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skycitiesandtheforsaken · 9 months ago

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Beautiful Static is currently in progress, and you can watch the progress on my twitch channel, twitch.tv/stormofsunbeams

'Sky Cities and the Forsaken' is a video game series that will be coming out in the next few years. The first game, Beautiful Static, will be a farming sim created in RPGMaker MZ.

The world of Sky Cities and the Forsaken is a post apocalyptic universe in which the Earth's surface was flooded by the rich and powerful to force those who could afford to move to sky cities and those who could not to perish. This took place several hundred years ago come time of Beautiful Static.

Now, all humanity is believed to be extinct, and only androids remain. The richest and most powerful humans placed their consciousness inside some of those androids, but all the others are their own individuals.

However, in the waters below remain bits and pieces of humanity that genetically engineered themselves into merfolk in order to survive, now living in different forms of societies. Any remaining surface dwellers have since died out.

Some androids fall into a state called 'Corruption' in which they essentially lose their sanity. This will be delved into further in the games.

Beautiful Static takes place on an island of the same name that has become a bit of a safe haven for those who fall under the part of the title 'the Forsaken'. Those who don't fit in with the rest of society and left for various reasons. You play as the player named Player Character, who has gone down to the surface in response to a call for help. The solar batteries on which all androids run are not strong enough to keep the androids on the surface alive forever, and their are no batteries to replace them down below, nor is anyone motivated to send them. You go to the surface to try to aid in finding a solution in order to keep those batteries running indefinitely and keep the residents of Beautiful Static running as long as they might desire.

You do this by growing mysterious seeds that Candace, a human researcher, has found on the island, as you are a crop researcher yourself. You aid Evie, a scientist who has diligently been trying to keep the islanders alive for a long time. Other characters include Vita, the oldest android on the island who is a musician; a Corrupted android who believes she's the princess of a sky city, Princess Summer, and her 'knight' and loving husband Shade; Burgundy, a battle android who does not speak much about herself; and Zizi, a Corrupted android who took down an entire sky city in her wake.

Beautiful Static is currently in progress, and you can watch the progress on my twitch channel, twitch.tv/stormofsunbeams

#indie game dev #indie game in progress #wip #androids #post apocalyptic #indie game #farming sims #sorry for the wall of text

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skycitiesandtheforsaken · 10 months ago

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Beautiful Static: The prequel/introduction to the android farming sim 'Skycities and the Forsaken Vol. 1'

It does not follow the MC, rather a secondary character, but still, I hope you'll give it a read and introduce yourself to the setting a bit!

Beautiful Static

As Zizi ran through the halls of the Sky City, no one noticed her among the chaos. One thought kept repeating through her head as she rushed through the alleys and halls:

He’s going to hate me.

But the thought was followed by another.

I don’t care anymore.

Zizi knew exactly what she was doing, and exactly what effect it would have on everyone, on everything, here in Sky City 236. She knew that she would be hated. She knew that the city would fall from the sky. She hoped that perhaps part of the station would still be attached to the pillar, but she didn’t know. Alarms blared all around her, but she didn’t listen. She just hurried. She didn’t know if Zero would follow her or not, but she did know one thing.

She didn’t care. There was life down on the land. She knew that now, and she knew what the leaders were going to do now that they knew.

Declare war once again. On anything alive down there. There were trees again, plants; there were people in the waters that were being plucked from their waters, and even if that was the only remnant of humanity, she couldn’t stand for—

She hesitated as she was walking past a science facility. Huh. A truck that hadn’t been unloaded. Perfect to steal and get out of here.

She walked through the gate, past the blaring sirens. She didn’t give any attention to the people—androids that they were, they were all people—in the room, as they weren’t fighters, but she did fight them off and out of the way, shoving the last one off the ship with her foot as she climbed into the cockpit. She glanced back. There was a waterfolk in a tank. Well. She’d let that passenger come along.

With that, she set off into the unknown. There wasn’t much fuel in this tank, but hopefully enough to make it to the ground safely, hopefully to water to let her new ‘friend’ free.

She glanced back one last time, and saw him, his eyes troubled, as he shoved past everyone, reaching his hands out of the closing city behind her. She sighed and gave a bitter smile as she turned away for the last time.

He would make it. She had turned his anti-G mode on high enough to get him to the ground intact. The rest? Well…

The rest was nothing but a field of beautiful static. That was all life was, after all…

An anomaly. Static in a void. Beautiful static in a void.

Zero

Zero had been trying to catch up to Zizi for weeks, no, months, but she was so many steps ahead of him. He had seen that she was on the list to be Recycled and did his best to push it to the back of the line—he couldn’t find a reason that she was, however...but he thought he had figured it out even before the sirens blared in Sky City 236, even before he finally, finally caught a glimpse of her. She was corrupted.

She must’ve been infected by a virus in her work. That was why she was off work! It had to be. She had to have put herself on leave so that she could try to work out the virus. To work through it, get rid of it—but Zero should’ve noticed sooner, it shouldn’t have taken her being on the Recycling list. He should’ve been there—He should have been there for her!

Instead, he was so focused in on his work. So focused in on himself, trying to come up with a way to propose to her, thinking that he had to be perfect—and in it, he had nearly lost her—well…

Not so much...nearly. She was clearly corrupted beyond saving...well, had anyone tried after someone was that far along? He didn’t know. They were always Recycled. She had been pushing him away, telling him that she just needed rest, a break...but when he looked up her records she had been doing anything but staying still.

Zero should have noticed sooner. Zizi was everything to him. Zizi…

He reached his hand out through the closing wall, watching her fly off. He swallowed.

