HaS-001: The sci-fi in Have a sip
HS-001: The sci-fi in Have a sip
The game “Have a sip” is about quiet human moments. Because of this, the game’s stories need a certain type of context and background. And because it’s 2025, writing about a “robot running a traveling coffee truck” actually requires serious thinking, especially against the backdrop of all the current AI developments.
The starting points
I chose a near-future fiction world of 206X (when HS is hopefully finished :P), so these axioms can be established:
Robots are (somewhat) wide-spread in society.
There isn’t an artificial super-intelligence.
People and society as we know it today still exist at large.
This means a robot serving coffee is not a spectacle that draws a crowd. It also allows for the player’s character - the quiet robot - to feel unique.
Similarly, the lack of an artificial super-intelligence is intentional, because the presence of a Skynet/GLaDOS, or even a benevolent super-AI will cast a very, very different light on how society would feel about thinking machines.
Corollary, this implies that in our fictional world, advanced computing techs like quantum computing or biocomputation haven’t had a commercial breakthrough. Plus, other life-improving techs like fusion energy, neural links, etc are not there yet either.
Lastly, keeping the fictional society more or less the same as we know it today (late 2025) is a key point for HS. It means that stories about life’s impermanence, small joys and happiness are still relevant. It also allows us to carry existing tensions of the time into the game: rich vs poor, native vs foreigners, city vs rural, AI vs human, etc. These conflicts then serve as contrasts to the cozy, healing sections, clearly delineating emotional peaks and valleys.
In fact, ensuring this “human 1.0” setup is fairly important to me, as I read a fair amount of sci-fi where a single technology leap, like brain-computer interface, gene-editing or even language comprehension can change the very fabric of society/thoughts. I don’t want those to be the focus of HS, because this is not a cyberpunk game.
The game’s world is definitely far from grimdark, but I also don’t feel that it’s exactly solarpunk/hopepunk either. If you know of a label for this, feel free to suggest it to me.
Even more details
Next, the three axioms above need to be furnished with additional details, so the world feels more “full”, consistent and believable. For example, let’s take the “no artificial super-intelligence” axiom, which seems to run against a lot of pep talk about AI as of late 2025. To make it flow better in the fiction, I added these three trains of thoughts:
AI growth is stagnant due to economic causes
This is quite likely to me. Similar to many hype cycles, there will be a point where people and investors start to demand value from AI investments. This is likely to retain only profitable AI companies who produce models that are closer to tools than real intelligence (because those will sell). As an older person in tech, I feel this is more likely, unless we actually experienced another breakthrough similar to the jump from expert systems to deep learning.
Legal and bureaucratic frameworks drag growth even further
This is probably the weakest part of the fiction, seeing that AI companies are doing whatever they please for the most part. But maybe at some point, there will be large-enough issues that force regulations to step in, like GDPR.
Moral and existential hesitation runs strong
This one is quite believable, as we already saw people who were key to modern AI developments talk about their fears of AI. The degree of severity will be different depending on who we ask, but I think it’s safe to say that most regular folks harbor some doubts about whether AI is truly a good thing to have. If you are in doubt, look no further than the recent Steam’s AI disclosure saga to see how this plays out.
I am a tech/knowledge worker who lives and breathes these technology bubbles. And I have to admit it’s not always easy to distinguish where the actual possible technological progress ends and where the koolaid begins.
Closing thoughts
Anyway, we should have enough AI speculations for now. What I want to share here is the logic behind the world of HS. I hope all this work will make the phrase “a robot running a traveling coffee truck” feel more believable.
If you enjoy reading these world-building details ^_^, there’s more to come. Please stay tuned!
Cheers,
exklamationmark