The year: 2028, 18 years since the founding of AeroSoft, then
called Aero Games. Started off a pirated version of Gamemaker 8 and a couple of
YouTube tutorials, which was 2010. In 2012, the company was renamed to
AeroSoft. Of course, we’re not gonna talk about those early days of nostalgia.
Instead, we will discuss the story of how AeroSoft went from small to big in
five years.
The date was
December 14th 2014, I woke up at two o’clock in the morning, nausea
as usual. As I was chewing on some gum, I heard footsteps and quiet talking. I
sneaked into the kitchen, and turned on the lights.
There in
front of me were two surprised women, both dressed strangely, one of them had
what appeared to be nine fox tales coming from behind. The three of us stared
at each other for what seemed for hours. Until I asked “Who and what are you
two doing here.” I said, gum to the side of my mouth.
The two women obviously had other intentions, but instead of
escaping (I expected for them to jump out the backdoor or some random window)
they offered me an opportunity. They leave and keep this event as a secret, or
return with them and giving up my life at home. I chose the latter.
I took my computer, hard drive, several boxes of chai, any
iDevices that I owned, wallet, all required medication, and the Lego model of
what would become the “Super Mega Drive”.
I said that I ready and to my surprise one of them opened a
gap, a gap to a place, a land severed off from the modern world, a land called
Gensokyo. This had to be the least feasible thing today, and it was only 2:20
in the morning. If only I knew what was to come.
Through the gap I arrived at the woman’s house. The woman
introduced herself as Yukari Yakumo and the woman with the fox tales, Ran.
Gensokyo was a realm unlike any other. Sealed away by the
Great Hakurei Barrier, is where humans and youkai co-exist. The local youkai
however, range on a varying scale of how dangerous they are, since some of them
eat humans. There were things called Spell Cards which are special cards that
are used for defense or offense, involving something called Danmaku. Also,
apparently Gensokyo is located somewhere on the outskirts of Kyoto, so there’s
that.
I temporarily lived in the human village, for about a year. I
had to redress AeroSoft for its new home. I slowly learned about the land, but
I found out that there was an almost non-existent gaming industry. Save for
various things that filtered through the barrier and Yukari’s gaps.
Six months later, I needed some investment for getting
AeroSoft afloat. I heard about the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I also needed to
start figuring out how to use Spell Cards. So I went to this magician named
Marisa Kirisame. Needless to say, she is kind of a kleptomaniac and she decided
to bring me along to the mansion’s library to steal some books.
I ended up meeting the librarian Patchouli, then the head
maid, Sakuya. Patchouli was pissed at Marisa for breaking into her library for
the third time this week. I asked who was the person who lived here was. Sakuya
took me to her mistress, Remilia Scarlet.
“I have something that you might like.” I said, which
surprised both women, mostly Sakuya.
“…Go on.” Replied Remilia.
I promptly pulled out my computer bag that I kept safe under
the back of my shirt and showed her three games.
One was about a Box creature that was fighting against a just
as blocky scientist (Boxman the Boxian), an RPG about three guys saving a land
of ponies from a raging dictator (Brony Quest: When Nazis Attack), and finally,
a horror maze game that involved a guy exploring a mansion of unspeakable
origin (Creepypasta Mansion).
Remilia was impressed with the first two. The last one just
couldn’t hold her attention as much as the last two did.
“I could show you more, and make more like these. But, I need
some investment to keep making them.” I explained after the demonstration
ended.
“What investment?” she asked.
I remembered that Gensokyo had little to no tech industry,
let alone a gaming industry…Just yet. I spent a good lecture about what it is,
and the things needed for such a thing.
I expected a very tepid reaction from them. But needless to
say, I got some support from her. But, to prove that I can be trusted and
worthy of said support, I had to show her any or all progress of the projects I
has or would be doing.
I was off to start work when she stopped me. Remilia got up
and walked towards and said “One more thing before you go.”
She motioned Sakuya to get some bandages, and then she
suddenly bit me. I held in my scream (but it was mostly the swearing I was
restraining), she was sucking my blood. Despite being similar to a blood draw
it hurt much more and for longer. After she let go, she rubbed her tongue,
probably because of a copper aftertaste.
I left with a sore arm, but ready nonetheless, to start an
industry like no other. I spent the next year developing games and showing
Remilia. Some of which were already made (Brony Quest 2: Day of Lavos) or
resumed production on (Brony Quest 3 and Emergency Landing) or already in
development (AS: The Day the Earth Glitched, Boxman the Boxian 2, and two
unnamed RPGs).
It was early into my second year of being in Gensokyo when I
was stopped by Yukari.
“I heard what you have been doing.” Yukari said, surprising
me in my studio.
“What? About the games I have been busy with?” I replied,
caught completely off guard.
Yukari, unlike many of the youkai or humans that lived here,
has been outside of Gensokyo, mainly for abducting humans for local
consumption, and at one point, gapping new people in. So she knew exactly what
I doing and producing.
“I have one question to ask, how are you gonna use it?”
Yukari questioned.
