From Idler to Tech Tycoon: Earth

Chapter 58: Final Modifications
Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Final ModificationsRichard leaned back in his chair, eyes strained from hours of staring at the screen. The words Mission Complete still lingered in his mind, the chaos of Utah Beach echoing like distant thunder. But there was no time to relax. The game was set to release tomorrow, and he still had some last-minute adjustments to make.

With a sigh, he closed the game and booted up Vector Core. The screen pulsed with a minimalistic logo — a hexagonal O interwoven with futuristic lines and dots, the beating heart of their AI-driven game engine.

Richard flexed his fingers, cracked his neck, and got to work.

First on the list was the dialogue system. Up until now, the only way for players to interact with NPCs was through proximity-based voice commands — a feature that was impressive but limiting.

Richard clicked open the Phoenix AI Module, the backbone of their procedural dialogue system. A cascade of lines of code scrolled past, each line a string of possible NPC responses.

Richard typed rapidly, integrating the new Text-Based Dialogue Option feature. Now, players could choose between:

Voice Proximity (speak to NPCs directly)

Typing (custom, slang, and shorthand included)

Pre-generated Dialogue Choices (like classic RPGs)

He ran a quick test. Typed:

”What do you think about the war?”

An NPC soldier standing by a burning truck responded with:

”I thought I was fine, because most of my neighbor signed up for the war. But now that I’m here, I just wanna go home to my dog.” as the soldier’s tears welled up.

Richard smiled. The dialogue flow was seamless. Phoenix was handling language parsing and contextual responses smoothly, even picking up on slang and shorthand.

Next, he added a Language Toggle option, allowing NPCs to respond in English, German, Russian, or French based on the player’s settings. The AI would still handle dynamic responses, but now with realistic accents and idioms specific to each faction.

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By the time he finished, the sun had begun to set, painting the compound in a warm amber glow. Richard stretched, rolling his shoulders. He stood and walked over to the window, watching the sun dip below the horizon. It was December 11th, 2012, 5 PM. The sky was a patchwork of gold and crimson, the air thick and heavy with the scent of distant rain.

Across the room, Jack was still glued to his screen, hunched over like a madman. The flickering light reflected off his wide, manic grin.

Richard raised an eyebrow. ”What the hell are you doing?”

Jack barely glanced away from the screen. ”Dude, this game is insane.”

Richard walked over and peered over Jack’s shoulder. Jack’s screen displayed the German Campaign, but the map wasn’t the standard frontline or command base setting. Instead, Jack’s faction was deep in the forest, surrounded by a ragtag group of armed men and civilians.

”What am I looking at?” Richard asked.

Jack chuckled, tapping the screen. ”Partisans, man. I started the campaign as a disillusioned Wehrmacht officer. I convinced some soldiers and a bunch of civilians to join me. We’re a full-on resistance movement now.”

”Resistance?” Richard crossed his arms.

”Yeah. We’re hitting supply convoys, raiding SS camps, freeing prisoners. I’m even giving speeches to the troops,” Jack said, eyes wild with excitement.

Richard blinked. ”Wait what? you’re giving speeches?”

”Yeah!” Jack turned to him, his expression a mix of exhilaration and exhaustion. ”I was testing the proximity dialogue thing we added, right? Next thing I know, the AI starts reacting to my words. I started ranting about how Hitler’s a monster, how the Jews and Poles are being slaughtered, and the AI just... responded. Some of the soldiers straight-up defected and joined my cause. Now I have like twenty thousand partisans hiding in the woods.”

Richard’s brow furrowed. ”Twenty thousand?”

”Yeah, but there’s a problem.” Jack’s face fell slightly. ”The moment we started getting bigger, the SS found our bases. They wiped us out slowly. I had no clue what to do with the freed prisoners. They just wandered around, defenseless, and got them slaughtered. It was a massacre.”

Richard smirked and took a deep breath. The potential of their game engine was both exhilarating and terrifying. Phoenix AI was evolving faster than they anticipated, generating scenarios far beyond their original history. But it was meant to be that way. As realistic and as immersive as possible.

”So, what now?” Richard asked.

Jack leaned back, rubbing his temples. ”I gotta edit a five-hour raw gameplay recording and upload it to YouTube. The internet’s gonna lose its mind over this. I mean, who knew we could make a fully-fledged resistance campaign without even coding it?”

Richard shook his head, a slow grin spreading across his face. ”We always knew.”

