Grip was describing how SOMA's underwater creatures came together, including the coral people fused into the walls, some screaming and some in a state that reads as pleasure. He says the design started from noticing that players do not want to think about their own bodies being a little bit icky. The disgust was not a side effect of the horror; it was the thing the game kept pointing back at.
…you, you've now, you've been taught to run towards these. And then it's so that worked really well. But it's one of those that wasn't really scripted, where it's just from beginning, but we like, this will fit really well. So a lot of development is like that, where it's like you get opportunities.
…concept art and seeing how much care had gone into them. And there's so many singletons. You don't repurpose any enemies. Each one is an individual, is a deeply tragic individual with a backstory, and they're all very different. Is there any little design details that we as a community have missed?
…they're screaming and it's like humans that are trapped in there. And the idea is that you find some other of them and they're actually in a very pleasurable state. And you're like, okay, is that okay in this? Like, again, it's a design thing thinking I had, which is like human bodies, at least I feel like when viewed human bodies, we don't want to think about our bodies being a little bit icky. It's pretty interesting that people are disgusted to a certain degree by their own bodies. Let's lean into that. So that was what I took off this. So a lot of the things is just, did you realize, like, inside you, there's all of these icky parts? You realize this? And so a lot of the designs is just sort of reaffirming your sort of a lot of the game is about, and again, Soma is like bodies. So a lot of it is just having people thinking about how they're like. I think that's also like, there's a lot of…
I think it sits really well. It's a great continuation of the theme because there's that sanctity of the original you, but then realizing that the body we inhabit is flawed and failing. Is it better than the little ROV? I think it sits really well with the themes. I found this game terrifying. I…
It's interesting how well it worked because the game wasn't designed for it. But then we saw them. There was a mod that came up soon after where they made the monster passive. And we're like, this is actually a good idea. So then we just made our sort of phone version based around that. And there…
It was the character in the server room. I think that was the first very mobile one. That guy freaked me out. I'd been sneaking around from slow things, but that guy runs at you.