Home Gaming BioShock creator’s next game sounds almost impossible

BioShock creator’s next game sounds almost impossible

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Ken Levine might not be on top of everyone’s best friend list, especially after he and 2K shut down Irrational Studios seemingly out of the blue last year. Levine has since stayed with the publisher, and is currently toying around with new game ideas with some of the remnants of the BioShock and System Shock team. And so far, it’s all sounding very much like what he’s been trying to achieve for years.

In an interview with Game Informer, Levine spilt the beans on what his next project is going to really focus on. His past endeavours, looking especially at BioShock in particular, have really tried to epitomise character and player agency. The Little Sisters in the BioShock are a good example of how Levine tried to shape player emotion and choice into tangible gameplay mechanics, and it’s what his next game is really all about.

“In the new game, you have very fluid relationships with the characters. They have a spectrum of feeling about you based upon what you do and if you help them or go against them. That changes dynamically, and you can end the game with a character absolutely despising you or somewhere in the middle. The path to getting there doesn’t have seven or eight stops like your traditional branching tree structure. It has potentially thousands of stops with hundreds of thousands of potential states you can be in with all your relationships to all the characters and wants.”

That’s essentially a very high-brow way to look at RPG structures – and inevitably tear them apart to create a new, dynamic character structure. Levine wants character arcs to be created organically as you play, and attributes this to a well-built system that is able to facilitate just that.

“The player now has the ability to facilitate those wants or needs or go against those wants or needs or ignore those wants or needs. The reason I think the system is going to work is because it’s a very organic way to look at a character.”

It does, of course, mean that he and his team need to build a system that creates interesting characters as you play – which means removing narration from the equation entirely. It sounds extremely theoretical and experimental at this point, and I find myself questioning how much of it is actually based in reality. In a word: it’s something Molyneux would promise.

It’s also the only thing we know about the game at this stage, other than the fact that it’ll be built using Unreal Engine 4. Still, it’s high time that Levine broke the silence, and I hope to see more on this ambitious title soon.

Last Updated: April 10, 2015

41 Comments

  1. Kromas is drunk with power!

    April 10, 2015 at 12:02

    Soooo … they are making a Mass Effect?

    Reply

    • Dean

      April 10, 2015 at 12:30

      If it’s underwater again, it could be Bass Effect…

      Reply

  2. oVg

    April 10, 2015 at 12:07

    Nothing is impossible if your name is Rayman 😉

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      April 10, 2015 at 12:08

      Bought this recently. Cant wait to start playing it. But need to finish Bloodborne first.

      Reply

      • oVg

        April 10, 2015 at 12:14

        I cant bring myself around to buy Bloodborne. Its just too darn flipping depressing 🙁
        Too old, I need colour and positive vibrancy in this day of depressing Human behavior captured in an instant thanks to social news media.

        I want more of this.

        Reply

        • oVg

          April 10, 2015 at 12:16

          and this

          Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          April 10, 2015 at 12:19

          Agreed, I’m getting there. After Demon Souls and Dark Souls I feel Bloodborne may be the third strike. Struggling my ass off on a boss and finally killing it is fun but I haven’t even opened FF type-o yet as a result.

          Reply

          • oVg

            April 10, 2015 at 12:32

            People do not realize that the moods that these games bring with them are even more potent than film. Watching The Deer Hunter 3 times in a row is nothing compared to a 5 hour nightly game session with Bloodborne. Those moods subconsciously stay with you into the next day. A kind of slow indoctrination. There is a reason why nobody bothered finishing Dead Space.

            You have no idea how daunting those 30hours were for me when I completed Alian Isolation. I now call it Alien Constipation. I was… constipated for 3 days. Fucking game. I will never go back to that.

            We need a Telly Tubby game free Redeem code to be packaged with these sorts of games.

            As graphics become even more real, so does the atmosphere. Sorry Bloodborne, as flawless as your game is I am too old.

        • Rock789

          April 10, 2015 at 13:06

          Busy playing this again, with the dlc. Such awesome epicness! LOVE this game! Once finished, I shall be playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution again.

          Reply

        • Kikmi

          April 10, 2015 at 14:49

          +1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

          Reply

          • oVg

            April 10, 2015 at 14:55

            🙂

  3. Viking Of Science

    April 10, 2015 at 12:08

    Release date Confirmed: March 2028

    Reply

    • Klipkop1980

      April 10, 2015 at 12:56

      Day one patch of 55TB.

      Reply

      • Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

        April 10, 2015 at 13:22

        Multiplayer to be announced

        Reply

        • Klipkop1980

          April 10, 2015 at 14:35

          Rumors of a PC version.

          Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    April 10, 2015 at 12:09

    Luckily Ken Levine isn’t Molyneux. Even though he has made my s**t list, I’d still like to see what he is planning

    Reply

    • Darren Peach

      April 10, 2015 at 13:14

      I am a Carmack groupie.

      Reply

  5. HairyEwok

    April 10, 2015 at 12:11

    Just think if you could actually get a way to slice actors voices on each word they say in different emotions and build a database upon that, then according to how your playing and what relationship you build the words are placed into a sentence that will create a unique game play for each person playing the game. No other dialogue will ever be the same.

    Reply

    • Skoobaz

      April 10, 2015 at 14:15

      You’re smoking some good shit but that actually sounds flippin awesome!

      Reply

  6. Ryanza

    April 10, 2015 at 12:13

    I still hold that Bioshock is one of my fav games. It was really good. Everything was good about the game. And then they lost me. Bioshock 2, shit. Bioshock Infinite, the story was ok, the shooting was ok, the shotgun was really nice, it felt like the opposite to Bioshock 1 but just more shit. IDK why people praise the game.

