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As usual, before starting viewing, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with two previous Video devoted to the early concepts of Bioshoka, which we examined in detail before. Today’s video will be the final and most voluminous of the three.
The infinitely long Irrational Games path to a clear understanding of all the main pillars of his new project-long construction gradually began to go to the finish line with the advent of two thousand fifth years. After the signing of a solid contract with the publisher 2K and, as a result of the opportunity to attract the necessary resources to the studio and the important role of specialists played in the future. Whose joint work with the old team under the leadership of Ken Levin was finally able to solve the problems accumulated at once in several key areas. The developers managed to bring to mind the concept of a kind of ecosystem of the world of the game, give the project a unique visual style, find the central topics of the plot of Bioshock and clearly identify the philosophical issues raised by them. Having tied all the components into a single picture of images, gameplay mechanics and meanings that gave rise to the underwater city “delight”.
Typical level card in System Shock 2.
Since the time of System Shock 2, the process of building levels in Irrational Games Games mainly boiled down to the fact that the designers who focused entirely and completely on gameplay have created gross geometry of certain locations. After which the artists had to adapt to these restrictions and try to arrange the resulting areas in accordance with the functionality conceived for them according to the plot. Not the most pleasant legacy of Looking Glass studio projects and their development principles. In practice, this almost always led to the fact that the levels turned out to be architecturally arbitrary, labyrinth -like and similar to each other. Did not follow a certain style and did not show their semantic filling too clearly. And if for the second System Shock, all the actions of which took place on the decks of the spacecraft. Similar difficulties did not play such a huge role, then in their next Irrational projects they tried with all their might to endow each area of the world with unique features and style, tied to the history of the game itself and turn the environment into another narrative tool. The first samples of this approach to location design can be seen even in the design of the deck von Brown and Riquenbaker in the same System Shock 2. The idea was also developed in the Tactical Swat 4 shooter with its non-standard, kind of thematic locations, like the terrible house of the Fairfax-killer and a biochemical laboratory with experiments in genetic engineering. “Bioshok”, in which the story and meanings, according to Ken’s idea, were supposed to be a single whole with the appearance of the world itself was the first full -fledged embodiment of such an approach to the narrative.
And, perhaps, there is nothing strange in the fact that Levin himself helped to resolve the decisions of the suitable artistic style for the same year with the search for the suitable artistic style. During the next visit with the wife of the Rockefeller Center in his native New York, he suddenly realized that this historical architectural complex made in the Art Deco style, with its simple strict geometry, monumental majesty, bright details of the ornament and wealthy interiors are ideal for transferring to the screens of players. Neon lights Radio City Music Hall, Makhina Building General Electric, Rockefeller Plaza herself and atlas statue in the future and really became the main sources of inspiration of the original scenery of the world of Bioshock. Not only laying the basis for its unique visual style, but playing a role in the plot-semantic filling of the project. However, not everything did not immediately work out as it should. The insight visiting Ken, the numerous photos made by him as examples for artists and the understanding of the main direction of work turned the gray industrial corridors of the intermediate version of “Bioshok” into the usual recognizable environment from the first attempt.
Atlant that holds heaven.
The tension that reigned in the team against the backdrop of creative conflicts between the departments of designers and artists this time turned out to be sharp, as ever. And only worsened after the team, thanks to the leader, was finally able to decide on the future visual style of the project. To discharge the atmosphere and somewhat weaken the confrontation of the studio veterans, no surprisingly managed a couple of Irrational recruits who joined the team in late 2005 – early 2006. The designer of the levels of Jean-Paul Leberton and the novice artist Hoga de la Plant, inspired by the only parties arranged all sides, who laid the basis of the entire artistic style of the project, took up a small experiment. In the course, which they for a week closely cooperating and being in constant contact built a small section of the level. The resulting location of just a few rooms (in the future became part of Arkady’s tea garden) was so impressed by Levin that he collected all the participants in the collective declared it the first successful example of the visual standard of “next generation bio -cub” and the main guideline of the appearance and architecture of the entire game space of the underwater city. At the same time, emphasizing the need and importance of the joint work of different units of the studio, the excellent model of which was the initiative of Lebreton and de la Plant. Naturally, this case did not solve all the problems and did not complete the conflicts between the departments, but the presence of the prototype that responding to all requests significantly accelerated their work.
