Man Creates Homemade Video Game to Propose to Girlfriend
The ring was hidden behind the computer the entire time.
— -- One video game enthusiast took his relationship to the next level with a video game proposal that is now going viral.
Austin Piech of Covington, Ky., proposed to his girlfriend Lauren Woodrick in May through a custom-made video game, and he got the whole thing on camera.
Piech's original plan was to hire a mariachi band, which has a special meaning to Piech.
"My grandfather, Rodolfo Chapa, had proposed to my grandmother, Lydia Chapa (Muñoz), by having a group of mariachis sing the song 'Nosotros' to her," Piech told ABC News.
"When I couldn’t find any mariachis, I decided to build something I knew [Lauren] would find special," Piech added.
Piech spent weeks creating the Mario inspired video game and told ABC News that his video game project wasn't suspicious at all to Woodrick.
"When I told her I was building a homebrew game, she didn’t question it," said Piech.
Piech even filmed Woodrick for the game, explaining that he was filming her as a test subject for his market research.
The day of the proposal, Piech asked Woodrick to test out the video game, and Woodrick happily agreed.
To Woodrick's surprise, the video game was actually a virtual tour of the couple's real-life journey together, and Lolo (Woodrick's nickname) was the game's protagonist.
The levels in the video game represented significant memories and milestones that the couple had shared together, including levels that portrayed the couple's first date, the first time Woodrick met Piech's family, and the first time the couple traveled together.
In the video Piech panned the camera from Woodrick playing the video game to the ring box, which was secretly tucked away right behind the laptop.
The screen before the final level read, "If you couldn't tell by this game, I'm a mediocre programmer, and a horrible artist, but I'd love to be your player 2."
Woodrick's avatar then passed by a virtual mariachi band that was playing the "Nosotros" tune that Piech wanted to incorporate in his original proposal plan.
Lolo came face-to-face with Piech's video-game avatar at the very end of the game. As the screen faded to black, a text appeared which read, "It's dangerous to go alone, take this!"
Piech took out the hidden ring and proposed to Woodrick, who immediately said "Yes!" through tears and excited laughter.
"My eyes had gotten mistier as I progressed through the game and revisited the wonderful memories we had together, but I properly cracked once I had made it to the end where Pixel Austin was waiting and I then knew exactly what was coming," said Woodrick.
The couple have yet to set a wedding date.