    From what I’ve seen from the new game, interesting ideas, might not be the best game, might not even be good, so far meh. But at least they trying something new.

    Now would you kindly, Stop Supporting DRM. And while I’m at it. Would you kindly, buy The Witcher 3 for PC at retail.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      April 10, 2015 at 12:17

      Seriously though. What’s left to play expect Witcher if people didn’t buy games with DRM.

      Reply

      • Lord Chaos

        April 10, 2015 at 12:20

        Agreed.

        Wonder how he would feel if he worked his ares off on a project at work, forgot to lock his computer and some random came by, stole and took credit for his work?
        Then have his boss say, sorry, you’re not getting paid, someone else already finished your job.

        Reply

      • Ryanza

        April 10, 2015 at 12:35

        If people don’t buy DRM then guess what, DRM goes away. The effects of DRM is already starting to show. DRM is going to get much worse. Much worse. The corporations are taking over our rights. We still at the stage where DRM is associated with piracy by many people. Slowly people will start to wake up to what really is going on. There is going to be a fight against corporate world to get our rights back. But we far from that point.

        Everything happens in a circle. The table will turn. Do you think Xbox One would have been Xbox One of today if people bend over and said, we just want to play the games and we don’t mind DRM. Don’t just roll over and take it. Support and spread the word on what people must support, such as The Witcher 3 at retail for PC. Make an effort when needed. It will go along way.

        Don’t Support DRM.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          April 10, 2015 at 12:40

          Before DRM there were CD keys and before that passwords. on page 7 line 9 column B. It’s easier to implement now because of the internet. But the implementation needs a lot of work. Not being able to play day one because of servers not handling the load properly is something that needs a serious look at. Otherwise it’s just protection against piracy.

          Reply

          • Timmy_The_Good_Troll

            April 10, 2015 at 12:42

            Thats not the point. Piracy is still happening rampantly, and all DRM is doing is pissing people off who have paid for the stuff!

          • Hammersteyn

            April 10, 2015 at 12:53

            I did say the implementation of DRM still needs a lot of work. The idea is sound and actually works after the dust has settled after a new games release. Witcher will have no DRM and I can only think that the publishers feels that enough people will buy the game irregardless of the fact that it could be the easiest game to pirate since CD burners came out and the internet was still in it’s infancy here.

          • Timmy_The_Good_Troll

            April 10, 2015 at 12:58

            I still think the effort on DRM is wasted, this has been going on for decades, and the pirates seem to be 1 step ahead, Rather use that time to buy better games and maybe educate people about the effects of piracy. Rather win over their hearts.

          • Timmy_The_Good_Troll

            April 10, 2015 at 12:59

            not buy better games, make better games.

          • Darren Peach

            April 10, 2015 at 13:11

            Agreed.

          • Ryanza

            April 10, 2015 at 13:16

            Because The Witcher 3 is coming without DRM, the game had to be delayed 3 times and bug checked, bug fixed, optimized, the game has to work from start to end without major problems. It has to be checked and checked again.

            If The Witcher 3 was DRM only, the game would have been out long ago with all the bugs, while they make profits and bug fit later.

          • Timmy_The_Good_Troll

            April 10, 2015 at 13:31

            Hasnt that got to do more with CDPR making great games as opposed to DRM free. They could of still make a DRM free version with bugs and had downloadable fixes(thats not DRM, although I know you hate that and there are people who dont have internet)
            BUT I am of course glad they did check it and check it again and hopefully produced a really great games with minimal bugs.

          • Pieter Kruger

            April 10, 2015 at 15:45

            Will the DLC for Witcher 3 also be available at retail without DRM?

          • Ryanza

            April 10, 2015 at 20:06

            No word on that yet. But I do see a Witcher 3 Game of The Year Edition with everything included to be resold at retail coming. I hope that is the case. But I do hope that the DLC will get an expansion pack release at retail.

          • Darren Peach

            April 10, 2015 at 13:07

            Arrrrrrrrrr. You make them soud like a terror threat. Probably very smart bored folks with serious anti establishment views.LOL.

          • Darren Peach

            April 10, 2015 at 13:11

            I reckon the market is massive and DRM is somewhat paranoid yet necessary in some form. Where it went south was with the hourly check it needed. I think that was Sacred 2.

          • Hammersteyn

            April 10, 2015 at 13:38

            That’s a little to strict

        • Darren Peach

          April 10, 2015 at 12:57

          DRM has always been around. The main reason I abandoned PC gaming. DVDs are a prime example with region locking. I think these days their approach is to add incentive to fool us with DLC. The problem is not just about IP protection anymore. It comes down to greed. The music Industry was notorious for this in the past and I reckon the Game Industry has adopted a similar model. Publishers run the show in much the same way Record Labels did so in the past. A pity. Don’t support DRM. I agree.

          Reply

          • Ryanza

            April 10, 2015 at 13:13

            I know DRM since the days I was trying to prove i was 18 in Leisure Suite Larry.
            You right about the music industry. They went so far left against piracy that they lost most of their core customers. The gaming industry is going to end up the same way.

            The studies on the effects of piracy on consumers shows that those who part take in pirated movies and video games, buys more than those consumers who don’t use pirated media. Music doesn’t look good. How long before consumers who pirate stops buying movies and video games.

            The gaming industry is heading the same direction as the music industry and a big crash is coming.

          • Darren Peach

            April 10, 2015 at 13:17

            I hope not.

    • Kensei Seraph

      April 10, 2015 at 13:14

      Would you kindly not try to tell me where to buy my copy of The Witcher 3.
      I have already decided to get mine from GoG.

      Reply

  7. Waynster

    April 10, 2015 at 14:06

    So…. the nemesis system… with allies, that could become enemies… I’m a fan of his work. It will rock.

    Reply

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