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Frictional Fan Jam: Winter Modding Event

Quick overview

Duration: 11th of December until 19th of January 2020
EXTENDED UNTIL 26th of January 2020
Theme: Winter/Hibernation
Medium: HPL engine modding
Submission link: Frictional Fan Jam 2019: Winter modding event submissions

Info

Winter is coming for us in the Northern Hemisphere. Get a hot drink, curl up under a blanket, and start up the HPL level editor – it’s time for Frictional’s Winter Modding Jam!

Join us for a month-long event focused on HPL modding! You’re welcome to participate alone or in a small team (up to 5 people). For peer support, head on over to our Discord server.

Are you an artist, writer, or other kind of creator? You can still participate by teaming up with one of the modders. Head on over to #winter_modding_jam on our Discord and find your team! We will also be holding specialised events for you in the future.

Duration

The Jam will start on the 11th of December 2019 and last until the 19th of January 2020.

You can submit your work on the night of Sunday the 19th, as the submissions will be checked on Monday morning.

Theme

Winter and/or Hibernation.

One or both themes should be present in the Fan Jam entry. You are welcome to interpret them however you wish. The mods don’t have to have a connection to Frictional Games titles.

Medium

This Frictional Fan Jam is specifically for HPL modding. You are free to use HPL2 and HPL3, or even HPL1 if you’re brave enough.

Aside from the game assets, you are also welcome to utilise other assets you can legally use, or have permission to use from the creators.

You can for example use the Winter Asset Pack for SOMA, made by a long-time contributor and one of our Discord moderators, Draugemalf.

Submitting your work

Upload your mod on a platform like ModDB or Steam Workshop.

For entering the event, please submit a link to your work through the following form:

Frictional Fan Jam 2019: Winter modding event submissions

If you worked as a team, have one team member submit the entry.

All works will be showcased on the #winter_modding_jam_showcase on Discord.

Prizes

The jury of Frictional Games employees will pick the winners of the jam. Discord moderator team will not be voting on entries, and are therefore allowed to fully participate in the event.

The winners will receive A5-sized posters of a game of their choosing sent to their home address (team members will be sent theirs separately). The Frictional team from the Malmö office can sign them if you wish. Once our next project is out, the winners will also receive a download key for the game on an available platform of their choosing.

Depending on the amount of entries, the Malmö office Frictional team will stream all of the entries, or only the winners.

Contact

The Fan Jam is organised by Frictional Games’ community manager Kira, with support from the Frictional Games Discord moderators. The easiest way to contact either is through the Frictional Games Discord server’s #winter_modding_jam channel. The channel can also be used to share ideas with other community members, get feedback, and look for team members.

If you don’t have a Discord account, you are welcome to contact Frictional Games through Twitter or our Contact Form, and we will help you as soon as we can.

For general questions: Contact Kira, for example by pinging them on the Discord channel.

For technical questions: Join our Discord server which has an active modding community.

Have fun, we’re looking forward to your wintery creations!

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Winner Showcase of Frictional Fan Jam 2019

The autumn is getting cold, but our hearts have been warmed by the participation in the Frictional Fan Jam 2019! We would like to extend an equally warm “thank you” to everyone who participated. The outpour of love and creativity has been overwhelming!

We have now gone through the entries, voted among the Frictional Games staff and the Discord Moderator team, and picked the winners – as well as a few special mentions! The entries were divided into Mods/Games, Fanart, Fanfiction, and Other, and one or more winners were picked of each category.

As promised, the winners will receive a few physical goodies, a mention in our video, as well as keys for the upcoming game. People who got special mentions will receive keys! We will be in contact with these people next week.

This is enough bureaucratic talk: please behold our winners! The winners of each category will be showcased in the video below, or you can read about the entries under the video. All entries can be seen on our the Fan Jam Showcase on our Discord server.

Mods/Games

SOMA: The Fall of Freedom by Rubyes

The Fall of Freedom on mega.nz

The Fall of Freedom takes us on one Pathos-II employee’s journey through the now-infested station. Unlike the mods, this game is made in Unity and uses a minimalist yet efficient pixel style. It’s short and (bitter)sweet, with Frictional-type puzzles translated into a 2D environment, and great sound design.

