If Ken Levine had it to do all over again, he would tell BioShock's story a little differently.
Speaking to a packed audience at the Game Developers Conference, 2K Boston's creative director confessed that he "underestimated" the impact that solving the mystery of Andrew Ryan in the game's second act would have on the player. Once players knew the truth of Ryan's identity and purpose, he said, they lost an important and compelling emotional connection with the game.
The lesson to be learned, says Levine, is that "answering questions is not as interesting as asking them."
Levine likened BioShock to a classic detective story, creating both narrative tension and player interest by sparingly doling out clues about the true nature of Rapture as the player progressed through the game. In order for a such an approach to work, the game must maintain the "mystery balloon."
"We call it the 'mystery balloon' because we're pretentious," said Levine.
To illustrate his point, Levine suggested the audience think of a game's story as though it were a balloon half-filled with helium. The object is to maintain a player's interest and attention by keeping the balloon in the air. Whenever the balloon starts to fall -- perhaps because one of the game's questions, such as your character's identity in BioShock, gets answered -- said Levine, you should give the balloon a gentle tap to keep it aloft and keep your player interested. The trick is knowing how and when to tap -- if the balloon goes too high or too low, you'll lose your audience.
When we discovered Andrew Ryan's true identity in BioShock's second act, said Levine with a grimace, "The balloon hit bottom."
Asking more questions than you answer is just one facet of keeping your audience engaged, however."if you want people to follow all of your plot, it has to be really fucking stupid," said Levine. His point wasn't that players are stupid, simply that by simplifying the plot, you create a "solidity" that grounds the game and makes it easier for the player to accept any "weirdness" you might throw their way. Like an underwater city that's stuck in 1960 and inhabited by violently insane mutants, for example.
Although *BioShock *is rich with detail, moral ambiguity, and emotion,the story, said Levine, breaks down into three basic components: Escape Rapture, Kill Ryan, and Kill Fontaine. That simplicity makes the game enjoyable not only for those players who want to listen to every audio diary and read every poster, but also those who simply want to know where to go and who to kill.
