The Genius of BioShock's Level Design | Game/Show | PBS Digital Studios
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- Опубликовано: 10 авг 2015
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Art Deco in Bioshock!
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Bioshock includes multiple factors that helped catapult the series into stardom: philosophical issues, strong graphics processing and suspenseful audio to name a few. But one stands out clear above the rest: the setting. Join Jamin on this week's episode of Game/Show as he explores one of the first games to execute environmental storytelling well, creating a setting that is essentially a character in and of itself. Does the Art Deco in the World of Rapture take level design to a whole new level? Does architecture really affect gameplay? Check it out!
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ASSET LINKS:
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Ayn Rand
www.aynrand.org/
2:05
NiMo Building
www.flickr.com/photos/modbett...
2:07
Miami Deco
www.miamiandbeaches.com/featur...
2:10
London Deco
insearchoflosttimes.wordpress...
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Miami Deco BreakWater
chapar.co/50703/art-deco-archi...
2:13
Chrysler Building
architectblog.net/chrysler-bui...
2:23
Manhattan
www.studioomo.com/portfolio_de...
2:32
Stockholm Hotel
idonotdespair.com/2014/01/21/w...
2:42
Chrysler Building
adamkanemacchia.com/
5:20
An Architectural Approach To Level Design
www.amazon.com/An-Architectura...
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MUSIC:
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"Sleet" by Kubbi
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"Patriotic Songs of America" by New York Military Band and the American Quartet
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Bioshock made me realize how much I love architecture and now within a year I'll be going to school for architecture. (Also Art Deco is my favorite style)
Did you stick to it?
@@juanme555 wow wasn’t expecting to see a reply to this comment. Yes I did, I’ll be graduating with my masters of architecture this December.
@@nickeichelberger8123
thats AMAZING
@@nickeichelberger8123 Holy crap that's spectacular. Hats off to you for sticking to it.
Awesome!! Art Nouveau and Deco are gorgeous styles.
Bioshock is a work of art as much as it is a video game.
I only finished this game recently and LOVED the art deco design. I also loved how close you always felt to not having enough ammo. In a lot of games the further you play, you accumulate way more ammo than you'll ever need. But in this game you are always desperate for more. I thought it added to the run down desperate environment of Rapture.
Well said! One of my favorite parts of the game!
I don't like FPSs, but Bioshock is one of my favorite series ever/
Also, 2 is underrated. I must be one of the only people who actually liked it.
Jebbtube 2 is great!
Mortyee I know, right?
I don't get all the hate for it.
For me personally, the problem with Bioshock 2 was a matter of redundancy. It had a few nice gameplay additions, but completely lacks the thematic strength of the original. Too little was added, and too much was taken away. It was a sequel purely for the sake of a sequel.
Jebbtube I like Bioshock 2 but it felt like it should have been a DLC pack as opposed to a full blown sequel.
I avoid FPSes, but made an exception for Bioshock. Given the proper setting I can probably be pulled into anything.
I always loved Bioshock but this video helped me appreciate the game even more. Thank you!
Megan Rivera Anytime!
*****
I'm really sorry that you didn't enjoy the game. Thanks for sharing your views. There wasn't really anything about Bioshock 1 that I didn't like, and Bioshock 2 was, in my opinion, even better. As a mom, I always had a super strong maternal instinct towards the Little Sisters, so playing as a Dad in 2 was really special for me.
Megan Rivera +1 for respectful commenting. You are awesome :)
MonkeyPantsFace
Thank you so much my friend!
Should have said "Would you kindly subscribe?" You'd get so many subs that way.
"Perfect symmetry does not exist in nature"
Except Beehives :)
No Nick Cage jokes please ;)
***** what about Dr. Bees?
***** Ah good catch! Although it's unlikely *perfect* symmetry like what can be achieved with computers, but point taken.
linkonair WHAT'S THIS!? A family picnic woefully underpopulated by BEEEES!?
PBS Game/Show Hey, if you had to name a game with _poor_ level design?
You guys could have done a crossover with Extra Credits for this one! :D I would have loved to see that.
the level design in Bioshock is genius
I remember when I first picked up Bioshock and how absolutely floored I was by it. It's beautiful environment, it's philosophical story, and it's immersive gameplay make it the perfect game.
Darksouls, Demon Souls, and Bloodborne tell almost all if it's story through level design
***** Yes. And the level design merges seamlessly with the worlds architecture in most cases. Unfortunately this was not a feature that Dark Souls 2 prioritized.
This is probably one of my favorite game/show episodes. Great job!
Pedro Yapor Thanks!!!
That's not "level design", that's atmosphere. Level design is the floor plan of the map. It may not sound important, but good or bad map design (not talking about artwork) effects the gameplay.
GastonAsston wrong, art style is intrinsic to level design. the "floor plan" is just one o the first steps in level design followed by blocking out and finishing touches. Like he said, visual cues help to guide players through the level and that's its an important part of the design process.
GastonAsston But he is talking about level design, not just the artistic direction. In fact, he is making a point that environmental story telling in Bioshock (and consequently the level design that leads to the player progression) works in perfect harmony with the geometry of the art deco structure. It's all about how the art was integrated in a way it makes the level design in the game flow and work. At 1:20 Jamin is very clear about what level design is, and in case of doubt, the whole point at 4:54 (about color contrast) is a basic concept of both game and level design. By this you can understand that visuals are directly related to the design, and not just atmosphere or looks.
GastonAsston What +gbaci said. Art is part of level design but so is the map. I'd highly recommend Christopher Totten's _An Architectural Approach to Level Design_ for more: www.amazon.com/An-Architectural-Approach-Level-Design/dp/1466585412
PBS Game/Show He's not exactly known for making any groundbreaking games... www.christotten3d.com/?page_id=287
GastonAsston An artist's taste and understanding of an artform always outpace their ability.