I sighed, “With this thing” showing her the Lego model of the
Super Mega Drive.
“Sadly…This thing is only a model and so far there is no way
any of the Gensokyo masses could really use it for.” Then an idea popped into
my 17 year old mind.
“Say, do you always use your gaps to enter and exit
Gensokyo?” I said, wondering.
“Uhhh…Yes why you asked me that?” Yukari was surprised by the
question and yet intrigued by it.
“We could use your gaps to “Borrow” the items needed to
produce an actual console like this!” I explained,
I thought I’d put the future of my existence in jeopardy by
suggesting stealing plastic and electronic components. But instead she agreed
to such a strange heist.
I, Yukari, Ran, and a friend of Yukari, Yuyuko, raided both a
Lego factory and several large computer shops. Both locations were of my
accord, I took the materials; the other three kidnapped the humans for youkai consumption.
When I got back I started work on the prototype. I melted the
stolen plastic pellets into boiling goo. While I arranged the PCB and the power
supply, it took me a week to make the first hundred units. Then I showed it off
to the vampire aristocrat, Remilia.
She was most impressed by the hardware since she was
beginning to get bored with the software I was showing before. “I will start
selling this device in two weeks’ time.” I said with an excited expression.
Before I left after the meeting ended I asked, “Say, are
there any newspapers around here?”
“There’s one or two around here, the only one I can think of
is the Bunbunmaru Newspaper.” Remilia answered.
She told me about who does the paper and I left shortly
after. I had to find a tengu named Aya. It didn’t take me long to find her as
she was reporting about some minor thing that has happened. I asked her if she
was indeed Aya (stupid question, but it worked). She said yes, and I told that
I can show her something amazing and news worthy.
I took her to where I was working and show her the boxes of
Super Mega Drives piled up in a somewhat unkempt manner. I showed her the
console itself, I told her about the launch titles, and let her play the games.
The next day, the article appeared. It made headlines, and the hype train
suddenly left the station at an infinite speed. Gensokyo will have its first
video game release.
I worried when the fortnight ended, what if such a tentative
thing won’t work. I warily made plans for it, a midnight release tomorrow. It
worked.
Very few humans ever went and bought the machine, but almost
every other creature and youkai came out to buy it (exceptions were Yukari and
Remilia, since I gave them freebies as a thank you gift for helping me this
far). The Super Mega Drive was a hit.
The launch titles are as follows: Boxman the Boxian, Brony
Quest: When Nazis Attack, Creepypasta Mansion, and Tiny Tower (a port of an iOS
game that I played). The next week was followed by: Thunder Gun, The YouTube
Poop World, Super Crate Box, and Ahriman’s Treasure (ports of various games
that I played on Gamejolt.com).
The Next year was spent releasing games and incorporating.
The board of directors was founded (Remilia Scarlet and Yukari Yakumo) and a
special newsletter (published through Aya). However this got the attention of
Remiu Hakurei, a miko that lived near the barrier. She was having a negative
attitude to the whole AeroSoft thing when she saw two fairies Cirno and Sunny
Milk, fighting over the Super Mega Drive.
Remiu confronted me about the situation. I gave her a tour of
the studio in hopes of her not being alienated and acting in a inclement manner
(she already was and I knew exactly why: this whole AeroSoft thing was new to
her and Remiu though something bad and evil was happening). Over the next 3
years, she began to warm up and get used to it and even saving me after I had
left Gensokyo.
By now the demand of games and consoles were going pretty
strong, Terraria (basically a 2D Minecraft game) was released to an extremely
large amount of praise. I hand make the cartridges (I use a heavily modified
proprietary USB 3.0 instead of ROM boards) and consoles (I still have scars
from handling hot plastic).
I heard about a shy kappa that had amazing engineering
skills. That kappa was Nitori Kawashiro. I found her, but she ran away, I lured
her out with cucumbers and that worked.
I told her I would give her a large supply of cukes if she
would solve my problem. She built me 3 machines that would mass produce
(Controllers, cartridges, and Super Mega Drives). Nitori would later be the
lead hardware engineer.
When I showed her some of the games, she was not impressed.
She said “Why do all the games look so flat?”
I was expecting, even hoping that someone would question its
3D capabilities. This resulted in me porting Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, along
with Brony Quest 3, Tetris, and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker HD (A remake of
the Sega Genesis game). By years end, Nitori would make her take of the Super
FX chip that the SNES had. The NUFX chip (Nitori’s Ultra FX Chip) would allow
for graphics that were slightly less superior to the PS2, and used for a cart
racer based on the show Wacky Races, Boxman the Boxian 3D, Doom 2, and Duke
Nukem 3D.
The fourth year started with me showing my benevolent side.
Donating a large cartload of money to the Hakurei Shrine (literally) and
starting a special needs fund (After observing Cirno’s idiot-like behavior and
as a “take that!” to Reed).
I was beginning my plan to bring AeroSoft back to America and
see if the Super Mega Drive would work. Even augmenting it to point of being an
entirely different console, and I finished teaching Reisen how to develop for
the Super Mega Drive.
