Crunch Time

I was slouched over my desk in the early hours of the morning as I mindlessly sifted through endless emails, each one from playtesters of our latest game. They’d discovered hosts of bugs and glitches, each I dreaded would take longer to fix then we had left.

“We can't ship this crap in a week…”

My name is Raymond Roberts. I’m the gameplay designer here at Square Studios. My job was to design our game’s mechanics and make sure they'd be fun for thousands of hours of playtime.

Our current project was called Angel Sword Online—a collaboration between East and Western devs that the bosses were hyping the public up for. The hope was that it would bridge the gap between consoles and cultures and inspire more collabs in the future.

Seeing as this was a MMOJRPG, we had to make sure these servers worked on day one, but a majority of the emails I got were from playtesters who were unable to log in. If we couldn’t even get that figured out, there was no chance this game would last. Western devs would be the absolute laughing stock of the industry and we might never hear from Japan again.

So many games had flopped due to bad launches in the last decade, and I was determined this wouldn’t be one of them…

Something something a rushed game at launch is forever bad. But a delayed game is eventually good. -Shigeru Miyamoto.

Tragically, that paraphrased quote I had stamped on my desk was feeling more and more like our reality every day. If we wanted to make this game happen right, we needed more time.

“I gotta talk to Mark about this...”

I dialed up the studio manager on my phone. Within a few rings he answered, but I heard some sort of loud mariachi music muffled in the background.

“He-yo, Mark here!”

His cheerful attitude caught me off guard. I’d been in and around such a perpetual foul mood that I almost forgot what happiness sounded like.

“Hey, Mark. It’s me.” I took a deep sigh. “Look, Things aren't going so well here. Playtesters are freaking out and…”

“Hey, Raymond, my guy! So, what’s going on with the playtesters? I bet they’re all lovin’ the game.”

“Look, I’m not gonna’ sugar coat it. Things aren’t looking great and we need more time. Think you can chat with the publisher to push back the release date?”

“No can-do, Rayamundo.” He sounded out of breath and the music on his end suddenly got much louder, like he was standing next to a speaker. “We’ve got millions of pre-orders overseas alone. People want this game ASAP. Investors are gonna’ freak if we don’t deliver when we promised.”

“They’re going to freak out when they see this buggy game do poorly. The playtesters hated every second of it.”

“Well, good thing we had them sign the non-disclosure. But hey, at least I can trust you guys to figure that out in time. Yeah?”

A nerve snapped in me.

“Did you hear what you just said?!” I shouted into the phone. “This game isn’t ready and we need to delay it.”

“Do you know how much money we’ll be missing out on if we don’t get this game shipped in December? There’s no way we can miss out on that profit.”

Curse the dreaded Christmas rush.

“Raymond, it might be a little stressful now, I get it. But you guys back home can get it done. Besides, we’ve got the people in Japan working on something big that’ll more than offset the troubles.”

What on earth could have possibly offset the troubles of a botched launch like we were about to have?

“What?” I almost threw my phone in frustration. “Are you seriously telling me we can’t delay this game? You’re mad if you think we can fix this!”

“I… I can’t hear you…” he asked. “Maria, turn down the music, please. No, I don’t want anymore guac!”

Maria was his wife. Where was he? I thought he was in his office upstairs.

“Are you in Mexico or something?” I asked. “What’s going on?”

“Cancun, actually. The miss’s wanted to visit family, so I decided to take a vacation with that new bonus I just got.”

“Bonus?!” None of us got a bonus recently. “Mark, we have a game to finish. There’s no time for a vacation when western games are on the line!”

“L-listen, Raymond. I’ll call you back in a minute! Oooh, that tickles! Maria, stop it!”

“Mark!” But it was too late. He hung up on me and I slammed my cell down on the desk.

“We’re so screwed…”

This without a doubt would be the absolute worst launch ever. This industry has had its fair share of stinkers, but this one by far was going to be the worst.

The reputation of everyone in this studio was on the line, and our own upper management was partying it up with family in Central America without a concern in the world.

I couldn't even remember the last time I saw my own wife. I spent more time at work trying to rally the troops than at home with her.

The crunch was getting to me, and my body was becoming immune to the fleeting effects of caffeine. I had no escape from my pain and exhaustion.

A foul odor crept into my nose. It was my clothes. They smelled like I lived at a gym, yet I'd been sitting in my chair for weeks.

I poked my gurgling belly, feeling a little extra pudge around my gut for some reason.

“Great…” I rubbed my tired eyes. “Here comes the dad bod,” I lamented as I leaned back in my chair. “I haven't even eaten anything in two days. Where the heck is this stomach coming from?”

The phone began to ring. A wave of blind anger forced me to answer before I could cool off.

“Ready to actually talk now?” I barked blindly as I flipped open my cell and put it to my ear.

“Why did I wake up to an empty bed again?”

That soft, sullen female voice sent shivers down my spine. I pulled the phone away to examine the contact info… It was…

“Rosealina,” I uttered, tearing up a little at the thought that she sounded so dreary and disappointed.

“Now it's Rosealina?” Her voice cracked, a sign of her fighting the urge to cry. “Fine, Raymond.”

