Category: Office

But no, Dirk had other things in mind for those tokens. Luxury would have to wait a while longer.

He sighed and stepped into the dirty building – literally made of dirt, for the most part. The lighting was poor, although that was the case for almost everywhere in New Melbourne. After all, there was no sunlight, so everything ran on artificial lighting.

Dirk held the token he’d earned after complimenting the impressive commercial office design in the Melbourne area. As he strolled into the living room, Dirk used his magic to psychically lift a painting on the wall, moving it onto the floor. This revealed a safe behind where the painting had been.

Entering the safe’s code, 6481, Dirk rubbed the token tight as he prepared to part ways with it for a time. He pulled open the safe, seeing the large pile of platinum tokens inside – 107 of them, if he hadn’t lost count – and added his latest to the hoard.

So many commercial fitouts around Melbourne complimented by Dirk Thatcher. People loved it so much when he complimented their offices, that they were willing to reward him for it. He supposed that was almost enough to put his plans into motion. Perhaps half a dozen more tokens and he could go for it. Because once he got started, there was no going back.

Sometimes, Dirk wondered if it was the right thing to do. Well, of course, it was the right thing, but was it the best thing for him? Surely there would be another who would come along – someone with the courage to do what needed to be done. But when he really thought about it, he knew it had to be him. Dirk couldn’t let this go on any longer.

Read More

Turns out that working in a game development studio is pretty much your average 9-5…with games. Not games during work, mind you. That would be seriously cutting down on productivity time. No, we just do stuff to do with games, and it doesn’t really seem to affect the way business is done all that much. A lot of people here are younger, which makes sense…and I guess I’m just doing grunt work. Still, I thought the vibe of one of Melbourne’s very few game design studio offices would be a little bit more energized.

Guess I just have to work my way to the top and change all that, because hoo boy, I’ve been planning this since I was five years old and my parents got me a Mega Pluto System. I wonder if there are businesses that offer office fitout near Sydney that would be able to take something as wacky as what’s in my head and make it a reality? I bet most office designers get calls for a lot of the same stuff, not that they necessarily WANT to be doing the same thing over and over again. “Yeah, could you make it open plan? White walls are fine. Some sort of neutral carpet; light blue, maybe. No, dark blue, definitely. And maybe have a few slightly alternative lights hanging from the ceiling that no one will notice after the first week. Thanks.”

Whereas if I was in control here, I’d make this a REAL video game office. Like, consoles on pedestals to show how far we’ve come. Screens everywhere with games just active, so anyone can jam on them and get their working mojo back. And the wall graphics…well, there would be wall graphics. That, and so much more. I bet if I found an office renovations and fitout company right here in the middle of Sydney and asked them for that, they’d appreciate the unique challenge. That’s what all offices should be anyway: representative of their type of business. And fun. Because games are fun.

-Soren

Read More

Got to say, I’m not really impressed by Polo: A Space Conflicts Tale. I get that everyone wanted a definitive origin story for Dan Polo, the galaxy’s most notorious space polo player (space polo is like regular polo, except they use massive spaceships instead of horses, and they wield gigantic laser bats to smack planets around). And it’s nice seeing how Dan got his name (because he plays polo) and how he meets all of his friends, but the whole thing just felt generic.

Generic is something I don’t really need any more of in my life, and if you saw my office, you’d understand. The place looks like the start of some 80s movie about a guy who feels trapped in mediocrity. Pretty sure the last time the boss got on the phone to find the best office designers Melbourne companies can trust, it was the seventies. Back then everything was covered in a haze of smoke and you could make it all as drab and lifeless as possible. Now we live in the enlightened era where smoking in an office building is utterly unthinkable, so…drab, lifeless office for all to see!

Even if there was some kind of office fitout whirlwind over the weekend and I came in to find that the walls were purple and all the cubicles and spinning chairs had been replaced by open-plan beanbags, I’m not convinced that the people here would fit the space. They’re all a little bit older than I am, a lot more world-weary, and no one even gets my pop culture references. I’m not even going to bother asking if anyone has seen Polo, because I know none of them have. And I guess asking a bunch of generic people if they’ve seen a generic movie is a recipe for boredom anyway.

I could be wrong, though. Someone could win a competition, getting us the best office designers operating in Melbourne to come and glam up the place, thus causing everyone to suddenly wake up and realise that life is beautiful and what-not. But I have my doubts.

-Len

Read More