Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

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Which game should we do next?

Finding Miranda
96
55%
Redemption for Jessika
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45%
 
Total votes : 175

Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby tlaero » Sun, 15Aug02 00:14

I'm in the early stages of planning out the next two games Mortze and I are going to do. It's my definitive plan to do these two games, but I'm torn on which to do first. So I'm going to try something Wolf taught me. I'm going to put it up to a vote. I wrote up a quick intro snippet for each and will post them in a minute. I'm interested in the raw votes as well as any conversation you folks want to have. These games are in the early design phase, so you have an opportunity to possibly influence me on them. I don't think I've ever done that before.

Of course, I reserve the right to ignore all feedback as well as the vote, and do whatever I want. (-:

Tlaero
Last edited by tlaero on Sun, 15Aug02 00:17, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby tlaero » Sun, 15Aug02 00:15

Finding Miranda

Lucas drummed his fingers on the faux-wood table. Why did he come early to these meetings? They never started on time. He told himself that he didn't want to be late for a meeting presented by a director with a VP in attendance. He'd even come close to convincing himself that was it when then the real reason walked in.

Miranda was wearing a frilly yellow jacket with matching pants. Every edge that touched skin sprouted a white lace fringe. The exception to this was her feet, where she wore calf-high boots with two inch heels, making her even taller than normal. She wore a white sunhat with a large brim and carried a lacy sun umbrella. It was overcast outside. It had been for the last two weeks.

Nothing about Miranda's outfit surprised Lucas. Of course, he'd never seen this particular one before. But in six months of working together, he'd never seen her wear the same outfit twice. This one was pretty reserved--it scored low on "the Miranda Scale"--but it made her stand out like a sore thumb. Everyone else in the room wore drab gray suits.

Most of the other people present didn't know Miranda, and their reactions ranged from a hastily covered snicker to an outright perturbed frown from the VP. If she even noticed any of this she didn't show it. She just set her umbrella down on the table and grabbed a spare tablet. Without so much as a look around, she sat down and started reading. Lucas focused on his own tablet, but found himself frequently glancing back at her. The way her hair--straight and all brown even though yesterday it had been fully braided with gold accents--rested gently on her shoulders. The way her deep brown eyes seemed to pierce into the tablet. The way her lips set naturally into a slight smile. It didn't matter what kind of outfit she wore or what weird things she did to her hair, Miranda's just being in the room held Lucas's attention.

He frowned and forced his eyes back to his tablet. Not that he'd ever worked up the nerve to tell her any of this. He'd come early today because leaving at the normal time would have resulted in them walking over together, and he didn't know what to do with himself in such a situation. As usual, a tide of embarrassment washed over him. He wasn't this incompetent with everyone. In so many ways, Miranda was unique. But it was only a small comfort that everyone else in the division seemed equally unable to approach her. And, if she recognized any of this attention, she never let on.

Mikhail Romanov breezed into the room quietly, set his tablet on the table, and said, "Are we ready to begin?" in accent-free English. In this transplanted company, many of the newcomers tended to fall back on their native tongues. But English was the only common language spoken in this area and, as director of security, Mikhail wasn't about to let people get lax on anything. He gave the room a second to object, and then pointed to Lucas, "Okay, we've got a developer to keep me honest," he then turned to the VP, "and a vice president to be the decision maker. This should be a short meeting, as this is the fourth division that has bought off on these coding standards." That he had ignored the six other people in the room didn't seem to bother them, though Lucas felt a bit subconscious for having been singled out.

"I'm sure you're all aware of the whys for our coding standards, so let's skip to section two and look at some examples." Most of the people in the room tapped their tablets at the same time, though it was clear that the VP was reading mail, not the standards proposal Mikhail was going through. Lucas cast a covert glance at Miranda and saw that she was frowning down at her tablet. He wondered what was wrong.

Mikhail started to speak again, but Miranda interrupted him. "Excuse me."

In a friendly voice, he responded, "Yes?"

"Have you had a black-hat check your code out?"

He shook his head and, in a less friendly voice, said, "No. As you know, we're a legal company."

She shrugged, "We could have one do some free-lance. Those guys practically think in code. They could help find any flaws in this."

