In this third part of Letters of Ovelia, a technician gives a warrior a history lesson. Why? Read on and find out. But first, we’re happy to share the Main Theme for Ovelia: The Wake, made by composer and musician Jacob Lincke.
And, in case soundcloud wouldn’t work for you, here it is on youtube.
And with that, today’s Letter of Ovelia.
Angelica, do you know how cold war can be? You are a warrior, and to you the heat of battle must be what most strongly defines a conflict, at least in your heart. I'm sure most would not see you as a passionate individual, and I mean that as an utmost compliment, but I still suspect you see warfare as a clash of wills even when your methods are covert. Over the years, I've told you much about the importance of understanding the technology of the past, but I also want you to understand the past itself. Let me tell you about cold war.
It has occurred many times in history, between religions, nations and ideologies. There was one in the 1900s fought over economy, difficult for us to comprehend. Economy was so different back then. But personally, I always tend to associate the term with the absurd conflicts that spanned through the 2100s, after the satellites were lost to the Kessler cascade. Satellites seem like an almost supernatural concept today, circling the planet, linking all of humanity together. Over the 2000s, the international computer network known as the Internet was increasingly developed with these fantastic outposts in mind, reaching the farthest corners of the Earth. The satellites were destroyed, and what had once been united was fragmented. When the international network was finally reestablished, it wasn't the same; the powers that were would see to that it never was.
Governments in charge of reconstructing the satellite-supported network infrastructure on the ground suddenly had a chance to rebuild these networks as they saw fit. The results differed, and from these differences, the fragments of the Internet, arose the Cold War of the 2100s. On the surface, this was a matter of international suspicion and distrust, but at its core, it was as all cold wars: a matter of philosophy. Some networks were fully integrated with each other, while others were significantly restricted. The subtle differences were seen as a simple populist concern at the beginning of the century, but by the 2120s, it had already grown to the point where proxy wars were fought over which networks were allowed to connect with which. The heat remained steadily increasing, but never reaching the boiling point.
I tell you this, Angelica, because our strikes against Feng have been such a slowly rising heat, and I believe the boiling point is close. There are no nations anymore, no armies, but this is still a war of philosophy and, I believe, not so different from that one. Information is our trade, and its future may be hanging in the balance in the conflict to come.
Your friend,
Trinh “Nest” Suong
For more Letters of Ovelia, see Part 2: The Breakdowns and Part 4: Information is Power.
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I'm excited to play this game I will keep following. How far are you in developing the game? Have you started to build the environment?
Thanks for your interest!
Indeed, we have several levels (some prototype, some can be final) greyboxed out and playable. But blocked levels doesn't look particularly good (they are grey boxes, after all) so, rather than start off showing something "meh", we won't start showing levels until we can first show decorated levels that's cool enough. After that, we could show it if people are interested.
I hope that answers your question!