Hollow by TiMan

Hollow on Steam Workshop

Ever wondered how Alexander ended up on Earth? TiMan’s Hollow imagines Alexander’s story on his home planet, and how his banishment came to be. It has a distinct Amnesia feel despite being made on HPL3, the SOMA engine, and the custom assets make it fun to explore. The puzzles and gameplay have a classic Frictional feel, making it easy to play as a standalone installment.

Special mention: Amnesia: Decayed History by Sabatu

Amnesia: Decayed history on ModDB

Sabatu’s Decayed History mod did not fit the requirements of expanding upon one of Frictional’s titles, yet we felt that it deserves a special mention. The HPL2 mod is an impressive length considering it was made in three short weeks, and the writing is great despite Sabatu only having studied English for about a year. The protagonist is given a task to find old documents in their childhood home, claiming their right to the house. But things are not quite as they seem…

Art

Castle Brennenburg by Kripi

Castle Brennenburg on Twitter

Kripi’s cutoff of Castle Brennenburg might as well be a professional technical drawing! The longer you look at it, the more details you see, making it an ideal doll house for tiny Daniel, Alexander, and the rest of the residents.

Some things mustn’t be forgotten… by Lou

Some things mustn’t be forgotten on Twitter

Some things mustn’t be forgotten… and this artwork is one of them! Lou’s piece reveals more than you see at first glance – the falling leaves are petals of the Damascus Rose, akin the drops of blood, and a spider looms in the background, tying the characters together.

As the autumn leaves wither away… by cypii

As the autumn leaves wither away… on Tumblr

Hazel, Daniel’s sister, has a melancholy story told in the notes of The Dark Descent, and Cypii has captured this mood with lonely composition and muted tones. You don’t need to see Hazel’s face to know that she is withering away, just as the leaves outside.

Special mention: SOMAuse by i3670

I (Kira, your community manager) almost drove my bike into a traffic sign because I got teary-eyed from thinking about this picture. The little mouse in the reflection still has hope in its eyes… and thankfully we don’t see the expression on the other side. Dammit, I’m crying again. And that deserves a special mention.

Writing

A Hymn for the Curie by FrenchRoast

A Hymn for the Curie takes us aboard MS Curie around the time of the comet’s destruction. FrenchRoast’s version of the events features a cast of believable characters, from the stoic Captain Palander to the empathetic Hopper, whose points of view have you live the events alongside them – have hope, despair, and ultimately perish.

You can read A Hymn for the Curie on French Roast’s Drive.

Special mention: SOMA – Cadiz by Clyde Cash

Cadiz also tells the survivor story of another team, landing ashore Cadiz – a realistic description of a landscape ravaged by desperate humans before the comet has the chance to strike. The characters have have very human musings about the imminent destruction. The story starts a bit slowly, but the end had us in tears.

Unfortunately this piece of writing didn’t have a link, but you can find it on our Discord server.

Other

Untitled Song by Tosha

Themes can be hard to portray through music alone, but we truly felt the cold winds of autumn in the Untitled Song by Tosha. It plays on the themes of Amnesia: The Dark Descent’s soundtrack, but delivers an original composition.

Thank you once again for participating and cheering others on! We hope to see you back for another Fan Jam in the future.

PS. We played the mod entries and read some fanfiction during a stream. You can find the video on our Youtube:

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Frictional Fan Jam 2019

#FrictionalFanJam

September is a meaningful month for Frictional Games, as it marks several of our anniversaries. This year on the 8th of September Amnesia: The Dark Descent will be turning 9, on 10th Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs will be 6 years old, and on 22nd SOMA will have been released for 4 years.

Therefore we would like to make this month special by celebrating your community creations. Please join us for Frictional’s Fan Jam of 2019!

We have recently launched an official Discord server, so you are welcome to ask questions, share ideas, and chat with other participants in the #fan_jam channel.

