Ken Levine | |
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Born | Kenneth M. Levine September 1, 1966 Flushing, New York, U.S. |
Education | Vassar College (BA) |
Occupation(s) | Video game designer, creative director, author, screenwriter |
Known for | BioShock BioShock Infinite Freedom Force System Shock 2 Thief: The Dark Project |
Kenneth M. Levine (born September 1, 1966) is an American video game developer. He is the creative director and co-founder of Ghost Story Games (formerly known as Irrational Games). He led the creation of the BioShock series and is also known for his work System Shock 2 . [1] [2] [3] [4]
Levine was named one of the "Storytellers of the Decade" by Game Informer [5] and was the 1UP Network's 2007 person of the year. [6] In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. [7] He received the inaugural Golden Joystick "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his work.
Levine was born in Flushing, New York to a Jewish family. [8] He studied drama at Vassar College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama in 1988 [9] in Poughkeepsie, New York before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a film career, writing two screenplays. [10] Before he got into gaming, Levine used to work as a computer consultant on Wall Street but admitted he was not very good at it, describing his attitude towards the job as a "slacker". [11]
In 1995, Levine was hired as a game designer by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Looking Glass Studios after replying to a job ad in Next Generation magazine. [10] At Looking Glass, he worked with pioneering designer Doug Church [12] to establish the initial fiction and design of Thief: The Dark Project . [13]
In 1997, following his work on Thief, Levine left Looking Glass along with two coworkers, Jonathan Chey and Robert Fermier, to found Irrational Games. [14] The studio's first game was System Shock 2 , an early hybrid of a role-playing game and first-person shooter. It is the sequel to Looking Glass' System Shock (1994). Levine served as lead writer and designer, [15] and the game shipped in 1999 to critical acclaim. [16]
Irrational Games developed Freedom Force and its sequel Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich , real-time tactical role-playing games that drew heavily on the love Levine and Irrational Games's artist Robb Waters had for the Silver Age of Comic Books. After the first Freedom Force game, Irrational developed the first-person shooters Tribes: Vengeance and SWAT 4 , on which Levine served as writer and executive producer respectively.
Although Tribes: Vengeance, SWAT 4, and Third Reich all shipped within a year of one another in 2004 and 2005, Irrational Games had been working in preproduction on the first-person shooter BioShock , the studio's most ambitious game at that point, since 2002. [17] The game went through numerous revisions to its premise and gameplay, and was released in August 2007. [18] In 2005, Levine, Chey, and Fermier sold Irrational Games to publisher Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two Interactive changed their name to 2K, just as BioShock was released. BioShock was a critical and commercial success, and is considered one of the best video games of all time. [19] The BioShock franchise has sold over 25 million units to date. [20]
In 2008, Levine delivered the keynote address at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, discussing his youth as a nerd in the 1970s and how it impacted the path of his career. [10]
Since the release of BioShock, Levine served as creative director and lead writer on BioShock Infinite , set in 1912 in the floating city of Columbia. BioShock Infinite was a critical and commercial success, winning over 80 awards pre-release. [21] [22]
In February 2014, Levine announced that Irrational Games would be closing down, with fifteen members of the staff to follow Levine to focus on digital only, narrative-driven games for Take-Two. [23] He stated in a 2016 interview that the stress of managing Infinite's development had affected his health and personal relationships, and rather than stay on to lead an even larger BioShock game, opted to depart from it. [24]
On February 23, 2017, Irrational Games was rebranded as Ghost Story Games, founded by 12 of the former Irrational members with Levine remaining as president and creative director. [25] In January 2022, the studio's game was reported to be in development hell, with employees blaming Levine for a lack of leadership in producing a vaguely pitched game that Levine described as a "narrative LEGO" in which every player would have a unique experience. [26] On December 8, 2022, they revealed their game, the first-person shooter Judas.