Now a bit cold, he replied, "There are no flaws in this."

She looked back at her tablet and said, "I'm sorry, but yes there are. Right here--"

He cut her off. "Look, miss..."

With a cautious expression, she replied evenly, "Miranda. Just Miranda."

"Okay, Miranda. This code has been inspected by the best security people in the company. There are no flaws in it."

Her face fell into a slight frown. Continuing to keep her voice even, she replied, "Well then you're going to need to find some better security people. Because on line forty-eight--"

Mikhail's face became red, and he yelled, "Miss Miranda! As best as I can tell, you're here to take notes. So why don't you sit quietly, do your job, and let the big boys do theirs?"

The room went silent. Even the VP looked up from his mail. Miranda, her face emotionless, focused her probing eyes on Mikhail and just sat there. Lucas's eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. "Come on," he thought. "Smile. Laugh. Do something to suggest you're kidding." But Mikhail didn't back down. He just glared at Miranda.

After an excruciating ten seconds, she silently stood up and turned toward the door. Lucas's heart sunk into his stomach. He had to say something. He had to do something. This was Miranda. He couldn't let Mikhail's treatment go uncontested. But, as she walked to the door, he couldn't find anything to say. Or was it that he couldn't find the nerve?

When she reached the door, Mikhail took a breath and said, "As I was saying."

Lucas ignored him. In fact, everyone in the room ignored him. They were all watching Miranda. And, from the way they were shifting in their chairs, most of them were feeling self-conscious. It was equally clear that everyone was surprised when she didn't go through the doorway. She walked past it to a whiteboard on the far end of the room, where she picked up a marker and started writing. Her back was to everyone, so no one could fully see her words.

While most of the room tried to figure out what Miranda was doing, Mikhail continued on as though she had left. Lucas looked down at line forty-eight and read it over again and again. It was a relatively complicated piece of code, but he couldn't see anything wrong with it. He focused again on Miranda. She was actually handwriting something, not using the voice recognizer, and her letters were strikingly smooth and readable. This was rare in a world where no one wrote anything by hand.

Finally, Mikhail gave up and turned his attention to her. The room waited in silence as she finished what she was working on. Then she stepped away from the wallboard and turned back to face them. In an emotionless voice, she said, "Excuse me, Mikhail. Perhaps you can help me with something. But I'm going to need you to use really small words so that any floozies in the room can understand." Even Mikhail cringed a bit at the raw emotion she poured into that one word. Innocently, she continued, "What would happen if a hacker ran this code," she pointed back to the board, "against line forty-eight on your tablet?"

She'd written an entire program, with perfect syntax. Though short, it was complex. It took Lucas a minute to figure it out. Mikhail caught on a second later, and he immediately turned ghostly white. Most of the rest of the room couldn't follow it, though the VP gasped and said, "Oh my God." He turned to Mikhail, "Did you say you're running this code on production systems?"

Miranda's program would exploit a flaw no one had ever considered. Every system in the company ran semiautonomous AI programs. And, if Mikhail's code was running on one of these systems, Miranda's program would cause the AIs to destroy it. Now red faced with embarrassment instead of anger, he stammered, "How did you--"

Keeping her face passive and her voice emotionless, Miranda interrupted him by saying, "Seems obvious to me." She walked back to her seat, sat down, and focused on her tablet.

The VP said, "Mikhail, am I correct that she just invented a new class of hacker attack?" Dumbfounded, Mikhail nodded. The VP continued, "Well then. I suppose we should name it then."

Continuing to look at her tablet, and with no irony in her voice, Miranda said, "Call it 'The Floozy Attack.'"

Everyone except Mikhail snickered. But Miranda looked up and fixed the VP with a stare that said in no uncertain terms that she was serious. He coughed in spite of himself and said, "Okay. 'The Floozy Attack' it is."

Mikhail looked queasy.
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby tlaero » Sun, 15Aug02 00:16

Redemption for Jessika

Marc, accustomed to arriving first to the courtroom, was surprised to find Gary, the prosecutor, furiously studying something. "Hey Gary. You seem nervous. Is everything okay?"

