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[Inuhanyou]

My guess is we'll never see another bioshock, but instead spiritual successor by Ghost Story just as Bioshock was a spiritual successor , which is just as well

 

[Obliterator]

Yeah reading the slight available info from this game and eat they've been hiring for it certainly seems like a spiritual successor to Bioshock and not an actual entry in the franchise.

 

[gabbo]

I guess i'll never see another Freedom Force then, huh Ken?

 

[gfxtwin]

That's sort of what I'm getting at. When you read about the production of BioShock, it's fascinating how their ideas began to take shape. How they discovered their art deco motif because the shapes didn't require a lot of polygons, about how Little Sisters went from slugs to chipmunks to human girls, about how Rapture went from an island research lab to the city we came to know, it's clear that it all came to fruition because of tons of hands on the pottery wheel. The end result was something really amazing.

With BioShock Infinite, you hear some similar stories. How it started as horror, how there were more robotic enemies, how Elizabeth was a mute older woman, and the plot inspirations from The Wizard of Oz, and you hear about how Levine very unceremoniously would throw all this stuff away. He said that, somewhere in the scrapped ideas, there was enough content for six games. And I really get the impression that he had a lot of control about what did or didn't go into Infinite, and in the end, I think it really fell short about what it tried to accomplish. From purely a gameplay perspective, there's absolutely nothing that appeared in any of the extended gameplay demos and showcases that ended up in the final game.

So was Infinite a result of giving an auteur too much control? Would Infinite have turned out better if he had a little bit less of a influence? Was BioShock 1 a success because he hadn't made a name for himself yet? BioShock 1 feels like a game where he was constantly challenged, BioShock Infinite feels like a game he was not.

I hope I'm expressing myself clearly. I'm at work and it's really hard to go into the detail I want to. Hopefully you get what I mean. In the end, it's all just conjecture. But I see BioShock Infinite as a game made by Ken Levine and I see BioShock 1 as a game made by a team.

I didn't know Infinite went through so many changes during development, really, really cool/interesting. Yeah, he didn't have as much directorial input on Bio1, so you might have a point there. Just found out recently that he wasn't even the game director of Bio 1 - mainly he was a story/scenario writer. The first is still the best by far in my eyes. More impactful story, more enjoyable gameplay, setting, etc. Only thing is it kinda sucks how they cut so much out of the final game (mainly creature designs). Given how much effort went into making rapture a dynamic ecosystem and whatnot, it could've been even more than it was. Seemed like they had finished character models and everything. Creative decision? Tech restraints? Deadlines? In the end who knows why they couldn't put all that stuff in the final game, fun to think about though.

 

[Dream_Journey]

Mr. Ken, if you think about to do a trilogy or something, please this time write before the game sells well so this time we can see the connections from the beginning.

Spoiler

Where was Elizabeth or any proof in Bioshock 1 about that twist, Ken? Please... :F And also hope no bullshit like first Infiite shown.

Very excited!

 

[Bedameister]

Hype level increased from 0 to over 900 in less then a second. I'm already looking foreward to this more than almost anything else.

 

[gbpackers25]

Very excited for this! Ken is my favorite game designer so I cannot wait to see what they've been working on for all this time!

 

[Bulby]

If only they would release games as often as they change names! Wahey!

But seriously, love this man's work.

 

[_Aaron_]

Don't think I've seen a thread/post on this yet, Ken did a talk about his career at EGX Rezzed a couple of days ago. He talks a bit about the new studio and project. I found it pretty interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHkZQBilEXk

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Judging by this job posting, Ghost Story Games debut will be "a creatively ambitious project in the immersive sim genre." The team's just under 30, and it's running in UE4.

Rummaging around 2Ks LinkedIn, they just hired Scott Sinclair from Irrational and have big guns like Jonathan Pelling and Corey May doing something for them under that 2K roof.

Edit: this little tidbit from their FAQ page is notable: Are you working on a BioShock game? No, we are not working on a BioShock Game.

 

[dr_rus]

Edit: this little tidbit from their FAQ page is notable: Are you working on a BioShock game? No, we are not working on a BioShock Game.

Makes sense as Bioshock is not an immersive sim.

 

[IbizaPocholo]