Production

For this phase I use the lastest version of the Unity engine and the High Definition Render Pipeline to create the level.

Station Rho Entrance - Walkthrough VIDEO

The Rewards

The build contains the visual communication and atmosphere of the puzzle. There are no events, only animated shaders and lights. To go towards the end immediately, just walk through the WAU. If you play the build game, the end migh not be very rewarding: "there is only a mysterious little light in the dark." SOMA is a gloomy game, where rewards are never really rewards. So I kept them very serene and small. The impact of the 'rewards', from solving all the little puzzles, is best experienced by just watching the edited walkthrough.

Link to the build:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HMUNbi6IwhtuMv12TSDrKM7W5vI8lpSW

First Reward: the station has full control over its power again (all lights turn on)

Final Reward: the WAU is not a threat anymore and the door is opening slowly.

First encounter: the databuffer (narrative aspect), giving you information about the story and situation.

First Threat: the scavenger is talking robotic evilness. It needs to communicate through visuals and sounds that you need to avoid him.

Main Threat: the WAU is blocking the entrance and is consuming the power.

Source: one of the three energy sources.

Small shelter: contains the lever and third energy source.

Texturing

All of the assets, exept,

the interactive screen of the data buffer
the terminal screen (created a logo for station Rho)
the leverbox in the small shelter

are not having textures or UV's yet. I will focus first on creating the visual atmosphere of SOMA before diving into texturing.

Those three textures where needed for good visual communication. The Data Buffer is an interactive antenne that communicates with Station Rho. The terminal is glitching due to the power-sucking tentacle (will be visible in the shader below). The Leverbox needs to be readable in order to understand that the power is ON.

The Data Buffer

I have examined the texture of the data buffer screen in SOMA and made a rough version of it, with just the most important elements.

The Terminal Screen (with the logo of Station Rho)

Logo of Station Rho on the terminal screen (not glitching in the reward scene)

The Leverbox

The Shaders (in game)

gph.is/g/EBm7NWK

The screen is displaying the logo of station Rho, but it is glitching.
The shader needs to communicate that it is being distorted by
something (the tentacle).

gph.is/g/a99d8x9

The middle part of the lever and the cables are casting electricity. This
needs to communicate that: the power is ON and the amount of electricity
is intense.

gph.is/g/Z2mx8Mm

The WAU is the main protagonist of the puzzle. His visual communication
was the most important one. Three of his tentacles are stabbed inside
energy sources, and those are sucking the power from the building. The
shaders need to communicate the WAU's sucking and absorbing activity.

This is one of the biggest events. As soon as the player pulls out this tentacle, there is a small electrical "disconnection particle effect" followed by the angry swinging tentacle animation. A huge impact particle effect arises on the rock and broken pieces roll down, creating a barricade in front of the door. The tentacle gets a new shader, since it is not sucking energy anymore. This shader needs to communicate that the tentacle is having a little afterglow: it is still casting little sparks of electricity.

Thanks to the impact particle effect, there was room created for an asset swap: the rock that gets hit, is later on replaced by a more broken rock.

Shader GRAPHS

The Terminal Screen

The Tentacles

The Electric Sparks (Lever)

Lever variants

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