2024-04-09 07:18
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description
<p>Alek didn't anticipate becoming a player in his own grand design. His father has recently passed on. He has inherited a phobia ridden bull terrier and a large old house with untold repairs. He also has a software company about to go under if he doesn't rid his game of all its issues and launch it onto the market. One night after a three day straight work bender to finish his game, fueled by umpteen dozen energy drinks, he is in a state of almost complete disorientation as he sits at his desk, fiddling with a strange artifact he found in his father's safe. Outside a terrific electrical storm moves overhead. Suddenly the air is electric, the dog under his feet bolts down the hallway, but the noise of furniture crashing to the floor doesn't register for Alek as he finds himself falling deep into the display in front of him.</p> <p>He awakes to find himself dressed as a mage, and confronted by a world of his own design and yet things are definitely not where he put them. As the game designer he is very aware of the pitfalls of his yet to be completed game. The biggest potential threat of all, his unfinished AI, which he is soon to discover has a mind all its own.</p> <p>Alek's journey turns out not to be a solitary one. Eventually, he teams up with two NPCs, armed with unique cores of power, who rise to save his sorry ass. They are Samara, an intimidatingly tall alien warrior, and Toby, a strategist fortified with an unbreakable mental core. These two eventually decide to unite under Alek's banner. Samara's fighting skills would make any Marvel character green with envy, Toby is basically the 'human' equivalent of a pop-up hint guide, well, he's more than that he's an awesome strategist. Alek is puzzled by signs that his NPCs are sentient. The NPCs on their part are largely unaware of the coded nature of themselves and their world.</p> <p>Together, the three navigate a universe filled with glitches, unexpected game mechanics, and the kind of existential banter one might expect when you're uncertain whether you're more code than consciousness. Through trials and sacred confrontations, they journey together, seeking understanding, power, as Alek looks for a way out of the catastrophically ever-shifting digital surroundings and back to the real world as he knew it to be.</p> <p>And, it's not just rogue mechanics they have to worry about. Lurking deep within the game's matrix is a rogue AI with ambitions grander than any final boss level. As the trio delves deeper, navigating between realms and confronting corrupted code, they're also faced with the classic gamer's dilemma: What's the endgame? Alek, Samara, and Toby battle against game glitches, corrupted enemies, and the sprawling unpredictability of a universe in chaos, they face existential questions. At least their mission is clear, to restore balance in their world while grappling with the realization they're part of something far bigger than any game. They are caught in a race to debug the world before IT reboots THEM. The unlikely team embark on a quest to conquer the ever-changing game and its colliding worlds. The NPCs seek to understand the very essence of their own pixel-bound souls. Alek's goal is to find a portal back to reality. If only it was that simple.</p>
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