Overview

The goal is to create a new fan work related to one of Frictional’s games: SOMA, Amnesia games and the Penumbra series, or older titles such as Unbirth. You are free to create any transformative work: a mod, fanart and fanfiction, cosplay, or something different like a video or a plushie. The project should be at least loosely related to the given theme.

Since some projects (for example mods) can require more effort than others, you are also welcome to participate in teams.

Please see submission guidelines below!

Theme

Autumn/Decay

Deadline

The event kicks off on Friday the 6th of September. The deadline for submissions is 23:59 UTC on Sunday the 22nd of September. The jury will be going through submissions starting Monday the 23rd.

Prizes

The jury of Frictional Games employees and Frictional Games Discord moderation team will pick the winners of the jam. Jury members can participate in the event, but are disqualified from winning.

The winners will receive a poster of a game of their choosing, signed by the Frictional team members, sent to their home address (teams can decide on one address, max 4 prizes per team). The Frictional Team will also be featuring the works on a video with comments from Thomas and other employees. And finally – upon release of the next game, the winners will receive download codes for the game on an available platform of their choosing.

Contact

The jam is organised by Frictional Game’s community manager Kira together with the moderation team of the official Discord server, proposed and drafted by Draugemalf. The easiest way to contact the organisers is on the Frictional Games Discord server’s #fan_jam channel. The channel can also be used to share ideas with other community members, get feedback and look for team members.

If you don’t have a Discord account, you are also welcome to contact Frictional Games through Twitter or our Contact Form, and we will help you as soon as we can.

Submission guidelines

  • The works must be related to one or more of Frictional’s games (SOMA, Amnesia: TDD, Amnesia: AMFP, Penumbra, and Unbirth, Fiend, Energetic)
  • The works must be at least loosely related to the the thematic of Autumn/Decay
  • The creation must be submitted on 22nd of September the latest
  • The work must be your or your team’s original creation
  • For mods you are free to use assets you can legally use, or have the permission to use from the creators

Submitting your work

You can submit your works through several channels, either by posting an image (for fanart, cosplay and similar) and/or a link (mods, fanfiction and similar).

  • On Discord, you can share the project on the #fan_jam channel. Please make it clear that it’s your final version.
  • On Twitter and Tumblr, you should mention @frictionalgames and tag the submission with #FrictionalFanJam.
  • If you don’t have a social media account, please send your submission to team@frictionalgames.com with the title “Frictional Fan Jam”.
  • Due to Instagram and Facebook’s limited searching and tagging tools, we will not be accepting submissions through those platforms.
  • All submissions will be posted by the jury on Discord’s #fan_jam_showcase channel for easier judging.

And that’s it! Go get creative! We’re looking forward to all your great projects!

If you have any questions, just let us know.

Cover image courtesy of Newsman Waterpaper and their mod The Streets of London.

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Celebrating the 30th birthday of Simon Jarrett

Today, the 16th of July 2018, Simon Jarrett would have turned 30. He never quite made it, the proposed treatment for his brain damage proving ineffective.

And yet he did. A Simon Jarrett made it to the ARK, facing eternity among the stars. Another(s), infinity below the sea, at least as long as the batteries last. But he didn’t just live, he left a legacy. His scan, for a generation of programmers to use. The ARK, preserving humanity until the Sun burns out.

And you.

Simon lives on in every fanart, every mixtape and cosplay. He gets a different story in a fanfic, be it finding a cure, finding love, sometimes dying, yet still living on through those moments. You have taken him well beyond 4.0, and for that we are thankful.

As a small celebration we have collected 30 of some our favourite fan works of Simon, one for each year since his birth. In all honesty 30 is an arbitary number, a cutoff point to keep this post from being far too long. We love each and every one of your fan creations, as well as mods, meta commentary and even just coming together as a community.

From us, and from Simon: thank you!

PS. If you want to see more fan creations from SOMA, Amnesia games and Penumbra, we have an official Tumblr blog where we have collected your works from Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Deviantart. The blog updates daily! (We might not have found your work, so please tag us on social media, or send us a message!)

