Equestria's Inventor

by Yormsky

Prologue: Create Your Character

Prologue: Create Your Character

I didn’t think twice about opening the link to the otherwise suspiciously blank email. I just assumed it was yet another one of Bob’s projects he wanted some help with. I’d helped him out with his game development journey for years now and was used to it.

When the link opened up a new browser, I was taken aback by what appeared on the screen. He’d never sent me anything about a character creation sheet, never mind one with such a refined UI.

“Hmm?” I hummed, somewhat amused as I barely had to scroll to reach the bottom of the page. I guess it makes sense that the first draft I received wouldn’t have much to offer despite how good it looked at first glance.

I scrolled back up and decided to play around with what little options there were available.

[Pick a name] [Given Name, Surname]

Clicking on the two available prompts, I felt my lips quirk upwards yet again from amusement.

[Given Name: Air, Trebol, Hammerfist, Angel, Button, Soliloquy, Timeworn, …]

“What the hell kind of names…” I mumbled as I accidentally clicked outside the list and closed out of it. When I clicked over the option to choose a Given Name again, an entirely new list of “Names” was generated. After repeating the same actions of clicking outside before refreshing the list, I realized Bob was probably going for a random name generator for both the Given Name and Surname options.

“Ugh,” I rolled my eyes as I scanned through my options. I made a note to let Bob know he should add the option to write out a desired name before shrugging my shoulders mentally and just picking the least obtuse-sounding name I was comfortable with.

[Name: Victor Hex]

Moving along with the character creation process, I was given a few options on how to change what the default character looked like.

[Choose appearance] [Hair, Eyes, Scars, Tattoos, Accessories]

“...Must have only gotten part of the way through with all the options for changing the character’s head,” I nodded as I looked through my options with an appreciative eye. For a moment I was going to make another note to remind Bob to add more generic options — like for changing the structure of cheeks, nose, eyebrows, etc. — but after looking at how many options there were for what was available I decided otherwise.

I chose to give my character [Medium Long, Wavy, Brown Hair], not unlike my own, with similarly [Light Brown Eyes], [No Scars], a [Barcode Tattoo] along the cheeks, and a set of [Monoblock Sunglasses] to complete a sort of cyberpunk aesthetic.

Next on the character creation list was what looked like the alpha version of the questionnaire Bob had told me would decide the character’s Class, beginning stats and abilities. He mentioned something about wanting it to resemble some Pokemon Dungeon Colosseum game I’d never heard of… I think? Whatever.

Anyways, the first question:

[Question 1: You have some free time. What do you do?]

[Answer 1: Call up some friends and hang out!]

[Answer 2: Free time? What free time?! I’m always working or studying or doing something productive!]

[Answer 3: Return to sleep…]

I went with the second option. Not because I related to the hyperbolized sentiment, but because it went with the image I was building for my character. If I had to describe the kind of background I wanted to give my character it’d be something like the Corpo Lifestyle from Cyberpunk 2077.

[Question 2: If you had to choose, which would you say closest matches a major goal in your life?]

[Answer 1: Become famous! Or powerful! Ideally, both! I want my name known to all! I want to be a living legend!]

[Answer 2: Get rich! I want to be able to do whatever I want and not care about the consequences to my bank account!]

[Answer 3: Find love! Riches, fame, and power… What are they good for if I don’t have someone to cherish? Maybe more than just someone.]

Again, the second option made the most sense. An aspiring corporate bigshot would value money and resources over just about everything else. Fame would be anathema to the roguish combat style I imagined my character would have. The only power they would be interested in was political power. And the less there was to say about a cold psychopathic killer’s thoughts on love… the better.

[Question 3: You find yourself threatened by a drunk at the bar. How do you respond?]

[Answer 1: Curse the moron out and put up my fists. There’s an idiot that’s about to get a beating!]

[Answer 2: Try to pacify the situation. Even if it means taking a few insults or paying my way out, I’m not about to risk my well-being or reputation on some drunkard.]

[Answer 3: Grin as I shatter a bottle against the bartop. Then I calmly give an ultimatum, “piss off or die!”]

Three times in a row? I made a note to let Bob know he should probably rearrange the order of the options since it seemed to me like they were set up in an unsatisfying way. I wasn’t sure why, since the fact that there seemed to be a pattern shouldn’t have detracted anything from the “descriptively humorous” options players could choose from.

[Question 4: If you had to fight, which would you rather do?]

[Answer 1: Charge the enemy! Close combat all the way!]

[Answer 2: Fight from after! Magic or not, I’d rather not risk the damage.]

[Answer 3: Can I run support? I’d rather not be in a fight if I can help it.]

At last, I changed from choosing the second option for a fourth time and instead went for the third option. I mean, if the game were even remotely playable and my options now actually mattered I’d probably never choose to play a supporting role. But thematically? Yeah, my would-be cyberpunk would better fit the role of someone who hands out the dirty work; not the one involved in said dirty work.

[*Chain* Question 5: So, what kind of support are you talking about?]

[Answer 1: I can’t stand the sight of someone hurt! I’m a healer, through and through!]

[Answer 2: Be it by blessing my companions or cursing my enemies, I want to be in control of the combat engagements I get embroiled in!]

[Answer 3: Is there a stealth option? I want to hide in the shadows and get rid of my enemies before they even know they're in danger!]

[Answer 4: Can I just not be anywhere near the fight? I’d rather make and maintain the gear of my group.]

“Oh? A follow up question and a fourth option?” My eyebrows rose just the slightest bit as I thought about my options before going with the fourth one. Everyone knows corporate shills would do anything but get anywhere near even the slightest conflict. Unless of course… There was a “suitable” reward for the accompanying risk.

