Meet Ryan Frandsen, our new BioShock Fan of the Month!

Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Favorite BioShock Moment: My favorite BioShock moment is actually the first 10 minutes of the game. That introduction to Rapture blows my mind every time I see it.

Most Prized BioShock Posession: My most prized possession involving BioShock is the Ultimate Rapture Edition, I love how the first one has a museum included with info I didn’t even know about until now.

First Game Ever Played: The first game I ever played was Sonic the Hedgehog, I was 2 years old. My cousin had it and when she walked away from the SEGA Genesis, I picked up the controller and just pushed every button. That first level music was in my head ever since.

Want to be the next BioShock Fan of the Month? Click here to find out how!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for the latest on all things BioShock Infinite.

Say hello to Eileen Meng, our newest BioShock Fan of the Month!

Location: Quito, Ecuador

Favorite BioShock Moment: Apart from thinking that the dialogue of all splicers is incredibly funny and interesting, I love it when you are surprise attacked by either a spider splicer  or houdini splicer. That really gets my hair raising and blood flowing.

Most Prized BioShock Posession: Apart from the games themselves I would have to say: my Bioshock Original Soundtrack! Even when I´m not playing I can still be surrounded by Rapture.

First Game Ever Played: Bart Simpson´s Escape from Camp Deadly on the old school Game Boy when it just came out….that kind of makes me feel old.

Want to be the next BioShock Fan of the Month? Click here to find out how!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for the latest on all things BioShock Infinite.

Here’s how it works: Irrational Games staff will be walking around the show floor of PAX East all day Saturday on the lookout for BioShock- and BioShock Infinite-themed cosplayers. If you get spotted in costume—you’ll receive a wristband with everything you need to know.

This is your chance to finally show off that costume you’ve been working on all winter long. What better way to get a little recognition for it? Keep in mind, there’ll be some stiff competition, so make sure you bring your A game. How else do you expect to win?

What’s that? Don’t have a costume yet? PAX East is a few weeks away so get going!

Here’s the City in the Sky trailer, and a look back at last year’s cosplay competition for inspiration.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Looking forward to seeing all you cosplayers at PAX East. Good luck!

For the latest updates, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

Meet Peter O’Donoghue, our new BioShock Fan of the Month!

Location: Montreal, Canada

Favorite BioShock Moment: My favorite moment in BioShock was meeting the dentist in his foggy office, my heart nearly exploded upon turning around after grabbing that tonic.

Most Prized BioShock Posession: Obviously my most prized BioShock related possession is my own skin, I had Jack’s chains done in late 2010 after a few years considering how dedicated to gaming I was.

First Game Ever Played: The first game I ever played was Rise of the Triad on my neighbor’s PC waaaaaay back in the early 90s.

Want to be the next BioShock Fan of the Month? Click here to find out how!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for the latest on all things BioShock Infinite.

Meet Kimberly Hanna, our very first BioShock Fan of the Month!

Location: Austin, Texas

Favorite BioShock Moment: Every time I stumbled across a hidden tonic and immediately became on-edge thinking surely something was about to scare the heck out of me. Always ended up laughing at myself, or having others laugh at me!

Most Prized BioShock Posession: My BioShock game of course!

First Game Ever Played: Duck Hunt on the NES! And so the addiction began…

Want to be the next BioShock Fan of the Month? Click here to find out how!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for the latest on all things BioShock Infinite.

BioShock was selected to be one of 80 video games featured at the exhibit, which Melissinos and his team first culled the entire catalog of gaming down to 240 titles they felt represented not just visual artistry, but technical mastery and narrative. From that large list, the museum polled the public for what should be included in the final exhibition. “I looked for games that ran the gamut of art, social commentary, storytelling and artistic license, and BioShock combined these elements in new ways,” said Melissinos.

“The thought of seeing BioShock on display next to Georgia O’Keeffe and Thomas Hart Benton is, well, humbling,” said Ken. “The fact that gamers put us there makes it all the better.”

The exhibit opened Friday, March 16^th with a series of opening activities dubbed “GameFest”, which includes a keynote from Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, and a panel on the future of video games featuring Ken; Paul Barnett, Creative Director for Mythic Entertainment; Mark DeLoura, ex-THQ VP of Tech and Kellee Santiago, co-founder of  thatgamecompany.

An interview with Ken will be featured as part of the exhibition, but you can take a sneak peek here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Irrational Games’ staff will be walking the show floor all day Saturday in search of BioShock- and BioShock Infinite – themed cosplayers.  If we spot you — and if we think your costume is awesome — you’ll be given a wristband with instructions on how to attend the meet-up. This is your chance to become immortalized in our costume hall of fame.  As an added bonus, G4’s X-Play will be there with their cameras to capture the festivities so  make sure you’re TV ready!

We’re excited to see what our fan community comes up with, but one thing’s for sure: you’ll have to dress to impress. Only the best costumes will get the nod!

Hope to see you there!

As you can see, Xander put in quite a bit of care while making these, mixing and matching parts while improvising for the rest. The end result isn’t just any army, it’s a formidable force straight out of the depths of Rapture. Be sure to head over to The Warhammer Forum to get a deeper look at all of Xander’s work, while finding out all the details on how these modded miniatures were created.

Originally, we planned for 1st and 2nd place winners in both categories but due to lack of submissions in the BioShock Infinite category we have no 2nd place.

Category: BioShock Infinite

1st Place

Character: Elizabeth (Game Informer cover variation)

Submitted by:Katherine J.

———————————————————————————————-

Category: Original BioShock

1st Place

Character: Plaster Spider Splicer

Submitted by: Rachel B.

