Vaudevillain

Chapter 2: Character Creation

The day had finally come. Dylan was sitting in his room, a box the size of his torso resting on his bed. Inside the VR console from Vert and the game World of Supers sat ready. The plain brown box was all that separated Dylan from the most hyped game of the year.

"Okay, enough staring," he said to the air. He grabbed some scissors stored in his desk drawer and quickly ran them along the taped edges. The box sprung open as if eager to release its contents on the world.

Inside sat another box situated next to a plastic casing. Dylan pulled both out and set them on the bed. The second box was covered in artwork depicting a man diving into different worlds. Dylan turned the box around to see the word, "VIS," printed in large letters over the artwork. Below, in smaller letters, sat "Virtual Immersion Sensor." Excited, Dylan cut through the sealing tape and ripped into the box.

Inside was a simple headdress that covered the whole head like a motorcycle helmet. Instead of covering the whole head, the helmet tapered off at eye level to leave an opening for the nose and mouth. Dylan flipped the helmet over and saw the inside was covered in plush foam strips. Between each of the strips was golden circuitry running throughout the helmet. He admired the complex circuitry and ran his hands along the smooth outer shell, bumping the ports sitting at the back.

Dylan checked back in the box for the rest of the equipment. Besides the helmet, he pulled out a long display cord, a long power cable, a wireless battery pack, a wireless charger, and a manual. Setting the cords aside, Dylan opened the manual up. As excited as he was to get started, he wanted to make sure everything was going to work correctly.

Dylan flipped to the first page and took note of the large warning printed. The first of the warning was the usual spiel, stating Vert wasn't responsible for any actions that would void the warranty and listed in multiple languages. On the next page was the more relevant information. "Please make sure the user is seated or lying down on a stable platform while playing. Tests have shown users will twitch erratically while in VR."

The next pages were all instructions for setting up the VIS. Turns out Vert's new console was an accessory. The player would plug the VIS into their home computer or another console with processing power and use it in tandem with integrated processors. Dylan plugged the display cord into the back of his machine and connected the power cord to the helmet. The wireless pack was a combination of battery and wireless display, in case the cords didn't reach. The pack was stated to hold a charge for eight hours.

With the quick setup out of the way, Dylan turned towards the plastic case still resting in the box. "World of Supers" shone in chrome colors over the artwork of a woman super fighting a giant mech. It looked exactly like the hero and villain from the promotional video.

Opening the box, Dylan found a small chipcard and a paper with a code. The chipcard held a physical copy of the game while the code was for a direct download to his computer. Dylan hadn't had a chipcard reader for a while so he booted up his machine to make the download. Minutes later the installation had finished and a glittering new desktop shortcut sat on his monitor screen.

Unable to wait any longer, Dylan started up World of Supers. He quickly dismissed the notification that all visuals were done through the VIS and checked the box to not show again. He made sure to grab a melatonin pill from the kitchen before moving over to his bed with VIS helmet in hand. Making himself comfortable, Dylan placed the helmet on his head and closed his eyes.

At first, things were black like the empty void Dylan saw when he closed his eyes. Then, a voice spoke.

"Please raise your right hand," It said, smooth and neutral. Dylan did.

"Calibrating Please raise your left hand."

Dylan continued following the instructions, moving each limb, then nodding his head, then twitching each muscle. As he performed each action, Dylan felt the presence of a second body.

"Please blink," The voice said. Dylan did and the world went white. He flinched, blinded by the sudden change. His hand came up instinctively to block his eyes and he blinked rapidly. When it calmed down, Dylan was standing in an endless void.

"Wait, standing?" He said.

He looked down. His body had been covered by a long, white robe but Dylan could feel it was his body. He moved an arm up to his face, no longer feeling the odd double movements from earlier.

"Woah," He said.

An interface appeared before him.

Welcome to the World of Supers!

Please enter your username and a password.

Note: This username is for personal account creation and will not be the name you use in the game.

A keyboard of light manifested in front of Dylan. He typed in his normal username, Superfan39526, and entered his usual password. Once he finished with that the world around him flashed, forcing Dylan to close his eyes again.

When they opened again he was standing in the streets of a modern city. Skyscrapers towered above him with imposing presence and covered the bright blue sky. On the ground scores of pedestrians milled about, lost in their own worlds. Cars crawled along the streets, stopped by traffic lights every block. Dylan found he was standing on a platform just above the streets.

