Rise To Stardom - Chapter 146

Chapter 146: Not Just A Figurehead
The elevator’s doors opened… and out stepped Oliver and Kyle.

The reactions of SpawnPoint Studio’s employees…

Well, it was to be expected, to say the least.

Silence descended upon the mini lobby, its entire ambience, having shifted from genuine curiosity to a mix of shocked awe, confusion and disbelief… but mostly shocked awe.

Right before them was one of the most popular actor and musician in recent memory!

Yet, they all couldn’t help but question…

Was it really Kyle Kestis in the flesh?!

Yes, well, they could all see that but, then again, him being here raised so many questions they just couldn’t seem to wrap their head around.

Shouldn’t he have a crap ton of things to do in Hollywood with his exponential rise to stardom?

There were magazines, no?!

Talk shows?!

Interviews?!

Podcasts?!

Modelling?!

Advertisements?!

Photoshoots?!

Parties?!

All things Hollywood related and yet, for some reason they obviously didn’t want to believe, he was here in their frankly, small-time studio?!

In fact, Dahlia as of the moment, had become a statue for a hot second, although her amber irises only kept widening in puzzled amazement by the second as her heart continuously beat faster.

Her Curator, was standing, right before her!!!

As for Carlos, their Studio Head, he had quickly recomposed himself.

As much as he wanted to wrap his head around what was going on here, he simply put his thoughts aside and walked right towards both individuals dressed in mostly all-black ensembles.

The suave-looking man was dressed in a sleek, body-hugging, three-piece black suit while the young celebrity, was dressed in a slim-fitted, long-sleeved, button-down vintage-brown shirt, slim-fitted black jeans and sleek, black, leather Chelsea boots.

From their attires, Carlos had settled on the belief that the man in the suit was their CEO while Kyle Kestis, probably just tagged along since he was in a more casual wear.

Griffin after all, would’ve most probably sold the company to another wealthy investor like him.

That was what the Studio Head believed.

Yet, as Carlos offered his hands whilst speaking, Oliver raised a curious eyebrow;

“It’s a pleasure to meet you sir. I’m Carlos Schmidt, the Studio Head.”

“I think there’s a mistake here. I’m not who you might presume I am.” Oliver glanced over to his ward who kept a light smile on his lips as Carlos, had a hint of mixed shock, slight apprehension and surprise in his black-irises as he turned over to face Kyle.

“Hello Carlos. Pleasure to meet you. I’m Kyle Kestis. SpawnPoint Studio’s new CEO.”

No sooner had Kyle received his handshake with that introduction, everyone in the mini lobby, Dahlia excluded, shared their Studio Head’s sentiment, a similar gaze of slight apprehension, present in their eyes.

Celebrities that involved themselves in the gaming industry were very few and far in-between these days, even if it the industry itself was far more popular than both the film and music industry combined together.

For the most part, 99% of these few were simply involved in the motion capture for certain characters in-game but rarely, and extremely rarely, were they ever involved in the actual nitty-gritty of the game development itself…

Except, when they had some sort of silly propaganda or agenda they were up to.

That was where the slight apprehension in everyone’s gazes came from.

But for Kyle, he couldn’t care less about those subtle gazes and instead, went right down to business, his hands interlocked gently.

“I’ve been following the studio’s… our studio’s work for a while now, and, I’m extremely excited to see how far you’ve gone with the [Tech Wiz] videogame.” he spoke to everyone in the room, although he mostly glanced in Carlos’s direction.

“So, is there an alpha-version of the game that can be played? I’m pretty sure you’re nowhere near the beta-version, right?”

The moment Kyle spoke in videogame lingo… and also used the term ‘our studio’ and not ‘my studio’, one that quite literally, caught them all off-guard, a genuine wave of surprise, cascaded over everyone in the room.

All except for Dahlia whose expression had now morphed into that of an excited smile.

Considering the amount of interviews regarding Kyle the lady had watched the moment she became a big fan, especially with his pride when it came to speaking out on what he enjoyed doing in his free time, Dahlia was so happy that he wasn’t just putting out a persona for all to see.

On and off camera, Kyle Kestis was a geek regarding the things he loved.

Hell, even his profile picture on all social media accounts, was a pic of him reading a [Tech Wiz] comic book on a comfy couch!

Realizing Carlos was yet to answer, she swiftly moved forward and elbowed him gently to snap him out of his surprise.

“Y-y-yes… Yes. Yes! There is! Please, take a seat here while we go pull it up!” he replied in excitement as Kyle nodded with a thin smile and took his seat on the couch alongside Oliver.