I would love to see a video on System Shock 2 and the influence it had on games that came after it. I recently played it for the first time and many of the themes and mechanics seemed familiar. Deus Ex & Mass Effect's themes of organic vs. synthetic. The similarity of the annelids and the Flood in Halo. The system of finding audio clips throughout the levels that piece together what happened before, like in Alien: Isolation and Bioshock (duh). I'm sure there are many more big influences that game had that I haven't thought of, which is why I'd like to see a video on it.
Also, if you could find out what was up with that ending, that would be cool. It's the most jarring and dramatic tonal shift in any story that's ever been told and I can't wrap my brain around it lol.
I've never played any of the Bioshock games but your video is convincing enough to have gotten me interested!
i never really stopped to think of why it was in the style of art deco, i was really pulled in by the history that rides the art style, the 1920s was a very classy time filled with culture and very nice looking clothes. I never knew that level design had a lot of things to do with color, and which way the lines are pointing. I was just in awe on how amazing it looked
What about System Shock 2 ?
The bioshock series, in my opinion, is one of the best games ever! Yet I never caught to it true genius! Thank you for not only making an interesting video, but also teaching game design at the same time! :D
As someone NOT living in US, and seen Art Deco designs only on TV and stuff, I found that architecture to be really beautiful (a change from other shooters), but I didn't find it to be particularly helping me in the level. It didn't influence my play much. Also many of the game's tones(music, artwork on posters) and encounters didn't had much impact, and (probably) if I had been familiar with the 50s-60s US era, I'd had appreciate it more.
But the "Would You Kindly" twist is still the best!
+Hemang Chauhan How do you know it didn't help? Or to rephrase: Did you continuously get lost and annoyed? If not, perhaps it helped...
Zarkow
Well, I searched for stuff, so I did get lost at times, only a little. But I remember the levels of a game when I explore it a bit, and Bioshock was no different.
I only meant to say that Art Deco didn't influence my play.
That never clicked in my head. I played bioshock years ago and I learned about art-deco last year but I never realized how the two intercepted. Thats awrsome
When making a video game, you have to remember to keep the level design so insignificant that the player doesn't even notice. You have to make the world feel so real that you could live there. Not saying you would want to, but that it could exist in a real setting. You can have a Point A-Point B objective, but you have to make sure that the player knows only that you need to go from one place or another, and then let the player decide how he wants to get there, using their own logical thinking. Puzzles in games shouldn't be obvious unless it's the main goal, like Portal 2. Half-Life 2 works so well in level design because you never feel like "Oh, the game wants me to go this way, so I'll go this way". Instead, during one of the final chapters of the game, and your goal is to reach a gigantic structure that you can't miss from any other part of the game. So your mind's objective is, "go in that direction", so instead of the level feeling like a giant maze, it's just obstacles that blend into the world perfectly. Levels in Half-Life 2 work so well because they use world cues to convey where the player needs to go, same as Bioshock. You need to make the player not question the structure of the world like it's a one way street, but that it's a living breathing world that you could openly explore, even if you're not able to. That's how level design is suppose to function.
This was an awesome video. A little thing I found interesting as far as the level design goes, was that since the resources at the time weren't available. The backgrounds for the game were actually 2D paintings. Infinite was the first in the series to have a full 3D world.
I love the reference to "Would you kindly...".
Nicely done, great video as always.
I loved the audio in Bioshock more than anything, particularly when it came to the splicers. It would have been so easy to place them as deranged and mindless creatures, but instead their dialogue portrays this heartbreaking and disturbing sense of lose and regret. Just listening some of the dialogue 'Toasty' (a random, unimportant npc) uses and you really get a rich feel for his character. It's an attention to detail and such a great environmental story telling tool
The Art Deco style was what originally drew me to Bioshock, as I don't usually play shooters (the pedigree of its creators was another reason for me to try it). I completely agree with you that the Art Deco style keeps moving the eye upward (especially in the moments where you can look outside and gaze upward at the towering city, the designers use this to actually foreshadow locations you are going to be heading to later in the game, as well as underscore the decay of Rapture). One observation on style that I would add to yours is that Art Deco is also a very expansive style of architecture. Unlike the more intimate Art Nouvelle which influenced the creation of Art Deco, the latter is meant to be experienced on a grand scale and that fits perfectly with the level design vision that the game creators had, which is that you can decide how to tackle each level. Yes, Bioshock is a fairly linear game, but each level was a physically enormous puzzle and the Art Deco style is well-suited to these large grand spaces. Compare this with a tight, claustrophobic, industrial-future, utilitarian architecture of Alien: Isolation and you can clearly see how, although both games are essentially big puzzles for players to solve, they are very different types of puzzles. Both games give players a lot of agency through the various weapons and tools (or plasmids in Bioshock's case) that the players have access to, but in Bioshock you FEEL like you have agency because of this gorgeous wide open Art Deco spaces at your disposal, whereas in Alien Isolation you feel helplessness and lack of agency because of its utilitarian and (I would argue) Brutalist architecture.
Another game where the architecture does a lot of work drawing the player's attention to important things (often upward) is _Portal_. They talk a lot about it in the commentary. I didn't realize that _Bioshock_ was doing the same thing.
Great job alluding to the twist without spoiling it.
FunkyHonkyCDXX ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Great video. I played Bioshock a bit at my cousin's house. This video will be the reason I get it on my computer.
Great video. Interesting take on Bioshock. As a fan of Art Deco, you've made me replay this game while keeping your commentary in mind. Thank You Sir!
