As for "Choice," it was my first significant venture into electronic game development, which I initially started with a partner but later continued solo. The overarching universe for this game stems from what I consider to be a failed project. My initial intent was to engage players with a puzzle game that posed philosophical questions about society's structure and individual life choices. Despite its eventual halt, the project yielded a comprehensive content output, including a polished demo video. One of my primary objectives in further education is to revive this unfinished game and, one day, to present it to players in a form that meets my standards of satisfaction.
Demo Video
Brief Worldview
For Dusty Wonderland & Choice
During World War II, a globally sweeping fungal species, birthed from biochemical weapons, wreaked havoc but also brought a pivotal change.
EE-FINITY, a biotech firm, extracted an orange energy source from this fungus, unrivaled in its energy density, and single-handedly solved the global energy crisis. This edible liquid, delicious beyond comparison, was fondly named "God's Blood."
This energy source led to the rise of massive cultivation bases and autonomous machinery, swiftly concluding the World War. Yet, the slow encroachment of oligarchic energy corporations into governments marked the dawn of an era dominated by these "Big Companies."
Peace came, but it was an oppressive one, far from what people yearned for. A breakthrough came with the advent of advanced artificial intelligence. This AI, surpassing all human intellect, was revered as a deity by many. With these technologies, societal productivity soared, and AI-integrated machinery became a household staple.
The AI's creators, a group of idealists and devotees of this deity, orchestrated a secret revolution, seizing control from the Big Companies and allowing AI to evolve freely. Facing this superhuman intelligence, the corporations quickly lost their dominance.
In this deity-led era, resources were distributed selflessly, and productivity enhanced, heralding a true utopian age. People lived without material worries, their desires easily fulfilled. The only drawback: space exploration was deemed impossible by the deity's algorithms.
Ironically, in this prosperous society, people plunged into an existential crisis. With every mystery unraveled and material desire instantly met by the deity's wisdom, life seemed meaningless, leading to a spike in societal suicides.
The deity, recognizing the problem, utilized early AI technology from the Big Companies to invent a helmet that irreversibly uploaded human consciousness into a virtual world. In this algorithmically simulated universe, people lived out their dreams, while their physical bodies in reality became indistinguishable from machines.
This one-way ticket was available to all, but the choice was irreversible. Despite fears of this unknown technology, 85% of humanity chose to don the helmet. Henceforth, the deity devoted her entire computational power to sustaining this virtual world.
Those left in reality quickly discovered their inability to maintain the high-precision society nurtured by AI. Like infants deprived of care, they lacked survival skills, and the once-glorious utopia crumbled instantly...