"Messing up" was crucial - BioShock dev Related content
BioShock game info
"Messing up" was crucial - BioShock dev News
PC
Xbox 360
PlayStation 3
News
by
Tom Bramwell
BioShock lead programmer Chris Kline has said that "constantly messing up, and pushing dates" is "the only way to make a good game".
Speaking at GDC Paris this week, in comments recorded by Gamasutra, Kline explained that "BioShock should've failed."
"In fact, it did fail a lot, over the course of time," he added, pointing to "big mistakes and corrections and slipped ship dates".
Kline's contention, however, is that Irrational Games - these days known as 2K Boston - wouldn't have enjoyed so much success without learning things the hard way.
Examples include the need to emphasise the game's first-person shooter credentials - something that only really became clear after its first E3 showing - and a decision early on just to remake System Shock 2 with "all the things that kept it from being financially successful".
Like System Shock 2, BioShock debuted to huge critical acclaim - it currently has a Metacritic average of 96 on both Xbox 360 and PC, which means a lot to publishing types - and became the first shooter in some time to win credit for its narrative as well as its ambitious location and mechanics.
Just last week, an associate professor of classical studies at the University of Connecticut in the US said that BioShock was "capable of the depth of artistic-philosophical expression reached by the Iliad in the Choice of Achilles".
We didn't say exactly that, but it was on the tip of Kristan's tongue throughout his review, probably.
BioShock 2, developed by 2K Marin, is currently in development, while a PS3 version of the original is due out this year.
Are you excited about BioShock on PC/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3?
View Eurogamer readers most anticipated games
Related Games
BioShock
Latest Features
-
BioShock Interview [48]
-
BioShock Review [1109]
-
BioShock First Impressions [74]
-
BioShock Interview [45]
-
BioShock Interview [37]
Latest Videos
Exclusive: BioShock comparison video [15] 4 November, 2008
Latest News
-
BioShock 1 due for Mac next month [32]
-
Spanish director in BioShock talks [14]
-
BioShock man working on new shooter [13]
-
BioShock and Oblivion UK bundle dated [25]
-
BioShock to get novelisation [14]
Latest Screenshots
20 August, 2007 [30]
Release Date Out now!
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
Comments: 1-25 of 25 in total
|
nickthegun
24/06/08 @ 08:53
0
"We didn't say exactly that"
Gillen probably did. I was too thick to understand it. |
|
Max_Powers
24/06/08 @ 09:12
0
Already forgot how unique and great an experience playing Bioshock was. Utterly fantastic. More please!
|
|
kangarootoo
24/06/08 @ 09:59
0
That just makes no sense.
Yes we all learn by our mistakes, but if you can someohw magically avoid making mistakes and get things right first time, that is better, surely? I recall some dude I was reading about in some free paper, waffling on about all the accidents he had had on his scooter in the city. By his mind, this meant he was a great rider because he had learned something new every time. In my book, the cop that never has an accident whilst riding is probably the better rider. Bioshock was a great game I might add, but getting there the hard way is hardly to be applauded in principle. |
|
Vertical Stand
24/06/08 @ 10:13
0
@kangerootoo I think this was a conference about how a game comes about, and how they feel in videogame development all your best made plans even one as simple as making System Shock 2 make money can go horribly wrong, but that through that, you test the game, and yourself as a game designer to breaking point, and come out all the better for it.
|
|
actionfitz
24/06/08 @ 10:26
0
system shock 2 wont play on vista :/
was able to borrow it off a mate - cant run it :/ wont even install. gutted. might persevere and nab an older pc somewhere to play it on. :) |
|
0
"I have the 360 version and will buy the PS3 version too just to support the developers and send a message that we need more games like this."
Well that's a good reason to buy the game again, but of course the best reason is because it's going to add the downloadable content from xbox live into the game, and add an extra level and some extra content. |
|
0
"Bioshock was good for one play through, after that it becomes the most boring game ever created for some reason. "
Fair enough, however I'm playing through the game for the second time, and loving it all over again! I'm taking my time, fully exploring the maps, and trying new tactics etc. I concede I'm not looking forward to the damn escort mission again, as that was a pain in the ass, but I'm half way through and loving every second! |
|
ChthonicEcho
24/06/08 @ 10:42
0
"BioShock should've failed."
It did. It was the most overrated game in video gaming history, too. |
|
0
I could barely finish the game once out of boredom, let alone twice. God it was so repetitive. From the third level onward, you'd basically seen everything there was to see, the only reason I continued was because I didn't know it at the time. I swear, bosses that are just the same old splicer with a bit more health? How the hell does anyone play this all the way and not get bored? I don't understand. Maybe people who do are looking for a book more than a game?
|
|
CunningLinguist
24/06/08 @ 13:25
0
Sorry but Bioshock failed to scare me in the same way System Shock 2 did. Maybe I've just gotten older, but I remember having to stop playing SS2 for days just cause I was so scared I'd get hit with a wrench over the head by some crazed zombie sneaking behind me.
|
|
0
It's not 'just' about the scares, as the poster above me implies... even though BioShock has its fair share of them. And suspense. And excitement. And awe. And so on.
BioShock was a masterpiece. It is the only video game that (IMO) has managed to transcend its medium to become much more than a game. Actually, the gameplay - as great as it is - is only a vehicle. A vehicle for a rebuttal to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. BioShock - an argument against objectivism - could have been a philosophical novel or treatise. Instead, they made one of the best games ever.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 24/06/08 @ 20:19
|
|
0
I made what turned out to be a big mistake and decided to play SystemShock2 for the first time while waiting for BioShock to come out.
LOVED SS2 but Bioshock turned out to be far too much of the same thing, only with prettier graphics and less of everything else (scares, suspense, excitement, awe, etc.). And much easier. I mean, it's *impossible* to die in that game. Wtf? |
|
0
Actually, the gameplay - as great as it is - is only a vehicle. A vehicle for a rebuttal to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. BioShock - an argument against objectivism - could have been a philosophical novel or treatise. Instead, they made one of the best games ever.
See? SEE? These people don't want a game, they want a book! Bioshock was just another FPS (with a few gimmicks), and a mediocre one at that. |
|
Vertical Stand
25/06/08 @ 07:57
0
"LOVED SS2 but Bioshock turned out to be far too much of the same thing, only with prettier graphics and less of everything else (scares, suspense, excitement, awe, etc.). And much easier."
Raise an interesting issue goodshape, the way many high profile games today are simply older games made more appealing for gamers, path rom Frequency to Guitar Hero etc, but then many series we think of as an injecting of something new are most likely a result of this 'refining' process, like the Nes and Snes versions of what we now know as Advance Wars, and the Nippon Ichii games that preceded Disgaea. But yeah it is a worrying trend that games are refined on more of a commercial than creative standpoint; "Great game guys, now lets make it again, only this time so that we can turn a profit." |
Comments: 1-25 of 25 in total
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