Jack burst out laughing, the sound echoing through the room. Outside, the compound had fallen into darkness, but inside, the screens still glowed — the only light in the room.

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Minutes later, Jack’s eyes were focused on the Adobe premiere, slicing through hours of gameplay footage, cutting down the chaos of the German Partisan storyline into digestible, pulse-pounding clips. The room was dim, illuminated only by the glow of his dual monitors. A faint smirk lingered on his lips as he relived the sheer insanity of his campaign — defecting soldiers, raiding SS convoys, liberating camps. The AI was ruthless, dynamic, and terrifyingly real.

But then, an email notification popped up at the bottom corner of his screen. Sony. Microsoft. Tencent. Three titans of the industry, all vying for one thing — Phoenix AI.

Jack leaned back, cracking his knuckles before clicking on the first email. ”Hey, Rich,” he called out. ”You’re gonna want to see this.”

Richard stepped in, a towel draped around his neck, hair damp from a shower. ”What’s up?”

Jack scrolled through the emails. ”Sony’s offering $15 billion upfront with milestone bonuses. If the revenue reaches a billion, they’re throwing in another $100 million. At four billion, $500 million more. And if it hits ten billion? $2.5 billion. After that, 3% royalties capped at $20 billion for ten years.”

Richard’s expression remained flat, unreadable. ”Okay. What about Microsoft?”

Jack clicked open the next email. ”Microsoft’s going big. $20 billion upfront. 10% royalties, but only capped at a $10 billion market value. Five years.”

Richard’s eyes narrowed slightly. ”Shorter term. But higher cut.”

Jack clicked open the last email. ”And Tencent... well, they’re just saying $50 billion for full acquisition. No royalties. No milestones. Just cash.”

Richard’s jaw clenched. He folded his arms, eyes focused on nothing in particular. ”Tencent wants it all, no strings attached.”

Jack swiveled his chair around, eyebrows raised. ”Are you seriously considering selling it? A couple of weeks ago, you were hellbent on the subscription model.”

Richard exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. ”Yeah, that was before the attack. Before someone got away with the modified zero-day variant of the AI.”

Jack leaned forward, concern etched across his face. ”You really think they’re going to use it?”

”Absolutely,” Richard said, his voice steely. ”Whoever took it isn’t going to sit around. They’ll announce a ’revolutionary AI breakthrough’ in a matter of months. Maybe even weeks. If we don’t move first, we risk being drowned out. And if they position themselves as the sole provider of a cutting-edge AI, we’re done.”

Jack frowned. ”But... the Phoenix AI we have now — it’s Lina. It’s not just some version three variant.”

”Exactly,” Richard said, spinning his chair to face Jack. ”Lina is the real deal. What we’re potentially selling is just the diluted third variant, a fraction of the real power. It’s still groundbreaking — and enough to cause a market frenzy. But it’s not Lina.”

Jack nodded, slowly getting the picture. ”So, what’s the move?”

Richard leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. ”We don’t act desperate. If we take any of these deals now, we’re locking ourselves in. We need to build perceived value first. Hype up Phoenix AI as the backbone of our game. Show the world how it makes our NPCs think, react, and evolve like real people. Highlight the dynamic storytelling, the evolving world mechanics. Hell, even your partisan storyline was something he completely made up on the spot, and the AI adapted to it.”

Jack’s eyes lit up. ”So, instead of selling the AI now, we leverage the game as the showcase.”

”Exactly,” Richard said. ”Let the market see what Phoenix AI can do. Show how it can adapt, evolve, and even counter player tactics in real-time. We’ll market it as ’AI-Driven Gameplay Like Never Before.’ We’ll have a separate campaign to promote the Vector Core engine, highlighting how it uses Phoenix AI for procedural generation, NPC behavior, and dynamic storytelling.”

Jack spun back to his computer, fingers twitching with excitement. ”Alright. I’ll edit the footage to emphasize that — the AI-driven soldier reactions, the emergent storytelling, the tactical decision-making.”

”And mention the AI by name,” Richard said, his eyes cold and calculating. ”Phoenix AI — the future of immersive gaming.”

Jack grinned, already dragging clips into the timeline. ”This is gonna blow up.”

Richard stood up, his expression hardening as he stared out the window, the setting sun casting long shadows across the compound. The world was about to get a glimpse of Phoenix AI — but it was just the surface. The real power, the real Lina, remained in his hands.