Develop conference opened in Brighton with a keynote from four of the principal men behind Bioshock telling the story of how it came together. Creative director Ken Levine explained how Looking Glass’ Ultima Underworld was the formative game for him, because “it was all about immersion, a feeling about being in the world”. Getting a job at the studio was like working in Disney World.

Even then, some of the narrative principles that define BioShock were present: “We didn’t have the fidelity of now but we thought about the whole story,” said Nate Wells, BioShock’s concept artist. “We resolved to show how each corpse died – such as one guy, who before he died was drinking soda and reading porn.” “I called it mise-en-scène,” said Levine. “It was my high school French – there was no end to the pretentious crap I’d come in with – but it was about telling stories without words.” The team explained how characters like BioShock’s Dr. Steinman would have just been puppets without the storytelling that preceded their entrances.

Levine: BioShock Development a “Real Strain”

Obvious was the degree to which BioShock changed through development – the team recollected how its first demo involved what they called the “Eelman”, a monster with no legs. “It’s about as good as it sounds,” said Levine. “Not only could it not move, but it could turn invisible,” admitted Wells. “Its main attack was making you feel awkward.”

“You can’t make a game like BioShock without extensive failure,” said Levine. Wells explained how, to make AAA games, teams can never be satisfied and should be willing to constantly update and reiterate. “Otherwise it’s going to just be product, not art. It gets heated – there was that throwing glasses incident…” he said, referring to an episode just before E3 2006, at which BioShock was first revealed. “I got a little frustrated,” said Levine. “The team had tuned the game to being something that a small company and a $3 or $4 million budget could support, but not what a company like Take-Two could have given us. I had a sense of that and wanted to go to E3 and change the world. I threw my glasses down – what could a nerd do to make more of a statement?”