Bioshock is my favourite game of all time for this exact reason.
In terms of Architecture meeting Level Design, I think that this commentary works with BioShock 2 and Infinite as well.
Playing and examining Bioshock (as well as reading essays by Ken Levine) helped me a lot while starting out as a level designer. Verticality is certainly something that seems oft neglected in some level design, perhaps given the human disinclination to look up.
One of my favourite level design elements not mentioned in this video, though, was the use of lighting as a design feature. Lights throughout the game are used as anchoring points, and often these lights (given the state of disrepair in Rapture) fizzle out when they have finished serving their function as a visual anchor to draw you down corridors or across spaces, doubling as a thematic feature expressing the failures of Ryan's vision. This is less about art deco, but still another strong design feature of Bioshock.
I like when you talk about aspects of a specific game.
you legit showed 2 of my favourite games bioshock, and prince of persia 2008 your a legend
woah man you've got to watch what you post around me, i just skipped chub and went straight to rock hard at the mention of bioshock
***** Please consult a medical professional.
PBS Game/Show What, so you're telling me it's unnatural that my weasel wants to get stroked at the mention of Bioshock?
I definitely noticed all of the verticality, but i always thought it was a connection to Ryan;s perception of the place as a "cathedral to man". It's even more interesting to see in it's un-ruined form in Burial at Sea, and there is a noticeable shift in the color scheme even between the main city and Fontaine's store. (Also I just loved 50's Booker and Elizabeth)
I can't really say because I love the aesthetics of Art Deco architecture. So I'd be inclined to use it just because I like it so much.
I think of it like a modernization of Gothic architecture. Grand, beautiful and often imposing.
To a certain extent, a lot of games have had similar designs where the style and architecture for the setting almost made the setting a character that operated as both oppressive guide and obstacle that either suits the design or the philosophy of the game. For example, a considerable amount of the level design for the various Silent Hill games, save for possibly Book of Memories, just to use an example of the idea of a city or town where things have gone ridiculously wrong. Due to the fact that you're dealing with the unknown, the camera movements, the not necessarily logical layout of buildings and their architecture, the fog, and the darkness all, oddly enough, both inform and obscure direction and safety while giving clues on what happened to caused whatever's happening in the town.
I am not a big fan of fps games, but Bioshock's design and setting made me forget that and I joyously died my way through it to see all of Rapture. It just looked so good!
Bioshock's immersion and sense of being isolated are genius. The city is rich with elements that make you believe it is real. Would you believe in a city where everyone is bland, there are no signs, just buildings, no people talking...
The real world is rich with small details that make it seem more familiar to you. If something is familiar to you, it is easier to enter your mind. The fallen city in the bottom of the ocean with pseudo-science nearly magic-like becomes a believable element.
That alongside the art deco design, contrasting colors (which make colors pop out), gorgeous sound design, excellent dialogue, all these make Bioshock an unique game.
The sequel fell flat in this department and Bioshock Infinite tried to do something a lot like it, but I feel like the story kept it from beign a truly must-play game. Not that it isn't great, it is excellent, but the focus the developers put in the story and how to tell it (its way more complex than Bioshock 1's and requires a lot more from the player in terms of attention and suspension of disbelief) clearly left some of the old elements behind, and those are pretty much what made the first game amazing.
That and a lot of Bioshock's stories were told like the Souls series tell their stories: in an archeological manner, that truly gives the player the sense that they found it out instead of having someone telling them. It was also present in Infinite, but in a way lesser extent.
What about Bioshock Infinate's "Federal" and Victorian styles? Do they have the desired effect on their surroundings Bioshock 1 does?
Stikibunn Baker Well, what do you think? ;-)
+PBS Game/Show I'm not a designer but it's possible that Bioshock Infinate's design may be related to the level's open grand levels. Victorian archetecture is very heavily decorated. This serves to contrast with the large amounts of open blue sky between the buildings. Heavily decorated ornate Victoriana vs vast amounts of open blue. In addition the choice of a Federal style compliments the right wing repulican extremism present in the story. When building the first civic buildings of the united states the Federal style was invented to harken back to the archetecture of ancient Athens as opposed to the gothic style popular in Britain's civic structures. Note in Bioshock Infinate the only time we see the gothic style is in the asylum level and in the slave-run factory levels. both places of oppression.
Stikibunn Baker I think the victorian style is absolutely perfectly chosen for bioshock infinite, even though I don't like the game all that much (the end was just nonsense and the whole game was an insult to bioshock 1 imo). The victorian style is highly decorated, hiding the otherwise bland and ugly houses it's on. Making something that's nothing special look like something that's absolutely amazing (how else could comstock get so many followers? He had to sugarcoat his disgusting thoughts). Art Deco, on the other hand, it straight forward, direct, and the art is made from the blandness of the object itself, not by decorating the bland object. Andrew Ryan was straight forward to the people with his ideas, comstock was the opposite. The problem with the victorian style is that you can't really make level design all that prominent with that decor (note the difference between level design and level decor, which in my opinion should have been more clear in the video itself since they are so intertwined in this video... even more so: this is the whole purpose of the video). It resulted in a game with linear passages. This is another thing I loved about the first bioshock, but I disliked the lack of it in 'infinite': the story was linear, but the levels themselves were not. The Burial at Sea DLC showed that the bioshock developers didn't lose their touch, but that it's simply not working with the victorian style.
when I play bioshock, to me the art deco style goes well to prove a point that Ryan makes in building rapture, where because people are not forced to give what is theirs that it leads to progress, which the future style of art deco does well to emphasize. It also beautifully shows the contrast and unatural decay of the beautiful bright future to the dark similarity of governments Ryan has meant to escape post rapture civil war, ending with Ryan as the same as what he detested, basically showing rapture as an extension of Ryan himself
Best series I have ever played
One thing I noticed about the setting of Bioshock was that I never felt afraid of the fact that I was walking around in an underwater city! The fear of drowning should have been present at all times, but the city itself looked so lived in, that I found myself trusting my surroundings. It also helped that I was focussed on my tasks and constantly being asked to do more and more.
