Just Add Water have posted a couple of pictures of their new office and often these photos can lead to an eagle eyed writer spotting clues to an unannounced game, so join me as we decrypt the hiding meanings of the photos.
Close inspection of the first picture reveals a glass topped coffee table strategically placed in the middle of the floor. Why is it there? It is out of reach of anyone at the desks and has no seating around it, it just seems to have been plonked there.
Two of the JAW team also need to stop slouching however we do approve of the fruit bowl. Sadly no hints of any unannounced games so it’s on to picture two.
Mysteriously placed coffee table returns but look, bananas have appeared in the fruit bowl! Is that a hint to a forthcoming game? An Oddworld Fruit Machine perhaps?
We can also see into the wicker basket which is positioned upon the Mysteriously Placed Coffee Table Of Doom, it seems to contain something brown and scrunched up. It could possibly be brown paper, how exciting!
Better posture from the JAW’er with his back to us, but a lava lamp in 2012? Really? Oh dear.
Still no hints of an unreleased game, on to the final picture.
Now this is an interesting picture. We can see some artwork for Strangers Wrath HD, a game we rather liked, and there is window in an unusual position. You cannot see through the window – it’s rather high up – so what is its purpose?
Some might suggest it is to let light in from the outwards facing window in the office beyond but I have a different theory. Look at the window, the the door, the the artwork. What does it remind you of?
Tetris!
Aha! We have decoded your cryptic hints, Just Add Water, you are making Oddworld Tetris! You tried to fool us with the replenishing fruit bowl and the Mysteriously Placed Coffee Table Of Doom we were not deceived.
You even tried to throw us off scent by making the window in the picture above appear to have eyes and eyebrows so it is ‘looking’ suspiciously towards the door, but you can’t fool us, we have spotted the hints, Oddworld Tetris confirmed!
Note: Obviously this is just me gently ribbing JAW for posting exciting pictures of doors and windows, Oddworld Tetris does not exist. However the Mysteriously Placed Coffee Table Of Doom and the bad taste Lava Lamp do exist and are, quite frankly, rather frightening.
nofi
You missed something… ;)
Youles
Two empty bins got replaced by one full bin, and I think someone had burgers for lunch.
Ed the Penguin
Not to mention the chap on picture 2 who is sitting in front of two switched off monitors.
Tuffcub
He’s playing Unfinished Swan but hasnt fired a paint ball yet.
Youles
Also, I notice many white boards littered about yet there still appears be a rogue Post-It Note stuck to the wall, close to the clock. Suspicious.
I’m not certain but I also believe several of the light bulbs need replacing, and I think the coffee table (on wheels) has been strategically placed to cover an old coffee stain. Or maybe I’ve just played too much LA Noire.
Youles
And between shots 1 and 2, a printer has appeared!!
Ed the Penguin
Ooh, well spotted. I could do this all day! Not to mention that the fruit bowl and hamper has been rearranged between the two pictures.
Ed the Penguin
(I seem to be saying ‘not to mention’ a lot today. Must stop it.)
Youles
Don’t mention it! ;)
Indeed they have been moved, as has the cardboard tubey thing that’s used to keep important documents from damage. It’s no longer there behind the draw unit after photo 1.
There also seems to be quite a few wires draped about – these should be reported in their next risk assessment, and their health and safety representative notified.
Ed the Penguin
Very true. Their sprinkler system looks shoddy too.
Ed the Penguin
Now there’s an active imagination for you!
Some interesting little models scattered around the shelf on the top picture. More interestingly.. see the clock on the wall.. Working through their lunch hour. What hard workers they are.
Stewart Gilray
Actually, our lunch hour is 1 – 2 :-)
jikomanzoku
Great stuff TC, most amusing.
An-dz
the coffee table is on wheels, anyone could take it for their own use ( i would claim it every day as a foot rest )
hazelam
forget the lava lamp, that waste paper basket looks a little shifty to me. >_>
pitchforkdisney
Oh that’s down the landing from us – in this big old converted mill we call a work place. The exterior is much more exciting, complete with the picturesq river wharfe rushing by. Picture 3 is probably your closest reveal – the room beyond that door is (I think) the play test room. Anyway, didn’t they just recently announce a new Oddworld strategy game? Lovely blokes btw…wicker basket by Graze.com, furniture/IT supplies by excelofficesolutions.co.uk.
DJ Judas
A lava lamps coolness transcends time and space. That office NEEDS a lava lamp, without it the entire arrangement simply wouldn’t make sense.
bunimomike
For a creative business that looks like one of the most sterile, lifeless environments ever! I hope they have a “NO TALKING” policy there too – just to crush the last few morsels of individuality you might’ve been hanging onto.
nofi
they have a big dog, last time i went.
bunimomike
This has to be one of the most surreal replies to a post ever!
Stewart Gilray
That chap stopped working for us at the end of July last year…
As for fun, we flying helicopters, throw rubber balls and fire nerf guns :)
bunimomike
Hi Stewart! That’s better! Procrastinate for Britain! :-)
pitchforkdisney
Seriously folks it’s like an animal house down there…I mean one of those slouching dudes often wanders down the corridor to the comunial toilet just in his socks. He goes to the toilet in his socks! Now that’s outrageous behaviour.
Tuffcub
We need more gossip like this.
Forrest_01
Wow, i have been busting to go before, but never so much that it ripped my entire wardrobe off, leaving me just in socks!! :O
I am guessing in that case, he was going to the toilet to fashion himself a nice TP toga.
Stewart Gilray
That would be Wil :)