The video game presentation was going
perfectly. Everyone in the arena was talking about booth number 45 and its very
interesting game. Of course, as many games in exhibition, it was a virtual
reality game. People put on some glasses and that was enough to immerse
themselves in a very big and interesting world. The people at Rakami, the
company that had created the game, were very nervous about the reception of
their new product but after one day, they had to be confident everything was
going to be just fine with their sales.
The second day of the expo, they were named
the game to be looking for, Lines formed from an early hour to try out the game
and Rakami had to send another console and copy of the software in order for
people to try it out. And even with two copies, it wasn’t enough to show
everyone willing to try the most fascinating game ever. Or at least that’s what
the people in the booth started calling it after the very warm reception.
The truth was that Rakami had been born very
recently, not even five years ago. It had been a group of friends who had
decided they wanted to create the game they wanted to play. In other words,
they wanted to make the best video games in the market by making the players
and integral part of them. Of course, the player is always the most important
part of the creation process, but these guys wanted the future gamers to be
very involved in their creative process.
The first thing they did once they gathered to
work together, was define what everyone would do. It was a small group of four
people: three men and one woman. The men were mostly fluent in programming and
designing and she was very good at marketing and all the legal language they
needed to know before starting to do anything. They bought legal versions of
every single program needed and rented a space in order to work there, as an
office.
Of course, every single penny invested into it
came from their own bank account. Although one of them was fairly wealthy, the
other two were not at all so one of the first moves was to ensure they had
money to make the first game from beginning to end. Investors were not easy to
come by, especially for such a technology and idea, which would take years to
actually be a reality.
However, they managed to receive a grant given
by a university who supported young creators all over the world. The money was
not a lot but it was a great way to start and not worry about anything for at
least two years or a bit less. At the end of that time, the university would
demand results and would decide if more money would be invested.
The first year was the most difficult one as
starting such a project is always something very hard. As the boys started
doing sketches and different types of screenplays of what they thought the
story should be about, the girl decided to ensure they would not have money
issues by use of crowd funding. She designed a website with a friend where
people could go and give in whatever amount they wanted to make the videogame
come to life. But not only that, the particular investors could leave a
comment, telling the designers what they wanted in a game, what they were
looking forward.
Picking up ideas from that big pool was very
hard and an extensive job that required various meetings during a long period
of time and heated discussions about what the game should be about. They were
all friends and really loved each other but those few months were very tense
and it wasn’t uncommon that they would argue with each other every single day,
fighting over every single thing.
However,
after a while, they were able to make some compromises and decided to organize
their work in a more organic way so everyone was able to do a part of the game.
That way, no one would really feel pushed aside from the project and participation
would be just in its perfect point. Their friendship was put to test that first
year and they were able to show themselves how mature they had become after
graduating from college.
Entering the second year of development, they
had many more problems. Money was and wasn’t one them. The problem was not that
they didn’t have any but rather that they couldn’t touch it unless they
released some kind of sneak peek. They tried to put together some short
animation and a video of the designs and thought that should be enough for the
people that had invested in the game and the university that supported them
However, that wasn’t the case. The university
told them they were seriously considering removing their sponsorship because of
he poor advances in the design and general development of the game. And the
reception in their crowd funding website was even worse. People did not get the
footage and were not really digging the designs and what they had put together.
That response made them get together again and think about hey needed to do.
The first thing was not to listen to every
single thing people said about the game, as it was obvious that not everybody
could be pleased. The other thing was that they really needed to step up their
game and work twice as hard because the university was right: they had not done
enough in the first year and they really needed support if they wanted to
fulfill their dream of seeing their game finished.
The following months were very hard on all of
them. They had to stay in the office for several hours, sometimes even sleeping
there and having lunch while waiting for the images to render. They bought more
computers in order to be able to do more work at the same time and had to make
some adjustments to the room in order to make it a nice place to work in. They
put every part of their soul and body in the game and they were sure it was
going to be good and that people would like it, no matter what.
At the end of that year, they had a meeting in
the university. A board made up of six people would review their results and
everything they had on their computers and the amount of work they had done.
They would rate every single aspect of their jobs and finally decide if what
they had done was worth another investment from them with which they could be
able to finish the game as such.
It was a tense few days and the final response
of the university came after Christmas but before New Year’s Day. The
university had decided to pass on their game and pulled off any additional
funding. Needless to say, the group had the worst beginning of the year ever
but once they reunited again they decided to go forward with the help of the
people. They would release more of the game and people would love it and they
would finish the game with their support.
However,
something unexpected happened. The girl was contacted by a group of private
investors looking for new companies and ideas to invest in. She organized a
visit to the offices and they were mind blown when they realized it was one of
the executives of Garmin Entertainment, who was visiting them. Garmin had
released two of the best titles in the last year and was a leading company in
the development of virtual reality technology.
Their proposal was quite simple: they would
give the money to finish the game in exchange of the title to be a virtual
reality game. They thought the idea they had was perfect for that kind of
gaming and they even promised help achieve the level needed to have a playable
game in that sort of environment.
Again, work was very intense and they did
receive a lot of support, with very experienced people coming to their offices
and helping them with the design of a far larger world that they had envisioned
before. Everything had gotten bigger and more ambitious and it was a bit scary
for them but also very exciting. They felt they were involved in something
important, so the hours of sleep were the least of their worries.
The expo was just the magnificent result of
their incredible work process. And people loving the game was the perfect gift
for all of them. However, they were still many surprises ahead, for both the developers
and the gamers. The recent born Rakami was en route to greatness.