Re: Art Deco - I loved your comments, but I think most of the architectural nuances went way over my head the few times that I have played through. Do I need an Art degree to enjoy video games these days? (I definitely enjoyed Bioshock, but some of this stuff should come with a manual.)
Art Deco always has this Gothic/Horror feel to it for me; not just because I use to watch Batman: The Animated Series, but also because a lot of Gothic architecture uses tall, stiff, and imposing designs much in the same way Art Deco does and I think that helps with the overall tone of the game, especially since Andrew Ryan himself is an imposing figure who created Rapture.
I think it comes to the artificial nature of it. The rules are different for what we are wired to understand. I'm actually sitting outside right now looking at a bunch of trees blending into a complex blob of material.
But Art Deco? It's the uncanny. It resist blending and the non-discript. There's no comfort in it, it's not subject to outside forces, or at least is not suppose to look like it.
I suppose it's sorta like a good slasher villain. Imposing and insurmountable. Sorta like gothic, I suppose. Though gothic taps into more Romantic ideas of appealing to nature.
Think of the awe of seeing a mountain, and you are getting close. Add in some large windows and curved ceilings and all of a sudden you realize how small you are (think Bloodborne).
Though I see the connection you made. Both draw on scale to show off, more or less, human pride. Which, at least in a lot of media, leads to a fall.
Chase Ladner Exactly, especially since a lot of Gothic churches tried to be as big as possible to the point where become unstable and too dangerous to inhabit.
Also, there are the parallels of Gothic architects try to bring God into their architecture and how Howard Roark from "The Fountainhead" basically saw himself as God (or a superman since Objectivism is an atheist philosophy) and tried to put himself into his architecture; it's basically an illusion of control.
I'll admit that this was a great video. Good work Jamin.
The level design in Bioshock was my favorite part of it. It's really nice because the player can get lost and still be able to reach to their objective point. They definitely studied the Dust2 map design, lots of figure eights in their map design.
Thank you thank you thank you for giving one of my favourite games some love that it well and truly deserves.
I think I was too distracted by the architecture and atmosphere to ponder how it contributed to level design.
+James Closs thats the point
Well done. Bioshock is one of the all-time great games.
This is clearly the biggest improvement on System Shock 2. I can't really think the environment did too much to influence gameplay since all the levels were pretty one dimensional aside from the odd elevator.
If amazing to see that while they share most of the same storytelling tropes, (being lead around by a mystery voice, reading tape recordings to get back story,) this is the first game that really dedicated itself to complete immersion.
I feel like it's spurious to say Bioshock was one of the first games to do environmental storytelling well; System Shock and Thief both did it well a decade earlier.
I absolutely loved bioshock!!!!! Great both as a game and as a story in and of itself :)
Fun fact: Violet Landau, Drusilla from the Buffy series, voiced the Little Girls on the first Bioshock game. Points for extra creepiness?
For me the BioShock series is like the Persona seires. Flawed but great. The main flaw in the level design of the original BioShock is that arrow that points towards the way you should go to progress. It discourages exploration and distracts the player and although you have the option of disabling it, you'll always be tempted to enable it back the next time you'll be blocked when you could have discovered a secret by not following directions.
Sometimes games simply shouldn't be afraid to let the player get lost.
PheseantNetsuke I personally disagree, as a player who really enjoys exploring I like having an arrow telling me where I'm supposed to go so I can purposefully go in any other direction. it means I never miss a thing.
PheseantNetsuke Hm, but the mechanic as you explained it excellently ties into the idea of the protagonist being mind-controlled.
I agree whole heartedly that the art direction and level design are perfectly in tune and that the art direction shows some of the best execution in games. However, I can't extend that level of praise the the actual level design taken on its own. I constantly felt claustrophobic and lost thru games 1 and 2, while 3 felt very linear, with no chance to lose yourself at all, which was strange considering the face value of its aesthetically "open" levels.
I'll say right off that I thoroughly enjoyed playing Bioshock, and really appreciate this channel and video. I agree that Art Deco was probably the best design choice, although for somewhat different reasons (which you may have just skimmed for length reasons). The style comes straight from the heyday of the 50's, where Capitalism was the best thing ever, the self-made-man was the ideal and less-than-totally safe scientific progress (especially in Nuclear Physics) was helping us forge the future. Ayn Rand's ideal, more-or-less. Rapture was designed down to it's bones to be that mentality brought to it's extreme.
All that being said, I don't think I ever noticed if the architecture did direct my view around the world (outside of a few big cases at the very beginning). I certainly never consciously noticed. Does that mean that the game was so insidiously good at it that it helped influence how I felt throughout the game, thus improving my experience without me knowing? Or was it really just *too* subtle to have any effect? I don't know, and I don't know how to know.
That happens to me a lot when I'm consuming some sort of analysis on one work of art or another. The writer will be pointing out all of these details about some aspect of the work that I never noticed, arguing that it adds more depth to the whole thing that the audience might not have picked up on but that had improved their experience anyway. Their argument will makes sense, but how do I know if what they are saying is true, or if the are just taking unintentional details and forming a theory that doesn't match reality. It's hard to tell, because I'm not astute enough to pick up on those kinds of details myself. I don't know. I'm not even sure if that's a problem. What do you think?
dementeddr I think this is a very good point. While I am sure to a person who is very familiar with design/architecture might be able to pick up on something like this, a vast majority of people probably wont notice nor will it have much of an effect on them. Some of the claims he made about the art style giving visual cues about what certain things are make sense, but no where near as much as he is implying they do.