“R-Rose!” God, I was an idiot. Those few sentences she spoke were like whips striking my heart. “Rose, my dear, I'm sorry…” I frantically stood up, brushing my greasy unkempt hair. “I… I…”

I wanted to tell her I was coming home right away, but my work needed me more than ever.

“Don’t act like I should just forget that you yelled at me, Ray!” she shouted, then took a breath. “L-listen. I haven't seen you in weeks. Do you know how lonely it’s been here? Like, for real? You haven’t even Face-chat with me in weeks. What’s up with that? Things have never been like this before.”

What words I could conjure in my own defense wouldn’t have been enough to explain what was going on. The stress of this job had made me distance myself so much from her over these past few years that I might as well have been married to it.

“It's never been like this because the pressure’s been rough,” I said. “I’m sorry. Please, understand that this is a big thing…”

“I don’t mind that you make a living off video games! You're amazing, Ray. You know how cool our kids are gonna’ have it one day when they can brag to their friends about you?” She sniffled on the other end. “There’s something else that kinda’ hurts here, if I’m being honest. You wanna’ know what it is?”

I dreaded her words and mentally prepared myself for her answer.

“W-what?”

“You haven't even asked me to try out the game you're working on.”

It was a stab to my heart. Hearing that nearly killed my soul in my mentally exhausted state. The walls were spinning with that realization setting in and I fell back in my chair.

In the past, she was my first choice to playtest a game. Our first date was in my garage, having her play some silly computer game I proudly made on my Ackintosh. We'd spend hours goofing around trying to break things on purpose, while we shared a few drinks and pizza.

We laughed over bugs and glitches that I secretly dreaded fixing, but even still, the memories were such a warm feeling in this cold office.

My breath became like a cold and heavy mist in this wasteland of sun deprived souls. There was no life here, not a bit to speak of. These tired people I worked alongside might as well have been corpses, puppeteered along by roaches on the ceiling.

But Rose, she was something living. Someone willing to share a burden with me so I could feel my own heartbeat again.

I needed to go home. I needed to get out of this office. I needed to see her. She was the only thing that could rejuvenate me enough to finish this job. Without her, my body would be frozen forever, unable to continue through life.

“I’m coming home,” I breathed into the phone.

“What?”

“I said I’m coming home. Right now!”

“Ray…? Wait! Seriously?!”

I closed the phone. The next time we spoke together, it would be in person over breakfast. The work here would have to wait until I got back. I didn’t care if there was even a mess I’d have to clean up. Just a few minutes with my girl was going to get my gears turning again!

*BeeP!*

“You’ve received an email!” said my computer in a young female tone.

“Huh?” I turned back down to it from my unintentional power posing. “Oh, probably another one of the playtesters…”

I was fine just leaving without checking that. They weren’t going to tell me the game was any more broken than I already expected.

*BeeP!*

“You’ve received an email!” repeated the computer.

“Another one…” I sighed as I put on my coat and pushed in my chair. “Do the bugs ever end?”

*BeeP!*

“You’ve received an email!”

“You’ve received an email!”

“You’ve received an email!”

It kept looping that phrase. I had to turn the computer off just to get it to stop.

*BeeP! BeeP! BeeP!*

“Check your stupid emails!”

A now aggressive voice came out of the speakers, even though the computer was off. This had to be some sort of prank, but nobody else in the office was even awake right now.

“Chuck…” I growled as I turned to see my old college buddy sleeping on his keyboard. “Haven’t I told you to stop the pranks already?”

“Hmmm?” he grumbled.

He almost got fired for his zip-bomb extravaganza a few years back, only saved by me arguing with upper management. You’d think that would make a man avoid acting like a ten year old with a programming degree.

Just to humor his idiotic games, I turned the computer back on and checked my email. Surprisingly, I only received one message since the last playtester messaged me yesterday…

“Hmm…” I began reading the message titled ‘Save Our World.’ The sender was named…Tensei?

That was the name of our game's mascot fairy.

“I regret to inform you that as of now, the world you are making, the one I live in, is in grave danger. It’s not finished! I don't think you guys are going to have it done in time. However, that’s only if you work from the outside…”

The screen started glitching. The email window distorted until swirling into what looked like a vortex of numbers.

“What kinda’ prank…”

I was ready to pull the plug and get out of here, but before I could, the vortex began interacting with the air and pulled everything around me into the monitor.

“Oh no!”

The tug was so strong that it felt like I was being sucked into a tornado. The computer voice returned, but not to inform me that I’d received another email.

“Please, our world is in danger!” she claimed. “We need your help. You’re the only one who can save us before it's too late!”

This wasn’t a prank anymore. It was full blown paranormal activity. My computer was haunted and I was about to become some kind of occult urban legend.

“No!” I shouted, trying with all my might to resist the pull of the computer. “I can’t go!”

“You have to!” Argued the computer. “Mr. Roberts, we need you! You’re the only one in the world who cares!”

I called out for the aid of my coworkers, but none of them were waking up. My strength to resist quickly faded.

I was pulled completely into the monitor screen and tugged along through a digital world flooded with numbers.

The sleepiness I’d been facing this whole time returned tenfold and forced me to close my eyes.

“I know you want to go home… I’m sorry, but you can’t until we have a home of our own.”