Dylan gawked at the realism of it all. Light reflected off the skyscrapers above exactly like they would in the real world and the streets held the same dirty gray color of asphalt. Even the people felt realistic; walking around with friends and entering the various storefront shops.

"Vert could make a killing off the graphics alone," Dylan said.

Another box appeared in his vision.

Welcome to World of Supers! What would you like to be?

Villain Hero

As Dylan focused on the words the world zoomed around him, spinning to focus on three people. On the left was a man dressed in a hoodie and hunched over as if trying to become invisible. On the right, a man walked along the street in a simple lawman's uniform and twirled a baton. In the middle was a woman dressed to the nines and holding a very expensive purse.

The scene ahead played out, the hooded man darting forward and ripping the purse out of the woman's hands. She screamed and the cop came running. The scene paused at this point, the words hero and villain hovering over the two men. Dylan selected villain and the world shifted again.

Will you start alone or with a group?

This time the scene split in two, a wall separating the two choices. The first scene showed the hooded man dashing down an alley and hiding behind some trash. The cop ran by and the man snuck out back the way they came. Later on, the man brought the purse to a pawn shop and walked out with some cash. The next scene showed the man running into the same alley, but a group of thugs was leaning against the alley wall. As the cop ran in, the thugs surrounded him and beat him down while the hooded man watched from the back. Later on, the hooded man was given some cash, though not as much as when he fenced the purse alone.

Dylan selected alone. While alone was riskier, his imagined character wouldn't allow for any sharing of the loot. The scene with a group faded away and Dylan found himself face to face with the hooded man. The man pulled his hood down to reveal Dylan standing there.

What will you look like?

A board of sliders appeared in front of Dylan, the quintessential character creation screen. Dylan was looking forward to this part. During the time he spent waiting for the game to release, he had drafted up an idea of his character. The first was its height.

The man should be tall, six foot three at least, but also thin like a spaghetti noodle. He changed the appropriate sliders and watched as his image stretched upwards. He arranged it so the character's legs and arms were a bit long as well. A tall man with Dylan's face and thin as a board stared down at him.

Next was the face. Dylan selected the tab with facial features and the camera zoomed in. First was the shape. Villains needed angular faces and Dylan's was too round. He pointed the chin more and thinned his cheeks, but not too much as to look gaunt. From there he angled his eyes slightly downwards, to give him a natural look of disdain. An imperious man now stared back at him.

Dylan still wasn't done. He switched over to the hair and facial features tab. He changed the sandy brown hair on top to a pitch black color and had it cut short. Next Dylan added facial hair. At first, he thought about a goatee, the stereotypical evil facial hair, but changed his mind when he passed by a mustache. It was the refined, curled mustache one saw on villains in ancient black and white movies. Perfect for twirling after performing dastardly deeds. Now the imperious man looked every bit a villain, albeit looking a bit off since dressed in a hoodie.

Dylan decided his first order of business was to buy new clothes for his character. He zoomed out to look over him once more and nodded in satisfaction. All the character needed now was a suit and hat and he'd be the perfect evil villain. Dylan confirmed his appearance and the world went black again.

An obstacle course materialized around him. Ladders, hurdles, balance beams, and more dotted the landscape. Dylan looked down to see he had become the imperious character he made. Another box appeared in his vision.

Please enter the superpower you would like.

Dylan typed in Mad Science and gave a brief description. He wanted to be able to make any scheme work, even if the tech level in the world didn't allow it. After he finished, the next prompt appeared.

Please enter your name.

Note: You have the option of creating a secret identity during gameplay and should only enter your super name at the moment. You will be prompted for a secret identity name at a later time.

Dylan had been thinking of a good name for a while. He wanted something a little goofy but still threatening. He'd thrown alliteration out the window early on. Names like Dr. Dastardly sounded too childish and silly. There was also the problem of getting labeled Dr. D. But he liked the Dr. moniker, so Dylan had come up with something similar.

On the typescreen Dylan put, Dr. Zlo, and pressed select. Dylan had typed the word evil into google translate and selected Serbian, which was where the last name Jovanovich came from. He wanted the name to be on the nose but also wanted to give some respect to Arthur for coming out with the game.

Welcome to World of Supers Dr. Zlo. Your powers will be granted to you once our team determines a way to integrate them into the game. In the meantime, familiarize yourself with your new body by interacting with our obstacle course. Keep in mind all players must complete forty hours of the course to join the game.

Dylan blinked. "Aw, what?"