SOMA Winter Modding Event

**Draugemalf** · 12-24-2018, 11:43 AM

Hello!

Are you interested in creating maps in HPL3 in a community run event? Still haven’t tried using HPL3 and want to do that? Stuck on making a big mod for the last 1-2 years and haven’t really released anything for SOMA yet but you’d like to? Or maybe you just wanna make some maps without the pressure of releasing a full out mod for SOMA? Well then you’re in luck, over at the Frictional Games Fan-based Discord Server we’re going to run an event where users are required to submit at least one map that has to be created until February 10 (7 weeks since this announcement). Everyone is welcome to participate as long as your submission follows the rules below.

Rules

Submissions must be your own original work : basically don’t steal other people’s maps.
Your work should be handed in before the deadline (February 10 2019)
Custom assets are allowed, but if you include them be sure to let us know. Also if you’re using one or two walls from amnesia don’t include the whole asset pack or this mod will end up being 5 GB or more. Also try to see if anyone else is using the same assets you’re using , so that we don’t end up including the same asset multiple times.
Voice acting , custom music, skyboxes and so on are allowed : provided you don’t use copyrighted music or anything that might cause trouble. We even have a voice actor tag on the discord server if you want to get in touch with some voice actors who have previously worked with amnesia/soma modders.
Your custom lang entries must be categorized and indexed so that they can be easily merged with the others.
Custom modules and editing global scripts such as the player script are generally discouraged but allowed : if you make the changes toggleable and you talk with the organizers so that there won’t be conflicts across all the other maps things should be fine, but avoid doing that unless you really need it.

Level Guidelines

The player will enter your level from a hub map by loading something up in a terminal and then going on a pilot seat, so feel free to go crazy with any ideas you may have. Underwater shipwreck? Sure. Spaceship? Sure. Amnesia asset level: Sure, we have an asset pack that’s kinda functional. Weird trippy map made entirely out of chairs? Uhhhh… sure?
Puzzles are encouraged, especially interesting ones. Bonus points if you have working terminals
Having atmospheric levels is encouraged, spend time doing nice lighting, creating soundscape areas, making stuff interactive and so on, you can do a lot of stuff with HPL3.
Having some sort of storyline is encouraged, even if the map is short, having some story to keep the player going will make stuff more interesting. It doesn’t have to be just characters telling you what to do and stuff happening, you could also use environmental storytelling if that’s your thing.
Your submission doesn’t really have to be within a playtime range but it’s recommended that it is somewhere around 10-60 minutes.
Creepiness optional, but it’s nice if it’s there. Also add puns.
These are just some guidelines, so you don’t really have to follow all of them.

The deadline is Sunday , 10 February 2019.

How to get involved:

We recommend that you join the fan-based Discord server and ask a mod to give you the Event Candidate role so you can access the event channels and discuss it with the other candidates. If for some reason you don’t want to use the discord feel free to link your creation in this forum by replying below or send a PM to either myself or TiManGames .

If you’re new to HPL3 modding and you’re not sure where to get started then you can definitely ask other users for help with learning HPL3 , check out the resources and tutorials channel on the fan-made Discord server and the following playlist which contains some HPL3 tutorials, and also the scripting wiki:

Fan-made Frictional Games Discord Server: Link
HPL3 Tutorials Playlist : Link
HPL3 Documentation: Link

Best of luck and we look forward to seeing what maps you will come up with!