2nd Place

Character: Baby Jane Splicer

Submitted by: Fiona D.

We stumbled upon this first piece on DeviantArt featuring Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite – while it’s a simple portrait, all the care and fine detail DeviantArt user Huzaa put into this depiction of Columbia’s mysterious young lady makes it truly shine.

Another piece of artwork arrived at the Irrational Games offices, this time, in the form of a poster. Created by Irrational fan Dan Lebl, this a piece is inspired by the propaganda imagery found within BioShock Infinite, and it’s focusing on events that occur prior to the events of the game. Needless to say, we were wowed when this arrived at the office.

You may have seen our final piece a few weeks back – it’s a vinylmation replica of Andrew Ryan from BioShock, created by custom toy artist Joe of War. As it turns out, this vinylmation version of Rapture’s head honcho was actually commissioned by an Irrational fan as a gift for Irrational’s Ken Levine, which he received at this year’s New York Comic Con. It’s now proudly displayed for all at Irrational Games to see.

Take a look at the new episode of Off Book from PBS Arts and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

As you can see, this blank figure has been masterfully transformed into none other than BioShock’s Andrew Ryan. What’s better is that joeofwar even went so far as to recreate Ryan’s final moments on the back of this custom Vinylmation figure. “The back of the head is Andrew Ryan’s ‘death mask.’ A little bloody and rugged for a Mickey, but I love how it turned out,” says joeofwar. “Ocean water surrounds the mask. The back of the left ear stands for Rapture – the underwater city Andrew Ryan thought up. The back of the right ear is a certain achievement you get in the game. A golf club comes in handy here.”

If that’s not enough, joeofwar also has a companion for old Mr. Ryan: Sander Cohen, making for a great addition to his collection of custom figures.

Care to see more of these custom Andrew Ryan and Sander Cohen figures? Click here to see the full thread and the entire picture collection in the forums.

UPDATE: The Irrational Games Halloween 2011 Costume Contest is now over. Thanks to everyone who entered!

It’s that time of year again. The time when we all decide to turn pumpkins into art, collect candy from complete strangers, and don various, exotic costumes, all in the name of fun. We’re talking about the time honored tradition of Halloween, of course, and Irrational Games is pleased to announce its first ever Halloween costume contest for our fans! We’ve got some delightful treats in store for our costume contest winners through our two contest categories: Costumes from the original BioShock and costumes from BioShock Infinite. Each category will have 1st and 2nd place, for four winning contestants in total.

To enter e-mail a picture (.jpeg format under 8MB) of yourself in your costume to costumecontest@irrationalgames.com. Please include the following in your e-mail:

• Your name
• E-mail address
• Date of birth
• Phone number
• Which Category you are entering (BioShock 1 or BioShock Infinite)
• Name or title of character you are portraying

All entrants must read the OFFICIAL RULES (click here for rules) and agree to them by entering a submission in the contest.

We will be accepting contest submissions until November 8, 2011 at 12:00pm ET.

Entries will be judged by Irrational Games staff on Costume Execution and Incorporation of BioShock themes.

We will notify winners on November 9, 2011 via e-mail (winners have 5 days to respond) and will be announcing the official winners on November 14,2011.

Here’s what you could win!

• 1st place winners will receive a signed Murder of Crows Vigor bottle.

• 2nd place winners will receive a signed lithograph.

On Saturday, October 15th, BioShock creator Ken Levine and BioShock Infinite actors Troy Baker (Booker DeWitt) and Courtnee Draper (Elizabeth) will be at New York Comic Con for a fan signing in the North Pavilion at Autographing Table 7 from 1:30pm to 2:30 pm. Feel free to bring your Irrational Games swag to get signed, but if you don’t have any items, fret not – we’ve got you covered! Everyone who lines up for the signing will receive a free BioShock Infinite lithograph for the crew to sign. Better yet, these lithographs will be your ticket when we raffle off 10 BioShock toy bundles from NECA collectables to those who come to the signing.

NECA BioShock Toy Bundle, including an Ultra Deluxe Big Daddy Bouncer with LED action figure, and an EVE Hypo Syringe.

If you’re not able to attend New York Comic Con but would still like to see the Irrational Games crew, we’ve got some good news: We’ll be holding a Meet and Greet event in New York after the show where you can stop by and relax with the Irrational gang. On Saturday, October 15, from 5pm to 7pm, IG.Sarah and IG.Eduardo will be heading to McGarry’s Pub (ages 21 and over) to meet with anyone who wants to stop by and say hello. To sweeten the deal, we’ll be bringing five of our limited Murder of Crows bottles from BioShock Infinite to raffle off during the event, and perhaps a few more surprises. All you have to do is come on down.

Irrational Games NYCC Meet and Greet
When: October 15, 2011 5pm – 7pm
Where: McGarry’s Pub
417 9th Avenue
Btwn 33rd & 34th St.
New York, NY 10001

Be sure to stop by and we’ll see you in New York!

Though it may not be an official Irrational Games shirt, one thing that is official is that this shirt is awesome.

These are just a few images from the fan interview – you can see all these images and more on the BioShockCentrum fansite.

Follow Irrational Games on Twitter!
Follow Irrational Games on Facebook!

Take a look at Dan Hipp’s BioShock-oriented piece and his other work on his website and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Last week, a group of Irrational staffers, a photographer, and a big bag of swag traveled to Dragon*Con’s Night at the Georgia Aquarium in search of BioShock cosplayers. We found a whole bunch. Plus, the aquarium was a gorgeous, atmospheric setting. We took some cosplayers by surprise when we showed up with our cameras, while others had known to look for us from previous posts and tweets. All of the fans we met were incredible, and made for awesome photos.

