Immersive Creation

System Notification: The Last Of Us Part 1 transcription is complete.

After waiting three days for this notification, I was beyond excited to start working on the game.

~You can now find the master file on the system software.~

When I heard Mel's voice in my head, telling me that I could start working on the game, I did what any normal person would do.

I played the game for two full days, taking only short breaks for my vital needs.

How did I feel after two days of playing? Insane. There's no word to describe what I experienced in the heart of the game during those two days. Switching from Joel's POV to Ellie's, being at the heart of the action, with details and graphics identical to reality.

I don't even need to tell you that even when I played the game for the umpteenth time, it wasn't comparable to playing on a screen.

The smells, the sounds, the atmosphere everything was incredible. I won't lie the first five hours were the hardest, and if I could have soiled myself, I probably would have at every zombie growl or ambush in the buildings.

After resting overnight from my two-day addiction, which left me in a bad state, I was even more motivated to chase the adrenaline, or rather the drug, I felt while playing.

Now, I also had to change a few things, like setting up more user-friendly modes, because I'm sure some people wouldn't be able to handle the normal mode.

I also added a streamer or YouTuber mode, allowing for a kind of flying device to capture the direct view of the streamer or a third-person view.

I also made some adjustments to the map limits, which I had tested and found terrifying. Most of the game is seamless, so there are many moments where you are fully immersed and almost forget that it's not reality.

To keep players within bounds, I set a limit of 5 km at each story checkpoint, but to make the game last, I also implemented a story slowdown of 0.1 (with 1 being normal). This way, players could explore as much as they wanted during breaks, always within the map limits, of course.

I added a few scenes of my own invention or that I could have read on wikis, such as the 20-year jump in the first opus, featuring Joel's meeting with Tess after a few years, where they joined forces for practical reasons, forming a team to survive.

Joel would have met Bill on an expedition outside the quarantine zone, forming a pragmatic alliance where each benefited from the other—Joel in exchange for supplies and assistance, and Bill for his expertise in traps and survival.

Proud of my work, I also ensured that players didn't need to eat or drink, although they could if they wanted to, but doing so would give them a strange sensation to avoid deviating from the video game experience.

I included options to make death animations automatic or completely disable them, along with other settings like pain, blood, and many more.

As I watched "my" masterpiece come together, my anticipation of the players' reactions grew. So I started talking to the two streamers I had my eye on since I chose Zerakor. Zerakor turned out to be a bit greedy, to put it mildly.

Even after I showed him gameplay snippets, he was only interested in money, so my adventure with him ended there.

Now, Hylia was initially skeptical about the quality of the game I was creating on my own, but she became excited about the level of art and lore the game offered after I showed her a gameplay video I had made.

I began thinking about a plan to generate hype when I heard the familiar sound of the system.

Mission: Hype 10,000 people for your game.

Rewards: 30 system points.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. 'I haven't received a mission yet, and even though 30 system points don't sound like much compared to the 1,000 I borrowed from the system, it's still a bargain since I'd get them anyway,' I thought.

~Host? The system may have a suggestion for you.~

Surprised by the voice, and even more surprised by the suggestion, I replied affirmatively.

~The system can create a trailer for your game from your memories for the price of 25 system points.~

"That's interesting," I muttered. "I could do both—post snippets from the game and make a trailer that would have a much greater impact on my Steam page," I thought.

After making my plan, I wrote it down in a Word document:

Step 1: Give Hylia early access to the game up until Sarah's death (perfect cliffhanger).

Step 2: Set a deadline of three days before the release of the game with the launch of the trailer (if the mission is successful). Motivate Hylia by giving her the game key one day in advance if she succeeds.

Step 3: Release the official game along with any administrative problems that may arise, given the bombshell I'm about to drop in the industry.

That's good. Now, let's give Hylia all the instructions on how I want this to go.