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
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:
Art by Sketchinfun
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):
http://sketchinfun.com/post/132159275532/felt-like-drawing-some-silly-screen-cap-redraws-of
Art by lumipaiio
Art by lumipaiio
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
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| https://www.deviantart.com/donuttyphoon/art/Simon-Jarrett-Plush-634126774 |
Animation by Rabbitintheheadlights
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
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
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
Simon Jarrett— Adam *Joe* Pajor (@JoeJoePajor) March 21, 2016
Fixed a few things...#pixelart #SOMA #gamedev @frictionalgames pic.twitter.com/z6HMCbTTQN
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
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
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
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
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
These are some good, chunky boys - thank you Wachtelspinat! Knowing Simon, he would probably own that hoodie.
Cosplay by that-handmaid
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
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
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
They are friends! They are on an adventure! And nothing bad will happen!
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
This is the smallest walk cycle of all time. And it's adorable.
Art by Talondoodle
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
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
These were the good times! Glad to have them captured in a picture, forever in a state of ":D".
Animation by Cprartsalot
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
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
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| 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.
Great arts, but wasn't Simon supposed to be in a woman body (both of times)?
ReplyDeleteWell, yes, technically Simon was in women's bodies both times! But he would still perceive himself as Simon, in his original body, which is what the artists seem to have gone for!
DeletePersonally, I prefer me some The Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs artwork, I think these two have a better foundation for art than SOMA. It could be just that I prefer the medieval castle/late 1890s-industrial theme over science fiction. Also I'm sad that AMFP got so little recognition, it's a masterpiece and I think it deserves way more praise than SOMA, but oh well.
ReplyDeleteAmong other things, while SOMA's busy exploring far fetched ideas of existence and conscience, AMFP deals with more relatable, everyday things - greed, slavery, capitalism, moral, one's ability to distinguish good from bad (or the lack of it) and how liquid can it be varying from point of view and person to person. It presents a handful of ideas, if not facts, you don't even pay attention to but are true and ever present, such as the idea of every civilization being a temple built on bone of the unfortunate, things that are present even nowadays in this modern humane age where human rights are number one, but still so many horrible human acts happen every day all around the world. There are so many twisted things explored in AMFP that are the core part of the game's horror, yet at the same time, they are a core part of our everyday life. This is the kind of stuff that blows my mind. Aztecs and Mandus did so much foul, but when you boil it down, we are no better than them. This world really is a machine for pigs. It saddens that people judge this masterpiece "book-game" with such deep meaning and message. It is 'human society and civilization in a nutshell', and its messages could be applied to any society in any age. And there are so many messages to recognize, read and boil down. It took me years to truly understand its story, and there are plenty of things I'm still not aware of. That is my definition of a masterpiece, something that leaves you much to process and think about, years and years after the release. Yet people tend to completely overlook this and judge this game by its lack of scares and scary monsters (things its predecessor was very successful at though). AMFP was a treat for those who think. SOMA is too, but in my opinion, AMFP's themes (should) have an equally, if not more important place in our lives.
DeleteExistence and consciousness are "far-fetched"? They're the most fundamental, relatable, everyday phenomena in the world.
DeleteI've finished this game recently. Even though it has some great ideas, and it is a good horror experience, there are some things that botthered me.
ReplyDelete1) There is really not a need to explore. You dont have an inventory, so most of the time you will be just trying to get away from the monster, and won't even care to find recording, or notes.
2) Simon doesn't acknowledge some facts about the world and Pathos that you read from interacting with the everiomen. It first stroked me when you find the robot of Carl Semken; finding his body nearby doesn't trigger any new kind of interaction with him. Some more obvious are the chats with Cath about what appened to the world, and where are you; or you want to talk about the monster just behind the door, and you can't.
3) Not being able to control how Simon feels is so un-immersive.
In Amnesia, the protagonist wasn't able to talk, you only hear your voice from memories, and diaries pages. So you are able to feel however you like. But in SOMA, you have a companion, Cath. And it really bothered me that Simon reacts to her as scripted. It doesn't matters if you are mad, happy, or dont even care, you will always react the same, and that makes me feel like I'm really not in control.
Some games knows how to deal with this problem. For example The Last Of Us is a completly linear game that works as a movie, but it so well done that, unless you are a psycopath, you will feel the same way as our protagonist.
This doesn't work in SOMA, because you dont care about Simon, he is kind of an idiot really.