Enjoy some of the highlights of the shoot, taken by photographer Webb Chapell, and check out the full gallery on Flickr.

Spider Splicer and Thuggish Splicer

Delta and Eleanor Lamb

Thuggish Splicers, Houdini Splicers, Spider Splicers and Sander Cohen. Oh my!

Andrew Ryan and Jasmine Jolene

Jack, a Little Sister and a Splicer

Saturnine Houdini Splicer, Dr. Steinman, Splicer, and Jack Ryan

Finally, we spotted this Little Sister during our final shoot of the night. She was happy to perform a Mr. Bubbles song for us, so we knew we had to get video to share!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks again to everyone who showed up!

]]> http://irrationalgames.com/insider/bioshock-photoshoot-at-the-georgia-aquarium/feed/ 39 http://irrationalgames.com/insider/rapture-in-lego/ http://irrationalgames.com/insider/rapture-in-lego/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:48:38 +0000 IG.Chris http://irrationalgames.com/?p=15041 Demonstrating the kind of industriousness that Andrew Ryan would appreciate, Lego builder Imagine Rigney has constructed an incredible cross-section of Rapture, including the plane crash that opens BioShock and numerous meticulously-recreated locations from the game.

There’s impressive attention to detail in both…

Harrison Krix is a craftsman. He brings artifacts from video game worlds into reality, and he does it well.

One of Harrison’s most ambitious projects to date is a full-scale “Bouncer”-model Big Daddy suit. Constructed over the course of nearly two months–alongside a full-time graphic design job–the suit made its public debut at Dragon*Con. Harrison, fiancee Emily Keith, and friend Mandie Reese took home the convention’s Best Journeyman and Best Professional Design awards. With the help of Dim Horizon Studio, they also produced some remarkable images during a photo shoot appropriately conducted inside an aquarium.

Propmaking has become a vocation for Harrison, even though it isn’t his career. The level of dedication and care he brings to his projects is astonishing, and he documents it all on his website. We’ve been impressed by his work for years, so we decided to try and figure out what drives him to take on this demanding hobby. He was kind enough to indulge us.

How do you choose your projects–especially something as ambitious as your Big Daddy suit?

Harrison Krix: Is “Lunacy” an acceptable answer? With Big Daddy I probably bit off a bit more than I was expecting, but that was actually a good thing. I tend to pick builds that can offer me a learning experience–that’s why I only build something once.

I chose the Bouncer for two reasons. First, I had never tried to make anything of that size before, but I thought I had a pretty decent idea how to do it. Second, it was a piece I had never seen anyone else bring out of the game at quite the right scale and presence. I figured with enough time I could figure out how to make it, and make it look good as well. Or at least I’d learn something trying!

You said this took you about seven solid weeks of work. What was it like?

HK: I would love to say I have a fancy studio where all of this takes place, but my shop is basically the half of the garage my car doesn’t occupy. I wore a respirator to stave off the fiberglass fumes in an un-air-conditioned sweatbox. Sitting next to the Big Daddy was my 1975 BMW I’m restoring, so it was a bit nerve-wracking to make sure I didn’t knock into the poor car.

My sculpting base for the body was a plastic bucket filled with bricks, a broomhandle taped into it to support the body shell. I think “rudimentary” and “uncomfortable” sum it up pretty well.
I didn’t sleep a whole lot in those two months. I was simultaneously building four smaller projects with the same deadline while also working my 9-to-5 as a graphic designer. While resin was drying I’d sand something else, and after painting that piece I’d move onto sculpting a third project. Its a good thing I enjoy being busy.

Air conditioning would have been nice, though.

What was the most difficult part of the Big Daddy costume?

HK: The drill arm threw me for a loop. It had to be light, but solid enough to be carried around a three-day convention. A prototype snapped in half because of the torque of the drill motor I used.

It ended up more robust than I expected–during an on-stage performance, I clocked my friend dressed as a Baby Jane splicer pretty hard, while spinning at full tilt. The drill came away with only a couple minor scuffs. My friend took a few cuts but didn’t hold it against me–it made the scene look much more real!

And what’s your favorite part of it?

HK: In order to walk around, I had to leave the lighting out of the dome. After the convention, when we touched up parts of the suit for the photoshoot, I added the color gels and LEDs to the portholes, and the glowing red lights made the whole costume so much more menacing. It was the final touch and really the best thing I could have done to improve it for the aquarium shoot.

Do you remember what it felt like the moment when it all came together?

HK: The day before the convention debut, we worked all night. My wife was stitching the interior pants together while I weathered the suit in the kitchen. We glued the pants into the suit while loading it in the Jeep to drive downtown.

After that it was a comedy of errors. The hotel sold our room out from under us, transferring us to another hotel and swapping out our two-queen room for a single twin at the new hotel–for five people. I forgot the screws that held the dome in place on the body. The batteries that powered the internal fans were dead. It was just one thing after another. Eventually, we got the suit on. It takes three people to suit up and another to guide around. The hotel elevators barely wide enough to allow the costume in.

What was it like moving the thing around?

HK: I had to borrow my sister’s Jeep; only a handful of the parts fit into my car. We had to transport him in two cars–it still took two trips. The main body is the size of a small motorcycle even without the dome. Then there’s the drill arm, which was actually very fragile, since it was built to be as light as possible.

Pulling up to the hotel for the convention was a real treat. When a bellhop pushes a trolley up to your car, only to find a four-foot-long drill covered in dried blood, you get a specific expression you don’t ever encounter on a normal person.