A lot of the people who play games like Bioshock are familiar enough with what are very standard game mechanics at this point to almost immediately understand what happens to their in game character when they die. On top of this I am almost certain the game immediately tells you what vita chambers do for you when you first see them. So I think it is a stretch for him to imply that the visuals do as much as he is saying they do.
dementeddr To address your more general concern, something doesn't have to be intentional to be meaningful. Maybe the architecture was not meant to have any effect on level design, but that doesn't prevent it from having an effect. An accidental effect is still an effect.
+2442MTS I dont think it being an accident plays into it. He is saying that it had no effect because it went unnoticed by himself.
Blackenecl To be fair though. Most people don't notice that the colour red makes them hungrier (which is why in so many restuarants the colour red is usually involved in the colour scheme). Perhaps the architecture did have a psychological effect and not noticing it is just a sign that you don't pay much attention to architecture because your maybe more concerned with other things.
dementeddr "The style comes straight from the heyday of the 50's" Art Deco comes from the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Metropolis (1927) embodies how Art Deco was part of 20's and 30's futurism.
While it may be stretching, the "upwards" art style also reflects the philosophy of Ayn Rand, and the ideas of capitalism (going up in the economic food chain)
I really liked the gunplay and plasmid aspect. While the design was great, it was really how all about the guns complimented the plasmids.
Imo Bioshock solely uses Art Deco to get the storytelling going.
Art Deco is very similar to Gothic architecture, it's one of the "vertical" styles aof architecture, imposing and with a big scale in mind. It's intimitating the viewer and therefore a valid stylechoice for any horror or gothic horror game (and art deco buildings also use Gargoyles and other very gothic elements, despite it's a modern style)
Plus it is connected tp capitalism, industry, grandeur and future-oriented thoughts and therefore also highly fitting for what points Bioshock wants to bring across.
That said the levels in Bioshock feel most of the time very crowded and don't really take advantage of the architecture.
Sure there are a few vertical rooms like the entry hall with the elevators or Fort Frolic, but most of the time most of it is small and tight and dirty.
Having things pop, guiding lines, strong colors, blinking lights, framing elements etc. are level design basics every game uses to a certain degree since there were enough colors and graphics to be used - and that has nothing at all to do with the architecture.
However using lines, values and color to guide the eyes is what every artist does all the time.
And while the leveldesign in Bioshock is quite OK most of the time, the gameplay arguably isn't the best.
Dark Souls who strongly emphasizes on Gothic architecture gets the verticality and captures the ascension/descension motive much better - just in terms of architectural leveldesign.
Where Art Deco and Rapture actually come together is just through the "Atlantis" ideal from Platon which also got taken up from Rand - or in short that man should live up to his own highest ideals.
And in a lot of spots Bioshock makes a lot of fun of those ideals - and that in a very smart and enjoyable way, if one is familiar with the philosophical background.
Be it through characters which could be great, but have gotten mad, be it through rooms which are small, but intend to be a lot bigger just through architecture, or just that the whole city "Rapture" (name is a pun in itself) is referred as a "sinking ship" multiple times throughout the game and How A.R: actually dies.
And at the very end it gets clear that Bioshock has been a Gothic Horror tale all along, where the human couldn't escape the bigger manipulative existence and every ideal portrayed through the world of Bioshock you experienced finally gets smashed to pieces - it's a smart way to encourage one to overthink the whole game and approach.
While I don't necesarily think Bioshock is a great game regarding it's gameplay, Bioshock has for sure a lot of atmosphere, and is a great game if you actually want to critically overthink it regarding it's sources or do a self-reflection of which exact role you took as a character during the game.
And how all of that ties togetehr with Lovecraft's literature as well.
That'd have made a by far more educational episode.
Just noticed that you're wearing glasses that is comprised of both frame and lenses now.
Three years late... But this tension between being pulled up by the environment/architectural design and being under the ocean or this oppressive weight probably contributed to the mental health issues of the inhabitants.
Like I wonder if the game designers read a NASA report on what design features make isolated communal systems tolerable for extended periods of time and were like let's make Rapture the exact opposite of THAT.
Columnar basalt forms perfectly symmetrical hexagons.
im thinking how can i make my home art deco like in bioshock..
"BioShock was one of the first games to do environmental storytelling well"
Dozens of earlier games: lol
"Bioshock [2007] was one of the first games to do environmental story telling well". That is if you don't count Half-life which is a DECADE older (1998). ;)
I love Bioshock though and agree with all the rest (OK, mostly).
"The vertical lines are a warning" I think thats going a little far.
chasenallimcam Why? Are you triggered by vertical lines?
AlbinoTanuki ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
chasenallimcam I agree... there are vertical lines EVERYWHERE in bioshock...lol
+chasenallimcam As a level designer / environment artists myself, it's not going far at all, we need to keep in mind all these little details and many many many more. You have to decent to the status of insanity sometimes, otherwise the environment feels "gamey" and/or fake.
It seems that they were simply trying to fit the art deco aesthetic, and the vertical lines were simply and extension of that.
im suprised that YOU didnt make a video about sad satan.
Would anyone mind telling me if there are spoilers for Infinite? I have played the first two games, but I am in the middle of the last one.
Silver There aren't any. I really doesn't even spoil Bio 1.
Awesome! Thank you very much!
