Comments on: From the Vault – The BioShock Pitch

By:

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:50:11 +0000

The guys really care about us don’t you….great stuff

By: sparky878

sparky878 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:37:23 +0000

It’s incredible to see how much the idea of genetic modification vastly differed in the actual game. I for one am glad.

By: senyadraquille

senyadraquille — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:13:35 +0000

wooow, thats amazing, i will never look at BioShock the same, lol. that is soo cool, i loved the idea of floor magnification, also, i know why they decided to but multiplayer in bioshock2 instead of 1. Thanks!

By:

Tue, 24 May 2011 05:02:28 +0000

Nice, Love when things see the light of day

By:

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:43:23 +0000

Definitely interesting to see how things changed from original concept..

By: jendon

jendon — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:56:25 +0000

Very nice! It’s interesting to see how different it turned out being, and to see some things that were initially intended on being in the first that ended up being concepts in BioShock 2 and Infinite. On page 5, the quote at the top from Bernardo is almost Gil Alexander’s messages to Delta verbatim, the description of your mission under “You are in Control” on page 6 is just like DeWitt’s mission to save Elizabeth in Infinite. Very awesome stuff!!

By: carlosspcywenr

carlosspcywenr — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:51:25 +0000

Okay (as I go backward through these vault posts) This is pretty awesome! I like the “Electric Eel”.

By:

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:07:43 +0000

Just like me! I can’t believe how awesome this whole community is and how excited Infinite has got us all.

By: inso77

inso77 — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 04:33:22 +0000

Just found out about the new game and this website. Keep bringing the goodies!

By: opheliaxrolo

opheliaxrolo — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:44:11 +0000

I love this!!!! Thank you for posting this pitch up, it gives me another inccentive for studying interactive media!

By:

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:42:36 +0000

Wow. BioShock definitely changed a lot after the pitch. Thanks for sharing.

By:

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:45:20 +0000

Very interesting, does anyone agree? <3

By:

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:31:02 +0000

the different gun and genotype mutations sound really awesome

By:

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:29:18 +0000

Very…very cool! Thanks for posting this.

By: chaz

chaz — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:55:23 +0000

seeing a games pitch like this is amazing. not something the typical gamer gets to see. thanks for sharing!

By: lowe22

lowe22 — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:31:51 +0000

That’s some really cool stuff right there! Nice! Thanks

By: dlewisnash

dlewisnash — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:05:42 +0000

This is vastly different than what we were finally treated to. I miss the idea of the plasmids disfiguring the character, but I love the influence of Objectivism in the story of the final product.

I never played No One Lives Forever 2 until recently, and it made me wonder: Were the Project:Omega bosses the influence for the big daddies? They look essentially the same, and the original Omega in that game had the mistaken fatherly bond with Cate Archer. It seems too explicit to be a coincidence.

By:

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:26:20 +0000

Wow, that is friggin awesome! It’s interesting to see how many of the cosmetic ideas were dropped, yet many of the conceptual ideas (like gene alterations) were kept.

By: heyimwyatt

heyimwyatt — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:10:53 +0000

It was also cool to read how drastically different the original idea was from what we ended up playing.

By: heyimwyatt

heyimwyatt — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:07:53 +0000

It was really cool seeing all this. To be considered at the Guildhall you have to design a pitch for a video game and by seeing this you given me and I do not doubt you have given other aspiring game designers an idea of how it is done.

By: ruthven

ruthven — Mon, 31 May 2010 15:53:57 +0000

Awesome read. thanks for posting.

By:

Mon, 31 May 2010 15:05:55 +0000

Now that’s neat.
If that was pitched to me, that would so have been made. Immediatly xD
Good thing it was!

By:

Sun, 30 May 2010 00:48:45 +0000

This is amazing, thanks for sharing!

By:

Sat, 29 May 2010 12:22:59 +0000

Some interesting goals and aims there, some ideas sounded great though others such as the multiplayer component I am glad were left out so that I’m assuming you could all focus on other more important things. =P

By: Aleksey_S

Aleksey_S — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:27:23 +0000

Thanks a lot for this post, guys.
Sharing documents like this you do not only help to get deeper the vision of the great games you do, but also help other developers to understand how to pitch your game right.

By: TheLifeGiver

TheLifeGiver — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:42:04 +0000

I Think your impression of and ideas for console’s are too high Tho I respect your opinon but to be blunt console’s have limitaitons and somtimes thing have to be cut in order to keep them within the harware guidelines.

By: TheLifeGiver

TheLifeGiver — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:39:34 +0000

This had to have been one of the best reads in my gaming lifetime thus far.
as a learning Indi dev I get great joy reading things like this. I can also see why a lot did not make the final cut but …… Man the things id give to see this as it was intented come to life if even for a small 4 level demo.

By: Jakkar

Jakkar — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:02:56 +0000

Ah.. From sandbox horror, natural-RPG with mutations instead of stats, you fell to an enjoyable but utterly controlled, repetitive experience, which quickly fell into a deathmatch and a cheesy end-boss.

Bioshock was so much weaker and smaller a game than System Shock 2.

