Ken Levine, the creator of BioShock and BioShock Infinite, told the world about a year ago that he wanted to move away from AAA game development and onto something smaller. Yesterday, he finally opened up about the game, encouraging his Twitter followers to ask him anything and everything about it. Levine was still quiet about some subjects, but we know a lot more about the developer’s next game now than we did before:
1:25 PM: [W]ill it be first person or third? Current thinking is first.
1:26 PM: It’s a new universe, not set in any existing.
1:35 PM: We’re playing with something sci fi. Or sci-fi ish.
1:37 PM: [V]oice actors. But have to write them very differently so smaller chunks recombine in meaningful ways. Lots of headscratching.
1:49 PM: Still sticking to 3 act structure? [N]o don’t think that’s relevant in what we’re doing. [I] think more like chapters.
1:51 PM: A game with replayable narrative that can be added IN to like a [Civ] expansion pack, vs. say a Burial at Sea. [Responding to a question asking what he hoped to achieve in the long run.]
2:00 PM: [M]ovies that inspired this project? –Stylistically, yes. Been looking at formalism a la Kubrick and Wes Anderson.
2:00 PM: [N]ot really, because it’s add IN, not add on. Think [Civ] expansion packs. [Responding to a question asking if it’ll be episodic.]
2:04 PM: As of now, developing for [PC].
2:24 PM: High level of replayability. Or we have to substantially re-think.
2:46 PM: [I] think small open worldish (but not necessarily outdoors) [RPG] with quest structure coming from passion system. [Responding to a question about what the actual game will be like.]
So there you have it. Levine is working on some kind of chapter-based (but not episodic) RPG set in an original science-fictional world that will have a high level of replayability. Also, it’s not going to be revealed during this year’s E3 Expo because that’s not how he wants to show his game to fans for the first time.
Like I said, it’s not much, but it is something to chew on for now.