Changed purely utilitarian decks and levels new geometry, design and scale. Many ready -made locations have undergone serious processing, have undergone significant decorative and functional changes. Turning into shopping centers, theater halls, restaurants and industrial areas. At the same time, the levels were constructed, balancing on the verge between the visual-aesthetic side and a levela design, taking into account the gameplay and plot needs of each specific game zone. Decor elements gradually layered on the conditional basis of simple forms, eventually creating a general picture of perception. Assigning the necessary emotional tone and a special mood in a battle with enemies, bending the atmosphere and simultaneously revealing parts of the history of the world itself. The tools of the new engine made it possible to significantly develop this concept and turn literally every area of the game into a kind of theme park of attractions, which, given the bioshok setting, which began to finally formalize it. Taking how much work done by designers and artists of Irrational, as a result, the scenes and scrupulousness in the design of levels (up to the location of corpses and traces that reveal the next picture from the past) about the history of the creation of some areas of the underwater city can completely remove a separate video.
"Bioshok" of a new sample.
Nevertheless, one of the most important results of the completion of the process of searching for the visual self -identity of the project was Ken’s answer to the seemingly simple, but for a long time that was not given to him the question lying in the foundation of the whole history of Bioshock. “For what the hell did someone need to build a city at the bottom of the ocean?"Not too big, isolated due to natural reasons, breathing the place of the main events of the game. Only from the third time, the scriptwriter of the project managed to feel his atmosphere, inspired him with an unusual history and the main actors. Thus, the plot basis, characters, philosophical issues and the ideology of Bioshoka were the result of Levin’s attempt to explain the features of the unique world created by him and his team. Ken practiced at the dawn of his work in the industry, which gave us a completely non -standard Setting of the Thief and one of the most ambiguous, but memorable heroes – Andrew Ryan and his underwater “delight”.
The original impetus for Levin’s thoughts of the brilliant Grand Ivy Casino review industrialist was the same Rockefeller Center. Whose construction, begun in the thirties of the last century, almost turned out to be a failure against the backdrop of exchange collapse and the economic crisis of the great depression. Literally, only the famous American oil magnate John Rockefeller, who was called by the “great man who achieved the construction of the architectural triumph, in the future, took place to continue to finance the construction of the complex in those years. He himself, like his creation, became the first source of inspiration for the image, self -confident, selfish, but with his labor and talent for the best future for himself and the surrounding entrepreneur Andrew Ryan. Counting only on his own strength and does not expect help from the outside.
Construction of the Rockefeller Center.
Many literary works of a utopian and anti -utopian orientation, such as the “flight of Logan”, “1984” and “The Beautiful New World” Haxley, also helped to reinforce this idea in Ken’s thoughts. Although, of course, the main book, when talking about the origins of Bioshock, is no doubt called the cult work of the writer Ain Rand “Atlant’s shoulders” that immigrated in the USA to the USA to the United States to the United States. Whose fate and ideas of objectivism supplementing the image of the billionaire Rockefeller and made the central anthonist of the first part “Bioshok”. Rationalism replaced by altruism;not limited by anyone and in anything, the freedom of personality and creativity;ownership of all the good produced by an individual;Creators-delts standing at the helm of the entire progressive society and state non-interference in free market relations. Principles embedded in the Character of the characters, reflecting her own views and the plot of the book itself, as an attempt to answer the question “What will happen if talented people get tired of carrying the rest of the world on their shoulders?". Titan, who got rid of a heavy burden in the form of morality, subordinate to other people’s commandments and interests on the pages of the novel, was entrepreneur and inventor John Golt.
Having opposed the planned economy and regulation of the market by the so -called “bandits from Washington” this industrialist eventually founded his own, lost in the mountains of the settlement of the Golt Valley. Where everyone lives their own mind, develop talents and knowledge, and do not feed parasites with their own achievements. People are free from each other, but develop and grow together. The market is formed by manufacturers, not consumers. And everyone trades achievements and abilities, not needs. All the inhabitants of the Valley work to satisfy their needs, and not for the profit of bandits that are always in need of help. The objectivist, hypercapitalist paradise of individualism, which served as the basis for the isolated underwater city “delight”, erected in Bioshock Andrew Ryan. As a place for the escape of all talented and enterprising people from religious dogmas, destructive ideologies and the oppression of the authorities, destroying itself the outside world. The features of real entrepreneurs of the United States, the ideas of the characters of the book by Ain Rand and the details of the biography of the writer Ryan himself became the very answer that Levin and his team were fighting for so long. The background and views of this hero helped to finally arrange the appearance and style of locations of a bizarre city at the bottom of the ocean. The ideas and aspirations of the founder of “delight”, in turn, formed the basis of the future conflict of opposite views of the leaders of the opinions of this city. Ideological opponents locked in the utopian paradise, radically configured pests and the main character of the game between the two lights.
Andrew Ryan.
