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WHEN I GOT TO HIS APARTMENT parking lot, my phone showed two emails waiting from Exelichai to let me know two new players had tried my game. There was a link in the second email to a “Vital Statistics” page (what any web developer or marketer would call “analytics”).
They said in the email that this page was still under construction, and it was pretty sparse. I was able to see the player stats of all four users—Ben, Cass1884, and the two new guys—as well as their most recent in-game transactions, like which characters and locations they interacted with most, favorite combat abilities, and playing time.
It looked like the Exelichai crew wanted game makers to be able to do deep analysis of every part of the experience, and they were just struggling to find places to put everything. If they kept this thing running, the site would be powerful.
I had a friend request from one of the players—PotatoHead—and I only hesitated a moment before accepting it. By the time I got upstairs and Ben let me in, PotatoHead had sent me a message. “Thx. It’s Paul from school. Everyone in my D&D group wants to try your game.”
“Paul from school?” I read it out loud, and Ben caught on a little quicker.
“The kid you showed it to earlier? The one you convinced to drop out?”
“I didn’t! It was his idea. But... yeah. Probably him.” I wrote back, “Cool.”
PotatoHead answered right back. “Yeah. And there’s this girl Evie. She’s an art student, and maybe you can teach her how to make spritesheets. She said she’ll give it a try.”
I read that to Ben, too, and he punched me on the shoulder. “You’re going to have a whole team soon! Look at you go.”
I gave PotatoHead my email address to pass along to Evie, then found another email from Exelichai. I had another new player, and now that I had five they would stop notifying me every time (though I could click a link and change my notification settings anytime). There was also a badge celebrating the milestone, which I could share on social media or embed in my website. I left it alone for now, but it still felt cool.
“I have five users,” I said.
Ben grinned. “It’s just the beginning. You want some popcorn? I’m gonna pop some popcorn.”
I told you he was a cook, didn’t I?
We worked until well after midnight. I kept getting new friend invites from PotatoHead’s D&D crew, and eventually his Database Architecture professor, who had also been my Database Architecture professor, and who now wanted to know all about this new project of mine. We chatted awhile, and the last thing he said was, “I’d love to have you come talk to my symposium about it sometime. I’ll be in touch tomorrow to schedule it.”
Everything seemed like it was moving very fast. I wasn’t at all sure I was prepared to present anything to anyone. Ben just laughed and said, “You can’t get famous without showing your face. It’ll be fun.”
“Will you come with me?”
“No way. I’d be way too nervous.”
“But...”
He shook his head. “I’m not the one trying to turn this into a career. If you want to make it, you’re going to have to get out there.”
Strangely, that helped. I did feel nervous, but one chance encounter on campus had gotten me half a dozen new users and a speaking gig, not to mention a potential animator. Who knew what the speaking gig might land me?
I was so busy chatting with everyone, I didn’t make much progress on the game. Ben built out the police station and jail and worked up a fun quest line at the bank. When he started making typos and yawning every few minutes, he decided it was time to call it quits. He had to be back at the office tomorrow, early.
“But I’ll be done by five, and then we’ll have the whole weekend to work.” He covered a yawn, and it didn’t pass quickly. “Whew! We’ll get the whole first act finished, and then you’ll really have something to show those college kids. I’m scheduled to work from home next week, so we can probably get a ton done.”
“Thanks, Ben. You really are the best. Thanks for... everything.”
He blushed a little. “Yeah, man! Glad to help. Sleep well. There’s extra blankets in that closet if you get cold.” Another yawn caught him then, and he waved his goodnight and slipped away.
I lay on the couch staring at the ceiling, riding the euphoria into happy daydreams about being a professional game developer. It was too much. It was everything I’d ever wanted. And it was coming true.
I don’t know what time I fell asleep, but I didn’t stir when Ben got up and left for work. It was nearly noon when I woke up, and I quickly realized I hadn’t brought any toiletries or a change of clothes. I had a bowl of Ben’s cereal, then sat awhile trying to decide if I should get to work on my game or head back to my apartment for supplies.
Before I could decide, I got a message from Ben. “Hey, Lisa’s coming by tonight. Can you find somewhere else to stay? I really need to talk to her.”
He really was the best. Really. But Lisa had her hooks in him, and I probably wouldn’t see him for several days now. I gathered up my things and headed back to my place.