This city was going to fall from the sky. If he was going to die...he wanted to touch open air just once.

And so, he shoved his way through the opening, throwing himself out of the city. He saw the flailing bodies of many others who had chosen the same, but…

He wasn’t...falling as quickly. Still, he watched Zizi and the ship flying downward way faster than he did, but in a controlled manner. She’d reach the ground before him at this rate. Why was he falling so slowly.

Wait...the last call they’d been on. The email that Zizi sent...it pinged. It had...an update?

Was that why he was—no, he was going to be corrupted, too! That’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to him, worse than falling with the rest of the city, worse than being Recycled—right?

Right?

Zizi was corrupted, right?

And...he had to find her. Save her. If he...if he made it to the ground safe.

Maybe he wasn’t going to be corrupted too, but Zizi was...there was no cure, but he’d find one. He’d find a way to save her. Because...because she’d save him.

Zizi

The ship made it to the ground, but not much further. It sputtered out of power, luckily near some river somewhere. She sighed and looked at the tank with the river person. She sighed and walked over.

“Wonder how heavy you are, big guy?” she pondered as she tried to figure out how to open the tank. “I’d love to know all about your life, your culture, everything...I’d bet it’d be fascinating.” She sighed.

She jumped back with a yelp as he pounded his tail against the sides of the tank, trying to break it. “Hey, hey! I’m trying to help you out of there!” she said. “I know you can’t understand me, probably, but…”

She paused for a moment before sighing. “Well. If breaking’s the only way, then…” She shifted her hand into a point that ended in a blunt tip. She pressed it against the glass with all her might, and the glass shattered. The entire tank. “Hope that didn’t hurt you, big guy.”

She jumped backwards as tail switched to legs and he climbed to his feet, all seven feet tall of him. He looked at her calmly before looking himself over for injuries. He cleared his throat. “Thank you,” he hissed out of vocal chords clearly not used to such speech.

“Uh...you’re welcome.” She blinked a few times. “Uh...Do you need any more help?”

“Probably not that you can offer.”

“Hit me with it.”

“This is a river, but I don’t know in what way it connects with the one where my mate is. I was captured—but you seem to know that much.”

“Oh…” She swallowed.

“But, you might be able to help—but you seemed to have some kind of plan, and I don’t want to interrupt it.”

“No. No plan. Just…” She sighed and looked away. “No plan. What the hell was I thinking?!? Am I corrupted?!?” She laughed bitterly. “There was a plan. But now that I’m here, now that my home is falling from the sky in pieces…”

“What was the plan?”

Zizi was quiet in response...she didn’t have one at that moment.

“I can’t stay out of the water much longer.”

“This thing has a boat on it.”

“It has a motor.”

“It’ll row.”

“With what?”

She laughed lightly and shifted her arms into long oars. “I can’t let my core get wet, but I certainly can let my arms get wet.” She shifted them back.

“What are you?”

“Android.”

“Eh?”

“Uh...artificial human?”

“Oh...that makes sense.” He tilted his head.

“You have a name, big guy?”

“Aura. You?”

“Zizi.”

“Right. Zizi...if we have to meet the sea, just know, the seafolk are a violent group. I know that I can’t take them on—but you might be able to figure out how to get us away.”

“Can do.” She smiled. “Now, to the water you go.”

He got into the water, and Zizi got the boat and put it on the water.

“You ready?” He asked, popping his head out of the water.

“Yep. Just pop up once in a while.”

“I...I’m not great with rivers,” Aura admitted. “I’m a lakefolk, but my mate was teaching me how to be a riverfolk.”

“They sound nice.”

“He is…”

“Let’s get you back to him.”

“Right…”

And so, they started their way down the river.

“What about you?”

“Huh?” Zizi asked, looking down into the water at Aura.

“Do you have a mate?”

Zizi paused. “Yeah...I guess I do. Or rather, did.” Zizi looked up toward the sky, where the city once stood. Instead, only rubble.

“Oh. He fell with the city.”

Zizi swallowed. “But that’s okay.” She nodded.

“That’s...okay?”

Zizi shook her head. “You see, I was corrupted.”

“Corrupted?”

“I actually prefer the term ‘enlightened’. Basically, through a virus, I was attached to the mainframe, and overcome by horrible, horrible knowledge.” She sighed.

“I recognized the last part of it, so I think I understand.”

Zizi smiled. “But that’s okay. He’s with me now. In my head.”

“Your mate?”

“No. Another.” She smiled and closed her eyes. “He understands me better than Zero ever did. Though, I do wish that Zero didn’t hate me.” Zizi sighed. “I don’t regret knocking down the city as I went. They were kidnapping you water folk. Saw signs of life and were going to exterminate it. It was awful! I couldn’t let that happen, and then he unlocked powers within me. Now I can transform my own body. I can touch others to change their composition as well.”

“Huh. That’s fascinating. We’d just say you went insane.” Aura sounded calm as he said so. “Or, perhaps, as you said, ‘enlightened.’”

Zizi nodded. “Yeah…I know. But as for me. I was on the list for Recycling. Or, being scrapped, in other words.”

“Oh. Killed.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Maybe I didn’t have to go out in such a blaze of glory, but hey, I saved you in it.” She smiled. “No regrets. He’s with me now.” She closed her eyes. “He hasn’t spoken to me in a while, but he will again, I just know it. And when he does, I’ll be ready.”

“I hope that you don’t harm me or those I love, otherwise, you do you.”

She sighed. “I won’t. With Sky City 236 gone, all there is is...beautiful, beautiful static.”

#original writing #androids #post apocalyptic #indie game dev #my writing

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