The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[Cuyir]

Hey, I know my Alien. I love Ridley Scott and respect Cameron. But still, post Alien Ripley still happened, lol.

Ripley of the original movie would make a good model for a game like SOMA. I didn't say the sequels, which end up with her being a super clone with acid blood.

Spoiler below!

Playing a robot girl would be interesting.

Never happened. Nope.

*In denial*

And it WOULD be really cool. Wish they'd start teasing us again.

Yeah. I love it when game developers give us puzzles to solve from time to time.

Also, the 4th alien movie was not that bad.

I'd Soma discuss it but Soma the mods might be annoyed Soma by lengthy discussions about the Soma fourth Alien flick. Soma.

[Kein]

main character was leaked to be Golaski.
i guess Golaski is pretty cool...

No, the leak said main character is Reed's daughter, stop spreading false rumors.

i'm sorry but what leak? can i get a source? or is it a joke i'm not getting

Just mocking SchnidlersLeest. I recall in AMFP thread there also were those newly-joined users who were spreading "leaks" and such, 1 or 2 every month.

[ReadingNotAllowed]

SOMA Limited Edition



Sorry for the large image x)

Source: https://twitter.com/alejocamaleon/status...2393421824

[Alardem]

Keep an eye out for (cybernetic) mushrooms.

[Paddy™]

New interview with Tommy Boy, SOMA gets mentioned:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/11/...omas-grip/

[BAndrew]

New interview with Tommy Boy, SOMA gets mentioned:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/11/...omas-grip/

Final part of the interview:

Spoiler below!

RY: So what do you want to add or change to this game?

TG: I understand it is about exploring a space, but I have no clue why I’m here?

RY: Should the player always have a clue?

TG: Not always, but I think if you don’t have a clue, then it narrows the set of possible experiences. Maybe I’m at the lake because it’s a nice lake, or maybe I’m waking up on an alien planet after a spaceship crash? Do I want to stay or to leave? Why am I pulling myself everywhere?

I’m thinking this guy is wounded, he’s sliding on his belly. Maybe every time you pull yourself you hear “uuhhhhhh” –

RY: [unconvinced] Uh, okay…

TG: Maybe that would become too repetitive. Make it more like a belly scraping sound? He’s also slowly dying on this planet, and needs to find his way home… Sometimes I feel like I’m a bad game designer because I always make the game about survival. I always think about the fiction, but others will think about it in more abstract terms like the goal or the mechanic — or maybe you’re some sort of strange creature who moves in that way? It should make a nice sound — “Wwwffffssshhhh” –

RY: Can you be, uh, more specific?

TG: A swooshing sound. “Wfffssshhhh!” A tonal swooshing. “Shwunggggg.” Maybe as you move, it plays some sort of tune, engaging you to try it out more. Also, when you fall into the lake, you don’t fall under the lake. It’s actually a portal to the Moon. Then on the Moon, you look through the periscope — or telescope? — to look at Mars, and teleport to Mars…

RY: [confused] Wait, how does this turn into the Moon?

TG: Keep the same underwater tunnel beneath the lake, except now it’s not underwater. Add a warp speed effect, like in Star Trek. Then use the same warp tunnel effect when you are on the Moon and click on Mars. And Mars should be more reddish.

RY: And the ending stays the same? You walk down a hallway and it turns white?

TG: That’s a bit boring. Perhaps at the end, you shoot yourself into space… and sort of drift away from all the planets. And then you watch the planets get smaller and smaller, in the blackness… and then the game ends.

RY: But how do you get shot into space?

TG: Instead of the white tunnel, there’s now a broken warp tunnel, at the end of the Mars base. Normally, the warp tunnels gradually come to a stop and you slow down — but this warp tunnel doesn’t have an end, so you just go faster and faster and faster until you’re launched into space, and the momentum is so strong that you keep going.

RY: Are there any stars in space, or is it just blackness?

TG: [pauses] Stars are nice.

RY: Thanks for your time.

Am I stupid or what? I can't understand anything (if it means anything at all).

[Ashtoreth]

Final part of the interview:

Spoiler below!

RY: So what do you want to add or change to this game?

TG: I understand it is about exploring a space, but I have no clue why I’m here?

RY: Should the player always have a clue?

TG: Not always, but I think if you don’t have a clue, then it narrows the set of possible experiences. Maybe I’m at the lake because it’s a nice lake, or maybe I’m waking up on an alien planet after a spaceship crash? Do I want to stay or to leave? Why am I pulling myself everywhere?

I’m thinking this guy is wounded, he’s sliding on his belly. Maybe every time you pull yourself you hear “uuhhhhhh” –

RY: [unconvinced] Uh, okay…

TG: Maybe that would become too repetitive. Make it more like a belly scraping sound? He’s also slowly dying on this planet, and needs to find his way home… Sometimes I feel like I’m a bad game designer because I always make the game about survival. I always think about the fiction, but others will think about it in more abstract terms like the goal or the mechanic — or maybe you’re some sort of strange creature who moves in that way? It should make a nice sound — “Wwwffffssshhhh” –

RY: Can you be, uh, more specific?

TG: A swooshing sound. “Wfffssshhhh!” A tonal swooshing. “Shwunggggg.” Maybe as you move, it plays some sort of tune, engaging you to try it out more. Also, when you fall into the lake, you don’t fall under the lake. It’s actually a portal to the Moon. Then on the Moon, you look through the periscope — or telescope? — to look at Mars, and teleport to Mars…

RY: [confused] Wait, how does this turn into the Moon?

TG: Keep the same underwater tunnel beneath the lake, except now it’s not underwater. Add a warp speed effect, like in Star Trek. Then use the same warp tunnel effect when you are on the Moon and click on Mars. And Mars should be more reddish.

RY: And the ending stays the same? You walk down a hallway and it turns white?

TG: That’s a bit boring. Perhaps at the end, you shoot yourself into space… and sort of drift away from all the planets. And then you watch the planets get smaller and smaller, in the blackness… and then the game ends.

RY: But how do you get shot into space?

TG: Instead of the white tunnel, there’s now a broken warp tunnel, at the end of the Mars base. Normally, the warp tunnels gradually come to a stop and you slow down — but this warp tunnel doesn’t have an end, so you just go faster and faster and faster until you’re launched into space, and the momentum is so strong that you keep going.

RY: Are there any stars in space, or is it just blackness?

TG: [pauses] Stars are nice.

RY: Thanks for your time.

Am I stupid or what? I can't understand anything (if it means anything at all).

He's talking about Starseed Pilgrim. The interviewer asked him about that game, so Thomas starts talking about the things that he would like to add to it or change about it.

[BAndrew]

@Ashtoreth

Thank you very much

[Ashtoreth]

@Ashtoreth

Thank you very much

You're welcome!

I was a bit confused too at first because I read just that excerpt of the interview you quoted and I thought to myself "what the hell is Thomas rambling about?", haha.

[GrAVit]

I thought he was piss drunk.