What can we learn from the old Bioshock: Infinite?

At its release, the brand new Bioshock: Infinite (2013) managed to surprise many, surprised with the development budget, which exceeded $100 million, at that time unheard of money for single-player shooters, rarely did any rise above a couple of dozen. The tops, of course, approached these sizes (Battlefield 4 – 100$M, Grand Theft Auto V – 250$M, Watch Dogs 1 – 70$M). Surprised not by super-advanced technologies that burned the video card (the game was made on the engine of the previous game of the series) – although the picture is excellent, even against the background of the top released ones. Not a mixture of genres of everything and everyone, in fact, the game has become much more linear, closer to the ideas of the first part than the first part itself. The game surprised with the story shown, richly presented, truly exciting until the last turn of the plot, which can be compared in style of presentation with the best books, behind each open door, as behind a turned page, drawing a living world with bright, well-written and integrated into the gameplay images, sharp, repulsive but memorable characters. Plot twists in the scenery of Disneyland, hiding a house of horrors behind a beautiful facade.

I replayed it for two reasons: it was interesting to see the port to Switch – the hardware is very weak in terms of performance, at the level of iPhone 6-7. It was also interesting to refresh my memory of the techniques of interaction with the player through visual images and the functionality of objects from the master of double meanings Ken Levine. As they say, “to raise the pretense”, although, perhaps here we should say “to refresh”. Maybe some of my colleagues in the game industry will also be interested, and the reader will be told a little more about the behind the scenes of game creation, game design, the importance of psychology in games, player control and breaking the fifth wall.

A set of small, thoughtful game details, attention to the environment, interaction with the player on the edge of the fifth wall, which is so lacking in modern immersive sims and which could have a lot to look at in the technology of a game from ten years ago. But no, either pride does not allow copying, or the knowledge is so complex that modern designers are able to reproduce it. With great pleasure I replayed the game first on YouTube, and then on the Nintendo Switch – this is definitely the best BioShock at the moment, I hope the guys at least do not screw up the next part. And they can screw it up, the game was almost removed from the late stage of production due to problems with financing, having lost the entire old team along the way.

The principle of clarity

Examples of actions that the player sees during the game work best for the atmosphere and plot, even if you just give the player a gun and a set of options. The player is shown an NPC who uses the same mechanics that he is supposed to use, without showing the features and limitations. The mechanics, item, or ability becomes a tool for solving problems, and how the player uses this tool depends only on him. At the same time, the process of exploring the limitations itself becomes a mini-game in the game. The “sky hook” with which the main character clings to the rail also serves as an excellent melee weapon, which can also be used to beautifully finish off an enemy – wring his neck or even saw it off.

In this case, you are simply given this hook, and in a couple of cutscenes in the next couple of minutes they show how it works, no pop-up messages or separate buttons, it works as it looks. And it should be noted that in Bioshock, most items work as they look. But if you try to use them differently, the game will not prevent you from doing so.

Often, developers simply show how this or that mechanic works, but do not provide any explanations regarding its origin. This technique is quite common in games, but rarely is it well integrated into the overall narrative. We must give credit to the authors of Bioshock, they managed to do this for the entire set.

At the same time, the developers did not forget to set up interactions between different abilities, such as water extinguishing fire. And if you try to throw a fireball into a swamp, it will simply go out, and if it is on a dry surface, it will explode. And all these interactions are left for the player, instead of explaining the essence of this or that interaction in words or pictures, small battle arenas and minibosses are often used. And if a curious player goes to see where his fireball went, he will see that it is still burning out.

As a rule, such bosses require the use of a specific ability, but no one prevents the player from simply finishing them off with a weapon. However, the use of the environment and minibosses for such transparent training is considered by many to be one of the game's features. For a designer, this is sheer torture, because the location turns out to be unique, you won't have to repeat it in the game often, and you need to invest time in a third of the level.

Attention management (fixed narrative)

Fixed narratives are pre-set moments that occur during the game or in between its sub-blocks. They can be cutscenes, interactive things like text sheets, voiceovers or monologues, environmental narration.

Despite the fact that this game is a linear almost corridor shooter, without the ability to seriously influence the ending. The mechanisms for holding the player's attention were laid down in the first part, as well as well-known techniques such as frame objects and golden pass highlighting.

So are the then new “functional indicators”. These are small cutscenes or frozen stories that do not explicitly direct the player to the desired point or action, but attract his attention. And in Bioshock Infinite all locations are strewn with such scenes, you will practically not see obvious indicators in the form of inscriptions. Everything that could be done without inscriptions and obvious indicators is taken out to separate game events and cutscenes. This is a lot of work and significant time costs. If redrawing a texture, rearranging and setting up an object on the stage takes a day, then preparing a cutscene, lines, model movements and the models themselves – feel free to multiply the time spent by ten.

