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In a State of Bioshock

By Pierre Boudreau

Lately my head’s been swimming in an Art Deco dream, and I’m not alone. The networks are humming with chatter on Bioshock and its beautifully mutated vision of gameplay. The Montreal Chapter of the IGDA was fortunate enough to play host to one of the bees behind the buzz, lead programmer from 2k Boston, Christopher Kline.

Despite a heavy downpour, which was actually quite apropos for the Bioshock aesthetic, the SAT was packedfor the Beenox sponsored night. Community members turned out in droves, hungry for some story behind the story and Kline served up plenty for everyone. He took us down the long and winding road of Bioshock’s five-year evolution from System Shock 2 (SS2) offspring to a wholly unique entity.

“The deepest shooter you’ll ever play”

As with any game, film or other work that so effectively balances art and craft, the process is rarely simple or straightforward. No less than four prototypes were generated before Bioshock found its voice. The first incarnation from October 2002 was a modest sci-fi demo with strong shades of SS2. It shared little in common with the final product other than an underwater setting. The team had found their where, but not their what.

While the design team explored the narrative possibilities of Objectivism and genetics, Kline and his tech crew went back to the drawing board to brainstorm some AI. Inspired by GTA, they sought to achieve an environment that appeared to act independently from the player. Gradually an AI ecology began to take shape that defined the basic roles of the game’s cast but their true characters had yet to emerge. Then, as fate and production requirements would have it, the project was forced into a two year hiatus.

By the time work resumed in the summer of 2004, 2k Boston (then Irrational Games) had begun trading technology back and forth with its Australian counterpart. A code-sharing system was set up with the goal of developing a single ‘shared engine’ geared to a title-specific brand. Hopes were high, but those grand aspirations needed to be backed up with some hard cash.

‘Selling the spiritual successor’

SS2 had been a critical success and a commercial failure; the Bioshock team wanted to build upon the former while avoiding the latter. First, they needed to convince a publisher that sufficient public interest could be generated. A 30 second
pitch demo was put together in two days using the cross-continental engine. It managed to effectively convey the Bioshock vibe despite the lack of any AI, UI, context or even gameplay. Further momentum was provided by a GameSpot retrospective on SS2 that featured some advance press on Bioshock. They got the attention of Take2 Interactive who were looking to build new brands and suddenly found themselves with a full tank of gas. But they still had a long drive ahead.

The next couple of years would be a period of intense growth both for the game and the engine that powered it. As the AIs’ forms matured to match their functions and the art direction moved from demo towards Deco, it soon became clear that the supporting technology had to be taken up a notch or two. As Kline & co. began blending and modifying elements of Unreal, Havoc and other tools, the Bioshock engine (aka Vengeance2) began to resemble the gene-splice hybrids it would later help create.

After several exhaustive months, the team peeled off a vertical slice, a kind of ‘vision demo’ to provide a snapshot of the game’s current state. The game mechanic was progressing nicely and the UI was more or less in place, but Bioshock was still in search of its soul. So, rather than widening their search, the 2k teams narrowed their efforts and focused on getting a single room right. This helped confirm that Art Deco was indeed the direction to go and led to a further push in the animation tech. However, technology was quickly outdistancing story development and the AIs clearly needed something to elevate them above your standard bugs and bots. One notable leap was the transformation of the original slug-like gatherers into the Ricci-esque waifs now known as ‘the Little Sisters’, thereby raising the sympathy level vis-à-vis the player/AI relationship. But with the design in flux, the big picture was still unclear. The solution? Trial by fire.

‘Threat of public humiliation as motivator'

With some advance hype building steam, the team was under increasing pressure to put up or pack up. E3 ’06 provided the arena and Bioshock came out to play. Although largely successful, this latest sneak peek garnered more critical praise than public appeal. But feedback from that event, and later at Microsoft X06, helped underline what the game needed most: to engage the player on a gut level, not just in their head. It began to dawn on the 2k crew that they had to look beyond their circle of friends and well-wishers and find out what the average gamer would like. As the marriage between design and gameplay moved towards greater alignment, a more solid structure began to take shape. However, the need for
more objective input was evident and public focus groups were consulted to keepthe game on track. More pieces began to fall into place and the phrase: “Say YES to the player!” became the prime directive.

With a new course laid in, the AIs truly started to take on a life of their own. Backstory was streamlined, but not abandoned. UI and game mechanics were tailored to a more traditional FPS format without sacrificing Bioshock’s unique feel. Moreover, by looking at the game from the player’s POV, the team was required to develop a strong internal logic for the virtual world: if it makes sense, it should be doable. In short, the result was a more hands-on, user-friendly and ultimately compelling gameplay experience that managed to remain true to the artistic vision.

In closing, Kline offered an emphatic tip of the hat to their automated testing system. He credits the method as their
11th hour saviour and strongly recommended its implementation to all developers present.

All in all, Christopher Kline gave us a highly informative and illuminating presentation. Judging from the barrage of
questions that followed during Q&A, he definitely left people wanting more. Much like the game itself.

View slides from Chris Kline's presentation!
http://www.igda.org/montreal/IGDA-Montreal_Sep07_BioShock.zip

Photos!!

A huge crowd of nearly 300 developers showed up for the presentation.