13 Chapter-13: Entering the Gaming Industry

After yesterday's event, Jim was a little exhausted, and he also started doing exercise in the morning to keep his body healthy. So, today he was going to have a break and try to find which thing he should be entering next as novels, while being a good source to gain popularity, needs time, but games, music, and some other industries don't. So, he started thinking about which industry he should enter.

First, he thought of the music industry. Although he doesn't have practice singing songs professionally, he has a good voice. But it might take time. He can ask his mom to sing his songs, but to make them himself, he needs to learn to work on many software to edit the song and all. So, for now, he got rid of that idea, and he will try it later.

Second, movies. Well, he doesn't have money to make movies, but short animated and short films, that he can make with the help of everyone he knows. But still, that would have him learn video editing.

Now, last that came to his mind was games, the biggest industry that doesn't need to get customers to get income as normal and basic features of most games are free. They make money from players who want uniqueness in the characters or anything related to them in the game. It's like a guilty pleasure to some as they will buy things that they wouldn't want to show to their friends just to play anonymously. The games from his previous life were not there, as it had other genres more popular, so no one searched for games in other genres. The most popular and rapidly advancing here was VR, as they were near getting a real nerve gear with all the experiments they had done for VRs.

Now, after sorting it, he started making a list of groups of games that are good and can be good to generate constant income. The easiest would be Candy Crush, Temple Run, and Subway Surfer. So, he started researching in the libraries of programming languages and tools related to gaming or by which he can create mobile games.

After a week of this decision and his mother's questioning, who knew that Jim was interested in coding even before he got memories, as he was a boy who likes to create applications that had no meaning but were a learning experience for him. Even she, his mother, and Gia had to try them out. And now, he said that he was thinking of making a game she didn't feel weird. At first, he thought of creating a game, but it was a challenge, and to get through them, his testers became his mom, Gia, Luke, who liked the game, and Alex, who once again was flabbergasted by the things he does.

As the game progressed, days passed by, and Jim and Alex became good friends. He got to know about her family more, and Alex got to know more about the family of his. They quickly became really good friends, and as they did, Alex also shared some things that they had chat on, like how's her life in her family.

"So, Alex, how was your day?" asked Jim as he took out his latest improvement to the game. He made all the basic things in it, like candies breaking when arranged as 3 and more, but now he has to add powers and all and other power-ups used in it. He didn't give the game to the mobiles of Alex and Luke, as he used some tools to play it, but didn't have the ultimate version that can work on mobile, as he has to convert it into '.apk' or '.ipa' for mobile.

"It was good, but how is the game going? How many levels did you add now? Don't you think the levels are the same for every level?" asked Alex with her rapid questions.

"Calm down, Mom," Jim jokingly said and then told her,

"Well, that's why I called this just the prototype as it was just the shell. Now is the time to add all the interesting parts. Every level will have different challenges, different powerups, even a computer playing against us which we have to defeat, etc. And now I will start on it. Before the vacation ends, I might end up making this game."

Alex tried the last prototype, which was now free of bugs, as it might get a major upgrade, and told Jim to save this basic version for future uses, which he agreed to and saved it on online drive.

Alex, with her intelligence, understood many things and also showed interest in coding and application creation. But she wanted more than this, like something related to study. Jim thought of the applications that can help kids learn the subjects they want, like those online courses. He can make Alex the administrator of the application, and she can manage it until her age and class groups. As she moves upwards in classes, she might manage the upper ones too. He can make others join it, while he takes 20 to 30% of what they make, which will benefit him and all the teachers that will join the app.

Jim remembered these things being popular from his previous world's memories, but in this world, there is a lack of these online courses.

He discussed it with Alex and told her to make a plan on how she wants it to look as he will develop the front end of the website as well as the application and then create the real deal. As a student, her help in creating the front end of the application and web page might be a major help.

That day after the talk with Alex, he asked his mom to get the business license and start a company with the name Everleigh Tech, as it had the sound of both Ava and Gia in it, 'Ever' - 'leigh'. Ava, Jim's mom, got emotional with how thoughtful he was, as he made them 15% and 15% shareholders in the company.

His mother, watching how he was progressing and making things that he likes to do, was happy but worried too as she noticed he is focusing too much on these things. But, as long as he was happy, she was too. She had a talk with him about this, and his answers satisfied her. While looking back, she felt proud of the answers he gave,

"Jim, don't you think you are taking too much time on these? You should also enjoy the outside and not be cooped up in here like this, no?" Ava asked, worried for her son.

"No, Mom, I like doing this, and I am doing it for our family too so that you don't have to be worried about me and Gia with our tuition and education fees. It's not like I am doing it unwillingly; I enjoy it while creating these. Also, thinking of giving you and Gia everything I can feels even more satisfying," replied Jim in response to her query.

Ava was left moved by his words, feeling a mix of pride and concern for her son. After a long hug with Jim, some counseling, and a good night's sleep with Gia, she came to the conclusion that he was having fun while doing this and not tiring himself out. If he was enjoying it and managing well, she decided not to interfere. Besides, school would start soon, and he would have other commitments, providing him with a natural break. With that, she let go of her worries.

Jim, opening a new company, didn't need a CEO for now. He thought of seeking help from his Aunt Olivia, his mother's friend, in this regard, but that was a plan for later.

As days went by, he finally completed the application, and there were 20 days left before school started. His novel was also doing well, with its ranking in the top 50, currently at rank 43. Jim had already made nearly $5000 with the gifts and donations he received. If it was a pay-to-read model, he might have made more, but he wanted the donations to be voluntary, so the novel remained free. This approach was appreciated by many, even though some other authors not in the top rankings suggested otherwise. Little did they know, Jim was just a high school kid, and money wasn't his main focus; rather, he aimed to establish his name on this platform.

Many people tried to contact Jim to sign a contract, but he replied with a no, stating that he was just practicing and didn't want to commit to deadlines as he was in the process of opening his own company and might not have time to write under someone else's terms.

The company registration was completed, and on a Sunday, with his mom Ava, his sister Gia, and two others, Alex and Luke, being present, he released the game under his company's name, which now held the patent for the game. Now, the group's job started. Alex, Ava, and Gia, all loving the game, immediately downloaded and started playing it. Ava also shared it with her friends, surprising them, but not to the extent of shock since they knew Jim always liked to code. However, after playing it, they were indeed surprised, except for Olivia, who was aware of Jim's venture and had helped and invested money in it. Olivia now holds 10% of the company shares and manages anything related to it.