Cosplay and art by Zerachielamora

https://zerachielamora.tumblr.com/post/145715347791/part-one-of-my-soma-photoshoot-the-shots-came
https://zerachielamora.tumblr.com/post/149452596636/did-someone-say-humansimon-jarrett-cosplay-i-put

Zerachieamora is one of the top creators in our community, having done cosplays of all our protagonists, as well as having time to run ask blogs and make art. Their stuff always has top-notch detail and creativity. We certainly hope our next protagonist will be cool enough to inspire them to make another cosplay!

You can also find Zerachielamora on Twitter, Instagram and Deviantart.

Okay, okay, almost done with the praise! Just one more thing we loved:

https://zerachielamora.tumblr.com/post/131937553916/soma-meets-undertale

Art by Sketchinfun

https://sketchinfun.com/post/132244987837/in-between-boarding-today-i-decided-to-do-some

Sketchinisfun has made a lot of awesome contributions to the fandom, such as Tiny Catherine, but this animation has to be our favourite – everyone knows just how much dedication that requires!

We also can’t help but appreciate their take on Simon and Catherine’s voice actors’ coping mechanisms (which we cannot officially endorse).

Art by lumipaiio

https://lumipaiio.tumblr.com/post/167990722451
https://lumipaiio.tumblr.com/post/142199605996/am-i-the-only-one-who-went-to-the-wrong-elevator

Lumipaiio’s forté is drawing incredibly dynamic Simons and Catherines. Just look at him go! It is so hard to pick a favourite!

Lumipaiio have also drawn an incredible concept called Leggy Catherine, among other things.

Plushie by DonutTyphoon

https://www.deviantart.com/donuttyphoon/art/Simon-Jarrett-Plush-634126774

Animation by Rabbitintheheadlights

https://rabbitinheadlights.tumblr.com/post/136645293417

Rabbitintheheadlights is asking the right questions. Note how we don’t have mirrors in the early game?

Art by Bardicles

Bardicles draws the cutest little Simons, and keeps us entertained with their short comics!

Art by Shaidis

https://shaidis.tumblr.com/post/130194112902/heading-to-tau

One of our favourite levels deserves some love, and Shaidis delivers! This piece is beautiful, and it is no wonder it shows up whenever you search for SOMA fanart.

Art by Rennerei

https://rennerei.tumblr.com/post/140112671336

Is it a screenshot? Nope, just Rennerei working their magic!

This pick might be biased as our community manager has followed Rennerei since the early TBFP/Motorcity/TF2 days. It is truly inspiring to work on something, and then receive fanart from someone you admire.

You can also find Maren on Twitter and Instagram.

Pixel art by Adam Joe Pajor

Adam has done various cool pixel art pieces from SOMA, as well as Amnesia, which you should definitely check out in their Frictional tag on Tumblr.

You can also find Adam on Facebook!

Art by Dospeh

https://dospeh.tumblr.com/post/161279516189

Doseph has made an incredible set of all our major protagonists that you can find in their Frictional Games tag. The detail, atmosphere and claustrophobia in the works is astonishing.

You can also follow them on Instagram.

Art by Fayren

https://monsterboysandrobots.com/post/130086660988/soma-just-rip-out-my-heart-and-drop-it-in-the

Fayren does amazing original work, but it is an honour that they took time to create fanart for us.

They has also made another piece of SOMA fanart that we have up on our wall in the Malmö office.

You can also follow Fayren on Twitter.

Art by Mcfudgie

https://mcfudgie.tumblr.com/post/132701364480/simon-contemplates-on-the-important-things-like

Sick.

We’re serious developers, but not too serious to enjoy some light-hearted wall punching! This is what any of us would do, isn’t it?

Art by KylieRusek

https://kylierusek.tumblr.com/post/132754459129/i-love-this-game-so-much-hhh

Watch out, Simon, you’re glitching out! Looking at your hands won’t help you escape this nightmare.

You can find more art by KylieRusek on Twitter and Instagram.

Art by Wachtelspinat

https://wachtelspinat.tumblr.com/post/137309260311/so-we-played-soma-at-new-years-eve-and-i-didnt
https://wachtelspinat.tumblr.com/post/137579288681/friends-yy

These are some good, chunky boys – thank you Wachtelspinat! Knowing Simon, he would probably own that hoodie.