I was so excited, until you took to Rapture.. Generic ‘ethical moment attack!’ little sisters do not make up for no humidity alteration.

And not being able to swim, that was just horrible.

By: flowdango

flowdango — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:24:47 +0000

Thank you for posting this for people to see, as the Bioshock series being my favorite games, it is nice to get the background on what makes this cult classic so amazing!

I love the original idea that you had, it did seem rather ambitious, and what it turned out to be IMHO is a lot better than what I am reading so far in this “bible” of sorts. Not that the concept in here isn’t great, its just that what was done with it in the end is what made the game a legend! I am so excited for more posts in this series of reveals! Thanks! Keep up the great work!

By: dakotareese

dakotareese — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:05:35 +0000

Just want to echo that it would be amazing if a PDF of the entire document were made available.

By: blue_didgeridoo

blue_didgeridoo — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:17:40 +0000

I guess it goes without saying that these things usually morph a great deal along their journey from conception to completion, but it’s nonetheless fascinating to see where they began.

Bioshock is a phenomenal game, and I’m thankful for the insight into how it came to be.

Keep up the great work!

By:

Mon, 24 May 2010 08:11:39 +0000

It’s amazing to see how much BioShock changed throughout its creation. The BioShock from the pitch seems like it could be an entirely new and amazing game itself, to be honest.

By: drstrangelove

drstrangelove — Mon, 24 May 2010 06:13:50 +0000

I joined the site because of this post. The world needs more studios willing to share their creative labors and the ups and downs of the design process as a game concept evolves.The industry needs it..

Thank you and keep it up!

By: Rika

Rika — Sun, 23 May 2010 06:46:03 +0000

In a way, I’m relieved that we did get the Bioshock we know.. and in a way, I’m sad that we didn’t get the game described here. I’d love to read more on how it came to be, and what lead certain ideas to be abandoned for others. Awesome post.

By: theend69

theend69 — Sun, 23 May 2010 02:53:57 +0000

Very admirable and ambitious! really cool and innovative ideas. im amazed at how much was droppd and changed. regardless an amazing game.

By: lordyupa

lordyupa — Sat, 22 May 2010 04:56:37 +0000

I was never quite so saddened as I was when I discovered that Bioshock wasn’t actually going to involve all of the DIY weapons, complex plasmid interaction, autonomous ecology, and environmental control that the pre-Rapture iteration was supposed to have.

In the end, the story and the setting were brilliant, and the gameplay was a bit better than average, but nowhere near as good or as innovative as it should have been. The final product was so massively dumbed down from the initial concept, it’s really a shame.

By: doctorowl

doctorowl — Sat, 22 May 2010 02:44:14 +0000

I’m sure glad you didn’t end up making that game, it sounded crap. Luckily Bioshock turned out really good.

By: IG.Admin

IG.Admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:31:36 +0000

It is possible we may release the entire pitch as a PDF when all the pages have been posted. Stay tuned.

By: kelzow20

kelzow20 — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:48:45 +0000

We all know the game had major changes over the development time. But the final product was shockingly the best.

By: BK2FUT

BK2FUT — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:39:59 +0000

Any chance of a downloadable PDF of the pitch doc.?

By:

Fri, 21 May 2010 22:06:47 +0000

Hugely inspiring and pretty darn informative. I love seeing the pitchwork for projects. Very inspiring!

-Andrew Marathas

By: Beanalby

Beanalby — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:51:06 +0000

Thanks for publishing, I LOVE seeing stuff like this, especially seeing the difference between how a game’s pitched and how it ends up. Might have to finally go pick up Bioshock 2…

By: barney

barney — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:46:46 +0000

Hey Irrational, do me a favour, and stop making dumbed down games for consoles.

By: muskellounger

muskellounger — Fri, 21 May 2010 13:21:15 +0000

Coolest thing I ever read! Now I know more about the jelly-man!

By:

Fri, 21 May 2010 10:35:53 +0000

I love BioShock, but wow, this could have been an incredible game.

By:

Fri, 21 May 2010 08:35:38 +0000

Carlos Cuello Really???? That is one of the most daft computer hero names I have heard.

By: smacky_wolf

smacky_wolf — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:22:44 +0000

It makes me so happy to remember that the team who made SS2 were the people who also worked on Bioshock. I’m so happy Irrational exist again.

By: HighWindXIX

HighWindXIX — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:46:01 +0000

Absolutely fascinating!! I would love to see some of that environmental manipulation make it into a game sometime. Can’t wait to read the rest . . .

By:

Fri, 21 May 2010 04:35:02 +0000

Thanks for posting this it was an awesome read! It is always interesting to see projects in their infancy and see how they change over time.

By: goomba478

goomba478 — Fri, 21 May 2010 02:38:52 +0000

Wow, this is absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing! As an aspiring game designer and artist, this sort of thing is truly the bread and butter that keeps me inspired. Bioshock was an instant classic and a true atmospheric gem, but it’s really incredible reading what it was originally planned to be. Keep up the good work and I wish you guys all the best with future projects!