Gary looked up from his tablet. "Oh, hi Marc. Yeah, I'm fine. There's just a lot riding on today."

Marc sat down in his chair, stretched out his arms, and then set his hands onto his digital scribe. "I know we're having an off-schedule session, but I don't know anything else about it."

Gary frowned and nodded. "I pushed for this. I'm ... out on a limb. I suspect it's either going to make my career, or get me fired."

"Um, okay Gary, good luck then..." Marc's voice trailed off as the next two people entered. The first was Johan, a competent defending attorney that everyone got along with. And the second was ... wow ... it was Jessika. Her long hair was tied up in a bun, she wore large dark glasses that obscured a fair amount of her face, and she wore plain, frumpy clothes that somewhat obscured her figure. Showing none of her regular swagger, she walked hunched forward and, presumably, stared at the ground in front of her. She didn't look anything like a rock star, and maybe this disguise would have fooled some of her less fervent fans. But Marc saw right through it.

Silvia, the bailiff, entered at the rear of the courtroom and called out, "All rise for the Honorable Judge Oppenworth." Gary stood up. Johan and Jessika were already standing. Marc's job required that he alone stay seated. He started transcribing.

Judge Oppenworth strode in, looked over the room, nodded, and sat down. In a strong voice, he said, "Please be seated." He looked to Jessika and said, "Defender, I presume that the woman on your left is your client?"

"Yes your honor."

"Miss Springfield," he continued, "You should know that this is only a hearing. The prosecutor is pushing for something ... uncommon ... and we are merely going to determine whether it's worth the court's time. You don't need to be here if you do not wish to be."

Jessika continued to stare at the ground. In a sad voice, she said, "I understand, your honor. Thank you. I would like to stay, if that's alright." In interviews, Jessika had always shown the extreme confidence that it took to front a rock band, but she had also come across as down to earth and respectful. So, while her depressed tone surprised Marc, her deference to the judge's authority did not.

"Yes it is. Prosecutor, let's get started, shall we?"

Gary took a deep breath. "Thank you, your honor. The State intends to charge Jessica Springfield, also known as Jessika with a k, with the deaths of five people killed at her concert two and a half weeks ago."

Although Marc was professional enough to transcribe this correctly, it caught him completely by surprise. Jessika was the singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist of an up and coming local rock band called "Mayhem." Shortly after their most recent concert began, the audience broke into a violent brawl that left some dead and many injured. Marc had been at the concert and couldn't think of any reason to blame Jessika for the fight. He looked over to her, expecting to see defiance or anger, but she just sighed and seemed to nod a little.

Johan, her lawyer, asked, "Permission to speak, your honor?"

Judge Oppenworth nodded and said, "Since this is just a hearing, you two may talk freely. I'll reign you in if you get too boisterous."

"Thank you, your honor. Prosecutor, we all agree that the events surrounding that concert were tragic. But the fight was caught on video. It's very clear that my client stayed on stage with a guitar in her hands. She couldn't have killed those people."

Gary nodded, "The state will show that she caused the fight. So she is responsible for the deaths."

Jessika frowned and nodded again, as though she agreed with Gary's assessment. Marc felt the pit of his stomach fall as he forced his fingers not to transcribe that detail. "My job is to scribe dialog," he told himself. "Anything else is above and beyond. I'm not doing anything wrong by leaving that out..."

Fortunately, while his conscience waged war with his desire for Jessika, his professionalism and skill kept his fingers moving. So he successfully transcribed Johan's reply. "Are you saying that she made statements that goaded the crowd into battle? That too would have shown up in the video."

Gary shook his head.

"Then are you accusing that she met with the combatants before the concert and instructed them to misbehave?"

"No," Gary, replied. "She played an angry song that drove the people to fight. She--"

"Wait a minute," Johan interrupted. Incredulously, he asked, "Surely you're not saying that her music caused the ruckus?"

Gary burst out of his chair, "Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying." He jabbed his finger at Jessika and exclaimed, "And you agree with me. Tell them!"

