Rise To Stardom - Chapter 201

Chapter 201: Games Con
Games Con.

The largest and most influential annual gaming convention in the world, it was an event that was held every summer at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC).

Not their first rodeo, the massive venue, had an exhibit space of about 720,000 square feet fitted with the necessary technological infrastructures, all of which included its sprawling interactive show floor, developer panels and workshops, e-sports showdown arena and the cosplay section.

The venue’s Main Hall, the heart of Game’s Con itself, was a place where all the grand reveal and showcases of the newest flagship games, either from AAA publishers, indie devs and everyone else in between, was set to be showcased.

Then came South Hall, the main hub reserved for AAA studios and publishers like GameSoft Studios, Chronos Interactive and PixelForge Entertainment.

The hall had evenly-spaced booths, high-definition monitor screens and powerful computer rigs, all for gamers and critics to test their playable demos for their latest big-budget games in the hopes of the devs of the Studios, receiving valuable feedback.

The West Hall, on the other hand, geared towards having a more relaxed atmosphere to it.

The site, seemingly planned to offer a more intimate and less glamorous vibe when compared with those of the AAA studios and publishers as it was in fact, dedicated to the Indie Devs and their passion projects.

The Petree Hall, located in the east wing however, was where the Esports Showdown Arena for the Game’s Con Championship Series (GCCS) took place.

Knowing fully well that quite a lot of gamers would be here to watch the show that had a cash prize of a million dollars, the hall had more care put into its striking presentation.

As for the hall in the north, it was where the Cosplay Extravaganza took place, its inviting walkway stage immaculately prepped for the Cosplay Parade.

It was a very fierce competition for talented cosplayers to get a shot at winning a lot of top-notch grand prizes, ranging from cash prizes to a lifetime subscription of game services on some select gaming platforms.

That said, in between these various halls, were the massive lobbies that spanned their expanse, each efficiently and expertly littered with direction signs to guide gamers to their next destination.

Currently though, it was still 6:00am in the morning and the convention hall was yet to be opened, save for the employees whom were already on ground to ensure that everything was as it should be.

Interestingly, Game’s Con also had a sort of thematic yet fun setup for naming their employees to fit with the gaming-inspired atmosphere, each of them wearing uniformly colored but differently labelled shirts.

From Con Guardians (encompassing the security and logistics personnel), to Questmasters (wayfinding experts and customer service), Level Masters (managers and supervisors in charge of specific halls), Con Operators (general staff responsible for behind-the-scenes coordination), Rangers (event coordinator and tech support) and even NPCs (frontline workers involved with registration, ticketing and FAQs), each personnel on ground, had a pretty fun name attached to their respective positions.

A few hours later though, at approximately 7:30 am, the venue was open, first to the game studios, renowned game publishers and indie devs, all of whom had come much earlier to set up their stuff at various respective halls and booths.

Expectedly though, as those string of events happened, some of SpawnPoint Studio’s employees, present on site, soon ran into an old friend… and a bit of an arch nemesis if they were being honest.

“Would you look at that? You guys, actually, somehow made it all the way to LA.” Griffin, mockingly commented as Carlos, glared at him disdainfully.

Owen on the other hand, having tagged alongside his boss and Oliver like the assistant he was, watched in curiosity as Dahlia and three other SpawnPoint Studio employees on ground, had a noticeably irked demeanor on their features the moment they laid eyes on the casually dressed investor.

“Sure you’re not eating into the budget for your ‘triple-A’ game, just to be here?” Griffin employed air quotes to get his mockery across like the jerk he was.

The Con Guardians, Operators and Questmasters nearby, upon noticing the somewhat hostile interaction between both parties, paid close attention, ready to spring into action in a heartbeat should things spiral out of hand.

Griffin too, already expecting of the Carlos he knew to come at him with furious words of retaliation, watched in evident confusion as the Studio Head, surprisingly, turned over to face a Questmaster nearby and asked with a polite smile instead;

“Hello. Can you perhaps point us in the right direction to the Main Hall?”

“Ah, yes. Please, this way.” the cute lady personnel with her face-cap on, gestured to the group, all of them leaving the noticeably stunned investor on the spot.

Frowning at that, Griffin soon turned around, his eyes squinted in the direction of their receding backs.

And then, unexpectedly, he watched as two individuals on his left, slowly walked past him to meet up with the receding group while casually conversing, their frames familiar.

“Kyle Kestis and his agent…? Why are they here?” the man curiously muttered, his frown deepening by the second.