[Question 6: What do you have to say about your parents? What would you say about the way they raised you?]

[Answer 1: I love my parents! Sure, we might not have always seen eye to eye on everything, but looking back, I think they did their best to raise me.]

[Answer 2: Parents? What parents?! I wouldn’t call the lousy pieces of crap that raised me “parents,” and I definitely wouldn’t say that the bare minimum effort they put into me can even be called “raising!”]

[Answer 3: Eh, they were there, I guess…]

[Answer 4: I’m an orphan/adopted.]

Snorting lightly, I picked the third option. I didn’t know much about Bob’s history with his parents, but seeing how the second option was written seemed to suggest he might have some issue with them.

[*Chain* Question 7: What would you say about your friends?]

[Answer 1: I’ve made a lot of friends in a lot of places! Even when I’m somewhere new where I don’t know anyone, I try to meet people to better fit in!]

[Answer 2: I don’t really have friends. At most, I tolerate my family and keep a professional relationship with my acquaintances at work.]

[Answer 3: I have a few close friends I’d die for. Knowing them, I’d like to believe they’d do the same for me.]

Choice two was the way to go even if in real life I had more in common with answer choice three. Maybe when I was a little younger and adopted a considerably more cringeworthy and edgy personality, I might have wholeheartedly aligned myself with the second option. I’m glad I mellowed out in my adulthood.

[Question 8: Walking along the street at dawn, when no one else is around, you see a jogger drop their wallet. How do you react?]

[Answer 1: I call out to the jogger and tell them they dropped their wallet. It’s the right thing to do.]

[Answer 2: I make sure no one else is around and wait for the jogger to leave before pocketing the wallet. The idiot should have been more careful.]

[Answer 3: I continue about my business without a second glance. It’s not my problem and I don’t want to get involved.]

“Damn,” I muttered. For once, I was stumped as to which choice I should pick. I mean, realistically my character could just as easily pick either the second or third option given the scenario. Even when I considered how I would personally react to the situation if I were actively playing the game, my decision would depend entirely on how far along the game I was.

If I was in the early to mid-stage of the game, I’d probably go the “evil” route (Choice 2) to pad my wallet freely, even if it was for a negligible amount. But, if was at the end game, with all the best loot and resources, I’d probably ignore the NPC and their entirely irrelevant wallet.

Bob’s game was still an RPG though, so I picked the second choice in the end. After all, everyone knows that when in doubt, you always choose to hoard loot. In fact, at just that thought, I could recall that my latest Level 66 Skyrim character was still lugging around like a hundred and fifty pounds worth of veritable garbage in their inventory despite being an Overpowered demigod that was decked out in some of the most valuable gear in the game.

[Question 9: Which would you rather have?]

[Answer 1: Elemental Magic. You can’t beat the classics.]

[Answer 2: Blood Ki. The only thing I trust is my own strength.]

[Answer 3: Unique Ability. Why follow someone else's path when I can have one all of my own?]

Without hesitation for any character I made, I would always go with the third option on my first playthrough. Even for the purely theoretical character I was currently making, I saw no reason not to pick it.

[Question 10: Choose your difficulty setting (FINAL)]

[Answer 1: Like Taking Candy From A Baby]

[Answer 2: The Standard Experience]

[Answer 3: Is It Just Me Or Is This A Little Unfair?]

[Answer 4: This Is God Damn Impossible!!!]

[Answer 5: Realistic]

Really? I rolled my eyes as I picked “Realistic” as the supposed most difficult setting, somehow even above, “This Is God Damn Impossible!!!” It wouldn’t matter anyway as I moved my cursor over to the “Create Character” link. When I clicked the link the source code was currently designed to refresh the character creation since there wasn’t a component of memory link to the code to store the character information.

Click…

And then everything went black.

Author's Note:

I don't know what this story is supposed to be.
There's no Outline.
There's no real plan.
I'm just writing for fun.
I hope the story will turn out as fun to read for you as it was for me to write.

Comments

[Poparakelis]

Hmm

[ScarletRhine]

"Fascinating."
Mr Spock, T'Pol & and every Vulcan that had screen time

[Viridian21]

No esta mal, no esta nada mal

[MurderP0n7]

[Answer 5: Realistic]

Realistic as the most difficult? Yes, he is right, because it does not matter if you have fertile land with a river next to it, if you do not know how to grow crops or eliminate parasites from them, you are screwed.

There are many ways in which someone unprepared can die in a "realistic" situation: confronting animals, eating certain undercooked or poisoned foods, getting sick, falling and breaking something Bone... Or just falling ill, the reason why humans lived so long is because while one died the other was smarter and avoided that... Until he wasn't and someone else took his place, Yes, we are like ants in that aspect

[GreyJediNautuAphumbi]

Hah! I read your Author's Note and I can say I feel ya bruh, since I am still kinda like that with my own fimfiction story projects like this one story of mine -don't know when I'll upload it here and this could spoil it so I'll tell just a bit- that's been in development limbo for quite so long and it is centered on the adventures of my Draconequus MC who is a Supreme High God Emperor to this empire comprised of other known fictional races like Xenomorphs, Furlings from Stargate, Gelflings from The Dark Crystal to name a few

[ObsPerson]

I didn’t think twice about opening the link to the otherwise suspiciously blank email. I just assumed it was yet another one of Bob’s projects he wanted some help with.

What the FUCK is wrong with you? You don't just click on random links. This is how you get your data stolen or bank account emptied. I know that the MC did that so the story can happen but still