Okay, so the title of this post makes it sound like the WhiteMoon Dreams family participated in a heist of some sort.. The truth is that we didn’t steal a safe, but we did do something just as bad ass. We broke into our OWN safe. With a freakin’ sledgehammer.
How? Why? Well, when we relocated our studio from Downtown LA to South Pasadena, we brought with us a small, black safe the studio had owned for years. Somehow, no one seemed to know the security code, where to find a key – and most magically: what was in it?
It could have been anything. The mystery was so enticing. Was there money in there? Ancient secrets? Long forgotten games, designed by the Gods themselves? What if there were delicious non-perishable snacks!? I think millions of dollars was everyone’s silent hope though.
Normal people would have called a locksmith. But not us. Instead, we decided to take matters into our own hands and challenge ourselves to get the safe open together, with brute strength and little thought.
We were fortunate enough that in the parking lot below our studio, construction was taking place. The perfect spot to bring a safe and beat it to a bloody pulp until it opened. Also, very weird that we happened to have a sledge hammer in our office – but we did, so the plan was a GO.
Our QA hero, Zach recalled the moment we headed down to the parking lot to open our safe:
“I remember someone coming to my desk with a sledgehammer and telling me to come down to the parking lot. I didn’t know if I was going to be initiated into something or taking part in a heist, but I assumed that’s just how Whitemoon handles things.”
So, we piled into elevators and brought the safe down to meet its fate and for us to meet our fortune. Might I add, moving a safe is super hard too. Very heavy. Do not recommend.
Once the safe was in the construction area, employee after employee took turns unloading on the safe like Thor striking down with his hammer. At first it seemed like a fools errand. Sure, we were making dents and dings but it ultimately seemed like there was no way we’d get that sucker open. Maybe safes are just too strong to be opened by a bunch of game devs with a hammer.
Until it was Jonatan’s turn. A talented artist and maybe the strongest person in the studio. The only proof of his strength I had at the time was that he beat everyone in arm wrestling one night during a beer Friday hangout. No one could take him down and this gave me hope that he might be a match for our safe.
He pounded and pounded with the sledge hammer until he managed to bust a hole in it. From there, he kept beating the poor safe until a hinge popped off. We ripped off the door and eagerly seized our treasures. Which were…
Some old paperwork that was already backed up digitally AND old CD Roms of a defunct game engine from the early 2000s.
There were no fortunes, but it was totally worth it. We were rich in a different way now. We knew we could beat the crap out of a safe and that’s good enough for me.
