The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[Sakonosolo]

I wonder, will the PC version will be released earlier than the PS4 version?

I don't see why that would be necessary since the game will be launching a year into the PS4's life.

I hope the final game will have more of this environments which reminds me a lot of Penumbra Black Plague. Find this dirty walls always scary. And I also hope that it's possible again to interact with every single object in the environment and not only with "quest-items".

http://somagame.com/gfx/gallery/the_walls_live.jpg

I would expect much more interaction considering that it's a brand new engine. AMfP's very low level of interaction really rubbed me the wrong way. The issue I had with it was because things would slide around when you opened drawers and you could knock things in the environment around but you couldn't pick them up for some reason, even though they obviously were physics affected.

[Paddy™]

Why would you want to interact with every single object in game? I have trouble understanding the common fuss about that, and the outcry because that wasn't present in AAMFP. What meaningful action can be derived from that other than pointless dicking around?

I think it's more to do with an overall sense of presence and agency, rather than being of practical use.

There's also the immersion-breaking "thing" of ludonarrative dissonance, e.g. you can knock a pig mask over by hitting it with a chair - so it clearly has physics and presence in the game - but you can't touch it with your hand. It's a little bit jarring and feels like something's wrong.

On top of that, there's the practical problem of "which objects can I interact with?" and how that affects the game's flow; I spent a lot of time scanning my cursor over objects in the game world, waiting for the hand icon to appear. Not because I wanted to fuck around with the physics, I just wasn't always sure what I was supposed to grab. This is less of a problem in TDD because practically everything is "grabbable", so the action of grabbing things to see if they're of use is done almost without conscious thought. It's like second-nature. In Pigs, it was always a conscious process because I knew there were only a handful of things I could grab and I had to discover them by a process of elimination.

I'm sure different people have different thresholds for this, though.

If I had to choose between TDD-levels of interactivity or the greater visual fidelity of AAMFP (which is why the interactivity was reduced in the first place) I'd opt for the former, without hesitation.

[Froge]

Yeah, interactivity is central to the feeling that you're the character in the game rather than someone watching the whole experience.

[WALP]

Why would you want to interact with every single object in game? I have trouble understanding the common fuss about that, and the outcry because that wasn't present in AAMFP. What meaningful action can be derived from that other than pointless dicking around?

I think it's more to do with an overall sense of presence and agency, rather than being of practical use.

There's also the immersion-breaking "thing" of ludonarrative dissonance, e.g. you can knock a pig mask over by hitting it with a chair - so it clearly has physics and presence in the game - but you can't touch it with your hand. It's a little bit jarring and feels like something's wrong.

On top of that, there's the practical problem of "which objects can I interact with?" and how that affects the game's flow; I spent a lot of time scanning my cursor over objects in the game world, waiting for the hand icon to appear. Not because I wanted to fuck around with the physics, I just wasn't always sure what I was supposed to grab. This is less of a problem in TDD because practically everything is "grabbable", so the action of grabbing things to see if they're of use is done almost without conscious thought. It's like second-nature. In Pigs, it was always a conscious process because I knew there were only a handful of things I could grab and I had to discover them by a process of elimination.

I'm sure different people have different thresholds for this, though.

If I had to choose between TDD-levels of interactivity or the greater visual fidelity of AAMFP (which is why the interactivity was reduced in the first place) I'd opt for the former, without hesitation.

Ludonarrative dissonance, such an awesome couple of words. I have been quite obsessed with a certain aspect of its meaning for quite a long time, but it was only today when I read an article that I learned the actual word itself. yes I needed to write this.

On subject I think that the decision to make objects non interactable was mainly for the sake of players not getting stuck, as players would often try to use the wrong objects when solving puzzles in TDD and Custom stories. TCR has multiple times post-release said that player completion was priority and narrowing down the amount of objects that can be interacted with increased the probability of doing so with the right one.
Sure performance might have been contributing but with all the things that are having physics I doubt making them interactable would have made enough of a difference. I mean if you forget to turn off physics for closed drawers that shows how little you really care.

