I often follow the work of Ken Levine, a well-known director and manager who is reportedly responsible for burnout, but I’m interested in seeing more of “Judas,” which is his current Project at Ghost Story Games. The concept of Judas is that you are trapped in a computer-controlled society aboard the Mayflower, a colonial ship. The titular Judas has successfully escaped his artificial intelligence-modified status quo and is ready to start a revolution. Back in 2022, we were calling it “BioShock Infinite in Space,” but Levine says it’s more open-ended than any of his BioShock entries, with more emphasis on other characters as they evolve. Remember and respond to your actions over time.

Here’s a new interview from GamesIndustry.biz, which also includes Levine’s thoughts on generative AI (ambivalent) and whether today’s triple-A budgets are healthy (no), plus a bit about the power of choice and interaction and the importance of what players tell themselves of repeated wild thoughts. That last part makes me feel like I’m back in 2003, writing my first reader review for Eurogamer dot net, and I’m transfixed by the thought that one day, I might discover the Citizen Kane of gaming.

I don’t doubt Levine’s sincerity, but comments like “No media engages users more than our media does” makes me very testy right now. They make me want to write an editorial about how most of the touted options offered by games are boring busywork or empty gestures that overpower the quieter, more elegant acts of interpretation that are non-interactive The experiential features of works of art, like those stupid movies and books, that don’t even let you press a button to make the characters speak.

But I won’t do that: you’re here to read about Judas. The interview included some more specific details about the game’s narrative design, which Levine admitted took quite some time. One of the reasons it’s taking a while is that he basically wants every notable NPC to have a very detailed grudge.

“Our approach to Judas is largely based on identifying and reacting to player behavior,” Levine told the site. “Even just characters are observing a wide range of player behavior and commenting on it. ‘Hey, you saw this, you did that, and then you did this, and that’s interesting because that led to that’ – we’re doing that Do the right thing now.

“It’s really just watching the player and then writing the types of lines that can react to various types of things. It’s a huge amount of work because you have to think about all the things the player can do and then write the type of lines that the character can do. The reactions design these actions for different characters in a way that feels organic.

Levine is keen to avoid “random number generator” moments, when characters suddenly give you tasks. As he reiterates: “Once you start looking at the sequence of events – having the character look at ‘you did this, and then you did that, which led to this, and I was angry because it did that’ – then it becomes It’s been very interesting.

The end result, Levine promised, will be a game that supports more paths to a specific outcome. “There’s a rhythm, and the way different players get there is going to be very different,” he said. “Every player gets to a very different place.”

It sounds like the Mayflower itself will be a more open environment than BioShock’s Rapture or Infinite’s Columbia. “If you look at BioShock and BioShock Infinite from a development perspective — and this may be a little unfamiliar to some readers — they’re basically a corridor,” Levine admitted. “A very, very long corridor with a bunch of trigger points that allow story elements to happen. The way Judas was made was very, very different, which made it more hopefully reflective of player agency, but it was also very, very difficult to make.”

I like the idea of ​​a version of Bioshock where the Rapture isn’t a challenge filled with fanatical actors, but a persistent society with memories. However, I wouldn’t argue that Ghost Stories is going to bog us down – the biggest twist in BioShock is that many of your choices aren’t choices at all. If you find this prospect exhausting, the good news is that Alice Bee (RPS in Peace) has skipped a decade of negative reviews reviewing the game’s positive reviews.