The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[Robby]

http://beefjack.com/news/amnesia-devs-fr...-new-game/

2014, really?

You can spend all your time playing other games. October 2012 is the best way to start!

[Deep One]

Defiantly out door environments that are probably going to be very detailed.

It says nothing to indicate it will be outdoors. It just says it will have deeper meaning to it.

They had a post on the development blog about them implementing an map building algorithm for building out door environments. They also implemented sun lighting along with a new shadow system, and they also have HDRL in the new engine. You wouldn't use HDR in your lighting unless your going to have an outdoor environment, because you need HDR to emulate sun light intensity and distinguish it from other light sources. That's really the only reason why you would ever use HDR. It has no other use to be honest, lol. The whole idea behind it is to give depth to different lighting situations instead of having just one basic appearance.

So, in a lot of ways this is pretty much saying that they are going to have multiple types of environments. I'm not sure how much variety, but one of them is defiantly going to be out doors. They wouldn't of spent time on any of of those features otherwise. I mean, I could be wrong...I guess...but, if I am, that pretty much means they wasted a ton of time and money making features that are pretty much totally useless to an indoor game. You wouldn't implement sun light and sun shadows unless your going to have a land scape and objects out doors that you will be able to see close up.

Here are the links.

http://frictionalgames.blogspot.com/2010...adows.html

http://frictionalgames.blogspot.com/2010...metry.html

Don't forget HPL3's amazing grass animation!

[Kein]

Am I the only one super excited about the sunlight/directional lighting system?

Not sure... I mean that article is from 2010. Back then they probably didn't plan to make this a horror game - because of all the things one could think of to make a horror game better, sunlight isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind, right? Still, I guess it can't hurt to improve hpls graphic capabilities. It makes for better immersion and it keeps the metascore of their next game from needlessly losing points due to having out of date graphics.

True and as FG said it wasnt even a horror game they were working on but later it changed into one. and as looking at the concept art, it doesnt look like a horror game atleast but very cool though ..

I failed to see the connection. How is the game's story and concept related to the engine features (which game plans to use)? I mean, yes, they are related, but only in one way - if game's concept requires shadows play and sunlight -it will be implemented, but what the reason to remove existing feature after implementation (the article hints it was basically ready at 2010, should be polished by now)? it makes no sense. Even if Frictional's new game won't be using this feature - it still should be available.

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I failed to see the connection. How is the game's story and concept related to the engine features (which game plans to use)? I mean, yes, they are related, but only in one way - if game's concept requires shadows play and sunlight -it will be implemented, but what the reason to remove existing feature after implementation (the article hints it was basically ready at 2010, should be polished by now)? it makes no sense. Even if Frictional's new
game won't be using this feature - it still should be available.

I don't quite understand...? I never said anything about the feature being removed. All I said was that I wasn't sure whether I really should be that exited about it since I didn't see how it would improve a horror game. Since I'm not really that involved in Custom Story making (which COULD benefit from this feature) that was a completely legitimate statement.

[Oscar House]

True and as FG said it wasnt even a horror game they were working on but later it changed into one. and as looking at the concept art, it doesnt look like a horror game atleast but very cool though ..

What concept art?

Not sure if this is what he means, but during the A Machine for Pigs ARG, someone managed to get their hands on a .zip file from Frictional's servers that contained concept art unrelated to AMFP. Someone probably still has it stored, I lost it when my hard drive failed.

[GrAVit]

Do you mean the concept art from thedarkswarm.com?

[Deep One]

I have it on my computer but posting it here is forbidden, but you can still find it from internet's depths:
Put "amnesia a machine for pigs valve arg" to google image search and click the first picture.

[Statyk]

Not sure if this is what he means, but during the A Machine for Pigs ARG, someone managed to get their hands on a .zip file from Frictional's servers that contained concept art unrelated to AMFP. Someone probably still has it stored, I lost it when my hard drive failed.

Great, let's hope this doesn't turn them away from future acts such as the AMFP ARG.

[MyRedNeptune]

I have it on my computer but posting it here is forbidden, but you can still find it from internet's depths:
Put "amnesia a machine for pigs valve arg" to google image search and click the first picture.

Wait a second... that's no "leaked" art. That's from the Justine/Potato Sack/Portal 2 ARG! Haha.

Take a gander: http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-7148.html

[Kman]

Yeah that's not the concept art that got leaked, that one's been around for ages.