Author: Luca Damasco

I consumed a Soylent bar and fell terribly ill with food poisoning. Ever since then I have had a serious compulsion to produce advertising media for Soylent.

I wanted to think grand, big ideas for what the burial place of a genius ,such as the creator of Soylent, would look like in a perfect world. Underscored by gold, for it’s opulence, white for the lifeblood of the creator, and black for the restraint of the cap, I put together a walk through the somber yet hopeful resting place of Rob Rhinehart. Try it for mac here. 

Yet this wasn’t enough, I wanted to think bigger. I designed a layout for the upper portion of the tomb, and how one would get to Rob’s eternal home. Below is an early sketch of the upper level.

The upper structure is designed after a classical Cathedral. The 6 areas of the structure contain the remnants of Rob’s Life’s work. The Soylent Powder, Drink, Coffee, Bar, Soma and LifeBlood. By finding one of each of these, a person may be granted access to the final chamber where they can put Rob to rest, once and for all.

Here’s an aerial view of the upper chamber.

Along the walls, messages from the creator give you purpose throughout your journey.

 

You can play through a demo of the upper chamber here. It’s not completed yet, but feel free to walk through.

The Soylent factory has ceased production. People are starving. Rob’s spirit haunts the lines, longing to be set free. You must amend the 7 horcruxes and allow the factory to continue.

With this project, I attempt to delve into the concepts of exploration, cleanliness, perfection and technology. I am less interested in creating a traditional game, and more interested in creating an experience which requires the player to explore a space and think about its construction. While walking through a broken yet pristine Soylent assembly line, players can view the simplification of nutrition as a dream-like desire; a true dystopia ruled by a zealous creator wanting to shift the world in any way necessary.

Game Inspirations :

Fallout 3 – 4 – New Vegas

Exploration : Walking around an unfamiliar landscape and discovering abnormalities is enthralling in itself excluding the action content around it.

The Graveyard

A first generation walking simulation, The Graveyard plays the line between game and experience.

The Stanley Parable

Simulating a limited ending experience, by subverting the idea of player choice.

Non-Game Inspiration  :

“1984” by George Orwell

The “big brother” of dystopian futuristic literature.

“The Island” by Michael Bay A film exploring escape from dystopia where those who win a lottery may escape to “The Island”.

 

“Soylent Green” by Richard Fleischer

The predecessor the the drink and lifestyle, “Soylent Green” explores the idea of a government hiding crimes against humanity from its people and the hysteria which follows after the secret is out. (Here’s the IMDB description : In the world ravaged by the greenhouse effect and overpopulation, an NYPD detective investigates the murder of a big company CEO. )

The tomb of Rob Rhinehart holds the promise of a brighter future. Society throws the ignorance of the past away, embracing Rob’s ideals. The savior will come again, and as a follower you pay your respects before that day.

I explore cleanliness, the aesthetics of perfection, dystopia and gold. The exploration of slow moving, walking simulation is exciting to me. There are plenty of games with clear cut objectives, yet the creation of experiences is what I’m most interested in.

Please download this mac app and run it, as an audio, visual and exploratory experience is necessary. 

Increpare is an indie game development “studio” run by Stephen Lavelle showcasing over 200 games for free on his website.

Here’s a link to a slideshow about a few of his works.

 

Gabbers.

You wake up in a room, dazed by loud noises and a bump on your head, strapped to an old wooden chair. You look around only to find one and a half adidas tracksuits and a large monuments to the athletic company. The music intensifies, and the room closes in around you. The only thing you can do to survive is accept it.

Controls : 

Use your head. Gabber Dance.

Platform and Build : 

Developed for Android using Google Cardboard.

Link to Project

I’d like to create a claustrophobic environment which becomes more claustrophobic when participants attempt to relax.

As the main input source, I will attempt to measure the “tightness” of a user’s fist and when the grip loosens, the room will begin to shrink around them.

I feel that this would work well in as a VR environment since it does induce feelings and emotions of horror. The changes are primarily spatial in addition to visual which makes the full immersion of the VR space even more believable.

Here’s a mood board

I’m shit at drawing, but I attempt to make the transition from a long room with a large field of view to a constrained room, filled with smokey fog.

For sounds, I couldn’t stop thinking about these.

 

 

 

Pretty terrible nightmare…

After taking some time to sift through a few dozen images of happiness on google, I realized that there are only three main components.

1. Teeth
2. Shadows
3. Orange Skies

Enjoy!

yeah.

Hi, I’m Luca.

Here’s a link to my youtube.

Here’s my . I like playing games…