A long time ago #2

Excuses for the somewhat lacking amount of posts last weeks… months. The reason is not that we’re doing nothing anymore. But there is simply no visual eye-candy at the moment! Busy with upgrading physics and that entity system at the moment. So I could show you some dull movies of tumbling boxes, buoyancy physics with still some errors, or Micheal Jackson ragdolls that get an epileptic attack (don’t worry, doctor Sascha Willems is on it). But then I could better refer to some REAL physics for now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMAaza_rrxQ
1:33 is even more badass than Charlie Sheen. If I ever make a RTS game, that’s how the physics should look. 2:32 reminds me of squeezing pimples BTW.

Anyway, instead of pictures, I might interest you with some more story bits… Morgan Freeman, up to you.


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Story fragment #2
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For some reason, I can't recall how this flat -number '22'- looks from the outside. It feels as I've been working here all my life really... But judging from the interior, my guess is that the building looks pretty much the same as the other gray concrete monsters around here, except that it's a lot taller. Don't know the exact height, neither when this block was built. Probably somewhere in the late fifties. Although some parts here look a lot older already. But that just might be deferred maintenance as well.

Just like other buildings, it has a few elevators, a stairhouse, and endless corridors. Dark, old, corridors with countless doors. Closed, unnumbered anonymous doors, telling nothing about who might live there. The wallpaper and paintwork can be peeled off just by looking at it. Bugs found their way in the little holes and gaps. Some ceilings were left unfinished, revealing the rusty beating pipes and electric wires above them. Not uncommon either, the building has a couple of shared facilities here and there. Such as a laundry, or showers and toilets for the apartments that aren't connected to the water.

The same goes for the apartment interiors. We all share the same collections of furniture, thin mattress beds and kitchen sets. Some bright plastic utilities, flower curtains and small cheap decorations to add a little bit happiness to the otherwise depressing, pre-fabricated rooms. The apartments just do what they have to do: provide shelter and warmth for the cold winters.



Though I must say there are some impressive halls and wall paintings scattered around the building. Ones you would find in a church, or stately building. Who would have made them? I can't imagine they were part of the original design for a building like this.

When thinking about it, I noticed more and more uncommon details. For one thing, many of the windows are barricaded or just not there. It's hard to get a glimpse on the world outside here. Another thing that strikes me is the unusual floor lay-out. You would expect the elevators, central stairs and main corridors to connect all the apartments in a logical manner. But from what I have seen so far, not a single floor looked the same. Elevators aren't working or only bring you at a few locations. Stairs just stop at some point, and the hallways are mangled like a maze. Clearly the architect didn't follow his study here, where simplicity and efficiency are basic construction fundaments.



My work brings me at places where a normal person wouldn't or shouldn't come. Such as maintenance area's or ducts. With such 'privileges', one would think I could dream this building by now. But I feel there is a whole other world behind the locked doors, service ladders and twisted hidden shafts. In fact, in combination with the absence of anything alive except the crawling bugs so far, I'm feeling... claustrophobic. Scared actually.

I asked for a map, a layout of the building. But apparently, there is none. Again the Boss didn't really answer my request. Just a vague reply. Words like "The doors will lead your way, or block your way where you are not supposed to come.". Guess I'll have to make a map and notes myself on a piece of paper. Before I get lost some day.
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