Chapter 31: Saw & Mortal Kombat
The meeting went on for a another hour before finally concluding. They all decided to have the official meeting the next week, on Tuesday to official put their partnership on paper.
Before leaving Harry and Daniel first went to pick up all the scripts, Alex had already written. It included Thirty written episodes of friends, one season, worth of episodes of X Files and a script concept of The Walking Dead. Harry would register the scripts with the Hollywood writers guild, also know as the screen writers guild.
The Screen Writers Guild (SWG) was formed in 1921 by a group of ten screenwriters in Hollywood angered over wage reductions announced by the major film studios. The group affiliated with the Authors Guild in 1933 and began representing TV writers in 1948.
In 1954, the SWG was one of five groups who merged to represent professional writers on both coasts and became the Writers Guild of America
The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers' views to various bodies of government.
The guild also had the authority to authorizes movie studios to delete onscreen credits for any writers who had not been cleared by Congress, as part of the industry's blacklisting of writers with alleged communist or leftist leanings or affiliations.
So it was very important for writers who were hired to write by an employer who is a signatory to a Guild contract to be registered.
Alex had registered with the writers guild back, in Los Angeles with the recommendation of Steven Spielberg. So Alex name would be appearing in the credits for Jurassic Park as a writer. After grabbing all the heavy pages of scripts, Harry and Daniel said goodbye to everyone before leaving.
After they had left Alex went down to the basement, as everyone watched him had down. "Is he already going to start writing again, just after handing over all of the things he's already written?" Questioned Jennifer was a little displeased.
Alex had been spending less and less time with everyone else lately as he seemed to be always working on something. " Daddy, maybe you should talk to Alex about spending more time with everyone else. Or maybe we could all advice him to not work when he's home." Suggested Jennifer as she looked at her father.
Martha and Oliver looked at each other for a few seconds before looking at their children who were standing in front of them. After which Oliver spoke to all of them; "Your mother and I will discuss how we to deal with this issue. Until then just wait for our decision."
And like that three months pass in the blick of a eye and now it was May 2 1988 Monday. Alex was in his and Duke's room, currently picking up his belongings and placing them neatly in his suit case.
Alex wear a short-sleeve white t-shirt, dark blue baggy jeans, with black Vans, he also wore a black digital wristwatch on his left wrist.
He still had the same hairstyle that he had gotten back in Los Angeles. His mother was the one who helped him in maintaining it's look and style. Putting on a blue Jean jacket Alex completed his attire with a brown leather necklace, with the shape of the Africa continent at the end of it.
Alex went through his belongings once again, on what he would be taking. "Alex, have you finished packing, everyone's waiting for you downstairs. "
Called Martha as she walked into the room wearing a blue woolen sweater with tight blue jeans, that accentuated her curvaceous hips. She also wear a white pair of Air Force Ones with short gary socks, her outfit was quite stylish and amplified her beauty by a factor of ten.
This wasn't just for her, all of their wardrobes were now greatly upgraded, as the they now had more money to spend on themselves without worry. Seeing his mother walking in Alex zipped his suit case closed and nodded.
" Yes, am ready to go now." Replied Alex; Martha looked at Alex briefly before walking closer to Alex pulling him in for a hug. Alex was a little embarrassed and caught off guard by the hug, they embrace each other for a few seconds before finally separating.
Martha holding onto Alex shoulders spoke in a gently voice to him. " Are you sure you're going to be alright staying with your aunt and uncle in New York." Asked Martha as she raised her right hand from Alex shoulder to his face, then began gently caressing Alex left cheek as she spoke.
Martha had now also changed her curly hairstyle and now spotted straight long jet black hair, that run down passed her shoulders.
Alex grabbed the hand that Martha was using to caress his left cheek gently, holding it tightly while looking into his mother's worried eyes as he spoke reassuringly. "I'm going to be fine mum. I assure we won't be too far away either. I'm just an hour drive away and you can come visit me anytime if you're worried."
Hearing Alex words Martha's worry lesson a little the two of them stared quietly into each other's golden eyes. Before Alex broke the silence; " We should had downstairs, everyone must be waiting for us to come down."
Martha nodded her head lightly with a slightly bitter smile on her face, she never thought that Alex would be the first out of her four children to live home.
It was only for a few months but that didn't change the fact she wouldn't be able to see his face every day now. Unless she decides to drive every day to see him, however if she did that she would seem too obsessive. Not to mention she would be showing a lack of trust in her brother and sister-in-law ability to take care of her son.
Both then left the room Alex carried his suit case with his right hand, Martha was arm strewn across Alex shoulder as they walked together. The two of them were now currently the same height at six foot, that was when Martha herself didn't wear any high heels.
Arriving downstairs into the living room Jennifer, Ashley, Duke and Oliver were all waiting for Alex and Martha. Harry was the one here to pick Alex up, both would than had to New York together.
Alex would also be staying with Harry while he was there. Michael and Mark were also there to see Alex off as well, Michael was awkwardly trying to have conversation with Ashley as they waited.
Everyone already knew about Michael crush on Ashley including herself, honestly Ashley was surprised how long Michael crush lasted till now.
Once everyone in the living room noticed Alex and Martha coming downstairs they all stopped talking. Alex walked towards everyone, Jennifer was the first to walk up to him and gave him a hug. She offered up a few words as did everyone else, the final person to speak was Oliver his father who didn't say many words.
