“Пути Путина” is a very rough and in my opinion funny translation of “Putin-Gate”, a tribute to the Water-Gate days of the Nixon Era, which looks to be repeating itself for our amusement.
There have been several “gate” scandals since that time. I was tempted to use “Ворота“, but went this way instead, perhaps inadvisedly, but I think it will fly all right.
Well, in any case, “Putin-Gate” is ready for release sometime in the next few days. I’ll briefly explain the backstory idea behind the game, along with a few random screenshots of the building of the level plus a few shots at the completion of this very difficult to build and very highly detailed game.
You find yourself visiting Nikolskaya Street in the historical section of Moscow, Russia. The shops are filled with informers, who will tell you what has just transpired in each space, or give you directions for further action.
If you’re thinking you’d like to stop in at the Russian equivalent of “Starbucks”, you have a good chance of finding it on this very model of the ultimate tourist trap, yielding millions and possibly billions of Amerikan Dollars for Putin and his oligarchs, obviously a new band name.
Apparently, Putin likes to perform onstage and does so, often. The purpose of the Muscovite street is to bring in foreign currency of all kinds, which can be used to undermine the West, clearly a primary objective of the Putin government.
When I say “Putin government”, I don’t mean to imply that there’s anyone else making decisions. It’s all Putin, and that’s what Donald Trump would like it to be for the Amerikan President, too.
Just tell people what to do, and they jump right to it, just like in big business, right?
The detail of this Orb is exceptional, and the loading time is only about ten seconds. I have discovered in the process of creating this Orb a very economical methodology for creating the architecture and small non-model objects.
Even though the models are not precisely exact to the originals, they are very close, and anyone who has ever been to Nikolskaya Street will certainly recognize it.
No mention whatever is made of any specific U.S. Citizen or Official in this game. None whatever.
I’ll show you a few screenshots from the game to whet your appetite. I’ve spent an intense week making this level, and sincerely hope that you enjoy it.
There is NO VIOLENCE in this game, and it is perfectly okay for kids to play it. There is one mention of “sex tapes” in the conversation, but no “swear” words are used, none whatever.
In fact, this is one of the friendliest and gentlest games you’ll ever play.
The earliest version of this “scratch-built” Orb was drawn in rather roughly with house textures on simple boxes along a street.
My first objective was to place the flower boxes, benches, sewer covers and street lights along the center of the street, because that’s the most iconic recognition factor in this very recognizable and very iconic Russian street that every visitor is obliged to walk when they visit Moscow.
The fact is that there’s hardly any way to avoid Nikolskaya Street when you visit the Kremlin, Red Square, Lenin’s Tomb, and the incredibly grand and luxurious Metro station, all within a few feet of this famous street, not to mention GUM, the most luxurious of any and all department stores anywhere in the world, including Paris, London and Grass Valley.
When I visited Nikolskaya Street, it was filled with shops, but they were mostly empty. I could have gotten a small fortune for my 401 Levi jeans, and the taxi ride was the closest I ever came to actually jumping out of a car at full speed.
I really believe that all Russian cab drivers, and especially those you’ll find in the streets of Moscow, are an incredibly fatalistic breed, as in “if it happens, it happens.”, and I took it for a while, but radically preferred to walk.
There’s a fabulous underground railway station, but the underground travel itself was as big a nightmare for me as was the subway system of New York City and Montreal, although I really appreciated the underground entrances to Macy’s and Orbach’s and Bloomingdale’s in New York, and Eaton’s and the Bay in Montreal.
It’s been a long, long time since you could travel all five boroughs of the city, from the southern tip of Manhattan all the way to Staten Island and back for a nickel.
Yeah, one nickel, which also bought you a ticket to the movies, a local phone call from a pay phone, a bowl of soup, an egg-cream soda or a very large candy bar.
As a matter of fact, for a nickel, you could do a lot, right up until about 1955, when things got suddenly more expensive, and they haven’t stopped doing that since then.
There’s a way to calculate the new prices. Five cents then is like five dollars now, which is why I say, “A penny saved is one lousy penny.”
My family came originally from Ludz, which is today part of Poland, but it has undergone a number of switches in history, first to Russia, then Poland, then back and forth a few more times as wars changed the borders, then finally came to rest as “Part of Poland” once again, to my uncle’s great relief and satisfaction.
“Ah,” he breathed out, “at last we are part of Poland again — no more of those horrible Russian winters.”
The Orb is almost finished, unless I decide at the last minute to tear into the two remaining “dummy” buildings and write a few more soundbytes — we’ll see how it plays out in the testing today.
You might also be interested to know that “WireTap” has been posted on GoddGames.com, so it’s a simple download and you’re ready to play this very luxurious and richly decorated Orb of a typical large urban street anywhere in today’s world, at the end of which you’ll find Chump Towers, built by Ronald Chump, the famous clown who became rich and famous and used all the money he earned as a Ringling Bros. clown to buy real estate and develop it with high-rise towers like the one you’ll be running through.
As you run the tower, you’ll be tapping wires — tap, tap, tap.
Please note that the word “WireTap” is in quotes on the game cover and loading screen, which of course means that it’s not really there, and doesn’t refer to anything.
I’m learning how to think in this new “Post-Truth” world, but it doesn’t come easy.
Must dash, if I’m to have breakfast before the morning meeting.
See You At The Top!!!
gorby