The symbiosis of the visual style of the project and its semantic filling that arose in this way could not but affect its other aspects. In particular, the “delight” of people and other creatures that appeared as a result of genetic experiments, not limited by the usual framework of the great minds of the city. Creations of the hands of scientists who discarded moral and ethical restrictions in their opinion should have to fit as harmoniously as possible into the decoration of the game that changed due to the change in the global style of the global style. And to look believable in this new environment. The idea of Adam, as the most valuable resource in the world “Bioshok”, the source of its occurrence and the consequences of application for endless improvements by people of their appearance came here, and after partial rethinking, finally turned into the fact that we can see in the final version of the game. The visual style selected for the underwater city, with artistic features characteristic of its historical era and the final humanization of enemies made it possible to complete all experiments with their appearance. Leaving a kind of division of opponents into classes, to endow them with the appearance of a particular profession, social status and kind of activity characteristic of people. Mutilated by the constant injections of Adam and the bloody struggle in the underwater hell, into which the city itself turned into. The main sources of inspiration for the images of the new enemies of the protagonist were fashion magazines of the forties, costumes and hairstyles of those years. To demonstrate the terrible consequences of Adam’s regular injections that distorted the appearance of the population of “delight”, pictures of patients of the Facade Project were used as a guideline. Really carried out at the beginning of the last century plastic surgery to restore soldiers of the victims in the First World War. A rather terrible spectacle by modern standards, which perfectly met the needs of Irrational artists.
The first drafts of new enemies.
The last final stroke in settling all the foundations of the project can be called the final choice of the appearance of collectors that are part of the simple ecosystem of the world “Bioshok”. The little sisters, who are the carriers of underwater parasites, not only perfectly approached the role of wards, emotionally attached to them in the person of large dadges, but extremely successfully fit into the game and at the plot-semantic level. Putting a player before a global confrontation between views with an extremely difficult moral choice. Between altruism, the salvation of unfortunate girls, to the detriment of themselves and the selfish rationality of the extraction of great portions of Adam from them for their own benefits. In its own way, a brilliant solution with direct consequences in the economic aspect, which significantly complicates the passage, and in the moral and philosophical context of the entire history. Indeed, according to the initial idea, the extraction of slugs from the sisters and, as a result, their murder was supposed to bring the player an order of magnitude more resources, largely facilitating skirmishes with enemies and promotion by the plot. And the salvation of the girls looked like a rather painful process as a result of which it was unclear whether the main character had a good or subjected them to even greater torment. There was no question of any indifference on the part of the gamer when making such decisions. What is Ken’s team for a long time and achieved.
One of the first designs of the "sisters".
As it is easy to guess such a concept, expectedly raised a lot of questions and concerns, both among the participants of the studio team itself and the publisher who continued to invest in the growing project. To convince Irrational employees that this kind of approach has the right to life, all the same Lebreon helped. Launched on his computer in the studio the first Deus Ex and demonstrating the opportunity to attack and even kill children-NPC in the game. 2K Games, in turn, expressed concern at once for two reasons. Firstly, even understanding the idea of the consequences of a difficult intra-game choice, they flatly refused to release a product in which the player would punish for mercy and the fact that he acts correctly, saving innocent children. Well, and secondly, the very idea in the form of a hunt for a child, who could die in a regular shootout or at the hands of the protagonist, was caused by the alarm. Levin himself went to meet the publisher himself, and the team took up the processing of many game mechanics related to the sisters. Having tried several options, such as the presence of girls, the opportunity to reject the bullets that have hit them, while the player attacks the player, the developers came to the complete invulnerability of the sisters due to the regenerative abilities of the slugs inside them. And to try to extract Adam or save the girls only after victory over the defender. The decision that some members of the team, which nevertheless, had a few discharged the situation. In addition, force the artificial intelligence of daddy and sisters to work, as it should also did not succeed immediately. And this topic has turned into a real headache for the studio for several months for several months. Yes, and the rebalance of the common economy of resources, depending on the choice made by the player, also required some time. After all, the initial importance of this choice and the significance of Adam, as the only currency in “delight” were much more critical.