Levine has been a consultant and co-author of three books related to the BioShock franchise. These are BioShock: Rapture , BioShock Infinite: Mind in Revolt and The Art of BioShock Infinite. He himself did not work on the majority of Rapture and Mind in Revolt, but provided the intellectual property and quotes used by the authors in the books. The author for Rapture was John Shirley and the author for Mind in Revolt was Joe Fielder. [27] [28] Levine personally wrote an introduction in the deluxe edition of The Art of BioShock Infinite, published by Dark Horse Comics. [29]
In June 2013, Levine had been confirmed to be writing the script for a new film version of the dystopian science fiction novel Logan's Run . [30] However, he was later dropped from the project. [31]
In April 2016, Levine stated he was working with Interlude to write and produce the pilot episode for an interactive, live-action series based on The Twilight Zone , which will be published by CBS. [32] [33] However as of January 2022, nothing has come to fruition. In 2017, Levine described the project as "in flux". [34]
Levine is most notable for his conceptualization and work on the BioShock franchise. He and his team worked on BioShock and BioShock Infinite , passing on the opportunity to make BioShock 2 .
BioShock is set in 1960, where the player controls a man named Jack who is the sole survivor of a plane crash near a mysterious lighthouse in the mid-Atlantic. Jack finds a bathysphere and takes the submersible down to an underwater city called Rapture, a city that was dedicated to the pursuit of a perfect free market economy. The city has fallen into ruin due to the city's social implosion and Jack must find a way to survive against the crazed inhabitants and escape. [35]
BioShock Infinite is set in 1912, where main protagonist Booker DeWitt must travel to Columbia, a flying city that has no fixed location, and rescue a girl named Elizabeth and bring her back to New York. No motivation is given as to why Booker must do this except the cryptic words "Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt." Booker arrives at Columbia to find an American-Exceptionalist city dedicated to hailing the Founding Fathers that is led by a religious zealot known as Father Comstock. [36]
Levine is known for creating narrative-driven games that explore sociological and philosophical themes. He selects dynamic art styles for use in his games, such as art deco, steampunk and frontierism.
Levine has explored concepts ranging from racial commentary to metaphysics with his games and emphasizes the storytelling aspect of gaming. He has cited Mad Men , the Coen brothers, and Stanley Kubrick as some of his influences. [37]
While Levine considers himself culturally Jewish, he does not follow Judaism, [38] and considers himself an atheist. [39] [40]
Name | Year | Credited with | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|
Looking Glass Studios | |||
Thief: The Dark Project | 1998 | Initial design and story concepts | Eidos Interactive |
Irrational Games | |||
System Shock 2 | 1999 | Lead design, writing dialogue, story, voiceovers | Electronic Arts |
Freedom Force | 2002 | Freedom Force team, voices | Electronic Arts, Crave Entertainment |
Tribes: Vengeance | 2004 | Writer | Vivendi Games |
Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich | 2005 | Writer | Electronic Arts, 2K Games |
SWAT 4 | 2005 | Executive producer | Vivendi Games, Sierra Entertainment |
BioShock | 2007 | Story, writing, creative direction | 2K Games, Feral Interactive |
BioShock Infinite | 2013 | Lead writer, creative director | 2K Games, Aspyr |
BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea | 2013/2014 | Lead writer, creative director | 2K Games, Aspyr |
Ghost Story Games | |||
Judas [41] | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Irrational Games was an American video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. Take-Two Interactive acquired the studio in 2006. The studio was best known for two of the games in the BioShock series, as well as System Shock 2, Freedom Force, and SWAT 4. In 2014, following the release of BioShock Infinite, Levine opted to significantly restructure the studio from around 90 to 15 employees and focus more on narrative games. In February 2017, the studio announced that it had been rebranded as Ghost Story Games and considered a fresh start from the original Irrational name, though still operating at the same business subsidiary under Take-Two.