What about moving it when you’re in it?

HK: A solid nightmare. With the arm extension and drill you can’t actually use your hands for anything. There are seven-inch lifts and 55 pounds of suit hanging off your back. And the positioning of the leg holes meant I could only take short, shuffling strides.

It’s hot and heavy, you’re pretty much blind and deaf inside, my hair got caught in one of the fans a bunch of times, you can’t pee or scratch your nose when the whole thing is together–and it’s fantastic. I ended up having to walk three blocks in Atlanta heat with that 60-pound monster on my back, but hearing people cheering from the balconies above made it all worthwhile.

Do you have any training? Have you just learned as you went along?

HK: For some things, I’ve had formal training. I paid my way through college as a mechanic and stereo installer and I took a few furniture design courses. My dad taught me a lot growing up as well, like the basics of electronics and woodworking, and how to use certain shop tools. And I was one of those kids who got a screwdriver and took apart his parent’s toaster while they were out of the room.

When you get into stuff like moldmaking and microcontroller programming, I just have to be thankful I’m alive in the age of Google. A day or two of research online will provide me with enough information to at least jumpstart a new process.

I’ve gotten better at certain things, like sculpting, but for a while there I was trying out everything as a first attempt. If I can advise anyone else on the best way to do these things, it’s to research through as many methods as possible–Google, library books, forums. There are nearly unlimited resources these days.

How much time and money do you actually spend on this stuff?

HK: I don’t typically track my hours because this is, ultimately, just a hobby of mine for the time being. When I get home from work at 6 or 7, I usually park myself in my shop until midnight. On the weekends, it’s not uncommon for me to be working on a project from 10am until 10pm if I’m left uninterrupted. I’ve been trying to stem that somewhat so I actually have some semblance of a social life, but the hours are something I enjoy a great deal.

Money is another thing. I’m lucky in that some of my projects are commissions funded by clients, so other people are paying for my self-education. Some projects reach five-figure budgets if they’re complex enough.

Do you have a place to store all this stuff? Are you running out of room?

HK: In my game room at home, I have a growing wall of sci-fi and video game guns. Our living room wall is adorned with swords and shields. Its supremely nerdy, but I love it. The car living in my garage is running now, so I can get more working space when I need it. I’ve become very good at organizing all my materials and building tools as a result of this constantly-expanding hobby.

Big Daddy, unfortunately, did not have any space to live at my house. He lived in my garage for about two months before eventually being sold to a private collector in Taiwan.

What actually drives you to do this? Learning? Recognition? Internet cred?

HK: Learning, really. I like to think I’d still make cool stuff even if there was nobody around to see it, but I’m not about to say that the reaction from fans of the series wasn’t amazing. To date, the Big Daddy project generated the highest traffic spike my website has ever seen, and I don’t see anything else topping it for a while.

In the end, I just want to make cool things come to life. The gaming world is filled with beautiful and imaginative artifacts that exist only in the digital realm. I want to be able to hold some of these things. I love the fact that people follow my work and find it interesting, and that support has become a great motivator. I still build because I want to make these imaginary digital pieces a reality, but I’m constantly trying to better my process and my results.

Check out Harrison’s Volpin Props website for more, including a gallery from the aquarium photoshoot, and the details of his earlier BioShock ADAM syringe project.

Video game humor site Dorkly explored that concept with six anti-drug posters that might have existed in the world of Rapture if BioShock had explored slightly different themes. In one, Ryan declares, “A man chooses; a slave gives in to peer pressure.”

The images are the work of New York-based illustrator Julia Lepetit.

Also posted on Dorkly recently is this. …No comment.

Ken Levine and Irrational’s senior art team packed the house at PAX East 2011 with an hour-long discussion about the studio’s approach to creating video game worlds. Art director Nate Wells, lead artist Shawn Robertson, and senior effects artist Stephen Alexander joined Ken with moderator Julian Murdoch to show the evolution of BioShock Infinite’s flying city of Columbia–starting from, essentially, Rapture in the sky. Newly-revealed concept art and Sky-Line prototype videos accompanied the presentation.

Video of the panel is available from GameSpot and G4. The GameSpot version includes the Q&A section at the end.

One image that appeared several times throughout the panel was this simple guide, created by BioShock art director Scott Sinclair and given to Nate as he took over art director duties for Infinite:

The image pokes fun at the notion that creating the game would be as easy as moving the city up to the clouds, but it also serves as a reminder that at one point Columbia really was a lot like Rapture. This concept image shows a scene that’s so dark and constrained by clouds that it might as well be underwater. Even the Art Nouveau architecture is reminiscent of Rapture’s Art Deco:

“This is a lie we tell ourselves every time we start a game,” Nate said, referring to early assumptions about the straightforward BioShock-in-the-sky approach. “I think it’s evolutionary. If you go to the dawn of man, there’s a cave with elders sitting around going, ‘Today we’re going to hunt a buffalo. It’s pretty much a big raccoon. We’re just going to do what we do in raccoon hunting, like, more.’”

Of course, he added, “if it really was like this, we’d be so fucking bored that we wouldn’t know what to do.”

The bright Fourth of July Americana look that Infinite had adopted by the time it was announced came later–but once it did, it became obvious to the team that it was the right approach.

Throughout the panel, the crew showed pieces of period reference photography, much of which was drawn from the excellent Shorpy Historical Photo Archive. It’s an invaluable source for those interested in past eras (including Ken, who describes himself as a big documentary nerd). Nate also called out Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, which simultaneously chronicles the creation of Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair and recounts the story of Dr. H.H. Holmes, America’s first serial killer. Many Irrational team members read the book while developing Infinite’s setting and concept, and it helped to crystallize the optimism, ambition–and darkness–that characterized the era.