Unfortunately, these were not the only difficulties that Irrational continued to fight, which determined the basics of her project. Despite all the simplifications and changes that Bioshock has undergone since its first design document, the game of the middle of 2006 was still quite complicated and comprehensive, demanding on the player Immersive Sim. Which was supposed to change the gamers’ gaze to shooters, to force them to delve into the difficult systems of interaction with the world, to study the variability of gameplay and the development of the main character. Each large location of Bioshoka was a sandbox for experiments with a simulation of behavior acting even behind the scenes of enemies in real time, and the style of passing locations depended only on the desires of the player himself and his own imagination. All this was supplemented with completely non -standard gameplay mechanics, a story through the environment, an unusual setting and a serious tone of history, asking a lot of difficult questions. Unfortunately to realize everything conceived at the proper level due to technical restrictions on the engine far from always. A set of tools based on Unreal 2.5 of the first Vengeance Engine on which Swat 4 was created, of course, was significantly expanded. The lion’s share of work on the nucleus, render and effects of Vengeance Engine 2 made the Australian unit of the company. The efforts of Stephen Alexander, the game acquired new shadeers, lighting, shadows and water effects. The main part of the team, meanwhile, was engaged in complex scripts and the behavior of enemies. The leading Irrational programmer John Abercrombi improved artificial intelligence from the previous projects of the studio, expanded its functionality and established the interaction between the characters, including during the battle. Thanks to the gained experience and the changes introduced into the engine, the capabilities and levets-designers have grown up, finding the right approach to organizing gaming zones.
Creating a level on an updated Vengeance Engine.
But regardless of all this, the “bio -shit” continued to be subjected to constant cutting and simplifications. The complexity of a smaller scale, such as the lack of the opportunity to organize full -fledged merchants in the game, managed to get around due to the time -tested vending machines. Harmoniously inscribed in the objective world of “delight” with its not too strict control of small sales. In addition, this allowed each of these machines a unique visual style in the spirit of the forties, and the screaming cries of the invasion of their windows were voiced by anyone else than Ken Levin himself. However, getting rid of much more global problems in such a cunning way has not been possible. Due to technical and temporary restrictions, the developers had to be sized in the size of the area of the forest of Arcadia and the farmer market with its separate side plot branch about the killer maniac, as well as completely abandon the location of the zoo in the fort as a cheerful, which they regretted the most. Although part of the cut objects and elements of the environment, such as the Ferris wheel in the future, was implemented in the DLC Challenge Rooms. The concept of mini-bosses planned for every large area of the city also went under the knife. According to the initial idea, the so -called Savants should have been managed by different areas of “delight”. As a result of endless experiments with Adam, people mutated to the state of intelligent biomass who received names from Greek mythology by the type of femid or Prometheus. A kind of brains in a bank, only much large scale, controlling entire locations. The fighting of the territories was refused due to the struggle with them due to the fact that the battle with this type of bosses in an interesting way, all the more, it was simply impossible several times in a row. True, the echoes of this idea suddenly surfaced in the second Bioshock, but we will talk about this another time.
Part of the rental of a prevalous trailer.
Given that in 2006 2K was already launched and the marketing company of the game of this kind of complexity could not but affect it and on it. Even the hand with a huge drill that became the hallmark of the big daddy barely managed to realize the release of the very first trailer of the project, and the plasmid of insect management in it, then did not exist at all in the form of a full-fledged intra-game prototype. By the way, to work on the next prevalous trailer, a large New York design has already attracted Eyeball, who approached the creation of the video as professionally as possible. With a full-fledgedoste, using the seizure of movements, high-quality installation and directing, telling a separate mini-historia. What is characterized by a rather similar approach before this was professed by Levin himself, preparing Bioshock for demonstration at game exhibitions in 2006. The purpose of creating as many as completely different demo with various gameplay scenarios, directed by Ken personally, was the report to the audience of all the subtleties and diversity of his new project through separate small plots tied to history and unusual gaming mechanics. Looking at the video of those years, it is easy to notice that, despite the similarities that are striking in the eyes of the “bio-shit”, it was a much slower and tactical game, with a serious bias in the horror-component, survival elements, interaction with the environment and artificial intelligence of enemies. Feedback after these demonstrations against the backdrop of the budget continued to grow, including the reason why the publisher expressed concern about the fact that the wide masses of players are unlikely to appreciate the unusual hybrid of genres that they tried to create Irrational. 2K offered to promote the game as a shooter, and Levin to make some adjustments to the project, not too extensive, but somewhat reducing the threshold of entry.
The decision voiced by Ken did not cause in the walls that had already overcome the numerous difficulties of the studio of special excitement. Nevertheless, the team had to listen to the opinion of the players and the publisher. As a result, the pace of gameplay itself increased significantly, and the degree of interactivity of the environment and the impact on the behavior of enemies decreased. As a result of this, for obvious reasons, plasmids called Speed Boosteer and Sanctuary, which created a protective bubble around the player, disappeared, while he hacked and controlled the security system, in the old version, which passed under his control only. Parasitic Healing, which had been the health and Aggressor Irritant, converting any NPC into the enemy of the entire population of the location, were also removed from the enemies. The effect of the use of plasmids in itself, which changed the body of a prone unit in the manner of splaskers, demonstrated in the same first trailer, also only partially reached the release version. In the same period, the team also abandoned bio -weapons – a home -made gun collected from improvised means and firing various toxins. Some of its functions took on individual plasmids, and some migrated to a chemical sprayer. Many other not very noticeable changes were made to the game, mainly focusing on simplification of gameplay and behavior of enemies.
