Bioshock interview @TTLG

[Morgoth]

Speaking of System Shock... I bought a copy on ebay a while back...

 

How the heck do I get a game this old to run?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's a guide plus all the software you need: Clicky

I know I got it to work on my computer, unfortunately I also got stuck with the game just after 15 minutes. Blame grotesque leveldesign.

Edited September 7, 2006 by Morgoth

[Darque]

Awesome

 

Thank you

[mkreku]

I played this game when it was released. Even then the controls were.. quirky. And I played and enjoyed Gothic! You control the character's stance with the numeric keyboard (if I remember correctly) and at no time will he ever be standing in the right pose when you need him to. That's what I remember most vividly from the game.

 

Oh, it's also quite difficult and scary.

[kirottu]

Orginal system shock had atmosphere that only few games have rivaled.

[Slowtrain]

The original System Shock is one of my fave games ever. I played it from start to finish so many many many times...whew! I still have the CD and manuals. I had the strat guide but I gave it to a friend many years ago. I regret doing that now.

 

The only bad thing about SS1 is the clumsy interface and control scheme. If anything caguth you by surprise , your only real option was to put your head down and run away, then get prgranized and come back, since it was impossible (pretty much) to respond rapidly to new events in the UI.

 

In many ways, SS1 was a precursor to Thief, since it really emphasized stealth and sneaking around for much of the game. Of course it also emphasized unloading a Skorpion submachine loaded with Big Slag clip right into the face of a cyborg warrior at point blank range!

 

My kind of game.

 

Here you go: A little bit of the old days! :cool:

[metadigital]

Here you go:  A little bit of the old days!  :cool:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What terrific cover art!

 

Half-Life 2:Episode One

[Morgoth]

Two brand new screenshots!

 

The first one is just terrific!

[Slowtrain]

I still don't like the art style. It looks like a funhouse shooting gallery. Bright primary colors, oversized objects, meh. Hard for me to imagine I'm going to feel any particular fear or suspense in a atmosphere like that. Yay for shootin puppets with a rope gun!

[mkreku]

There's some sort of plastic trend going around in graphic artists brains right now. Bioshock has it (in abundance!) and Gothic 3 has it (not as much, but still annoying). I wish someone would tell those damn artists: "NOT COOL!".

[Morgoth]

There's some sort of plastic trend going around in graphic artists brains right now. Bioshock has it (in abundance!) and Gothic 3 has it (not as much, but still annoying). I wish someone would tell those damn artists: "NOT COOL!".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think that "plastic effect" what you're talking about is just a side effect of using lots of Normal Maps. That's not intentionally, there's just no other way around. The blood looks a bit shiny, I guess they used some specular value for the blood too. If they don't, it would look a bit too flat.

Anyway, I like the art direction and the look of the zombies...very creepy. I don't even want to imagine what they'll yell at you by sight.

Edited September 12, 2006 by Morgoth

[Slowtrain]

It seems like they are going for a steampunkesque look. I'm reminded of some of the tech graphics in Arcanum. I'm not saying the game is going to suck or anything, but the screenies they've shown so far don't do much for me. :|

[alanschu]

Well, the weapons are essentially home made.

[Pidesco]

I've begun to wonder whether the PC in Bioshock, will have a body like in Dark Messiah.

[mkreku]

I hope not. I didn't like it in Thief 3, I didn't like it in the Dark Messiah of Might & Magic demo and I probably wouldn't like it in Bioshock. Having "body awareness" in a game, to me, translates into "sluggish controls". Not a good thing.

[6 Foot Invisible Rabbit]

It works pretty well in Oblivion. I do hope that Bioshock and Dark Messiah have a third person toggle.

[Slowtrain]

It works pretty well in Oblivion.  I do hope that Bioshock and Dark Messiah have a third person toggle.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Oblvion doesn't have body awareness though. Not like Thief 3 did. I thought the body awareness was really cool. Much better than being a disembodied spirit floating across the gameworld with head bob. I'd liek to see more games follow in the spirit of Thief and Fear with increasing your sense of a body.

[6 Foot Invisible Rabbit]

Okay. I thought being able to see your whole body in various camera views is what body awarenes was.

 

If not please explain.

[Slowtrain]

Okay.  I thought being able to see your whole body in various camera views is what  body awarenes was. 

 

If not please explain.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Well, in Thief 3, even when you were in First Person POV, when you moved it wasn't just the camera turning. Your whole body would move and shift with you. SO the body wasn't just there when in 3rd person POV. The avatar woudl actually articulate when you wer ein firtst person. It was rad. Took some getting use to, but I liked it because it felt like you had mass to your body.

Edited September 13, 2006 by CrashGirl

[6 Foot Invisible Rabbit]

Interesting. Could you move the head to look around without moving the body?

[mkreku]

That feeling of mass is what I refer to as sluggish controls. As if everything you did took a split second longer than it had to. It wasn't really slow, just slower.

Edited September 13, 2006 by mkreku

[Hell Kitty]

Interesting.  Could you move the head to look around without moving the body?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Have you played the Dark Messiah demo? Look down and you'll see your body, look to either side and you'll see your shoulders. Terribly exciting.

 

I like the character having a body in first-person, but I don't like the camera moving all over the place.

 

Edit: The strangest use of body awareness would be in Trespasser. Look down and you'll see the player character's breasts. For the sake of immersion and realism, there was no hud, instead you had a heart tattoo on your breast that told the state of your health, making it the only game in which boobie oggling was a gameplay component. And as everyone knows, magic tattoos are more immersive and realstic than a hud.

