2K Games finally announced a new BioShock entry last month and although the game has been in development for at least two years, the publisher refrained from spilling any details. However, job listings published by the newly-formed Cloud Chamber studio drop some hints about what we can expect from the upcoming BioShock‘s world.
The job description for Lead World Designer states that Cloud Chamber wants to develop a world that players are “hungry to explore.”
You love sitting at the nexus of story, architecture and design. You love games that create a symbiosis between them, and you’re motivated by the idea of creating resonant, emotional experiences through gameplay. You care about building a richly interactive world that feels inhabited and genuine. You have a deep understanding of how to create a compelling systemic environment that players are hungry to explore. And you see the player as a partner or co-author, not a pawn.
Then, the listing for Lead Combat Designer talks about a “highly reactive world” that accommodates various play styles. The description reads:
Develop an FPS combat paradigm that is accessible, satisfying, and allows for a high degree of player expression and experimentation within a highly reactive world. Look beyond direct conflict, accommodate various play-styles and design encounters that can be resolved through player ingenuity.
Finally, the job description for Senior AI Engineer mentions an “urban crowd system and the systemic tribal ecology of a sometimes hostile AI.”
We have high ambitions for tying AI and storytelling together and it will be your responsibility to crystalize that ambition around several AI systems. You will be in close collaboration with Design leadership to flush out the designs and finalize the implementations for an urban crowd system and the systemic tribal ecology of a sometimes hostile AI.
All sounds good on paper. Here’s hoping the execution is robust!
[Source: Cloud Chamber via GamesRadar]