Cosplay by that-handmaid

https://thehandymaid.tumblr.com/post/133897386963/pfft

The creatures at Pathos-II might be terrifying, but that carpet is even more so! But this Simon is braving it like a champ.

Art by Blenderweasel

https://blenderweasel.tumblr.com/post/131258824330/inktober-day-15-im-only-partway-into-soma-and-i

Simon is an obviously unreliable narrator. He could have been a Roomba the whole time for all we know!

Cosplay by Essi.cosplay

Ess and her brother did an amazing job on the diving suit, down to the glowing eyes, WAU-infested trousers and even an Omnitool! And Simon eating pizza with a kawaii Reaper is the crossover we didn’t know we wanted, but have now been enlightened.

Doll by Sadunacc

https://sadunacc.tumblr.com/post/170776944683/whoops-i-ended-up-making-simon-too

Sadunacc has created a lot of lovely fanarts, including some more beautiful Leggy Catherines. But this doll is so unique we had to share it – just look at it! A pocket-sized Simon!

Art by Piranyeaah

It is always cool to see artists’ work progress – and for this work you can also see the progression shots! Piranyeaah did a lovely job capturing Simon’s confusion.

Art by Snuffysbox

https://snuffysbox.tumblr.com/post/132359871722/deep-sea-buddy-adventure

They are friends! They are on an adventure! And nothing bad will happen!

https://snuffysbox.tumblr.com/post/132421650637/simon-jarretts

If you’re Simon and I’m Simon… then are there also other Simons, possibly disguised as Roombas? Let’s not think about that, and instead think about how nice it is to see all of them together.

Animation by Articlerotten

https://articlerotten.tumblr.com/post/137541646681/goofy-soma-gif-while-i-try-learning-how-to-make

This is the smallest walk cycle of all time. And it’s adorable.

Art by Talondoodle

https://talondoodle.tumblr.com/post/138766483607/smol-simon-jarrett-for-all-your-smol-simon-jarrett

Is this a Simon, or is this a squirrel? He sits silly, but we still love him.

Art by starchild_hiroto

If this won’t make them get along, then nothing will.

Cosplay by Steampoweredwerehog

https://steampoweredwerehog.tumblr.com/post/144826091502/behold-my-nearly-finished-simon-jarrett-from-soma

Inspiring people to push their limits and make something awesome is great! Steampoweredwerehog – if you’re reading this, we’d love to see the final cosplay!

Art by S.paceheart

Original post has been removed.

These were the good times! Glad to have them captured in a picture, forever in a state of “:D”.

Animation by Cprartsalot

https://cprartsalot.tumblr.com/post/133127049490/whispers-still-cant-get-over-what-happened-in

You can find all the SOMA pieces by Cprartsalot in their SOMA tag! But if we had to pick our favourite, it would be this one.

Minecraft skin by IcarianPrince

https://www.planetminecraft.com/skin/simon-jarrett/

Just look at that Minecraft boy go! Just don’t stay underwater for too long, we can’t guarantee this skin will make you into an actual diver.

Art by TigerSpuds

https://www.deviantart.com/tigerspuds/art/SOMA-Ending-The-ARK-572975126

And to end things off, we present this piece of art. We can let Simon have a happy ending. At least for this one day.

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Creations inspired by Frictional Games

Originally posted by Heidi.

Last week we announced a competition on Facebook and Twitter, asking our community to share their creations inspired by our games. We knew that there was a whole load of art, mods and just plain crazy stuff out there, and we’re really happy to have seen many of them which we might otherwise have missed.

Today we’re announcing the four winners, who will each receive a Tobii Eye Tracker 4C, courtesy of Tobii Gaming. They’ve helped us make SOMA even more immersive on PC by enabling eye tracking – see how it works here. Each winner will also get a copy of SOMA on Steam. We wish you the best of luck as you experience your descent into the depths in a completely new way!

So, drum roll time… here are the four lucky winners!