Swiftly, all the other employees, quickly realized that the game they had been working on for over a year now and a few months now, wouldn’t be shelved into the void!

As a result, they all, instantly, aided Carlos and Dahlia to pull and set up all the necessary electronics and accessories Kyle would be using to test the game.

First was the Smart TV, which they placed on the wall bracket, a few meters away from him, followed by a high-spec computer and a few consoles placed atop the TV desk, about five of the employees, wiring it all together with the TV.

Dahlia, having retrieved a box full of gamepads, asked of Kyle which one he wanted with the brightest of smiles and Kyle, simply responded that he was fine with any while reciprocating with a light smile of his own.

Carlos on the other hand, moved towards his cubicle’s drawer and retrieved a Solid State Drive (SSD) containing one of the copies of the alpha version of the game.

Considering they had all previously packaged their stuff believing they would be fired, most of the computers, consoles, gamepads and what nots which they had been using to build and develop the game, was still in the beige-colored electronic waste boxes, even though they had earlier arrived today.

…

…

…

Clad in what seemed to be a mix between an orange and blue, homemade vigilante attire and sleek, futuristic, cyberpunk-like aesthetics with glowing, neon circuitries all over, Kyle watched as the hero he controlled on the screen, jumped from one bland looking skyscraper to the next while chasing down an armored vehicle on the supposedly busy streets.

That said, the game’s open-world itself, was evidently and understandably, still bland and lacking all the necessary aesthetics and visuals to truly bring it to life.

Even the pedestrians and cars roaming the streets were literally pixelated blobs of black, serving as placeholders for the real thing when they finally got around to it.

Yet, as of the moment, Kyle couldn’t care less as he was mostly invested in the high-speed chase between the armored vehicle with goons firing their ammunitions and an acrobatic and fast-moving Tech Wiz with his anti-gravity boots hot on their tail.

A few seconds after, Tech Wiz, with the help of Kyle’s skilled hands, soon landed on the vehicle and short-circuited the circuitry of the car with an electric pulse, bringing it to an immediate halt.

Then the gameplay shifted to pure combat on the city streets, the goons from the condemned vehicle, getting out to finish their job.

They at least, had their models fully rendered, although their various clothing constantly kept clipping through their bodies, hinting at the lack of polish as the game was still a work in progress.

With a mix of acrobatic dashes, brutal combos, counters, finishers and a few gadgets here and there from the in-game controlled Tech Wiz, it took Kyle roughly a minute and few seconds to dispatch of the goons.

As every other employee in the mini lobby, watched as Kyle played the game with skill and finesse, even only after about forty minutes of gameplay with literally next to no handholding and just allowing him to figure things out as he went, it became truly evident that the young star, knew his stuff.

Kyle Kestis was an adept gamer, no doubt about that.

Even Oliver, had gotten quite intrigued by the game as he watched his ward, take off from the crime scene as cops arrived, Tech Wiz, already barrel rolling mid-air as he parkoured from one building to the next in search of the next objective.

Yet, as the employees watched him play the game with a light smile on his lips and a gaze of genuine excitement in his eyes, most were still nervous on his verdict regarding the game, Carlos especially.

Dahlia on the other hand, currently standing right behind Kyle on the couch, had a good feeling about what the young star’s verdict was going to be.

A few minutes later, after playing some more, Kyle paused the game and stated;

“It’s… brilliant.”

No sooner had he said that, Dahlia inwardly squealed for obvious reasons!

“Fantastic even. What you all have achieved, despite being such a small team deserves a crap ton of accolades.” Kyle continued, leaning back on the sofa as placed the game pad down.

To that, all the employees were visibly happy and grateful for his genuine compliments, Carlos especially.

It made all the efforts they had put into making the game as good as they could with their limited resources, worth it.

“That said…” Kyle’s tone, became thoughtful and introspective, his arms gently crossed over his chest as he continued;

“It could be better… way better…”

Sure the young man knew it was all an alpha-version of the game that could still undergo quite a lot of changes but, then again, considering their plans to go to Game’s Con in the next few weeks, this simply, just wouldn’t cut it.

“How?” Carlos, Dahlia and a bunch of other employees, curiously questioned in unison.

If before they had been slightly apprehensive about what Kyle was up to in their company, now they understood clearly that the young man, wasn’t planning to be a figurehead for their company.

Rather, he seemed to be genuinely interested in and was passionate about their work, just like they were.

As a result, they too, genuinely wanted to hear his thoughts.

In response to their unified question, Kyle, gestured to all of them to sit around the long, circular-shaped couch where he could see them all, after which he then proceeded to speak.