Later, the panel audience was shown a proof-of-concept video showing a player leap from Sky-Line to Sky-Line armed with a rocket launcher. While visually primitive, the footage was an important step in development, as it gave the team a glimpse at the kinds of gameplay Sky-Lines could support. That video was followed up with a test from the art team showing how audiovisual presentation could help sell the experience to players. Both videos can be seen in the GameSpot and G4 footage.

Ken summed up the ultimate goal for Sky-Lines in BioShock Infinite: “It’s like being on a rollercoaster, but you’re hanging in the air and you have a fucking gun.”

Finally, during our PAX fan event, we were presented with an unexpected mashup of the Art Director image and Robb Waters’ take on Dog in a Wheelchair. Apparently, community member Japester sketched this remarkable Dog in a Balloon Harness during the panel:

What if BioShock had been developed in the style of an old-school 2D adventure game? Flash developer Norman von Scott decided to explore that alternate reality with the gorgeous hand-animated Prairie Dogging.

It’s being hosted by 1UP. The site commissioned the game from Scott, who is known for his “Hsu and Chan” comic that ran in Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1UP tells us this game is mainly a test to see how readers respond to the concept of Flash games based on popular games; if it goes over well, the site will commission more, but future entries probably won’t be BioShock themed.

The game is entirely controlled with the arrow keys and mouse. If you played adventure games from studios like LucasArts and Sierra back in the 90s, you’ll feel right at home.

Tragically, Tom and his wife Laura recently lost their son Jack at the age of only two months.

Members of major board gaming site BoardGameGeek have banded together to organize a huge benefit for Tom and his family. There are plenty of board gamers here at Irrational who appreciate Tom’s work, and we have contributed a signed copy of BioShock for PC. Every penny spent on the game will go to the Vasel family.

The game has been signed by a number of key Irrational personnel, including Ken Levine, Nate Wells, Shawn Robertson, Stephen Alexander, Mauricio Tejerina, and others.

If you’re interested in bidding, head over to this page of the auction thread, and reply to post 455 with your bid. You know it’s legit because it has been posted by our own Sarah Rosa.

And please, if you don’t bid on the copy of BioShock, browse the rest of the thread for other possible items of interest.

A Mac version of BioShock has been out since 2009, thanks to the efforts of Feral Interactive, and now it’s easily downloadable–with very high user reviews!

If you’re a gamer of the Mac persuasion, check it out and let us know what you think.

It was “A Rapturous Affair” when Toronto couple Jon and Anna wed last year. Their wedding featured a BioShock-inspired, art deco-themed program, as well as a tower of vegan cupcakes topped by a Big Daddy and a Little Sister.

The event is described by Anna on Offbeat Bride and documented in an extensive Flickr photo gallery. Congratulations, Jon and Anna!

Thanks to user jayakers on the forums for pointing us to this!

BioShock is currently discounted a massive 75%, down to just $4.99. It’s also sitting at #1 on Steam’s “Top Rated” list, across every title on the store.

Also on sale are both of Irrational’s squad-based superhero games, with the original Freedom Force and its sequel Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich going for a mere $1.69 apiece.

It’s a great chance to fill in some gaps in your virtual game shelf. Head over to our BioShock forum and our Freedom Force series forum to discuss the games with other fans.

Splicers invaded the Irrational Games offices this week, accompanied by a somewhat more motley assortment of characters including a knight Templar, a few pirates, and Dr. McNinja. Oh, and The Giving Tree.

That’s all thanks to last night’s Fall Spooktacular event here at Irrational. There was food, pumpkin carving, scary movies, and of course the costume contest, which saw a three-way tie for first place awarded to our disturbingly convincing Splicers: Sarah Rosa, Kayla Belmore, and Phil Frechette. Don Norbury and Josh Davis tied as runners-up with their elaborate Joust knight getups.

Kayla and Sarah, seen above, were dressed as the BioShock Splicers known internally as “Lady Smith” and “Baby Jane.” Sarah, whose costume-making prowess is well documented, sewed both of their costumes herself. Kayla was responsible for the gore makeup. The pair then distressed the clothing using tea, fake blood, paint, sandpaper, razors, and–of course–fire.

In addition to contributing massively to organizing the Spooktacular, Phil came dressed as “Waders.” He put his own costume together, including the fleshy mask grafted to his face. Then he severely startled everyone who ran into him for the first time yesterday.

This closeup shows some of the impressive costume and makeup effects Sarah and Kayla achieved.

Around 20 Irrational staffers made the effort to put Halloween costumes together for this year’s Spooktacular, valiantly spending a near-full work day all dressed up before the event itself began.

Remember Joust? Don and Josh do.

The rest of us weren’t industrious enough (or were too self-conscious) too dress up, as you can see, but there were was plenty of food and fun nonetheless.

Head over to our Halloween 2010 Flickr gallery for more shots of the event and its many costumed attendees.

And finally, to cap off our Spooktacular and get you in the proper state of mind for Halloween, please bear witness to this nightmarish image of Phil “Waders” Frechette. It will haunt your dreams:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch part 1 above, then check out part 2.

This remarkable achievement is the work of Penny Arcade community members who claim to have built the entire city brick-by-brick, without the help of external editors. It incorporates locations conceived by Irrational in the original game as well as newly-designed areas like the “surface recreation dome.”

