Initial SOMA concept

**ShadowDraft** · 09-23-2015, 05:32 PM

Since I haven't seen this:

I'd love to know what made FG move from the initial concept (the trailer where you wake up in a morgue like place, discover a dead body with it's brain next to it and wander on to find your own brain being modified by spikes) towards what SOMA is now.

I enjoyed the current game very much but I'm still curious to hear maybe some of the thought behind it (of course I've got my own theory but what do I know Tongue

)

**Kein** · 09-23-2015, 06:23 PM

That wasn't an "initial concept", that "level" was created just for the teaser.

**ShadowDraft** · 09-23-2015, 06:44 PM

(09-23-2015, 06:23 PM)Kein Wrote: That wasn't an "initial concept", that "level" was created just for the teaser.

Well even with just being a "level" my point/question still stands. Since we see nothing like that anywhere in the game.

**PathOS** · 09-23-2015, 07:23 PM

It still was a "proof of concept", and while it clearly telegraphed the main themes of the game, the question still is valid as to how they moved away from that concept towards where they ended up with.

But I'd imagine the answer is complicated. Game design and development is all about iterations and changing things about. This concept trailer may have even been before they had settled on an actual setting and location of the game. Once they chose underwater than of course the visuals would need to change.

I guess the idea of actual brains being hooked up to machines was a bit too convoluted to work out, and they went with what they did in the final game.

But hey, maybe someone will make a custom story about that kind of subject matter? Certainly is a grand idea Wink

**Kein** · 09-23-2015, 09:39 PM

No, it wasn't a "concept" in any way, they had a well defined concept and idea in mind at that time. The demo was SPECIFICALLY made for PR/marketing purposes and it was SPECIFICALLY different from the game to avoid spoiling things.

**Bek** · 09-24-2015, 04:38 AM

I'll add to this as Frictional might find the feedback useful/interesting:

I too felt it odd that nothing like the 'debut' trailer was in the game, which, apart from the live-action stuff, was all I watched.

In the live-action 'vivarium' video we see Imogen 'simulated' in the machine and killed; this freaks her out. My expectation was that we would see evil machines that did things like this. SOMA doesn't have a particularly prevalent evil though like Penumbra did (Clarence) or Amnesia (Agrippa, Justine). I might write more about this in another post.

**BrokenJadeMirror** · 09-24-2015, 04:59 AM

Spoilers but...

Spoiler below!

But that doesn't entirely address why the gameplay is relatively different just generally.

**xdeath** · 09-24-2015, 07:38 AM

(09-24-2015, 04:38 AM)Bek Wrote: I'll add to this as Frictional might find the feedback useful/interesting:

I too felt it odd that nothing like the 'debut' trailer was in the game, which, apart from the live-action stuff, was all I watched.

In the live-action 'vivarium' video we see Imogen 'simulated' in the machine and killed; this freaks her out. My expectation was that we would see evil machines that did things like this. SOMA doesn't have a particularly prevalent evil though like Penumbra did (Clarence) or Amnesia (Agrippa, Justine). I might write more about this in another post.

I'm in agreement that there is something odd about how this game was teased vs the finished product.

And it comes down to the monsters, they were not necessary. They seem out of place.

In looking at other horror games(I'll go with the ones I've played).

Starting with Silent Hill 2. They are manifestations of the main Characters frustrations, created by the evil force that has engulfed the town.
Amnesia they are the shadow(strange force that guards the orb) and the servants(an extension of Alexanders will).
Alien Isolation. It's the Alien. It's in the title.

In all these cases, especially Alien, they are key to the story.

**punkkix** · 09-24-2015, 07:50 AM

Shame they didn't include teaser setting in the final game; I was really looking forward to see what's the deal with brain jars and robotic brain implants.

Also if you're interested to see what the monster in teaser looks like, its model is still in the game files and can be viewed with model viewer.

**Noisecode** · 09-24-2015, 09:17 AM

(09-24-2015, 04:38 AM)Bek Wrote: I'll add to this as Frictional might find the feedback useful/interesting:

I too felt it odd that nothing like the 'debut' trailer was in the game, which, apart from the live-action stuff, was all I watched.

In the live-action 'vivarium' video we see Imogen 'simulated' in the machine and killed; this freaks her out. My expectation was that we would see evil machines that did things like this. SOMA doesn't have a particularly prevalent evil though like Penumbra did (Clarence) or Amnesia (Agrippa, Justine). I might write more about this in another post.

I'm pretty much with you on this....I was expecting a little more gore / and .........well, to use your word prevalent evil. There was some body horror (some very impressive body horror;

Spoiler below!

but for the most part I think Soma was more suspenseful than it was horror. I still had a great time... but i agree; the end result was different from the original teaser.

And not to correct you, but Didn't Imogen start out dead and then come back to life in the Vivarium short?