BioShock is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, and published by 2K. The first game in the BioShock series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 platforms in August 2007; a PlayStation 3 port by Irrational, 2K Marin, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes was released in October 2008. The game follows player character Jack, who discovers the underwater city of Rapture, built by business magnate Andrew Ryan to be an isolated utopia. The discovery of ADAM, a genetic material which grants superhuman powers, initiated the city's turbulent decline. Jack attempts to escape Rapture, fighting its mutated and mechanical denizens, while engaging with the few sane survivors left and learning of the city's past. The player can defeat foes in several ways by using weapons, utilizing plasmids that give unique powers, and by turning Rapture's defenses against them.
2K Australia Pty Ltd was an Australian video game developer based in Canberra. The company was founded as Irrational Games Australia, a subsidiary of Irrational Games, in April 2000. Irrational Games Australia and its parent were acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2006, with Irrational Games being placed under the 2K label. The two Irrational Games studio were split apart in August 2007, wherefore Irrational Games Australia became 2K Australia. Furthermore, 2K Australia operated under the name of sister studio 2K Marin between April 2010 and November 2011, and was finally shut down in April 2015.
BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 on February 9, 2010; Feral Interactive released an OS X version on March 30, 2012. The game takes place in the dystopian underwater city of Rapture, eight years after the events of BioShock. In the single-player campaign, players control the armored protagonist Subject Delta as he fights through Splicers—the psychotic human population of the city—using weapons and an array of genetic modifications. The game includes a story-driven multiplayer mode that takes place before the events of BioShock, during Rapture's civil war.
2K Marin, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in December 2007 as a spin-off from their parent, 2K, the company developed BioShock 2 (2010) and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (2013) before laying off or relocating all staff in October 2013 and silently being closed.
Sander Cohen is a character in the BioShock video game series. He debuts in the first title of the series, developed by 2K Boston, as a celebrated polymath of the underwater city of Rapture who has a deranged and sadistic personality. The protagonist Jack is forced to help Cohen with the creation of a macabre sculpture, built around pictures of Cohen's former proteges whom he kills and photographs on his behalf, before he allows him to leave his domain Fort Frolic. Sander Cohen makes another appearance in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea, a downloadable content story expansion for BioShock Infinite which sets up the events of BioShock. He is voiced by T. Ryder Smith for all appearances.
Andrew Ryan is a fictional character in the BioShock video game series developed by Irrational Games. He is the secondary antagonist in BioShock, and also appears in its follow-ups BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea. Ryan is portrayed as an idealistic business magnate in the 1940s and 1950s, aiming to create an underwater city called Rapture to avoid government oversight and scrutiny. As civil war erupts in Rapture, Ryan's utopian vision collapses into a dystopia, leading him to become reclusive and paranoid. After winning the war, he becomes increasingly ruthless in his control over the city's remaining inhabitants.
BioShock is a retrofuturistic video game series created by Ken Levine, published by 2K and developed by several studios, including Irrational Games and 2K Marin. The BioShock games combine first-person shooter and role-playing elements, giving the player freedom for how to approach combat and other situations, and are considered part of the immersive sim genre. Additionally, the series is notable for exploring philosophical and moral concepts with a strong in-game narrative influenced by concepts such as Objectivism, total utilitarianism, and American exceptionalism.
Rapture is a fictional city-state in the BioShock series published by 2K Games. It is an underwater city that is the main setting for the games BioShock and BioShock 2. The city also briefly appears in BioShock Infinite, and is featured in its downloadable content, Burial at Sea. The game's back-story describes the city as envisioned by business tycoon Andrew Ryan in the mid-late 1940s as a means to create a utopia for mankind's greatest artists and thinkers to prosper in a laissez-faire environment outside of increasing oppression by the world's governments and religion. However, the lack of government led to severe wealth disparity, a powerful black market, and unrestricted genetic modification, which turned the city into a dystopia exacerbated by Ryan's tyrannical methods to maintain control. The masses turned towards political activists like Atlas who advocated an uprising of the poor against Ryan and the elite of Rapture; and on the eve of 1959, a civil war broke out, leaving much of Rapture's population dead. The remaining citizens either became psychotic "Splicers" due to the effects of ADAM, a substance that can alter genetic material, or have barricaded themselves from the Splicers to protect themselves, leaving the city to fail and fall apart around them.
