented team was finally able to fully unleash their ambitious creative potential without crippling financial constraints.
Then, everything changed forever.
In 2001, Grand Theft Auto 3 burst onto the gaming scene like an absolute revolution, fundamentally transforming what open-world games could achieve.
Using cutting-edge 3D rendering engines that pushed contemporary hardware to its absolute limits, Rockstar nearly perfectly recreated Liberty City as a living, breathing urban environment meticulously modeled after New York City's iconic geography and cultural atmosphere.
The revolutionary leap from restrictive 2D to fully immersive 3D brought a truly monumental transformation in player experience and emotional engagement.
With total sales reaching an absolutely staggering 14.5 million copies worldwide, it became the planet's best-selling game of 2001 by a massive margin, obliterating all competition.
Players could finally do all kinds of things they'd never dare attempt in real life without severe consequences.
The game introduced a massive, lovingly detailed arsenal of firearms, melee weapons, and vehicles.
You could roleplay as a law-abiding model citizen, an honest taxi driver earning legitimate income, or a ruthless gang member violently clashing with rival criminal organizations in brutal turf wars.
Everyone could discover and perfect their own preferred playstyle and narrative approach.
GTA's absolutely unparalleled freedom of choice fully showcased the intoxicating charm and addictive appeal of properly designed open-world sandbox games.
Even decades later in Alto's previous life, it remained universally recognized as one of the most culturally influential and important titles in entire gaming history.
Afterward, Vice City, derived directly from GTA 3's successful engine and design philosophy, exploded globally with even greater popularity and critical acclaim, ultimately surpassing its predecessor.
In that nostalgic era, countless kids scraped together precious pocket money just to sneak into questionable internet cafés and play Vice City for a few stolen hours of freedom.
They memorized complex cheat code combinations far better than school textbooks or homework assignments, trading secrets like valuable currency.
Later franchise entries like San Andreas, GTA 4, and the legendary GTA 5 only grew progressively stronger and more ambitious with each successive generation, constantly pushing boundaries.
The Grand Theft Auto franchise ultimately achieved absolutely staggering cumulative total sales exceeding 455 million copies across all platforms and releases, becoming one of the most profitable entertainment properties ever created.
However, the series remained filled with graphic violence, blood, mature sexual content, and morally questionable themes. These elements were something Alto would need to carefully reconsider and potentially tone down for this world's cultural sensibilities.
If Stardew Valley leaned heavily toward gentle healing, peaceful farming, and wholesome community building, then Grand Theft Auto leaned aggressively toward cathartic release, intoxicating wealth accumulation, and explosive violence as escapist fantasy.
In Stardew Valley, players experienced idyllic rural scenery and genuine human warmth.
In GTA, players would experience dazzling metropolitan splendor, the dangerous allure of easy money, and the full complex spectrum of human nature's darkest impulses.
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