"The Summoning VR" follows Freddy Scott, an idealistic computer science major who throws it all away to chase his dream of developing video games. Things are going well, that is, until he realizes the project he is working on is capable of summoning Satan and unleashing actual hell on earth.
"The Summoning VR" is a new idea created to enter into the Nerdist Video Games contest. It is still very much in development, and my hope is to test the waters of the Inkshares community to see if it is worth developing further.
The book will be written in the style of modern noir, with threads of darkly comic satire woven throughout. While on the surface it is a fun little story of occult mystery and video game fanaticism, it is also meant to explore the relationships we have with our jobs, and how those jobs effect the desires we all have to chase our dreams.
Below is the general outline I’ve worked out so far for the first five chapters. More to come...
CHAPTER 1
Freddy Scott is ready to live the New American Dream. Two years into a four year computer science degree, Freddy has caught the entrepreneurial itch, which in his case is more like a hook, deep under his skin, pulling him away from his study of artificial intelligence theory at a rather prestigious East Coast university. It’s with indie games on the brain, schnapps on his breath, and a new virtual reality headset hanging around his neck that he finds himself burning his textbooks in a mock satanic ritual in the parking lot of his otherwise completely normal and boring Boston college campus. In the morning he’ll pack up his Prius and head off to California, where so many other young men and women have been flocking to make names for themselves in the gaming gold rush.
Freddy isn’t completely full of crap, either. He’s a rather brilliant coder who would’ve done quite well for himself in academic research, as a high-tech trader on Wall St., or maybe programming spy satellites for the NSA. But he loves games, gadgets, and, generally speaking, not being told what to do. It’s incredible to him that he ever considered anything else. Then again, college wasn’t really his idea. Parents, right? The just don’t understand.
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CHAPTER 2
Rebellion can be a funny thing. While San Francisco became the undisputed king of forward thinking tech development, Freddy finds himself turned off from the ease at which his act of defiance might, in the end, defy nothing. So he heads south to Los Angeles, where he figures his personal fish-to-pond ratio will ultimately serve his goals better anyway. It doesn’t hurt that the weather is a lot nicer and the people are a lot more beautiful, either. A city devoted to unrelenting marketing, LA has its own budding tech sector creeping across sleepy Venice, dubiously dubbed “Silicon Beach,” a moniker that, while cute, is one important vowel away from reality.
Though his decision mortifies his parents, Freddy’s uncle Rick backs his play, and agrees to fund him for a year, though not without first forcing Freddy to sign a symbolic contract. Hanging in the balance is no less than the young man’s immortal soul, which will be tendered as payment should he default on his dream. Not that he believes in that sort of thing, but still, it gets the point across; giving up is not an option.
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CHAPTER 3
At a gamedev meetup, shortly after settling in, Freddy meets the man who can help him make his dreams come true. Marc Walston is a charismatic investor who has just launched a VR incubator, winkingly named The System, in the hopes of birthing the Next Big Thing right onto the giant oak table at the center of his gleaming new Venice studio space. He already has five projects in development and is looking for a sixth and final. Freddy pitches him--and it’s a hit. He’s got the spot.
Part of The System, Freddy finally feels at home. Surrounded by like minds and fueled by Red Bull on tap, he dives head first into the life of a game developer. Late nights are punctuated by sporadic Street Fighter tournaments and heady discussions of next-gen user interfaces. Freddy and his fellow Systemites find themselves in a competition to spend the most hours at the office, which was conveniently designed with plenty of room for bunk beds and nap pods. It becomes clear that Marc is more than just charismatic, he’s a goddamn genius, inspiring his team to be the best, picking them up and carrying them when their feet begin to drag on their long march to VR market domination.
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CHAPTER 4
Freddy’s VR Game:
“The Summoning” is an interactive gothic storytelling experience in which it’s your mission to rid your family of an ancient curse, placed upon your forefathers centuries ago. You must journey to the plane of Purgatory to summon the ghosts of your elders, investigating their role in a mysterious Medieval cabal that saw them cast down to hell for eternity. It is only by exposing the dark truths of your family’s past that you can reverse the curse and free yourself and the generations to come from the grips of Satan himself. Think Dante meets LA Noire.
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CHAPTER 5
Software development can be a lonely profession, but not so much when you’re part of a collective. At The System, Freddy is free to contribute to other projects, or to seek contributions for his own. He makes friends quickly, and the bonds they build are strong. Emancipated from their former lives as nerds, weirdos, and outcasts, The System feels like an egalitarian outpost far from the dog-eat-dog world promised to these young developers by the naysayers and pessimists who coached them to settle down. With a firm grasp of the mathematical realities of their pursuit, and a wealthy backer in their corner, each member of The System knows that of their six projects, they’ll be lucky if one rises above the tides of this latest tech fad. Luckily, they’re having way too much fun to really care.
COMING SOON:
Freddy contributes cutting-edge code to another VR project at The System.
Once his code circulates online, Freddy becomes a rock star of the community. Job offers and bundles of VC cash come flying at him. He starts receiving calls from private jets en route from Dubai, just to catch a little facetime him.
Marc convinces Freddy to deny these offers and instead sign an even stronger contract with The System. Marc makes a compelling case, and Freddy signs.
Freddy falls in love with a shy artist, Iliana Lowe, who has her own project cooking at The System. She draws dark, disturbing art that Freddy admires on multiple levels, but she’s not much of a game developer. She agrees to abandon her own project and join him as the full time art director on his.
Freddy continues to get offers, increasing in size. He realizes he is more important to The System than has been let on. The offers don’t make sense for a simple game developer.
Freddy realizes that his charismatic leader doesn’t just lead a tech start-up -- he leads a satanic cult. The game Freddy is working on isn’t a game at all, but has been hijacked and plugged into an effort to summon Satan into the machine, where he will be waiting for mankind in the nearing technological singularity.
Freddy gets scared, and contemplates running, but the danger and the mystery of it is just too attractive, and it sucks him in even deeper...
(Art courtesy of David Chontos, http://davidchontos.com)