Izuku, in his infinite kindness, had decided to give Ken and his fellow members of Omnigames, a whole gaming studio.
And by that, he meant a mid-sized two-story building. Filled with equipment to make games.
Of course, this was also to make room in the house as well.
Currently, all the members of Omnigames were sitting at a long table in the meeting room(which looked both hilarious and adorable considering their sizes), with Ken at the head of the table of course.
There was also a guest, Eri.
"Trauma, we've all had it. Let's make some money from it!" Ken said to start things off.
"Who starts a meeting like that! We just sat down!" Fuku shouted. "Also what do you mean you want to make money using our trauma!?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like! I want to make the world's scariest horror game!" Ken said. "I've been watching a whole lot of videos on what makes a good horror game, and I think, using all the horrible crap we've all been through, we can make something that'll make people piss their pants!"
"Is that why you invited Eri here?" Fu asked. "Seems kinda…insensitive."
"It's fine, he explained everything and asked me if I wanted to come," Eri said.
"Speaking of, does anyone else wanna back out?" Ken asked everyone.
Amai and Fuku both stiffened as they considered the offer for a second.
Fuku knew for a fact that she was gonna be VERY uncomfortable if she continued with this project. And Amai just did NOT do well with horror.
But out of fear of disappointing everyone, they remained quiet.
"Alright! So let's start spitting ideas! Fuku write everything down." Ken ordered. "My first idea is the setting. I was thinking of a Meta-Human concentration camp."
"Wow you really prepared for this didn't you?" Shiruku asked. It was unlike Ken to pitch in ideas for story or settings or whatever. He was pretty much just there to make whatever they thought of into a game. "So who's the main character? You again?"
"No, I was actually thinking that Yonda should be the main character," Ken said, to everyone's surprise, except Yonda.
Well, being me is pretty horrifying. Yonda half-joked.
"Exactly, plus it'll make the game more unique," Ken said. "We can have the main character turn their quirk on and off, so that way you can avoid the enemies. But anyway, back to the setting, the whole camp is on lockdown, because lots of dangerous, insane quirk users have broken free. And you need to try and escape the camp while avoiding the people in charge of the camp, and the mad quirk users."
"This is actually really interesting! We can use the mind reading to get some details about the mad quirk users, and maybe we can even help them. Sick them against the people running the camp." Alice suggested.
"That does sound interesting." As much as Fuku was…hesitant about the idea. This was getting her creative juices flowing. "A combination of mind reading, and learning stuff from the environment. Show the audience how sad or evil some enemies are."
And using what you learn to help you survive. If the character is based on me, then of course she has to manipulate the situation to her liking. Yonda snickered. Speaking of manipulation, I was thinking about survivors. There would have to be some other quirk users that survived that don't want to kill us. We can try to save them, but depending on what we do it can go many different ways. Maybe they won't trust us and refuse to follow us. Maybe they end up dying. Or maybe they'll even turn into monsters. Lots of potential for story. Plus it'll make people want to play through the game more than once. Which is great for marketing and sales.
"Fuku, Eri. I'd like you too to focus on the map design first. You both know what it's like to live in a massive place filled with monsters." Ken said.
"Yeah…" Fuku groaned. She was NOT looking forward to revisiting those memories. But at this point, she'd gotten WAY to invest in this idea to back out. This was the kind of stuff creatives thrived on.
"Now for the enemies, let's focus more on subtle horror. I've heard that's way creepier." Ken said. "And you know who'd be perfect for this. Ghostfreak. Let's make him the main monster. He can go through walls, and take control of people. And he HATES bright lights. So that can be an easy way to get him off your back. And around the end of the game, you can figure out if you wanna just leave him behind, save him, or kill him."
"You still have to give yourself a lead roll huh?" Shiruku said. "But I do think that's a good idea. What do you think Amai?"
"Me? Oh um. Y-Yeah. That sounds good. I-I mean I'm gonna have to do some research on…horror games." Amai sighed.
Yami, make sure to help her with her research. Yonda said. Deciding to give the girl a break for once.
"Oh, I have an idea. How about since the place is damaged, it only has so much power. Meaning we have to control which rooms have power, and which don't." Alice suggested. "And the places that don't can get attacked by Ghostfreak. So if we're not careful, he can attack us, or the people we're trying to rescue. But we can also use him to take out bad guys."
"Great idea." Ken praised.
Also, we can take people with us, and they can carry things, giving us extra inventory, but we have to make sure they don't die. Yonda added. And since we're using me as the main character. Why don't we have an invisible monster?
"I have an idea. Some of the people you're trying to save will turn into monsters, if you don't do certain things, or at certain parts of the day." Kiba suggested. "Like if you don't give someone enough blood, or they'll turn into a monster at night. So you need to make sure you're managing everything perfectly or they could kill your allies, or you."
"What if there's a monster you can make a deal with. Feed him flesh, and he'll leave you alone, or even take out enemies for you," Fu said. "And maybe you can make the choice to feed other survivors to him."
"So the main goal is escaping, so how will you actually do that?" Amai asked.
"I want multiple ways to escape. Maybe you can use certain survivors' quirks." Ken said. "Another might have you take out all of the soldiers so you can get away. Or maybe you can find some secret exit that's guarded by a super dangerous monster. I think we should make a map first and then come up with exits. And by the way, I want you to have to find stuff to eat and drink. For yourself and the survivors."