Edited September 13, 2006 by Hell Kitty

[Pidesco]

I hope not. I didn't like it in Thief 3, I didn't like it in the Dark Messiah of Might & Magic demo and I probably wouldn't like it in Bioshock. Having "body awareness" in a game, to me, translates into "sluggish controls". Not a good thing.

 

I haven't played Thief 3, but I thought body awareness was awesome in Dark Messiah's demo. It didn't feel sluggish at all, just different. I actually hope it becomes standard in all FPSes. I also think Dark Messiah's melee combat wouldn't work without it.

[metadigital]

"One of the reasons I wasn't interested [in System Shock 3] is EA just didn't give a [vulfar term for poopie] about that game", he said, continuing: "I think if EA were to do it, it would've been just a regular first-person shooter with a boss monster at the end".

 

"They [EA] didn't see it as big brand and I didn't want that uphill battle", Levine further explained. Meanwhile, he took the opportunity to praise Bioshock publisher 2K Games.

 

"We have a publisher who cares about this game, and they believe in this kind of game. 2K Games is the company that helped reinvigorate Elder Scrolls [with The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion] and Civilization. They believe in core games", Levine said.

reference

[Slowtrain]

Cool bit there, meta.

 

I really hope this game doesn't bomb like both System SHocks did. Weird how that happens.

 

edit: i really need to work on my speeling. D:

Edited September 13, 2006 by CrashGirl

[metadigital]

I still don't like the art style.  It looks like a funhouse shooting gallery.  Bright primary colors, oversized objects,  meh.  Hard for me to imagine I'm going to feel any particular fear or suspense in a atmosphere like that.  Yay for shootin puppets with a rope gun!

There's some sort of plastic trend going around in graphic artists brains right now. Bioshock has it (in abundance!) and Gothic 3 has it (not as much, but still annoying). I wish someone would tell those damn artists: "NOT COOL!".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Irrational have designed Bioshock too look like that, it's not part of some "trend", modern, artistic or otherwise.

 

Listen to how Mr Levine describes the conceptual beginnings of the world of Rapture, (page 4), below.

...

I think if there's a vibe to the sound, it's how do you create a world where they have advanced incredibly on technology but they did it all in an analog way, instead of a digital way? And that was a really cool space to explore. I remember as a kid, I was always into video games, but before there were video games, I used to go to this arcade by my grandmother in Queens. And they had all these old electromechanical machines. There was this one helicopter game which had a model helicopter on a counterweight, and you'd have to use a joystick to maneuver it over the ground.

 

It was really limited of course, but I remember the feel and the sound effects from it; I think they had several little records inside that they would play at various points, and that's the feel of all the technology in BioShock. It's like this incredibly detailed, incredibly complex stuff, but they don't have a single computer. And because they separated from the world, we can totally speculate as to what they would have created and where their technology would have gone. The genetic stuff is just the beginning, but the whole world of Rapture has its own form of technology that's separated out from the real world. It's science fiction, but in our own real world. It's like happening upon Atlantis in some way.

...

 

While we're there, I think focusing on the graphics is missing the point, again from Mr Levine (same page, above), below.

...

I think the water is one of the most striking things in the game. People always ask me what the technological elements of the game are, and frankly I don't really know, and to some degree I don't really care. We did hire a fulltime water programmer on the project because the water itself is a very important character. The water is the ocean saying "Hey, you know what? I'm coming back and I'm taking this place back from man." And it's constantly weighing on you, and it's a threat on you all the time.

 

You can constantly feel it coming back in, because we don't let you forget that you are at the bottom of the ocean! Every visual effect we do is designed around an emotional hook for me. We use a modified version of the Unreal 3 engine, and we have the great shadows and lighting, and frame buffer effects and the particle system, but everything we're doing is focusing on not just the "wow" factor, but on "What emotion are we trying to illicit?"

...

 

This is the sort of guy I want making games, again, same interview, page 1, below.

We feel as though the first-person shooter genre has not really evolved since Half-Life. If you look at Gran Turismo for example, you can't really go back to playing Ridge Racer after playing Gran Turismo because know you expect that you can tune your car and modify your car. And when you play Grand Theft Auto, you can't really go back and play Stuntman; and when you played Half-Life, you couldn't go back to DOOM. I think, you know, when DOOM 3 came out, we kinda saw that and how it was to go back.

...

Originally the game didn't look anything like it is now. It wasn't this beautiful, unique utopia, but instead it was very traditional looking. We didn't have the little girls and the big daddies; we didn't have that relationship, and it really didn't have the heart of what makes BioShock. So we said that instead of trying to make the whole thing at once, let's try and get one room right. Let's get one character right. We didn't have any monsters or anything like that, so we concentrated on doing one thing at a time. We just worked on it and worked on it until we had one thing right, and that's how the game evolved.

...

page 2

...

The next time we show it, we're really going to be focusing on some of the gameplay stuff. I think our first demo was really about the world of Rapture and the world of BioShock and showing people what we were trying to do on the high level. The next things we'll be showing are the AIs and your interaction with the AIs and the interface, and the user experience. The AI is so critical to this game.

...

Unlike a lot of games where you have generic enemies, any of our characters can have any of the powers in the game. So just like you, they are genetically (modifiable), and really unpredictable. We really did that to try and move away from the standard FPS genre. Because our enemies are spawned dynamically and because they move through the world with their own goals and intentions, we really see all these combined to create a world that exists on its own terms.

...

 

GameSpy 5 September Interview.