Silver It doesn't actually mention Infinite at all
I agree the look and feel are and were important, to a degree vital. but to say ti couldn't have worked without it is a bit of a stretch to me. any design that is consistent with what we feel the time period to be and promotes the feel of progress in that age would have worked.
As an example, look at the many ways people do Steampunk, Noare, or lovcraftian styles.
The art Deco style fits the feel of the birth of industry, and to me what stood out the most as out of place were the Plasmids, in fact they felt so off I seldom if ever used them. and a good look at how the same basic world can be taken a different way look at Bioshock Infinite, far less art deco as they were trying for a different kind of grandeur.
Bioshock made me read about Art Déco, and it's fascinating to see this style come to life so unrestrained and wholesome in a video game. However, I prefer the preceding (turn-of-the-century) Art Nouveau style. Art Déco can be beautiful and elegant. But while Art Nouveau is dreamy, organic and humanistic in a way, many elements of Art Déco have something monstrous, unnatural, industrial to them. Reminds me sometimes a bit of national socialist and communist architecture and their propaganda art style.
How was architecture different for Bioshock Infinite?
didn't system shock 1 and 2 do all these things, like 10 years earlier? With modern and utilitarian design instead of art deco
atmosphere!!!!!!
Even when talking about Level Design major plot spoilers somehow make it in /:
Really Unskilled To be fair, It's been like... 8 years since it came out.
Kubbi!
Art deco actually started in the 1920's.
In fact, it started even in the 1910s, but was most influential in the 1920s and 1930s. Source: read the Wikipedia article today...
I never really appreciated how much thought went into how the aesthetics of the game affected the gameplay. I mostly just shot guys up. I DID however notice the unsubtle critique of Ayn Rand's philosophy to my credit.
Dude there is something on your shirt.
I enjoyed the level design in Bioshock 1 and 2, but Infinite's felt very linear and boring. Did the Art Deco mask a linearity of the first two or was something else going on?
Joshua Pittman Perhaps the opposite per the episode! As I argued, I don't think you can do BioShock 1 or 2 without Art Deco since it lends certain architectural features to the design. Perhaps the Chicago World's Fair didn't do as much for BioShock Infinite....
Joshua Pittman I would think it more has to do with the congestion of Rapture compared to Columbia. There's usually only one or two paths in any given Bioshock game, but in Infinite, there felt that there should have been more options, given that you're literally in the sky, and you have powerful traversal mechanics. In Infinite, it feels like the designers really had to design around the space you should have had to roam, whereas in Rapture, it doesn't seem like you should be able to take any branching paths in the first place. Columbia makes you feel like there should be routes that you're simply not getting, but in Rapture, everything's surrounded with water so that it seems like you shouldn't get any extra routes in the first place
As someone who played Bioshock 1 long after it came out, but before Infinite, it didn't particularly blow me away. Too much of it just didn't work for me and broke the immersion almost completely. For the most part, it was the enemy and character animations. The game was being so serious, and maybe even scary, but the character and splicer animations were so ridiculous and goofy that it broke the tone completely and was almost laughable... sadly. That's what hurt it the most for me. Yes, the art style was cool, though claustrophobic (duh), and there were a lot plasmids available (though I mostly only ever used the shock plasmid), even though I hadn't had the twist spoiled for me, I suspected that the nice guy that's telling you what to do over the radio was a bad guy. It was just a tad too obvious and I caught it right away. And then the boss fight was just bad.... Then... Then Bioshock Infinite just blew me away. The amount emotional detail and story in and behind the story most people might see, and hidden in almost in every inch of every level, that most people will miss, is incredible. And on top of that, the breathtaking visuals as icing. The emotional depth in the characters and in the background and in between the line of the story itself... had also shown itself in some lines shouted by some of the splicers in Bioshock one, as well as pre-Bioshock games from Levigne as I saw in some videos, it was in full force in Infinite. You just had to have a mind between the lines and take in all your surroundings. There is a ton there... Yes, it might have had less plasmid play and a bit too many slaughterfests (and at first the claw made me cringe, but I quickly thought that maybe... maybe that was a symbol as well... like so many other things in the game if you took a moment to look and think about it), but the story more than made up for it for me, making it my top 1 or 2 game of all time.
Josh Russell Bioshock Infinite is phenomenal. The general consensus is that it pales in comparison to Bioshock 1 and I think the majority of those people are out of their minds. Infinite is a masterpiece.
I politely disagree.
I found Infinite lacked many of Bioshock 1's greatest strength. The first game had a much greater variety of customisation. You could customise your abilities in far more interesting ways. It also had a much larger world, with a lot more optional exploration. Infinite fell almost like a corridor shooter at times, broken up only by the (admittedly great) non-combat sections.
I don't think Infinite a bad game, but I do think Bioshock 1 is a superior game in almost every single regard.
***** I'm with you there. The story is a lot better in Infinite, but the gameplay was lacking as hell. It only got better in Burial at sea 2, with a depowered Elizabeth enforcing a stealthier playstyle. Which is rather ironic, given that it is back in Rapture.
The atmosphere of Rapture is just amazing, Columbia never gave me that same feeling, beautiful as it was.
I disagree with how you define "Art Deco" as being explicitly and primarily "Machine made".
I live in Napier, a place that some call "The Art Deco capital of the world", and while this is a blatant exaggeration, we do have a fairly disproportionate amount of Deco, since when most of our city was destroyed in the 1931 earthquake, most of the existing Deco buildings stood firm, and the city council officially decided to rebuild in a deco fashion.