However, before Griffin could fully formulate his thoughts, he received a phone call from one of his fellow investors to come over to the South Hall as that was where all of GameSoft Studios’ employees and resources were currently focused on.

Considering the big studio had already sorted out the videogame demo they would be showcasing for their Grand Reveal of [A Pirate’s Odyssey] much earlier, they were already in the South Hall to set up their stuff for the more exciting, one hour, hands-on game demo they had promised their fan base.

Having met with the required personnel though, SpawnPoint Studios on the other hand, soon sorted out all the proceedings to have their game showcased alongside many others.

“Thank you. Just one more question; Who will be presenting the game?” the Ranger on ground asked, her pen, lingering on her event planner.

To that, a masked individual amongst their group, casually stepped forward, removing his mask as he spoke;

“That’s me.”

“Name?” the lady politely asked, ready to jot down the name.

“Kyle Kestis.” Kyle responded.

“Alright Mr. Kesti-” the Ranger’s swift scribble suddenly halted, her gaze raised up in confusion first and then, immense shock!

At the exact same time, every other personnel around who noticed, froze, much to the light chuckles of Carlos, Dahlia, Owen, Oliver and his other employees.

In response to all these, a modest smile nestled on Kyle’s lips as he gently reminded the Ranger in charge to put in his name.

Excitedly, the lady did her job, after which she then asked for an autograph and a photo, both of which Kyle willingly obligated to.

Like that, other game studios soon came along, the employees on ground, doing their job.

And finally, after all the game demos of the booked studios had been sorted out for the showcase, at 10:00am prompt, Game’s Con was fully open to the tens of thousands of gamers whom were lucky enough to have secured their tickets in advance before the event.

…

…

…

(A few minutes later…)

At the outdoor plaza of the convention, food trucks, merchandise stalls, and the likes were present, with only a few gamers, lounging about to ‘enjoy’ the hot California sun.

And meters away from the plaza, was the parking lot.

“California has great weather eh?” Kyle squinted upwards with a sarcastic comment and then sighed while placing his face-cap and nose mask on, his sapphire irises framed by his spectacles.

“Great weather my ass! I could fry an egg on my skull at this rate!” Owen complained as he also exited the luxury camper the CEO had rented for their transport and brief stay in L.A.

Simultaneously, Carlos alongside one of SpawnPoint Studio’s game dev, the Lead Software Engineer and Programmer that went by the name of Chase, also exited the camper, both already wishing they were under a shade.

Having already sorted out all the formalities hours earlier, Kyle and his employees had mostly just lounged in the camper, waiting till the event started for real.

As for Oliver, after informing the gang a few minutes earlier that he’ll be in the Main Hall if they needed him, headed out of the camper to receive an important call from Stuart regarding Kyle’s tour next year.

Slowly but surely, they’d already started planning for it in advance as there really was, a crap ton of things to sort out.

In any case, Dahlia and the other SpawnPoint Studio’s game devs Ariana and Sasha, both of whom were, respectively, the game’s Lead Narrative Designer and Project Manager… now they were currently in the camper, changing into their cosplay clothes.

Being their very first Game’s Con, the ladies had come, absolutely prepared to have some well-earned fun.

“Alright guys. I’ve informed the ladies earlier so we’ll all meet up at the main hall in an hour from now.” Kyle casually turned around and spoke to Owen, Carlos and Chase.

“Sure.” they all responded with light nods as they leisurely strolled across the parking lot to the plaza.

Soon, having shown their passes to the Con Guardians at the entrance, they were back in the massive and currently bustling lobby filled to the brim with excited gamers, game reporters, game journalists and game critics.

Individually, all four soon grabbed a wayfinder’s map from the expertly positioned Questfinders nearby and then, dispersed in various directions.

Carlos and Chase were headed to the South Hall where the Studio Giants were to scout out how fierce competition was by testing their game demos.

Owen, on the other hand, made his way to the Petree Hall to watch some of the world’s best players compete competitively in Call of Honor, a tactical FPS that was all the rage these days and Territory Battlegrounds Online, a battle royale that was rapidly gaining traction in recent memory.

As for Kyle, he casually moved in the direction of the West Hall as he was more interested in the unconventional and possibly risky projects of the indie game developers, most of whom were quite passionate and mostly unrestrained by typical industry gaming standards.

