Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 120: Launch Party

"Alright. Now that's done, follow me."

I see Kazuki quietly jumping for joy as he starts following Mr. Spears. While I didn't show it in front of them, I'm actually excited as well about what they did with the game before the release.

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For the next two hours, we are given a tour around the art design team that made character designs of the game, the coding department that focuses on building the game itself, and the planning department where the magic starts. As we tour around with Mr. Spears' aide, we ask questions about the creation of the gameplay, how they fixed the bugs, and other things we didn't know about the game's creation itself.

Eventually, we found ourselves in some sort of meeting room where there was a large table occupying the whole room with a special corner that provided coffee, snacks, and other amenities. Both of us sat down at the table while Mr. Spears prepared some snacks and drinks for us to enjoy.

"I know the choices here aren't much from downstairs. But I hope you two like mango juice and espresso," Mr. Spears offers.

"Uh... I prefer decaf if there is one available," I answer, knowing that despite it's not a school day tomorrow, I seriously want to retain my sleep schedule for a while. "And throw in some cheese biscuits if they're available."

"Ooh! Ooh! I have some chocolate bars or wafers!" Kazuki asked while raising his hand like he was in a class. "And some strawberry hard candies!"

After we made some requests, Mr. Spears gave us what we asked before he sat right at the opposite side of the table.

"Now then, what do you think of the studio so far?"

Both of us look at each other while we enjoy our snacks.

"It's good. I'm surprised that a small studio made a big VRMMO like <Isekai Online>," I comment. "I don't know if you managed to maintain the servers and story in the long term."

"We did rent out a whole floor to help us support the servers of the game," Mr. Spears explains. "And when it comes to the lore of the game, our game writers along with Enigma themselves are working on expanding the world of <Volo> for months to come."

"Wow. I still can't believe Wayne Enigma is helping build <Volo>! I'm so happy, I could pop!"

Please don't. Thank god Damon spilled the deets on who created the world of <Volo> before the tour (as per agreement). I'm also surprised to learn about it since he also wrote Kazuki's favorite novel series.

"And speaking of which, I know you two have some questions about the game's creation. I won't answer any story and gameplay-related questions, though. So keep that in mind."

Knowing Kazuki, I doubt he will. Although, I notice that he's humming in thought with a frown. I guess he's trying so hard to avoid those questions that he's stuck. So I might as well kick this Q&A portion of the tour off.

"Well, if we're talking about some of Isekai's behind the scene stuff, I want to know more about the AI program that our Dad's company worked on for the game,"

Mr. Spears gives us a small smile. "A good question. It makes sense that you want to know more about your father's work to maintain and create life in the game world. It's not much of a secret, but most players might not understand how it works. I'll try my best to explain terms you two can understand, but I suggest you two listen well, okay?"

Both of us nod as we prepare to hear Mr. Spears's explanation.

"Alright. To start, do you two know about a special organ in our bodies that helps us think and make memories?"