I meet Reisen Udongein Inaba while delivering a small
shipment to place called Eientei, a mansion that’s in the middle of a large
bamboo forest. She took a technical interest to the console and I taught her
how to code for it. Then she taught some of the other moon rabbits that lived
and worked at Eientei. This in turn spawned the first “third party” developer.
The person in charge of Eientei, Eirin Yagokoro, Eirin was nothing short of a
medical genius and I had run out of meds at that point and so I was loading up
on copper.
Eirin created a medicine that made me literally excrete
copper nuggets (my Wilson’s disease was almost completely gone within several
weeks).
I had learned much
about Gensokyo’s history and started to make games based off the various
incidents that had happened. Some of which were popular, then I stopped making
games based on such events. Diamond in the Rough was a relatively good game,
awesome graphics, great sound, and even greater gameplay. But the event the
game based around (The Brolli Diamondback incident that influenced the stopping
of gapping in humans for screwing over). Production of the cartridge were
ceased within two months, nowadays copies of the game are expensive and
whatever copies DO make it to the States exceed 1 Million dollars.
I was gapped in because Yukari didn’t want to admit to the
fact that she was going to kidnap my dad; I had forgiven her when she finally
did.
The rest of the year had nothing relatively noteworthy. The
fifth and final year was marked by a fallow release calendar. I temporarily left AeroSoft in control of
Yukari and Remilia, even telling them that I will go back to the company when
it’s ready to spread to America.
I left Gensokyo, to a very nasty surprise. I was treated to a
very large truancy charge. Apparently, after all the years of commenting
against the staff of my school, Dr. Cohen finally had something to get back at
me.
“Payback with back pay” seemed to be the mood of the setting
in the courthouse, at least to the plaintiff.
It was a dour day for me; I had little fortitude against Dr.
Cohen’s testimony. He brought up all the comments I said against him and his
staff. I now face charges of truancy and slander (I’m not sure if that counts
as assault and battery). Just when I was about to face the music, the end of
the AeroSoft dream which was looking to be a giant crashing fiery heap of
wasted time and energy. Two mysterious women entered the court, both wearing
shades and a suit, one had black hair and the other one was blonde.
They both seemed familiar, the blonde’s one voice was similar
to…no couldn’t be, can it? They brought in charts and pictures about…AeroSoft?
One of them also had a…Super Mega Drive? Both of them also wore an AeroSoft pin
that was a promotional item for a subscription of Bunbunmaru Newspaper. ..I
suddenly recognized the two as Yukari and Remiu (Yukari was the only one
speaking and Remiu kinda just stayed there for support).
The judge was surprised, the jury was surprised, Dr. Cohen
was surprised, everyone was surprised.
“Impossible! They’re lying! How can someone irresponsible
enough to take a 5 year illegal sojourn from the educational system be able to
successfully start a corporation that big!” said Dr. Cohen in complete shock.
“To call off this case how about we pay you for…let’s say,
damages?” Yukari responded.
“1,000 ye…dollars!” started Yukari
“$2,000…$5,000…$10,000…$50,000…$100,000” continue Yukari with
an insidious grin.
The plaintiff was beginning to feel uncomfortable at the
thought of the woman bribing off Dr. Cohen.
“$1,000,000…” Yukari said before being cut off by the judge.
“Sile…Silen..SLIENCE!” exclaimed the judge, who had a
concerning stutter.
I was getting suspicious of the judge after the stutter; I
jumped out of the box and grab for something from the judge. The guards were
about to restrain me, but they saw the small tin bottle I was holding. That
bottle had belonged to the judge.
To make a long story short, I went off Scott-free after the
drunken judge was exposed. Dr. Cohen left embarrassed and wore a stolid
expression when he drove off. I restrained myself from hugging the Gap Youkai
(Yukari) and the Shinto Priestess (Remiu). I thanked them both, and I asked
them why they wanted to save me.
“Me and Remilia have some conflicting views about the way
your AeroSoft business was going to, so I and Remiu went to get you back.”
Yukari explained.
“Well, I was going to bring AeroSoft back here, my home.
Everyone in Gensokyo can still have my games and consoles, but I’ll have the
main headquarters be here.” I said.
“The old headquarters will become a branch for the company.”
I added.
A month later, I bought out a large office building in
Natick. Two years later I released the Super Mega Drive 2 (which used HVDs
[Holographic Versatile Discs] instead of USB cartridges). Three months after
that was the last game released for the Super Mega Drive, a bowling game based
off the Ebola scare of 2014, the game was only released in Gensokyo to avoid
any trouble with the American public.
I added my brother, Trevor to the Board of Directors as well
as Michael Scotton (I added him because of a promise I made him) and several of
the largest shareholders (but due to the colorful cast of characters there,
they rarely ever come).
That brings us here to the present, 2028. That is my story of
my company from the start (very briefly) to how things are today. Someday I’ll
leave my company to my son, as well as the secrets that lay beyond the Great
Hakurei Barrier. Thank you for reading. –Anatasios Frank Topham Senior
