Martin's (aka walps thread)

[WALP]

so you know, now and then I am doing some early work on what I would like to be my next SOMA project, but the thing is sitting here alone working for hours on some stuff that I wont be showing off for weeks gets boring really fast, and I kinda loose my momentum.

So I thought I would just make a thread and put the stuff im doin in it. Will probably be a a fair bit of spoiler stuff, but I wont spoil everything.

Considering how little activity there is in the forums it will probably be nice for you too to know that shit is being worked on, and as for me I guess it will be a little more satisfying to be able to post something by the end of the day instead of just saving and going to sleep, thinking about how that map is only 1/3 done and there 2/3 left to do and so much other stuff blabla.

---

So the current project I have in mind, is unnannounced, meaning it can be axed at any moment, but I am doing some early work on it to get a feel for if I can finish it and such.

It's working title is "Stupid Living Thing" (SLT), and will be a horror focused mod, where I hope to implement some pretty interresting systems, that will fundamentally change the way events work in SOMA. hope being the key word lol.

I learned early on however, that before I can get on with that tech stuff I really need some maps to work with, so I am starting with that. This will also let me design the system with my mod in mind, so I dont end up missing stuff that I need, or working on stuff that I dont.

I am upping the quality of the maps a bit from FUGA, but not going all out with the detailing because I quickly learned that simply takes too long. I did tests and have gotten a good feel for how to quickly finish adding rooms and mainting a decent level of quality.

This test room shows pretty well the level I am aiming for in SLT.


As well here is some early work on the second level(not starting with the first level, since there are some things about it that make it quite different from the others, so the 2nd will better represent the mod as a whole)
http://imgur.com/a/oCtrt

this will do for a first post. I post more when I have done more.

[WALP]

http://imgur.com/a/q0hPB

Did some further work on that 2nd Level.

Most of my time was spend figuring out some story/horror events and gameplay that were going to occur in these rooms, since I needed that as a basis for knowing what kind of rooms I should make, but what I came up with fit's well with SOMA gameplay and should put quite a lot of unpleasant things in the players heads, before and after they go through the events.

Mapping wise im not too satisfied though, I had a goal of maps being able to iterate a map in 1-2 days to allow more room for reiteration and non mapping stuff, but at this rate it will be more like 3-5. Not horrible but I will be wanting to speed it up if I am to be able to complete this projects, mapping is only a small part of it. Not giving up yet though, I have some ideas and overall my mapping was very improvised and messy today, if I get´things in order I should be able to lower the mapping time.

im typing too much, think I will end it here and continue when I have more to share.

[WALP]

I think I will probably pass on this idea. (though it's not like I signed some document preventing me from taking it up again)

Main reason being I find myself adding a lot of time consuming events and tech to it's design, that distract from the core of what I want to do with mod, but are needed in order for the story I thought up to make sense.

For the next thing I do, I will probably be borrowing a lot from this, but without all the fluff.

If someone is curious, I can write and post a summary of what that story would have been like, but otherwise I wont bother.

This thread will continue, as I will be posting in it when I do anything soma mod related again, even if it's just experimental.

---

^^dont take this as me having given up tho. everytime someone mentions the state of soma modding, it annoys me inside and makes me want to mod like crazy. that's why fuga happened in the first place.

at this very moment I am trying to figure out the next mod idea.

[A.M Team]

Well for my two mods that I have in the works I will focus on two completely differing genres while also tackling themes like: "Would you try to kill or be killed just so you can feed your addictions?" or "Should I damage my bond with another person so it can benefit me more?"

All of these questions are very interesting to me. Maybe you should think about having an underlining message in your mod.

[WALP]

Well for my two mods that I have in the works I will focus on two completely differing genres while also tackling themes like: "Would you try to kill or be killed just so you can feed your addictions?" or "Should I damage my bond with another person so it can benefit me more?"

All of these questions are very interesting to me. Maybe you should think about having an underlining message in your mod.

I think it's best not to get too focused on the underlying messages and story unless you have something you really care about/am interested in that you want to get across. This time I am more focused on the emotional aspect, in that I want to make a mod that horrifies you, but also interests you enough that it's not just boring torture.

I think instead Messages, Subject, themes, characters and so on should be developed and used as a tool for achieving these emotions, since that's what I am really interested in doing with this mod. They should not be a goal on their own like: "oh I'm such an artistic modder, I made this level that focused on developing this character", instead it should be "I'm gonna develop this character in this first level, so I can make the player FEEL really disturbed when it's personality changes in the next" would be an example.

Note: been having this stuff in my head for a while, could not help but jump the opporunity to throw out my thoughts mate.

[WALP]

Alright got a new idea, that does not have the problems of the last one. This one takes place shortly after SOMA, though whether "shortly" is days or years im still not certain lol.

In short, it's about you being a robot awoken by the WAU who has somehow survived, with the message that there is a serious threat to mankind, and you need to stop it. It will take place initially at pathos 2, but later also in several locations outside pathos 2.

I have few more specifics of the idea in my head I wont mention, but overall I think this basic idea is good because I can do a lot of different things with it, and it's easy to upscale and downscale.

This is just from thinking today though, so expect it to change as I go. Like with the other one it's at a stage where it's not unlikely I will abandon it. Kinda need to work on something a bit before I can get a feel for if I can finish it.

Started doing a layout for the 2nd level. The first level will likely be taking place in omicron or another SOMA location so I wont start with that.

[WALP]

got layout for 2nd map now. I refreshed myself on the terrain tools and got some basic terrain down, and a basic underwater setup.

Also got myself a much clearer picture of what needs to be done with mod and stuffs, was much more vague with the previous project, with lotsa gaps I needed to "eventually" fill. planned 4 levels, may add another if its too compressed.

[WALP]

SCREENSHOTS

Did some further mapping and learned/remembered a bunch about how to do underwater environments from analyzing FG maps. One thing thats a challenge is that FG almost exclusively uses pre made buildings underwater, instead of wallsets, which limits the freedom with layout a lot. For now the workaround I found is using the shipwreck wallsets, which dont look too bad for an underwater building.

Also found a cool trick. If you hold CTRL and scroll down in item preview window the thumbnails will turn into names instead, and if you scroll up they will go back to big thumbnails.