I planned Magic is Programming as a trilogy, and at this point that is still the plan. With my writing progress having reached the threshold of the likely-final book, I have put some thought into looking ahead, beyond book 3, to what I should write after the series is done. I have multiple ideas I'm considering, and if you care about which one I choose, here's your chance to let me know!
First up, while my plan for Magic is Programming is only for 3 books, the content of book 3 has only a vague outline at this point with very few details. It's entirely possible that I might end up at the end of book 3 with more ideas for story developments that can fill out into another book, or possibly just end up taking multiple books to explore the details of the current vague outline.
In no particular order, my other ideas:
"What's the big deal about dying?" or "Juggernaut of Defense":
I originally had this story idea before I even started Magic is Programming, and it is my source of the respawning and soul shell concepts. I somewhat regret pulling those concepts into MiP now, particularly the respawning, because I left out the core reason for its presence in the story concept.
The central premise of this story idea is that respawning's commonality and low cost has led to people taking it for granted, disregarding defense, and even using it for convenience. This story would be a litRPG with classes and stats. Most combatants intentionally build as glass cannons, treating their own death (and respawn) as a given and trying only to maximize (through extreme offense) how many enemies they take out first.
The main character would be a transmigrator from Earth, and would specialize in defense, drawing contemptuous ridicule from everyone he meets. However, unknown to the common people, all the most powerful class upgrades require having an intact soul shell - which is lost the first time you die. MC would be given an intact soul shell as a courtesy by the Random Omnipotent Being who reincarnates him, and he would manage to keep it by a combination of building as a tank and using cautious tactics.
The nobles of this story would know about the no-deaths requirement for the best classes, and they intentionally encourage the commoners' attitude of disregarding death as a way to make them easier to control.
"Cultivator Therapist" or "The Power of Heart":
This story idea began with the inspiration that led to the Cultivator Therapist bonus post. Since that post, I have fleshed out some of the details, including how the story would start.
The main character would be a merge of two people:
A professional therapist from Earth, who chronically overworks himself in his endless drive to help people. He has a fatal car accident after an especially frustrating and tiring day of work.
A cultivator who is in an abusive relationship, and fails his first tribulation largely because of how he has been abused. The failed tribulation damages his soul and almost kills him.
The dying desires of these two people - one wanting to help others and the other needing exactly the kind of help the first can give - connects them, and they end up merging together in the cultivator's body.
The resulting merged person first deals with his own personal problems, and then proceeds to use his therapeutic expertise and scientific knowledge to work miracles in a world that is shockingly ignorant of psychology and science methodology for how much personal power for any cultivator depends on understanding yourself and how things work.
The setting would be fairly standard for the cultivation genre, though I'd put my own twists on the fleshed-out details of how cultivation's progression works. The original bonus post (linked above) could fit at a point fairly far into the story, but most story arcs would have any therapy elements integrated with some manner of action/adventure plot.
"System Discovery Research" or TBD:
While all of the titles for these story ideas are provisional, this one is especially so. A really good title for this one will likely depend on details of the story content that I haven't thought about much yet.
Start with the basic framework of the system apocalypse genre: "The System" comes to Earth and starts integrating it, people get stats, classes, skills, etc., and much chaos ensues. This System in particular would feature unlocking skills by successfully performing the skill's most basic function a requisite number of times, and also merging groups of compatible skills to form more powerful and versatile skills.
The main character for this story would be absolutely determined to figure out what the hell is up with this obviously artificial "System" thing, and takes it upon himself to seek out and acquire whatever specific skill (or skills) will enable him to properly investigate it. He doesn't know what those skills are, but he believes he'll know them when he finds them.
He keeps trying all kinds of things, unlocking many various skills, and rejecting them all to keep his options open. Then, in the story's first chapter, he unlocks the Skill Unlocking skill. He accepts it as his first skill, then proceeds to use it to unlock a bunch of other skills that are otherwise nearly impossible to get.
Once he's gotten his build properly started, he goes on an extended adventure to unearth the origins and purpose of the System. I haven't fleshed out any meaningful details of that yet.
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Now for the poll: Which of these story ideas sounds the most interesting to you?