Best Music

SOMAGE – a 10-track album by exandroid, inspired by SOMA! Just wow. This blows us away, and will be used as a soundtrack when working on our new projects!

Best Fan Art

hoshiSAM posted this piece on Twitter, showing how much baggage Simon needs to carry…

Best Mod

Mods make us extra happy! But they’re really hard to choose between. Two mods ended up with the same number of votes from our staff, but luckily they were both sent in by Draugemalf! Check them out: Ariadne’s Ocean and The Path Least Treaded.

Best Random Thing

The final winner is someone who did something both irresponsible and amazing – and shed some blood for us! Jonathan showed off this incredible tattoo, which makes him worthy of the final prize.

Congratulations to all winners, and thanks so much to everyone who took part! We’d love to see more of what you’re doing!

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SOMA is now Pre-Pre Beta

Today is the day SOMA reached Pre-Pre Beta, which marked the first time the game could be played from start to finish.

Four of us have now played through ’til the end and it’s really cool to be able to finally really feel what sort of game we’re making, after almost 4.5 years in development.

While we’ve played the individual levels many times, you never really get the same sense as you do when you play the full thing. I personally think it’s a significant experience as you now get a mental picture of the game as one complete thing, instead of a massive cluster of themes, systems and scenes. I finally know for sure what it is that we’re working towards.

The testing took an average of 11 hours per person. This includes a lot of note-taking, quick discussions and bug-fixing. But, given prior experience, this should give a decent estimate of what it will take the average (and non stressing) player to complete SOMA.

While the game is still really rough in plenty of places, I think I dare to say that we’ve got something quite special brewing. There’s still tons of work left to do, of course, but we’re getting very anxious to show off our creation to the world.

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Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Halloween Teaser

Originally posted by Jens.
Images on this post have been lost.

SQUEAL, little piggies, SQUEAL

We want your fear. Record your screams, your whimpers, your blood curdling shrieks of terror and you could star in Amnesa: A Machine for Pigs.

We are on the hunt for the sounds of fear, panic, terror, anguish, torture and horrid, awful death to include in the soundtrack for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

Send them as Wavs, Oggs or MP3s to:

We don’t care who does the screaming. We just want the fear.

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Custom story competition: And the winners are…

Originally posted by Jens.

Last week we closed the polls on our modest Custom Story competition. Over the last few months, fans have been able to vote for their favorite Custom Stories and over 600 people decided to take this opportunity. More than 40 stories competed in three categories: Best Custom Story, Most Potential, and Most Unique.

Except for the bragging rights of being number one, the winner of every category will also receive an Amnesia t-shirt, with the quote; “That is not traditional fire!” from the most viewed Amnesia-playthrough video of all time.

Without further ado – the winners are…

Best Custom Story
Winner: La Caza by Russ Money, http://www.moddb.com/mods/la-caza
Runner-up: Abduction by Anxt, http://www.moddb.com/mods/abduction
Runner-up: Amnesia – Through The Portal by DamnNoHtml, http://www.moddb.com/mods/amnesia-through-the-portal

Most Potential
Winner: White Night by Tanshaydar, http://www.moddb.com/mods/white-night
Runner-up: Portal – The Dark Descent by rickyhorror, http://www.moddb.com/mods/portal-the-dark-descent
Runner-up: Cannibalism by anzki4 & Leon Kennedy, http://www.moddb.com/mods/cannibalism

Most Unique
Winner: Tetris – The Dark Descent by Apjjm, http://www.moddb.com/mods/tetris-the-dark-descent
Runner-up: Unbirth – Envy The Dead by plutomaniac, http://www.moddb.com/mods/unbirth-envy-the-dead
Runner-up: The Estate by Selyp, http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-estate

To all of you who have contributed to our amazing modding community – thank you all for your efforts. You have managed, not only to draw attention to your own incredible abilities, but kept a linear horror game alive. Again and again when we hear complaints about replay-value, there is someone there pointing out all the additional stories available for free. It is just an incredible treasure and you make us damned proud.

For more Custom Stories: http://www.moddb.com/games/amnesia-the-dark-descent/mods