Recently, we featured another BioShock-themed Minecraft creation: BioShock Infinite’s city of Columbia as built by DrKamina and his team on the City of Rapture server, which has fittingly also made its own version of Rapture. This new Rapture creation was so impressive, we thought it was worth doubling up on Minecraft posts.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That impressive set of structures was led by community member DrKamina, who posted about the project in our official forums. He was assisted by more than half a dozen other players who congregate on his Minecraft server, “City of Rapture.” And speaking of Rapture, DrKamina and the City of Rapture server folks have also constructed a version of the original BioShock’s city under the sea. It starts just where the game does, going from the initial plane crash to the iconic lighthouse, then down into the depths of the city itself:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Head over to DrKamina’s Irrational Games forum thread to ask him about his further plans or just congratulate him on the impressive work!

In the next few installments of From the Vault, we will divulge the myriad departures BioShock took from its original vision, but also show our readers just how much the game’s heart and soul stayed constant.   You will be made privy to our very first design concepts and original drafts of back-story.  You will read about game modes and features that fell by the wayside during the many years of production.  And you will stand in awe of visual interface mockups crafted by Mr. Ken Levine himself!

Read on, and enjoy this insider’s look at the way we sold the core concepts of the award-winning BioShock.

Yam Hand

The “Yam Hand” character went through many iterations during the early development of BioShock. Artist Robb Waters had this to say about his creation:  “One thing I liked about the character was his strange and unique head shape.  It kind of made you wonder what the heck was going on under that dingy burlap sack.”

Thug Aggressor

During one early stage of BioShock’s production, oversized and disproportionate limbs were all the fashion.

Jelly Man

Perhaps the Jelly Man shows some long-term side effects of ADAM abuse.   Maybe he’s showing why humans and jellyfish aren’t as genetically compatible as some Rapture scientists had envisioned.    Or possibly this is what happens when a Splicer decides to mutate into a delightful breakfast spread.  Who knows?   Regardless, this guy melted before he could be incorporated into BioShock.

Monster Bug

This is one of the more gruesome pieces of concept work to emerge during work on BioShock – a huge insect slowly growing from within a human being and taking over the physical form.   And as sickening as this image is, its true power comes from what’s implied:  what was it like for the original person transitioning to this state of organic fusion?   And what mash-up of man and bug is hidden under that cloth?

This visual was of great help in selling BioShock to publishers.

Grub Mutant

Another take on the fused-parasite idea – different bug, same revolting results.   This one is perhaps even more disturbing, when you realize that having a grub as thick as a telephone pole growing through the guy’s chest isn’t preventing him from having his gun locked and loaded.   You have to wonder what’s going through his head.

Blogs, Facebook, forums and search engines didn’t exist fifteen years ago, and the primary tool to communicate with your fan base was the local bulletin board system (BBS) or Usenet and newsgroups services.  “You could go through Usenet groups such as comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg or rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons to find fans of your game,” remembers Kay.  “The web now is fragmented with dozens of places to find discussion about a specific product or subject.  Usenet provided a very specific location for fans congregate to talk about a product.”  Reading a long list of discussions and replies provided an experience similar to the on-line communities of today, but on a much smaller scale.

The tools to create games have changed dramatically in the last decade, as have the responsibilities and sizes of departments.  “Photoshop didn’t have layers when I started,” says Lead Artist Shawn Robertson.  “3D Studio was a program in DOS and no game required 3D acceleration.”  Most games at the time were still being done in 2D, but everything started to change with the releases of Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem 3D.  This change accelerated rapidly with the release of 3Dfx’s Voodoo 3D graphics cards at the end of 1996, and glQuake in early 1997.  “As an artist I did everything when I started,” Robertson adds.  “I modeled, textured, animated, rigged, and did FX for those first games.  Now everyone is much more specialized and focused on a specific role. We shipped SWAT 4 with five people in the art department.  We now have over twenty-five artists working on Project Icarus and we are still growing.”

As games evolve, their budgets grow. They require more staff, more assets, and more time to complete.  “My first game was made for the astronomical sum of one million dollars,” Director of Product Development Tim Gerritsen remembers.  “It was considered a AAA title at the time and we had a staff of 12 people to work on it.  Many of us were kvetching over how unbelievable the development budgets and the team size were.”  It isn’t uncommon today for games to have staffs of well over 100 people working for two or three years on a single game.  “We had to change the way we worked and some of us had to become managers,” says Gerritsen on how growth has changed roles for people on the team.  “We had to learn how to be a business.”

It wasn’t long ago that games were shipping on 3.5” floppy discs.  “I worked on a game that fit on three floppies,” says Gerritsen.  “That is a whopping 4.32 megabytes of compressed data.  We’d have programmers working on fancy animation systems for weeks to cull every extraneous bit of data to fit our game into those 4.32 MB.”  For perspective, a typical mp3 file is around 5 MB.  Games today can ship on a dual-layer DVD holding 8.5 gigabyte (8,704 MB) and sometimes even using a 50 gigabyte (51,200 MB) Blu-ray disc.  The amount of data is staggering, and all that data needs to be processed to fit onto that disc.  “The build process on The Lost took about 20 hours to complete,” says Lead Programmer John Abercrombie.  “It was a ridiculous setup that included a script that automated mouse movement and button presses since the application didn’t have a command line interface.”  A build process involves taking all the raw assets such as models, textures and sounds, and converting them to a format the game understands.  Depending on the game, this could be tens or even hundreds of thousands of assets.  “There is nothing worse than going through a 20-hour build process to find a blocking bug once you load the game up,” says Abercrombie.

