Editing BioShock (section)

===Game design===
Lead developer Ken Levine had created Irrational Games in 1997 out of former members from [[Looking Glass Studios]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioshock/707256p1.html |title=GameSpy: ''BioShock'' Preview |date=May 10, 2006 |access-date=November 4, 2007 |publisher=Gamespy |first=Li C. |last=Kuo |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030124504/http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioshock/707256p1.html |archive-date=October 30, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/556/556421p1.html |title=IGN ''BioShock'' Interview |publisher=IGN |date=October 4, 2004 |access-date=October 7, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315134513/http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/556/556421p1.html |archive-date=March 15, 2009 }}</ref> Their first game was ''[[System Shock 2]]'', a sequel to Looking Glass's ''[[System Shock]]'', and was met with critical success, though it did not prove a financial one. Levine had attempted to pitch a sequel to ''System Shock 2'' to [[Electronic Arts]], but the publisher rejected the idea based on the poor performance of the earlier game.<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/> Irrational developed other games, including ''[[Freedom Force (2002 video game)|Freedom Force]]'', ''[[Tribes: Vengeance]]'', the canceled title ''Deep Cover'', and the completed ''[[The Lost (video game)|The Lost]]'' which was never released due to legal complications. At this point, Levine wanted to return to a game in the same style as ''System Shock 2'', a more free-form game with strong narrative.<ref name="eurogamer truestory">{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-04-17-the-true-story-of-bioshock |title=Rapture leaked: The true story behind the making of BioShock |publisher=[[Eurogamer]] |date=April 17, 2014 |access-date=April 22, 2014 |first=Simon |last=Parkin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421234418/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-04-17-the-true-story-of-bioshock |archive-date=April 21, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="edge history">{{Cite magazine | url = http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-bioshock/ | title = The Making Of: BioShock | date = July 23, 2012 | access-date = November 1, 2016 | magazine = [[Edge (magazine)|Edge]] | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531030452/http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-bioshock/ | archive-date=May 31, 2013 }}</ref>

In 2002, the team had come up with a core gameplay mechanic idea based on three groups of forces: drones that would carry a desirable resource, protectors that would guard the drones, and harvesters that would attempt to take the resource from the drones; these would eventually bear out as the Little Sisters, Big Daddies, and Splicers in the final game, but at the time of the concept, there was no set theme.<ref name="edge history"/> They began working on creating a setting as to be able to pitch the idea to publishers.<ref name="edge history"/> A 2002 demonstration version was based on the [[Unreal Engine 2]] for the [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]].<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/> This demonstration was primarily set aboard a space station overtaken with genetically mutated monsters; the main character was Carlos Cuello, a "cult [[Deprogramming|deprogrammer]]"—a person charged with rescuing someone from a [[cult]], and mentally and psychologically readjusting that person to a normal life.<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/><ref name="shacknews original story">{{cite web|url=http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/48731 |title=Levine: ''BioShock'' Originally About Cult Deprogrammer (Updated) |date=August 30, 2007 |access-date=August 31, 2007 |first=Chris |last=Remo |publisher=Shacknews |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235653/http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/48731 |archive-date=September 26, 2007 }}</ref> Ken Levine cites an example of what a cult deprogrammer does: "[There are] people who hired people to [for example] deprogram their daughter who had been in a lesbian relationship. They kidnap her and reprogram her, and it was a really dark person, and that was the [kind of] character that you were."<ref name="shacknews spoiler interview">{{cite web|title=Ken Levine on ''BioShock'': The Spoiler Interview |url=http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=539 |date=August 20, 2007 |access-date=August 31, 2007 |first=Chris |last=Remo |publisher=Shacknews |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016213627/http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=539 |archive-date=October 16, 2009  }}</ref> This story would have been more political in nature, with the character hired by a [[United States Senate|Senator]].<ref name="shacknews spoiler interview"/> The team collectively agreed that this game was not what they had set out to make, and were having trouble finding a publisher.<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/> Levine found that publishers were wary of [[immersive sim]]s as they did not sell well.<ref name="pcgamer edge 400"/> They considered ending development, but as news about their efforts to create a [[spiritual successor]] to ''System Shock 2'' began to appear in gaming magazines and websites, the team opted to continue development, performing a full revamp.<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/>

