Ken Levine, the creator of “BioShock,” is currently developing a new game and fans are anxiously awaiting what the amazing developer has in store. Levine discussed his process in creating a game that is engrossing which focuses the importance of an interesting main character.
“The whole system that I came up with and that we’re developing is based upon the fact that to make an interesting character, you have to have a character who has a bunch of passions, wants, and needs,” Levine told Game Informer. “The player now has the ability to facilitate those wants or needs or go against those wants or needs or ignore those wants or needs.”
In his upcoming game, Levine says that his approach to developing the game is a “very organic way to look at a character.” He added, “It’s a quite systemic game. The system we’re in, the character’s feelings about you change, they go up and down.”
He relates this concept to “BioShock’s” Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum, saying while her religion and autism played a role in who she was, it was her wants — “her absolute adoration of science” — that ultimately defined her. “There are plenty of other Jews who would not choose to do what she did. But she chose to, because it aligned with her passion for science.”
Levine also explains that character relationships with NPC’s will be an important aspect of the game. He likened it to how players chose to deal with Little Sisters in “BioShock” led to two possible endings. This will be expanded upon, as you’ll have “very fluid relationships with the characters” throughout the game. Rather than having “seven or eight stops like your traditional branching tree structure,” Levine’s new game will have “potentially thousands of stops with hundreds of thousands of potential states you can be in with all your relationships to all the characters and wants.”