As the amount of data in the final game grows, so does the revision database.  “I had a meeting with the IT department to discuss how large our Perforce server should be for our first next generation game,” remembers Senior Technology Programmer Steve Anichini.  Perforce is a program that builds a database that stores every revision on every asset in the game.  “We estimated it would take one terabyte (1,048,576 MB), which at the time was unheard of.  The IT department was rather skeptical the project would need that much space, especially compared to games from the previous generation which were only a couple hundred gigabytes.  By the end of the project the Perforce database was well over two terabytes,” says Anichini.

As for my own experience … when I started as a game tester back in 1998, I had to write all my bugs on sticky notes, as the company didn’t have any extra computers for the testing department.  The sticky notes were handed to the test lead, who would then add them to the bug database — which at that time was an Excel spreadsheet.  Compare that to the 35,000 bugs written up on BioShock, which would span 1.5 miles if they were to be written out on sticky notes!

Funkenstein

Robb made this oil painting in his spare time. Art Director Nate Wells liked it so much, that he built a pinball machine in SWAT 4 inspired by the piece.

Crabby Sculpt

Robb sculpted this statue to help solidify the BioShock vision. With a small pitch document and the Crabby sculpture in hand, Ken went out to pitch BioShock to various publishers.

Freedom Force Inking

This piece was hand drawn by Robb during the development of Freedom Force. Back then, a lot more concept art was created with pencil and paper.

Freedom Force Comic Excerpt

Here’s an excerpt from the Freedom Force comic book.

Exorcism

And here’s another Freedom Force image.

*These aren’t hard figures. Include them in your school papers at your own peril.

System Shock 2’s missing log

“One of the most controversial design decisions in Shock 2,” says designer Dorian Hart, “was to have the weapons degrade with use, and so be in regular need of repair. From a pure design standpoint, the goal was to ratchet up the feeling of constant tension. Part of what made Shock 2 such an emotional experience was that we never let the player get comfortable; having players know that their guns could jam in the middle of a fight played straight to that goal.

“There was, and continues to be, backlash from the fans about that system — and a majority of that criticism comes as complaints about the realism of the system.  In real life, weapons don’t noticeably degrade with each shot fired, and so it angered players that the Shock 2 weapons had that behavior.

“The maddening truth about that was, at least once during development, we talked about having an audio log in the game that talked about why that was happening — enough so that some people on the team thought we actually shipped with it. The log would have explained that as part of their takeover, the Many had released a special corrosive gas into the Von Braun that damaged weapons but was harmless to organic creatures.

“Of course, in hindsight, the team has been kicking themselves for not including that audio log. In one fell 30-second swoop, we could have prevented about 80 percent of the complaints, or at least redirected them toward Xerxes and the Many, and away from the development team.”

BioShock’s atmospheric pressure system

BioShock was slated to simulate deep-sea atmospheric pressure changes. In fact, the feature was functioning when the game shipped.

Technical Director Chris Kline explains: “Any area in BioShock could be associated with a ‘pressure region.’ Machines in each region allowed players to change the local pressure between low, normal, and high parameters. For each room in the game, there were entirely different light, fog, and HDR rendering setups, and when the pressure was changed, the whole atmosphere in the room would smoothly blend from the current setup to the new setup. In addition, every AI responded differently to pressure, meaning that, depending on the current pressure, the AI would have different animations, vocalizations, appearance, speeds, vulnerabilities to different damage types, and damage bonuses.

“The system was originally designed so that the player had an additional way to manipulate the world to his advantage ,” Kline adds. “For example, perhaps one AI was immune to fire in normal pressure but susceptible to it in high or low pressures; or an AI had poor perception in low pressure.”

“In practice, the system was a disaster because it caused several gameplay and production issues:

• The amount of work that artists needed to do in each room of the game tripled, because each pressure needed its own lighting and fog settings.
• It was impossible to control the mood of any given space, because changes in pressure resulted in changes in lighting and fog.
• Designers needed to plan for every permutation of pressure settings for every single room. QA then had to test these.

“Most importantly — and this is the issue that put the nail in the system’s coffin — was that we never found a good way to clearly convey the effect of pressure through audiovisual changes.”

Creating feedback to communicate the state of an environment, and the ways in which environmental changes affect characters, without resorting to clunky and/or abstract user-interface cues is one of game design’s central challenges. And when a state such as barometric pressure is invisible to those few senses that videogames stimulate — sight, sound, and to a tiny extent, touch — that task grows ever more time consuming. What does pressure look like? How does a Big Daddy behave under high pressure? Can players correctly interpret that behavior? How do they know that flames shoot farther under reduced pressure, or that bullets are more likely to blow things apart when pressure ratchets up?

Interestingly, some remnant of this system shipped with BioShock. “While  we ‘cut’ pressure from the game,” Kline says, “the portion that controlled lighting and fog changes was left in the code. At one point, I discovered (to my horror, because the code hadn’t been tested in ages) that artists were hijacking the pressure system to script lighting and fog changes — most notably in the Arcadia level when the trees die and are brought back to life. So I suppose that the code was solid.”

Biomechanical emphasis in BioShock

“Early on during BioShock’s development, we went through a phase that placed much more emphasis on biotechnology,” says designer Alexx Kay. “Audio logs, instead of being tape recorders, would be squishy, organic things, with lips and ears. Machines that seemed mechanical on the surface would actually have mutated humans operating them behind the scenes — something that players would only come to realize partway through the game. There is a small remnant of this notion in the hacking mini-game; originally, the fiction behind it was that you were increasing the flow of Adam to this addicted, mutated slave, and he was giving you extra benefits in gratitude.