Now seeing that this is a SOMA thread I refrain from talking further on AAMFP physics, that is unless Paddy insist, because Paddy is a smart human being.

[Paddy™]

Paddy is a dumbass because Paddy thought he was replying in the Pigs thread

Nevermind, back to SOMA! XD

[blueberry]

Paddy is a dumbass because Paddy thought he was replying in the Pigs thread

Nevermind, back to SOMA! XD

How to make a Paddy!

*Throws some Paddies on a table*

*Later takes milk and shoves some egg into it*

*Last but not least spaghetti on top of it*

Done!

[Macgyverthehero]

Paddy is a dumbass because Paddy thought he was replying in the Pigs thread

Nevermind, back to SOMA! XD

How to make a Paddy!

*Throws some Paddies on a table*

*Later takes milk and shoves some egg into it*

*Last but not least spaghetti on top of it*

Done!

You should look at HowToBasic to find more recipes like yours!

ON TOPIC:
Also I agree that we should have interactivity with most objects in the game. I did not really like it that I could not interact with objects in AMFP the way I could with ATDD. Just hope the guys won't follow the same mistake TCR did.

[Cuyir]

Yes, I'd enjoy tripping over items and startling myself.

But in a more interesting note (no offense):

The themes that are going to be explored in Soma are pretty fascinating.

This is what I think happened in the teaser.

The guy might have instinctively known that the human brain on the pedestal thing was his. Nobody else would react like he did. More interesting is how the robotic arms stabs a new brain into his old one. How terrible would that be in real life? See the organ that makes you human being gored and obliterated, only to be replaced by a mechanical brain.

''Is this me?"

That question, following the events, must be a startling one. All of the sudden he's awake from suffering massive shock (on account of his brain being destroyed) only to see that he's still thinking...and he doesn't know if the thoughts are his or if he ceased being human.

Interesting...interesting themes. Hopefully FG keeps teasing what other themes they'll be exploring.

[Thomas]

Regarding dynamic objects:
The idea was to show this off in the trailer, but it broke the pacing. Anyhow, the game will have the same level of dynamic objects seen in Penumbra and Amnesia.

[Lazoriss]

The gameplay trailer is utterly gorgeous. I kept getting a certain feeling from the first room regarding the graphics. I kept wanting to call it soft, or even having an almost grainy texture? It took me awhile to realize that it was from the fact that you can actually see clouds of dust moving in the light (and said dust can slightly obscure the background), and it's so subtle and well done, especially compared to the dust clouds from TDD. Between that and the voice actor, it felt reminiscent of the indie game Fibrillation.

The design and use of color is astounding. You transition from a run down orange toned lab to an alien looking blue hallway. I really like the use of the layered plating and vein like tubing. It makes me feel like the guy is in something alive, or akin to the nest of giant alien insects.

GLOWY ROBOT CREATURES MAKING COOL NOISES.
No, but really. I used to obsess over the Combine cyborg creatures from HL2. My favorite was the Hunter, as I loved its design, intelligence and the awesome sounds it would make. the thought of being pursued or even hunted by these things (and without weapons) sounds terrifying. Can you imagine being tracked by a pack of these things, and them attempting to flank or herd you into a trap? Also they can apparently crawl up fucking walls, so they could theoretically come at you from anywhere. .-.

The theme is consciousness, so I guess there would be a nice large gray area between where a machine becomes "human". (and vice-versa) Oh boy oh man. Not the most original theme when you look at it broadly, but there's so many ways to approach this and I can't wait to see Frictional's take and twist on the subject. I really liked where it was going based on Adam-bot (Mockingbird). Adam-bot essentially WAS Adam since he shared all his memories (and apparently his snarky personality lol). But it's almost like deep down Adam-bot knew he wasn't the real thing, or suspected there was something wrong. He got really upset when Reed pestered him on the fact he wasn't actually standing, and couldn't stand at all.

And on that subject, A+ on going all out with the trailers, Fricitonal team. I can't believe you actually built these "item" things and made little movies with them. They look so well crafted, too. ;___;