Visualization of a choice (emergent narrative)

Emergent scenes are events and decisions that can vary greatly depending on the player's choices. Fixed and emergent narratives are game narrativewhich exists as a bizarre amalgam of narrative, random, and transformative events (that were not intended by the developers). Due to the interactive nature of the game itself and the random behavior of users, game designers do not have complete control over how the plot will be formed.

I liked the solution with the built-in interface for choosing decisions. The game, which behind the facade is a linear shooter, like “kill all the enemies and get a new ability to kill even more enemies to get….” well, you get the idea, it turns out to show situations and locations, like a pleasant walk through a city painted in all colors, where you need to make a decision. It was unusual. If not for one big BUT, none of your choices affect anything in the game. Like all of Levin's games, this one has not just a double, but sometimes a triple meaning.

Games have trained us to make choices, visible or not, measurable at the end of the playthrough or affecting us right now. We expect that most games use choices to determine endings, which is what makes the game meaningful, gives the player the ability to influence events. Here, the game puts us in situations that actually look like moral choices, capable of influencing a good or evil ending, as is customary in other games. But not here, in most of these situations there was no influence on the game, the player is the same pawn in the game as the NPC standing next to him, the realization of this fact comes at the end. This generally calls into question the idea of ​​​​the significance of choice in this particular game, and in games in general, breaking that same fifth wall and showing that players can also be played.

Designers know very well about symmetrical scenes, they also know that most people are right-handed, so they will intuitively choose objects located on the left side of the screen. By the way, the numbers on price tags are written on the left for the same reason, so as not to give your brain a small opportunity to refuse the purchase. By the way, if you are a pacifist, not killing everyone you meet in a row, then there will be no shovel.

So on the left side, which most people will want to choose, there is an inconvenient choice. A cage, which symbolizes this entire flying city from which we are trying to get out, there is also a warning about the consequences of the choice, in the form of a missing little finger.

The game, which in two parts taught us the importance of choice, destroys these expectations, depriving the player of influence on anything, and here the third meaning appears, which Levin himself spoke about in one of the interviews – can moral choice even exist in games with a narrative predetermined by the designer? And here a completely strange question arises: is the player himself an independent entity, and his decisions and choices, or is he just another NPC with great opportunities for game interaction, but still controllably dancing under the sensitive guidance of the game designer.

Although maybe it's all just too complicated and the designers were just too lazy to write different ending options?

Non-random coincidences (transformative narrative)

Transformative narrative is a concept that describes the process of interaction of mechanics that were not initially laid out by the developers. The term is used in various contexts to describe the possible behavior of NPCs and objects and their reactions to various events, for example, an explosion led to the fall of a barrel, which damaged the NPC, seemingly without the player's involvement, but they must react in accordance with the laid out conditions. At the core of transformative narrative is the idea that stories can significantly influence each other, giving rise to new stories.

Additional activities with searching for upgrades, carnival games, exploring the garbage dumps of Columbia, move the player from one point of interest to another without him noticing. By laying out the simplest activities in small portions, the designers create the feeling that the player has accidentally found some things himself.

And each player will tell their own story, with unique combat situations that depend on a specific strategy. And someone will not be able to ride the carousel of Soldier Field and will lose some of the content. These are all the same conditions that designers constantly care about so that “millions of worlds, different and identical” Bioshock stories come together in a single unique playthrough for each player. Not in this Bioshock, as it turns out. While other games try their best to show unique reactions to the player's actions and make his choice significant, Infinite simply ridicules all these ideas, putting the player on the same level as an NPC, helpless before the plot and the final denouement, she is alone, none of your choices affect anything.

Double/triple layer of storytelling

What struck me most was the complexity of the narrative structure of the story as a whole, and it is not only in the videos and cutscenes. The entire surrounding picture of “progressive” Colombia is just scenery, you only have to go into the gateway. Painted airships fly across the sky, happy children run along the beach, the festival plays with all the colors. And right around the corner there is religious fanaticism, dialogues about Colombian, read American, exceptionalism, the inevitability of economic inequality and postcolonial theory in the dialogues. In general, everything is like in a high-quality dystopia, and what else did you expect from Levin? Do you recognize the numbers?

Total

It would seem that in a linear shooter everything should be thought out to the smallest detail – from the visual design of characters, interactive objects and ending with the multi-layered structure of the story world. This is not only a simulation that lives by its own rules, but also a facade for double and triple meaning. And the rich variability of interactions with the outside world suddenly becomes an opportunity to break the fifth wall between the player and the designer. I think the game will be a good example for designers who want to make games that stand out from the flow of identical, monotonous shooters for the evening. Ten years is simply an eternity for a game, which makes it even more important to review good decisions in order to avoid mistakes in your projects.