"Bioshok" of the sample mid 2006.
Aggravated the whole situation with the ongoing alterations and difficulties with the technical embodiment of many ideas that took place in Irrational Games at all levels for several years of internal conflicts. Confrontation between the old team members and who continued to replenish the group of newcomers. Some of the developers who tried to pull the blanket over themselves, introduce their ideas and indicate their own authorship on certain details of the project. Levin’s unusually large studio did not immediately organize the correct work, only in the later stages of development, which systematized all the information about the project, the full -fledged picture of which has existed for a long time, only in his head. Ken’s democratic approach to employees’ experiments and general discussions on bringing fresh ideas. Ending that the head of Irrational had to almost defend his own vision of the game with a battle. Regular talks of high -colored tones with the leading designer of the project Paul Hellquist, who called into question, cast doubtfully, the Levin’s abstracts ended with the fact that the floor was simply closed to all employees’ meetings. Feeling responsibility to the publisher, players and members of the team, Ken tried to balance on the verge to release the highest quality, original product. But even despite all this “bio -shit”, nevertheless, he continued to confidently move towards the release, and Levin’s involvement of almost every employee in the development process, which was instilled in the team, played the least role in this.
The decisive moment of the game, which was released in the finish line of the game, was the closed tests in January 2007. The results of which turned out to be just catastrophic. There are entirely negative reviews and negative criticism, hoping for the best employees of Irrational, took to heart very close. The testers stated that the game turned out to be too gloomy, and many of them could not even understand where her events were taking place. Not realizing how they got there and not feeling any connection with the main character. The Atlas, voiced with the accent of the southern states, did not have a confidence in them, and the story itself seemed too muddy and unclear. In addition, many gameplay mechanics reinforced with developers for years and, in their opinion, quite intuitively understandable, were simply not used by players. Due to the absence in the “bio-shock” of the sample, the beginning of two thousand seventh of their presentation or presentation to the player. All this flurry of negativity hit the command very painfully, but as it turned out, it only rallied the team and those, swallowing the insult and putting up their sleeves, began to correct their mistakes. What did it help them a lot at the time that designer Jordan Thomas just joined the rows of Irrational.
Welcome to the release version.
In the shortest possible time, all lighting and effects were subjected to total processing. In fact, stepping on the throat of their song, the developers introduced the markers of tasks into the game and added an arrow pointing to the current goal in the upper part of the screen. Brought to mind management and user interface. The Atlas character was completely re -sounded with an Irish accent, and for a smooth introduction of a player in history in Bioshock, an opening Kitstzen with a crash of aircraft appeared. Inspired by one of Ken’s favorite television series – “stay alive”. A lot of time was spent on the rebalance of weapons and plasmids, their gradual introduction in the gameplay and the explanation of all non -standard mechanics. For the last efforts of Robb Waters, small tutorials with training on their use were added at all. Over time, by the way, they have become one of the recognizable bright details of the series. Improvements and corrections lasted several months, but the following tests made it clear that the situation has improved radically, and the feedback from the players was almost completely positive. And Levin’s team’s confidence in success began to grow.
However, the entire team had to be laid out in full. Against the background of all previous failures and conflicts of departments in the studio at the initiative of Ken, at first the six -day, and later seven -day working week was introduced. Many employees spent the night in the office and did not leave its walls for many days in a row. Wild processes and an incredibly tense atmosphere in the team brought hostility inside the team to the limit. Those who were afraid for the final result of many years of cooperation 2K, regardless of the fact that the project budget by that time had grown up to twenty -five million dollars, entered the Irrational position and agreed to transfer the release of the game for three months. That, however, did not help to defuse the situation, but only extended the hellish torment of all employees of the company who worked without days off for almost one and a half weeks. Everything ended in the twenties of August, all the same 2007, when the long -suffering and the creators of the innumerable number of nerves and the tension of all the forces of Bioshock finally saw the light. Playing a key role in the fate of many of the developers of this game and the Irrational Games studio itself, which had very long -lasting consequences. But about what happened in the end, what the brainchild of Levin appeared before the players and his influence on the game industry, we will talk already in a separate video dedicated to the analysis of the game itself.