BioShock’s insect-based ecology

According to designer Alexx Kay, “One of the original inspirations for BioShock was Ken Levine’s belief that it was getting too hard to create meaningful human interactions in games.  His first take on a solution: model meaningful insect interactions, like you would see on a nature show. BioShock would feature a complex ecology of creatures that interacted in simple, easy-to-get ways. Harvesters would gather resources and bring them back to Queens. Aggressors would attack the Harvesters, Protectors would guard them. (The Queens were large, immobile creatures, with lots of Adam, who could summon Protectors if attacked.) There would never be any speech, or any indication of higher intelligence.

“Ironically, we did a 180 from that, ending up with creatures that were very strongly human, if twisted, and who spoke all the time.

“Even the basic functionality of the ecology was mostly cut. We kept the fiction that Splicers would attack Little Sisters, and get into fights with Big Daddies — but except for a few scripted sequences, they actually wouldn’t.”

BioShock’s navigation robot

During the middle stages of Bioshock’s development, the team realized that due to the complex connectivity of Rapture, players needed assistance in order to navigate the city and complete quests. Technical Director Chris Kline says, “We wanted a map, but were concerned that this would take too much programming and design/art time to implement. So I came up with the idea of Nav-Bot: You could press a controller button to summon your Nav-Bot, activate him with another controller button, and then select from a list of destinations in a 2D user interface. You could then follow him to the designated location.

“There were a number of problems with this concept. The biggest one was that, while following Nav-Bot, the player would spend the entire time looking at the floor as Nav-Bot shuttled along (I pitched him as something akin to K-9 from Dr. Who). But there were other concerns:

• What if the player gets distracted while following Nav-Bot?

• What if Nav-Bot gets stuck in the middle of a brawl?

• How does Nav-Bot go up stairs? Elevators?

• If the player wants to remember a particular place and come back to it, how do players “mark” the location?

“Another hurdle to overcome was the fact that, unlike maps, Nav-Bot was not a familiar concept in first-person shooters. In the end, someone (maybe Jon Chey at Irrational Games Australia) made the executive decision that we needed to suck up the extra work and make a map. Thus died Nav-Bot.”

Dog in a Wheelchair

Before BioShock’s “gatherers” became Little Sisters in an artistic process characterized by false starts and filled garbage bins, they were sea slugs. Nobody empathized with the creatures enough to care whether they lived or died. When the call went out to come up with a character that players would pity, Lead Artist Shawn Robertson submitted this insipid image of a Doberman in a wheelchair. The illustration is now infamous at the studio, although Shawn insists that fellow artist Scott Sinclair’s “frog with the funnel in its anus” is more embarrassing by far.

Frog with a Funnel in its Anus

Before BioShock’s “gatherers” became Little Sisters in an artistic process characterized by false starts and filled garbage bins, they were sea slugs. Nobody empathized with the creatures enough to care whether they lived or died. When the call went out to come up with a character that players would pity, Art Principal Scott Sinclair submitted this insipid image of a toad with a funnel and sun tea jug attached to its anus. Scott insists that fellow artist Shawn Robertson’s “dog in a wheelchair” is more embarrassing by far.

Gatherer

The original BioShock “gatherer” — based on a sea slug — was later replaced by the Little Sister.

SloProFum

SloProFum, the studio’s internal name for this prototype Big Daddy variant that mauled players with an enormous hook and fired iron bearings from a barrel, stands for “slow projectile/fucked-up melee.” Hear how the design didn’t work on this month’s Irrational Behavior podcast.

Stay Puft Bouncer

Initially reluctant to add a drill arm to the Bouncer Big Daddy variant at Creative Director Ken Levine’s insistence, artists Nate Wells and Robb Waters started exchanging a series of images in which they attached marshmallows, human butts, and other items to the character’s hand.

]]> http://irrationalgames.com/insider/january-from-the-vault/feed/ 75 http://irrationalgames.com/insider/irrational-behavior/introducing-irrational-behavior/ http://irrationalgames.com/insider/irrational-behavior/introducing-irrational-behavior/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:10:00 +0000 IG.ShawnElliott http://irrationalgames.com/?p=5

In any game development studio, you’ll find a bunch of inspired and imaginative people who have a lot to get off their chests. To save on counseling fees, we decided to sublimate these repressed feelings about their gaming lives by sticking a microphone in their faces and creating a series of podcasts that offer an insight into what makes us – and our games – tick.

Each podcast will explore a particular theme in what we hope is an entertaining and insightful way, and this theme will also evolve throughout the month on the Irrational Games website itself. Visit regularly and you’ll find content on the site that helps illustrate what we’re trying to describe in the podcast, or expands and explores the theme further.

Please contribute to the discussions about the podcasts in the forums and if you have a great idea for a future theme then let us know! We might even send you something to say thanks. But don’t hold us to it.

So to kick off, we chose a brutal theme – “ideas that died”. We explore what happens when creativity runs into technical restrictions, a lack of clear consensus, and – at times – its own convolution. You’ll glimpse abandoned BioShock tidbits, as well as an as yet unrevealed game from four years ago when Irrational Games backed away from a zombie invasion. And much, much more.

Oh, and you’ll understand why ‘dog in a wheelchair’ is the answer to just about any question…

Irrational Behavior podcasts act as tables of contents for stories that appear here on IrrationalGames.com each month. January’s content continues to explore dead ideas with the following features:

Discuss this episode of Irrational Behavior over in the forum.

iTunes Link

Direct Download Episode 1

Irrational Podcasts RSS Feed

Podcast theme song, “Luna Park”, provided by Signal Hill from the album, “More After We’re Gone”.