Yesterday we found out that two major contributors to the BioShock Infinite development team had left the project. However, that wasn’t the only thing we learned, apparently BioShock Infinite use to have multiplayer, but it had to be cut because the development team couldn’t get it to work properly.
In an interview with Kotaku yesterday, Irrational Games co-founder Ken Levine addressed some of the concerns about the two members leaving and some of the concerns about the development of the game. Here are Levine’s thoughts on Tim Gerritsen and Nate Wells leaving Irrational Games:
“In a company of 200 people you’re going to have turnover, We never like to see a guy like Nate leave because he’s been here for a long time but it’s been 13 years and I think sometimes people want to spread their wings. I’m not going to stop people. We love Nate and I think we all remain friends. After 13 years he sort of finished his work on BioShock Infinite, as you will be able to tell when you see the game again… I think Nate’s moving on to something else.”
Levine then went on to talk about how the rest of the team who is working on BioShock Infinite is basically a lot of the same people who worked on the original BioShock. “ …the lead artist, the art director, the creative director, the lead effects artist, the senior sound guy, the lead programer and the lead AI programmer fromBioShock 1 are all on BioShock Infinite.”
Kotaku then cited some of their sources claiming that they could confirm that two multiplayer modes were implemented and then removed after they were unsuccessful. Levine had this to say on the BioShock Infinite multiplayer: “As I’ve always said we are experimenting with things, and only if they are good enough will we put them in the game.” We will probably never know for sure but the description Kotaku gives about the two modes were pretty detailed for them to be making things up.
Now on to the big question, is the game having development trouble? In the interview Levine was asked if players should be worried about BioShock Infinite’s development and here is what Levine had to say:
“It’s always challenging when you’re trying to make a game that does a lot of different things, Levine said, noting that designers can be drawn back toward what is safe and familiar. Trust me, there are plenty of things in this game—either it was the Skyline [a roller-coaster-like apparatus that players can use to zoom about the levels] or Elizabeth—where there were movements in the team to get rid of them. Because they are the most challenging things.”
He also noted that these challenges that Irrational Games has come up agianst is one of the main reasons the game has taken so long to develop. However, according to Levine the game is still on track to be released in February of next year and that: ”When you are trying to innovate, the path is not always clear and these things take time. But I guarantee this: The next time we show you guys the game the judge will be you, not me.”
In a related not Irrational Games has hired former director of production at Epic Games, Rod Fergusson to help finish development on BioShock Infinite. Fergusson later confirmed this on twitter by saying: ”Yes it’s true, I’m leaving my family at Epic to join my new family at Irrational in Boston starting tomorrow. And yes I’ve played Infinite and it’s amazing! Can’t wait for you guys to get your hands on it.”