By 2004, 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, offered to publish the game primarily based on the drone/protector/harvester concept, giving Irrational the freedom to develop the story and setting.<ref name="edge history"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ign.com/articles/2008/10/29/13-scariest-games-of-this-generation?page=4 |title=13 Scariest Games of this Generation |date=October 29, 2008 |publisher=[[IGN]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808052223/http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/10/29/13-scariest-games-of-this-generation?page=4 |archive-date=August 8, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/01/08/the-return-of-irrational-games.aspx |title=The Return Of Irrational Games |date=January 8, 2010 |publisher=[[Game Informer]] |access-date=January 20, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111215144/http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/01/08/the-return-of-irrational-games.aspx |archive-date=January 11, 2010 }}</ref> By this point, the story and setting had changed significantly, taking place in an abandoned World War II-era Nazi laboratory that had been recently unearthed by 21st-century scientists. Over the decades, the genetic experiments within the labs had gradually formed themselves into an ecosystem centered on the three groups.<ref>{{cite web | title = BioShock First Look – Exclusive First Impressions | url = https://www.gamespot.com/articles/bioshock-first-look-exclusive-first-impressions/1100-6110044/ | date = October 10, 2004 | access-date = August 2, 2008 | first = Andrew | last = Park | publisher = Gamespot | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141106120001/http://www.gamespot.com/articles/bioshock-first-look-exclusive-first-impressions/1100-6110044/ | archive-date = November 6, 2014 | url-status=live | df = mdy-all }}</ref> This version included many of the gameplay elements that would remain in the final ''BioShock'', themselves influenced by concepts from ''System Shock 2''. These elements included the use of plasmids and EVE, the need to use stealth or other options to deal with automated security systems, direction through the environment from a non-player character relayed over a radio, and story elements delivered through audio recordings and "ghosts" of deceased characters.<ref name="multiple">{{cite web | url=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/bioshock/news.html?page=1&sid=6150533&tag=result;title;0 | title=E3 06: ''BioShock'' Gameplay Demo Impressions | publisher=Gamespot | date=May 10, 2006 | access-date=November 4, 2007 | author=Brad Shoemaker and Andrew Park | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127063056/http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock/previews/e3-06-bioshock-gameplay-demo-impressions-6150533/ | archive-date=January 27, 2012 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/08/21/bioshock_gameplay_review/6 |title=''BioShock'' Gameplay Review&nbsp;– Overlooked details |access-date=November 4, 2007 |date=August 21, 2007 |first=Joe |last=Martin |publisher=Bit-Tech |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011122106/http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/08/21/bioshock_gameplay_review/6 |archive-date=October 11, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/bioshock1.php |title=''BioShock'' Interview |publisher=Gamebanshee |date=June 13, 2007 |access-date=November 4, 2007 |first=Jon |last=Birnbaum |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011195300/http://gamebanshee.com/interviews/bioshock1.php |archive-date=October 11, 2007  }}</ref> The funding provided by 2K Games in 2004 was a "modest budget", according to Levine, and when Irrational was acquired by 2K in 2006, the publisher put in a much larger set of funds to complete the game.<ref name="pcgamer edge 400">{{cite web|last=Stanton|first=Rich|date=July 15, 2024|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ken-levine-says-bioshock-was-almost-cancelled-after-going-over-time-and-over-budget-while-all-publishers-cared-about-was-that-these-games-dont-make-any-money|title=Ken Levine says Bioshock was 'almost cancelled' after going over time and over budget, while all publishers cared about was that these games 'don't make any money'|website=[[PC Gamer]]|access-date=July 15, 2024|archive-date=July 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240715181942/https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ken-levine-says-bioshock-was-almost-cancelled-after-going-over-time-and-over-budget-while-all-publishers-cared-about-was-that-these-games-dont-make-any-money/|url-status=live}}</ref>

While the gameplay with the 2004 reveal was similar to what resulted in the released version of ''BioShock'', both design and story changed, consistent with what Levine says was then-Irrational Games' guiding principle of putting game design first.<ref name = "shacknews original story"/> These areas were also issued due to some internal strife and lack of communication between the various teams within Irrational, part of the result of having to expand the team from six to sixty members for the scope of the project.<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/> The environment was considered bland, and there were difficulties by the team's artists to come up with a consistent vision to meet the level designer's goals.<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/> A critical junction was a short experiment performed by level designer Jean Paul LeBreton and artist Hoagy de la Plante, setting themselves aside to co-develop a level that became part of the "Tea Garden" area in the released game, which Levine used as a prime example of a "great ''BioShock'' space", emphasizing the need for departments to work together.<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/> Levine found that the cyberpunk theme had been overplayed considering their initial reject from Electronic Arts for ''System Shock 3'', leading towards the underwater setting of Rapture.<ref name="eurogamer truestory"/>

The game's lead level designer was Bill Gardner.<ref name="gamasutra">{{cite web |last1=Francis |first1=Bryant |title=Would you kindly join us and BioShock designer Bill Gardner today at 3PM EST? |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/would-you-kindly-join-us-and-i-bioshock-i-designer-bill-gardner-today-at-3pm-est- |website=[[Gamasutra]] |date=September 16, 2016 |access-date=May 30, 2019 |archive-date=November 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121120245/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/281521/Would_you_kindly_join_us_and_BioShock_designer_Bill_Gardner_today_at_3PM_EST.php |url-status=live }}</ref> He cited [[Capcom]]'s [[survival horror]] series ''[[Resident Evil]]'' as a significant influence on ''BioShock'', stating there are "all these nods and all these little elements that I think you can see where ''Resident Evil'' inspired us". The team were particularly influenced by ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', including its approach to the environments, combat, and tools, its game design and tactical elements, its "gameplay fuelled storytelling" and inventory system, and its opening village level in terms of how it "handled the sandbox nature of the combat" and in terms of "the environment".<ref>{{cite web |title=How Resident Evil 4 Influenced BioShock |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/us/games/bioshock/268610/how-resident-evil-4-influenced-bioshock |website=[[Den of Geek]] |access-date=May 30, 2019 |date=October 29, 2018 |archive-date=November 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121120245/https://www.denofgeek.com/games/how-resident-evil-4-influenced-bioshock/ |url-status=live }}</ref>