"How many survivors should we have then?" Shuku asked. "Because if we have too many then that might make it too hard to feed everyone."
"And we'll have to think carefully about their quirks too," Fu added. "If one of the survivors has a quirk that could easily solve everything, then that'll make a big plot hole."
"It sounds like this game will be the most difficult to make yet." Kiba proclaimed. "But we're up for the challenge! We'll make a game so scary, it'll give us nightmares for years!"
"Yeah, I don't know about that part." Fuku lightly objected.
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After the meeting was over, Eri and Fuku retreated to Fuku's room, to start working on the map, characters, and story.
As Fuku was drawing the map, she stopped and looked at Eri.
It was…odd.
Before, whenever Eri's past came up, she'd go quiet. But the distress she felt would be evident on her face, and she'd often try to change the topic immediately.
But now, she was actively bringing up her past, using the old underground base she'd been trapped in, as a reference for their new map. And even using Overhaul as inspiration for the camp director. One of the main antagonists of their game.
And if she was distressed, she wasn't showing it. Sure she didn't look happy, but she appeared more determined than upset. Fully focused on helping them complete this game.
"Eri…are you sure you're ok with this?" Fuku asked her. Admittedly more for her own sake than Eri's. "You're gonna have to keep remembering a whole lot about…that place, and that man."
Using Eri's past like this left a bad taste in her mouth. And while Eri had said it was fine earlier…she had to be sure.
Eri paused for a few seconds, a thoughtful expression donned, before eventually she gave her response. "It's not so bad anymore. Before, when I'd think about it, it felt like Overhaul would be right behind me. Like I'd blink and suddenly I'd be right back in that horrible place. But now, it finally feels like it should. Like a bad memory. And nothing else. It's uncomfortable, but that's it. It's all over now. I know I'm safe."
"Wow, that therapist is a miracle worker," Fuku said, staring at Eri with wide eyes full of awe. But then she looked back, staying silent for a while, before finally finding the courage to ask a question. "Do you…do you think I should get that therapy too?"
Eri bit her lip, as she pondered that question. "I…I don't know Fuku. It's safe but…it's really scary. And you have to do a lot of fighting too. I'm not sure if that's for you."
Fuku sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."
If only I wasn't such a coward. Stupid Fuku. Fuku berated herself.
Eri grabbed Fuku's head and laid it on her lap. "Let's take a break."
"...OK," Fuku said, already feeling just a little bit better. "Um, I…I love you. S-Sis."
Eri's face immediately brightened, and she couldn't help but giggle. "I love you too, sis."
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When Nara walked into her brother's room, she was met with the immediate sight and sound of her brother vomiting into a bucket.
"Ken!? You alright!?" Nara asked, going up to check on her brother.
"He's fine. Physically." Fu said, making his presence known. "We were just researching stuff about old quirk concentration camps."
"WHY!?" Nara shouted, not ready to hear any of that when she came here.
"We're using it for a horror game," Fu explained.
"I hate people, I hate people so much." Ken groaned. "This stuff's gonna be in my nightmares forever."
"The one-time study and THIS is what you choose!" Nara sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"I'm gonna…scare the pants off of everyone," Ken said while drinking some water to replace the fluids he lost.
"You know what? I'm not dealing with this." Nara said as she turned, and walked away. Forgetting why she even came here to begin with.
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The first step in researching horror games was to find some horror games to play.
Amai obviously didn't know any, and neither did Yami. So they decided to ask around, getting a few recommendations from around the house and the internet.
And so now Yami and Amai were playing those games in Yami's room. Or rather, Yami was playing it, while Amai watched, clinging to his arm while staring at the screen trembling.
"Meap!" Amai let out a terrified little noise, as they heard something in the background of the game. Likely the monster going through the walls.
So far the games had done a pretty good job at scaring Amai, and Yami had gotten a good idea about what made a good horror game by gauging how much the game scared Amai.
Personally, Yami wasn't all affected by the game's attempts to scare him. However, some of the spooky atmospheres reminded him of his time in the forest. Heading back to his cave at night, not knowing where the predators were, only knowing that they were out there, looking for him.
The "resource management" as it was called also reminded him of his forest days. Scrounging for whatever he could find to survive. Seeing what was useful and what wasn't. Finding new ways to make life just a little bit easier.
Aside from reminding him of his past, while the games didn't really scare him, because none of it was real, there were some things that made him a bit tense.
Limited save options. Games that limited saving in some way made him WAY more tense than games that didn't. Having to plan things carefully so he didn't lose a ton of progress.
Generally speaking, Yami found that giving the player more choices made the game more tense and scary, than just forcing them down a hallway full of jumpscares or making them hold down the run button to get away from monsters.
It was also just more interesting. Games were supposed to be fun, after all, even horror games.
Something else Yami noted, was that he vastly preferred horror games that focused on characters. Because while a horror game would never make Yami scared for his own safety, he could find himself worrying about the fate of a character in one of these games.
Speaking of worrying about others. After saving his progress, Yami turned off the game. "We're done."
"W-What? B-But we still have more games to-" Ami was interrupted, when Yami put his finger on her lips to silence her, making her face turn crimson.
"Later. Now, what do you want to play?" Yami asked her.
Oh, how could Amai ever refuse this wonderful boy?
All right, please review and have a nice day.