The Idea of Industria: Borges and Lynch vs Robots in Berlin

Fellow Industrians,

the release of Industria is getting closer and closer. We would like to take advantage of the coming weeks and let you know more about the backstory of INDUSTRIA. And now that I think about it, the backstory is already pretty darn long at almost five years. First I want to tell you how the works of David Lynch, Jorge Luis Borges and my hometown Berlin merged into one.

The Library of Borges

Back in 2018 I found the website libraryofbabel.info, a very interesting page that lets you search a finite but vast virtual library of volumes over volumes of combinations of the 24 letters of the latin alphabet. It's all based on the novel by Jorge Luis Borges, written in 1941. The concept is simple: combine all 24 letters with each other in all possible combinations and get everything that was ever written or said, will ever happen or will be said, including this very text here I am writing. In theory, somewhere in the library is a book that contains the story of my life, exactly how it will happen. What if I find it, and read it?

This concept that actually works on the website (based on a super clever algorithm) fascinated me. I instantly bought Borges' book and read it multiple times.

Borges did not invent the concept, but built up on it, with a very human view on the library: the view by its inhabitants. How they eat and sleep, endlessly wandering through the gigantic library consisting of hexagons, book shelves and volumes of books. Most of them hold gibberish like „sulaushf sihda alis dli“. You can be happy to even just find one word that makes sense. The concept is huge and perfectly fits INDUSTRIA. I don't want to spoil how exactly we used the concept of the total library, you have to figure this out yourself.

Whooshing wind and sparkling electricity

Another big inspiration for me and us are the works of film maker, painter and musician David Lynch. A few years ago my brother out of the blue asked me if we wanted to watch this old series together. I heard the name of it before but had no clue about it, nor who made it or what impact it had on television and the medium of film altogether: Twin Peaks.

Two strange words that struck something I wasn't able to define. Oh boy, how much I wish I could go back to this day where I heard the iconic title melody for the first time, accompanied by strange footage of a waterfall and a saw mill. Slowly, one episode after the other, I began to understand the vibe, the atmosphere Lynch and Frost created with Twin Peaks. More and more the crime series developed into a surreal and abstract order of scenes and character introductions. More and more questions came up. More and more fire awoke in me, until Lynch's style of mystery and surrealism was deeply engraved in my brain. I was truly in love with it, something that happens rarely for me.

We were already working on INDUSTRIA back then, so it was inevitable that Lynch's DNA had to be somehow introduced into our passion project. If you saw our announcement trailer, you may have seen a black and white theatre scene with a woman flying upwards. A little hint, with a bit more to explore in the released game.

Berlin Backyards and familiarity

Last but not least, my hometown Berlin. I guess a lot of people can relate when I say that the place where you've grown up, has a special spot in your heart. I love the old apartment buildings, the backyards, the slow summer breeze when walking through busy streets, dry air contrasted with cold air when entering an ancient apartment stairwell. The subtle noises of your neighbours when standing next to an opened window, looking into the shady backyard.

All the history that happened left a mark. Imagining all the people that slept in your living room, back when there was no electricity or water in those buildings built for the workers. I still have only scratched the surface of Berlin, while spending all 24 years of my life there. When playing Half-Life 2 and Dishonored, two of mine and the teams all favourites, you can experience these very European and authentic urban environments. It's a fest of familiarity, combined with Alien structures.

This all just naturally came together, and suddenly there was this mix up of very different things, forming into something new: our mystery shooter INDUSTRIA.

Next week we will have a look at our initial announcement back in early 2020, and how the public awareness it created changed the project and its scope. See you there!

All the best and stay healthy! David & the Bleakmill Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172650/INDUSTRIA/