Page 39 of The Grump I Loathe
I paced the length of my desk, running through the games Grace played the most. “She really liked yourAlterbot.And she plays a farming sim with her uncle. Oh, and she’s been playing thisBubble Blastergame with animals all the time lately.”
Eddie nodded like this was confirming what she’d already suspected. “And why are those games exciting to her?”
I shrugged. “Because…I don’t know. The colors? You had pink turnips.”
Eddie glared at me. “She’s not a toddler. C’mon. Why does she like playing those games?”
“Because…She likes things with animals.”
“Yes, exactly,” Eddie said, writing ANIMAL on the board. “But what is it about the animals that she loves?”
I drummed my fingers against my chin. “That she gets to take care of them, I guess. And they have their own stats. She’s always going on about their cool abilities.”
“Okay, that’s really good. The animals directly influence game play. Right now, it sounds like the kids are hating the Juni Protocol becausethey essentially don’t matter to the game. There are no stakes for the player. They have no abilities…” Eddie rushed out of the room suddenly, returning with a piece of paper. She pressed it to the middle of the board. “So here is my solution.”
It was that damn rat holding a piece of cheese. “Mr. Cheesers?”
“Remember when I suggested giving Juni a sidekick NPC? Well, what if we take that to the next level?” she said. “When the Juni Protocol is inactive, it’s an NPC. When it’s activated, the kids can take charge of Mr. Cheesers. A rat is tiny—it fits into cool places in the ship that Juni can’t go. That means the kids can explore hidden areas. They can complete easy missions or simple puzzles to unlock doors or supply crates for the main player. And if you give Mr. Cheesers some basic fighting abilities, like a little tail whip, they can even be a bigger part of the action.”
As Eddie scribbled her notes onto the board, I could actually see the idea coming together. I sat down in my chair, my own ideas coming to life. “Maybe we can even let the kids collect small ship parts which can be fashioned into armor. Grace loves modifying her characters. And different mods could give them different abilities like extra health.”
“Extra stamina,” Eddie suggested.
“Exactly!” She grinned at me as she plopped down onto the edge of my desk. She was far too close, but I didn’t move, didn’t draw a boundary. Instead, I let myself be drawn to her enthusiasm—and to the way she was smiling at me. When was the last time I’d made a beautiful woman smile like that? “What is it?” I asked.
“Nothing, I just think you’ve finally hit on the heart of game design. At least, to me. It’s about putting a piece of yourself into the game and letting the world fall in love with it.”
I frowned. “I don’t think I’ve put anything into the game.”
“You have,” Eddie insisted. “You’ve put Grace into the game as Juni. That’s why it’s so important to you that you get it right.” She nudged my leg with her foot. “I think when we truly love something, it comes through in the gaming details. The adventure is more epic. The investigation is more thrilling.”
Ali and Max and Grace had been trying to explain their love of games to me for years, and it had never really clicked, but Eddie’s excitement and explanation resonated with me.
My brothers put art into the world—Liam with his streaming service and Finn with his movie studio—but their audiences didn’t get to affect the finished product. A video game required that the audience make it its own.
In a way, we were building something together. This franchise, this world…it belonged to the players in a way that movie-goers and TV watchers would never experience.
“What if…” I started, “as part of the Juni Protocol, we have a mission that involves rescuing the other rats from the ship and setting them free? Grace would love that.”
“A mission within the mission,” Eddie said, jumping up to add it to the board. “Now we’re talking. Low stakes but high reward for the kids.”
Her complimenting my idea felt better than I could have anticipated, and a grin tugged at my lips.
“You know,” Eddie said, standing back to glance at the work we’d done. “Everyone here would probably think you were far less scary if you showed them this side of yourself.”
I jerked back in surprise. “People think I’m scary?”
Eddie smirked at me over her shoulder. “Maybe not actuallyscary, but intimidating, definitely. That’s why they’re all tripping overthemselves trying not to break your rules. No music. No snacks at their desk.” She marched around like a robot. “No fun of any kind.”
“For the record, I never actually said peoplecouldn’tdo those things.”
“Well, you definitely said no to dance parties in the office,” she pointed out. “Which was very buzzkill of you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I have to keep you on task somehow.”
Eddie scoffed. “Office dance parties would increase productivity tenfold.”
“That can’t possibly be true.”