Jessika opened her mouth to speak, but Johan beat her to it. "You'll do no such thing. Your honor, I'm confident that we as a society are beyond the days of believing that rock and roll is 'the Devil's music,' and that it is responsible for people's misbehaviors. Even if not, in an hour I'll have five precedents in case law that would each lead us to a 'not guilty' verdict. I move that we end this now."

The judge sighed, "I'm inclined to agree. Prosecutor, I'm ... disappointed ... in this line of reasoning of yours. Do you have anything substantive to add?"

Furiously, Gary replied, "She knows what she did. Look at her. She knows!"

Sternly, the judge replied, "Prosecutor."

Gary sank back into his chair, held his head in his hands, and mumbled, "She knows..."

Judge Oppenworth nodded and said, "Until such time as the State can bring me something tangible, it is barred from proceeding with this case. Dismissed."

Marc's job concluded when he transcribed that word, so he stood when Silvia told them too. As the judge left the courtroom, Marc focused on Jessika. There was no relief or elation there. He had been assuming this "grief" display had been an act to play to the court, but as she got up and wandered away, Marc got the distinct impression that her grief was real.

Gary continued to mutter, "She knows..."
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby ZaphodB » Sun, 15Aug02 00:46

Well they both sound like they'd be really good but having been a coder and experienced that kind of treatment at meetings, I'd really like to see the Miranda story.
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby ltpika » Sun, 15Aug02 00:57

That's the very reason I went against the Miranda one, I don't like the unpleasantness. Different strokes I guess. [img]images/icones/icon10.gif[/img]
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby Skelaturi » Sun, 15Aug02 01:01

well if its 1-1 already then i go with abstain from voting, cause they both sound interesting. Miranda cause i would <3 to know what the title is all about, (unless my non-native english is getting in the way and it been explained above)

Jessika, she wants redemption she feels guilty. Now i wonder how she is going to find it and why she feels guilty lyrics are just lyrics right? Or is disney behind it?
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby Hoboy » Sun, 15Aug02 01:42

I say let the creator/coder portray a sexy coder. I vote for Miranda.
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby Niauropsaka » Sun, 15Aug02 05:14

I don't think it's just because I read it first; I voted for Miranda. I like the hyper-competent non-conformist female lead. That said, I can see how the broken-hearted musician with weird powers (?!) might be a desirable love interest for players who like a "woobie."
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby LRM » Sun, 15Aug02 05:26

I'm not surprised this group might like a slightly nerdy lass. Especially one that's a little forceful. She got my vote too, earlier today. Aren't all nerds fully aware of and deeply into the current fashion?
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby Mortze » Sun, 15Aug02 09:19

Am I allowed to vote too?
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby The Maltese Budgie » Sun, 15Aug02 10:58

Echoing other sentiments, I like them both but if a choice is to be made then Miranda hedges ahead by a nose. Good that you are looking to do both in time so it is just a question of timing and priority. Good times. [img]images/icones/icon7.gif[/img]
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby Thrain » Sun, 15Aug02 14:44

Jessika get my vote.

Simply because programing meeting is... what I use to participate in my real work... I prefer a story who drive me elsewhere :lol:
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby Rexxx » Sun, 15Aug02 15:11

Either are interesting, the Miranda's part seems more complete, you have more elements for understand her (and the probable protagonist), Jessika's part seems shorter and gives less, but at the same time left me with more curiosity to find what are happening and how are the character.
From the writing I have the impression that tlaero prefer a bit more Miranda's idea, in any case it seems there will be a great game in the future.
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby Skelaturi » Sun, 15Aug02 15:23

i am picturing Miranda as the Miranda from mass effect, i have noidea why. I am also picturing Jessika as the rock star she is, is having a couple of nice tattoos, while i <3 Chloe from DWE. I do get the feelign Jessika will be not so well received that way. Then again what is a rock star with no tattoos
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Re: Help pick the next Tlaero and Mortze game

Postby Mortze » Sun, 15Aug02 17:40

Skelaturi wrote:I am also picturing Jessika as the rock star she is, is having a couple of nice tattoos, while i <3 Chloe from DWE. I do get the feelign Jessika will be not so well received that way. Then again what is a rock star with no tattoos


Just to be clear, Jessika does not have any tattoos so far.
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