Art Deco is very clearly inspired by classical Roman architecture, with arches and pillars reminiscent of such buildings as the Pantheon or the Colosseum. The "Key-shaped" patterns throughout Rapture are inspired by the decorative designs on facades of buildings. The pillars, too, are like the roman. Here, they mostly take after the 'Doric' style of Roman architecture. This is important, because that style communicates strength, solidarity, which is what the shattered people of this city needed after surviving such a traumatic event as the earthquake [and the resulting fire].
That doesn't mean the 'machine' aspect of it is inherently wrong, it's just that that's more of a by-product. By by-product, I mean that with the advent of mass industrialization, perhaps it is natural that we would turn to one of the most organized, efficient and productive civilizations to ever exist. This is especially true, when one considers the inhuman precision with which the Romans constructed their buildings, a lot of your strong vertical lines were a key component in making sure the buildings didn't fall down [spoiler, they worked pretty well]. Just look at how small an incline plane they have on their aqueducts. Even today, with all our modern materials and engineering, that's quite a feat.
So perhaps that is part of what makes Art Deco the perfect aesthetic for Bioshock. A kingdom, a civilization that was once the beacon of progress and ingenuity, fallen. The fact that as you walk through those halls you have to wonder, "What could have happened to crumble such a strong foundation?"
But Rapture didn't build it's Deco city in the Doric style, nor was it built out of marble. No, it was glass and plastic. The iron was decorative, and the marble a hazard.
Oh Christ... did he just say Ann Rand...
That's actually how her name was pronounced.
Stephen Albright Who the hell told you that? It's the oldest gag in the Rand lovers playbook. Ayn (Eye-n Rand) not Ann.
+Louis Cyfear Well, crap. I just looked it up and you appear to be right. I've been a fool. Carry on spreading awareness!
only the level design, everything is great
Its really sad that you talked about Bioshock "genious" level design and not talked about the other shock game: system shock. Because, while its true that there's good level design in Bioshock, most of his philosophy are taken from system shock. You talked about the art style but didn't touch upon what make the levels stand out: the way the levels are constructed to enable player interaction with the gameplay systems and mechanics. Still a good video, its to nice to see you are expanding your game design knowledge
gbacl Is it sad though? Sad? Really? :)
PBS Game/Show maybe its a strong word, i get emotional when people despise the classics
"Why is bioshock one of the best game of all time?"
Can;t really say. While I enjoyed it I did find it inferior to both of it's spiritual predecessors (System Shock 1 and 2).
SS1 is a game I espically enjoy and which holds a special palce i my heart.
And regarding Art Deco being a design choice for the start, that might be true of this Bioshock, but of Bioshock as whole.
I do remember reading about Bioshock as successor to the System Shock games, a couple of years after SS2, and the game then was suppose to take place in an arctic base, and which seemed (for the single photo I saw) devoid of any art deco design.
Would you kindly mention this comment, Jamin?
Half Life was the first game to do environmental story telling well.
I haven't played the first bioshock, but I did play bioshock 2 and infinite.
bioshock 2 seemed entirely to to dark and dismal to me. and I get it. it's deep underwater. very little sunlight. it suppose to be dark. I get it. but it was so dark and uninviting that it honestly kinda put me sleep.
I'll admit, the early 19th century architecture in an underwater world was very interesting. and it kind of worked. I liked it, but once your out of site of the outside world, it's just not that interesting anymore.
bioshock infinite on the other hand was the complete opposite. bright, vibrant, colorful, a shining city as far as the eye can see. at first anyway. I won't lie, the cheeryness of it all was a little overwelming and a bit sickening at times. but then you start destroying the place and it really starts to come alive. you feel what's happening. entire portions of the city just falling out of the sky. buildings crumbling. it gets dark and dank. fire everywhere. the contrast from what it was and watching what it becomes was quite enthralling.
maxie fuqua I totally get that, Bioshock 1 and 2 are super dark and probably dull for some players. I find it interesting that all my friends who play Bioshock 2 and not 1 find it a really dull environment. I was sold on the intro to Bioshock 1, it's hands down the best in the series IMO. If you get a chance watch it on RUclips (preferably with headphones), its well worth it
MonkeyPantsFace I don't know abotu Bioshock 2, but the first one is not dull. It's long maybe, but the story!
Whoa man! you have to play BioShock 1. Infinite is the continuation of BioShock 1. Infinite has a better story but BioShock 1 is an all around better game. it also has an amazing plot twist that blew my 9 year old mind at the time.
Wow, the creators really put some thought in level design and art style huh?
Too bad I spent the entire game looking down for loots...
How did Blizzard managed to make such great stories with their strategy games? Namely Warcraft and Starcraft...
Joseph Jobo Licayan good question! On the list it goes.
I had always wondered h
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Well this is certainly strange. "Bioshock was one of the first games to do environmental storytelling well." What? What about games like Half-Life or Silent Hill 2 or one of the several games preceding Bioshock that told the majority of the story through the environment and atmosphere?
Also, there's tons of symmetry in nature...
Endyo This, Bioshock was certainly not the first game to use environmental storytelling. Like you said, Half life (the second one having some really good environment storytelling bits), Silent hill 1 to 3, the looking glass games (thief, system shock, ultima etc), resident evil and so many others...
Endyo There aren't a ton of games that do this well. Actually, I'd argue HL is a rare early bird.
PBS Game/Show I'd never argue that it was a common quality but saying Bioshock was "one of the first to do it well" in 2007 seems like a serious stretch. Aside from Half Life and Silent Hill, many survival horror games have used their environment as a core component in story telling. It's a common theme in that genre in particular to have level design build the atmosphere and let you know (or prevent you from knowing) what is happening. Even early Megaman games used the design of the levels to actually *teach you how to play the game.* Just because Bioshock used this design element well doesn't mean it was one of the first to do so.
