Blockout & Visual communication

For the next phase I used Maya to make a blockout for the environment. I made all the assets myself due to my desire to create and love for the arts of SOMA. I played around with lights in maya as well, since I never really experimented with it. Since the scene takes place on the bottom of the ocean, it had to express a very dark atmosphere. For the picture on the banner above I turned up the level of the ambient light a bit, so you can see the environment better.

There is no fog yet added to the scene, which is very important to add for the atmosphere and mystery element. You cannot see very far in the distance in the SOMA underwater scenes, which adds to the experience and thrill.

To make the interaction and puzzle elements easier to communicate I gave some elements a specific color:

Purple box = represents the player
Orange = interactable (player can click or pull)
Blue = hint (player can use the visual representation as a hint)
Green = goal

Sources of light:
Yellow = a modest light source
Red = an unpositive light source (means"danger" or "something is off")
Scifi-blue = it's the color that is spread by the WAU when it is in control of massive amounts of energy
Green = a positive light source