That said, as the CEO of a game studio, Kyle was also, more or less, planning to keep an eye out for any talented game dev worth recruiting into SpawnPoint Studio… if they were willing, that is.

…

…

…

“How was it?” Oliver, whom had sat on one of SpawnPoint Studio’s reserved seats, asked the moment Carlos and Chase arrived at the Main Hall.

“Impressive, visually. Probably the most photorealistic game I’ve seen till date, in fact.” Chase, with his brown-haired crew cut, soft features and chocolate-brown irises, commented thoughtfully, a few finger resting on his chin.

“A bit of interesting and fresh gameplay mechanics too… but nothing innovative.” Carlos, settled into his chair as he added with a relaxed gaze.

“So basically, the typical, recycled, GameSoft open-world formula, but in a pirate setting?” Kyle whom had overheard their conversation as he arrived alongside Owen, curiously questioned.

“Yep.” Carlos and Chase curtly nodded in unison.

‘I guess they’re playing it safe…’ Kyle mused to himself, not particularly finding it surprising that a big studio would want to take the easy and tested way out to ensure the success of their game.

Gamers after all, tended to enjoy playing games they were quite familiar with than trying out new stuff.

Kyle’s thoughts aside, as at the moment, the Main Hall was slowly getting packed, excited murmurs filling up every corner as the gameplay reveal showcases was set to commence in roughly about ten minutes.

The CEO on the other hand, after a few more seconds of some casual chit-chat here and there, instead of sitting with his employees, made his way backstage as per protocols required for all the presenters of their respective gameplay showcases.

Literal seconds after he was out of sight though, Dahlia, Ariana and Sasha arrived in their vibrant cosplay outfits, all three settling into their seats as they looked around curiously.

“Kyle, I’m guessing? You missed him by a few seconds.” Owen casually remarked, earning appreciative nods from the ladies.

Meanwhile, as this was happening, situated on their far left and occupying almost two rows, was a mix of GameSoft Studios employees and their investors.

As expected, Griffin was also on ground, seated amidst his fellow wealthy investors.

However, instead of fully engaging in the conversations his fellow colleagues were having, his eyes kept darting over to SpawnPoint Studio employees from afar who looked way too relaxed for people that would be showcasing their videogame last, especially after [A Pirate’s Odyssey].

For some reason or the other, it made him quite uncomfortable…

That aside though, a few minutes later, all the seats in the Main Hall’s auditorium were occupied as everyone, gingerly looked forward to the showcase to commence.

And roughly thirty seconds later, the host in charge of kicking off the showcase, walked onto the stage with a light smile and a few words of formalities.

Soon, his hands, gestured towards the screen as the lights in the room, dimmed to present the very first videogame showcase of the night.

As the gargantuan screen in the energetically-charged atmosphere of the auditorium revealed the first game, gamers watched on in anticipation.

–

A rendered in-game, cel-shaded styled cinematic.

It started first with a panned out shot of a lush, quiet, vegetation-filled land from the peak of a mountain with a soothing, almost ethereal-like music.

A few seconds later, a beautiful elven looking lady, ran towards the edge of a cliff of said mountain and instantly, skydived off it with a phoenix-winged contraption as the game’s title came into view.

–

No sooner had the gamers seen that, a loud, frenzied roar of tingling excitement, filled up every corner of the auditorium.

Even Dahlia, Ariana and Sasha were clapping their hands gleefully like the hardcore, fan girls that they were!

And the same could be said for those, livestreaming the showcase themselves!

–

Papa Zentendo: Let’s, effin’, go!!!

LinkAwakens: Finally! We waited five years for this shit!

SkywardBlade: Man! The folks at Zentendo sure took their time. Can’t wait to lay my hands on this. Day one purchase for sure!

–

The Fable of Xenon: Call of The Wind, an action-adventure game that had been in the works at a popular videogame publisher company and studio called Zentendo, had finally being unveiled after so long with an overwhelmingly positive reception.

And what a way it was for Games Con to start off with the gameplay reveals as the Studio Head of Zentendo, soon took the stage a few minutes later to give more insight into the game.

After that reveal, came the next few games, some, more engaging than the others.

But unfortunately, nothing was able to reach the same super-charged atmosphere that Call of The Wind had effortlessly invoked, albeit a select few did come close.

And just like that, Carlos, Chase, Owen and Oliver, alongside the ladies kept watching in interest, only to feel themselves sit upright when GameSoft Studio’s logo, came onto the screen, much to the excessive cheers of the gamers in the auditorium!