GOTEEE
Fallout 76 should learn from Bioshock how to environmental story telling.
Theres not a single aspect of Bioshock that I don't like. From what was talked about to weapons, powers, layouts, audio, music, moral decisions...etc. One of my top 10 games. I actually got around to Bioshock Infinite recently and loved it despite the fact many said it was the worst game.
I'd like to see a response about what you Jamin PBS Game/Show thought about its style compared to Bioshock. It had a very specific style too though I cannot think of what the name of the style was.
woah spoilers bro lol
I might need to watch it maybe tomorow but It looks like you are talking abotu design, about art deko and than about level desing? I actullay have no idea where you make the conection between astetic desing of certain things an overall level desing, it sounds more like that certain aspects of level desing are harmonic with art deco and the rest just doesn't matter. I think you never said a word about how the floorplane was made according to art deco. Someone gotta point me out what he was saying?
Strange normaly I get everything he says but this time, no clue!.
Oh and Edges Dictionary sucks! So Sorry for al the typos!.
Would you kindly include a spoiler alert?
Bioshock is beautiful but imho this guy is stretching to make comparisons. Neither verticality nor color contrast are art directions that are wholly owned by Art Deco. One could remove the art deco styling entirely from the game and the level design would remain intact.
For example, his first point, that the verticality of the exterior shots of Rapture serve as a warning for the first enemies encountered within the game could just as easily have been done with say modern architecture, for example. The mere fact that you're sinking further downward while your eyes are naturally drawn to these imposing skyscrapers achieves the same effect.
Similarly, color contrast, certainly a mechanic that can be very useful to level design, is not a feature which art deco has a monopoly over- for those of you who've played Bioshock Infinite (very light spoilers ahead), the grandness of neo-classical styling (be it the awesome statues, eye catching billboards, or even blimps) does well in drawing players' attention to the interconnecting rail system present in Columbia, reminding them that eventually, this will be a key mechanic in traversing from one floating island to another.
Where the choice of art deco (and neo-classicism in Infinite) ultimately shines is that the architectural style pounds you over the head with the thematic elements of the plot- the grand optimism of the times when art deco was at its peak juxtaposed with the fact that Rapture is entirely underwater and abandoned is reflective of Andrew Ryan's failure in achieving his vision of perfection. This is what the use of art deco alludes to and helps the player in developing that suspicion without even having to advance the plot.
how about an episode on this? www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JakeShapiro/20121025/180169/quotPICK_UP_THAT_CANquot_Storytelling_in_HalfLife_2.php
I don't like Bioshock, and I can't seem to understand why everyone seems so sure that it's a great game. Here's how I see things:
1. Stiff, unsatisfying combat.
2. Corridor-shooter level design with no interesting hooks.
3. A not-so-thrilling storyline with a predictable twist.
Even in this video, it seems like a lot of what you're talking about as great level design is actually great art design which works in service of Bioshock's fairly mediocre level design.
I get that Rapture is a cool spot to be in, but that should only carry a game so far.
how I feel about dark souls essentially.
Kerrigan M
Unfortunately, we can't agree on this. Dark Souls has
1. Deep and rewarding combat
2. Masterclass world design and mostly great level design.
3. A fairly understated and minimal storyline with a rich lore.
Dark Souls' problems lie much more in how obscure some of its mechanics are, and how unwelcoming the game is to newcomers, but many fans of the series would argue that these qualities are part of what makes it special.
Either way, Dark Souls earns it's hype much more than Bioshock does.
cavemancolton But you are given a big choice of how to approach combat, you are given a large array of weapons, powers, and abilities, which can customised and increased to player choice. There are a number of situations where you can deal with situations differently than just running in and gunning, a large variety of environments, and enemies appearing in those environments. And the story was sprinkled throughout the game to be picked up pieced together by the player, with both foreshadowing reveals that should not have been obvious unless you were already spoiled or were piecing things together.
DuskyPredator
Well, I mean, yeah of course I was piecing the story together, but it's up to the storyteller to keep me guessing until the reveal. Atlas struck me as fake from the moment you first hear him when you're in the bathysphere, and you can only repeat the line "Would you kindly" so many times before the player should figure out that it's integral to the story.
But beyond that, for all of the options that you're given in combat, it never seems to amount to anything more than the sum of it's parts. There's no real challenge in the game beyond not dying. There's no interesting enemy attack patterns to memorize and no interesting areas of combat to force you to play differently from how you normally would.
To me the whole game felt like walking through a hallway, killing people, moving to the next destination, and then I reach a checkpoint so I can get more story spoonfed to me. Maybe throw in a hacking mini-game or two along the way. Sure, there are many environments, but they all play the same. Sure, there are many types of enemies, but they don't behave all that differently. It's all cosmetic variety. No variety of gameplay. None of the combat feels good to engage in, so most combat is just a chore, and since that's really all the game has to offer, the whole game felt like a chore, and I just played it so that I could be part of the conversation surrounding that game.
cavemancolton Do try to just sneak past a camera, or hack it to get enemies? Do you quicker destroy turrets and drones, or disable and hack them? Do you shoot from a distance with a machine gun, up close with a shotgun, go for stealth wrench fights? Use common damage plasmids, some that stun or cause a distraction, or keep an eye out for environment? Different weapons and ammo also for different enemies.
There are secrets hidden around the levels that will often requiring figuring out the answer or code hidden around. Big Daddies give you time to prepare for a totally different fight as you scope out what to do and set up traps. A number of enemies do have subtle cues that makes fighting a bit of a learning experience.
And sounds like you are expecting that for games to be great they have to follow the Dark Souls brand of storytelling, which is really silly. You are judging a game on what you want it to be instead of what it was.