Basically what he said was; " Don't over work yourself and listen to your uncle and Harry." Pulling Alex into a hug as well, Alex thoughts were that his father didn't want to seem to worried about Alex departure. With Alex leaving for an extended period of time with none of them being there too look after him, was likely very stressful for everyone.
They might overly obsess over his well being and be unable to focus on their own work because of him. His father and mother needed to trust in Alex, ability to take care of himself as well, if they were to work on growing their new business successfully. After every one said their goodbyes Harry and Alex left for New York Manhattan.
Setting in the car Alex began to recall what had happened three months ago. His parents had set him down and they had a very serious discussion. Subsequently after they finally reached a consensus with one another, to put things simply Alex had taken a GED and passed.
Duke had also made the same decision, after Alex talked to him into doing it. Alex knew that Duke IQ was close to that of Elon Musk and he could also learn faster while on the job.
John, Duke's long time friend had also come to work with him, at Star Horizon. John was the same age as his two older sister so Duke had invited him to come work with him.
Alex himself could have just used his high IQ too finish school early like other geniuses. However, that would have made it more difficult for him to convince Mark and Michael parents to quit school.
If they were to be compare with Alex the two them, convincing Mark and Michael parent to allow both of them to dropped out, and work full-time would have been even harder.
The good news was that after Daniel his uncle, looked into the business Alex had suggested investing in. Noir Trending had made a huge income in the last few months, Mark and Michael who also held a lot of shares in Blue Star Interactive benefited.
Thanks to that they were able to make killing as Alex had used Blue Star Interactive as the investor. Coupled with the raising sell off Castle Wolfenstein 3D, the three of them had basically already made more money than their parents ever had in a few months.
So when Mark made the suggestion to leave school and work full-time to his parents, they agreed to it after a lot of deliberation. David, Michael father was the most hesitant to allow Michael to leave school and work full-time. However, after making 250 000 US dollars he finally folded, however he made the condition that Michael passed his GED which Michael did.
Most of the money they'd made was put aside for the company's later use, for acquiring a large office building for themselves later on. As well as equipment and tools, Alex knew they would all have to move to eventually by either the end of this year or the beginning of next year as they continued recruiting.
Alex wouldn't make the same mistake Id Software made, which made them unable to release new games as quickly as their competitors. Which lead their games to lag behind in graphics and hardware due too the like of manpower.
Right now Alex is happy about how things were turning out now, especially with Michael and Mark being able to work full-time at the Headquarters. While Alex wasn't there he didn't think that no problems wouldn't arise. However, it was much more comforting to know people he fully trusted were the to handle things.
"Are you ready, cousin? " Asked Harry looking at Alex who sent in the front passager seat. Alex nodded his head slightly. "Yes, I'm fully prepared." And with that they were off as Harry drove his new black Mercedes-Benz W124 he recently bought.
Two days went by smoothly like that, Alex had settled into Harry apartment nicely. He had also gone to check up on his own team that came with him. This was the team Alex had created from members who had previously been working on DOOM.
A new recruits, who had joined during the past three months, there were twelve people in total not including himself.
There were a total of four people who worked on the Development of the original Mortal Kombat in the previous timeline. Mortal Kombat started development in 1991 with: Ed Boon (programming), John Tobias (art and story), John Vogel (graphics), and Dan Forden (sound design).
It was also this reason why it took so long to create the original game. Most games during this time period were fairly simple to create and didn't require many people. Alex, Mark and Michael were able to make Castle Wolfenstein 3D in just four months because of this.
Well Alex had already done most of the cumbersome work just after creating the software operating systems for Microsoft and Apple. Alex hadn't just come all the way here just to create Mortal Kombat, he could have done it back home.
He was also here to help with the production of Saw (also known as Jigsaw). Saw was a 2004 American horror film that was directed by James Wan, in his first feature directorial debut, and was written by Leigh Whannell from a story by Wan and Whannell. It was the first installment in the Saw film series, and stars Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, and introducing Leigh Whannell.
This was one of reason Alex came here, Alex had rewritten the flim script and planned to help produce it while he was here. Alex would be staying here for roughly three to four months.
The characters of the original Mortal Kombat and its initial sequels were created using digitized sprites mostly based on filmed actors, as opposed to hand-drawn graphics.
If Alex wanted to recreat the original game, he needed to cast martial art actors for the game, due to the limited hardware memory storage the game would remain virtually unchanged from the original. Working at a television station made many things much easier, they would also have professional help in filming as well.
Mortal Kombat games were known for their extensive use of palette swapping, which was used for the ninja characters; many of the most popular characters had originated as palette swapped characters.
In the first game, the male ninja fighters were essentially the same character; only the colors of their attire, fighting stance, and special techniques mark a difference.
Alex plan to incorporate this feature as well since many of these types of palette swapped, would develop into their own character later on. Right now back in Brooklyn many more projects were also under way, Blue Star Interactive now rented two apartments condos close by.
Four groups where busy working hard, Mark and Michael two groups were working on new titles like Grand Theft Auto and DOOM. The third group were now hard at work porting Castle Wolfenstein 3D onto other console hardware like Sega Genesis, Nintendo and other. The fourth team was responsible for creating Wolfenstein 3D Part Two, which would take about two to three months maximum.
After Alex and the team settled in they all began getting to work on Mortal Kombat, which began with casting actors and taking photos of real world items, to incorporate into the games background. Which would be also rendered into the game as well to give it a more realistic feel.
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