The BioShock series is a collection of story-driven first-person shooters in which the player explores dystopian settings created by Ken Levine and his team at Irrational Games. The first two games, BioShock and its direct sequel, BioShock 2, take place in the underwater city of Rapture in 1960 and 1968, which was influenced heavily by Ayn Rand's Objectivism. The third installment, BioShock Infinite, is set aboard the floating air-city of Columbia in 1912, designed around the concept of American Exceptionalism. Though Infinite is not a direct sequel to the previous games, the game is thematically linked; a short scene within the core Infinite game returns to Rapture, while the downloadable content BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea tie in many of the plot elements between BioShock and BioShock Infinite.
BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game in the BioShock series, developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K. Infinite was released worldwide for the PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360, and OS X platforms in 2013. The game is set in the year 1912 and follows its protagonist, Booker DeWitt, who is sent to the airborne city Columbia to retrieve Elizabeth, a young woman held captive there. Booker and Elizabeth become involved in a class war between the nativist Founders that rule Columbia and the rebel Vox Populi, representing the city's underclass. Elizabeth possesses the ability to manipulate "Tears" in the space-time continuum, and Booker and Elizabeth discover she is central to Columbia's dark secrets. The player controls Booker DeWitt throughout the game, fighting enemies and scavenging supplies, while the computer-controlled Elizabeth provides assistance.
Elizabeth is a fictional character in Irrational Games' BioShock Infinite, the third title in the BioShock series. The game is set in 1912 on a floating steampunk city named Columbia which was founded on the principles of American exceptionalism. Elizabeth has been groomed in a controlled environment to take over the reins of the city once its current leader, Father Zachary Hale Comstock, dies. Elizabeth has the power to open "tears" in the fabric of reality; she is able to view every event across all of the infinite timelines simultaneously and effortlessly open doorways to them, allowing her to access parallel universes.
BioShock 2: Minerva's Den is a single-player downloadable content (DLC) campaign for the 2010 first-person shooter game BioShock 2, developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games. The player assumes the role of Subject Sigma, an armored and genetically modified human, or "Big Daddy"; Sigma must travel through Minerva's Den, the technological hub of the underwater city of Rapture, to download a schematic of the city's supercomputer. Gameplay is similar to that of BioShock 2, with new enemies and weapons.
The development of BioShock Infinite began after BioShock's release in August 2007. The five-year development, led by studio Irrational Games, began under the moniker "Project Icarus". Irrational's creative lead, Ken Levine was inspired by events at the turn of the 20th century and the expansion of the concept of American Exceptionalism set by the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. His story took these events to create a tale set in 1912 where the player, as former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, is challenged to rescue a young woman, Elizabeth, who has been kept aboard the floating city of Columbia in the middle of a civil war between its founder Father Zachary Comstock and the Vox Populi, the underclass revolting against him.
BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea is a two-part single-player expansion to the first-person shooter video game BioShock Infinite. It was developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games for PlayStation 3, OS X, Windows, Xbox 360, and Linux platforms. Episode One was released digitally on November 12, 2013, followed by Episode Two on March 25, 2014. A retail version was released as part of BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition, and later included in BioShock: The Collection for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Rod Fergusson is a Canadian video game producer, best known for overseeing the development of the Gears of War franchise, originally at Epic Games and then as head of The Coalition. More recently, Fergusson moved over to Blizzard Entertainment to oversee development on the Diablo series.
BioShock: Rapture is a 2011 science fiction novel written by John Shirley, published by Tor Books in the United States and by Titan Books in the United Kingdom. Rapture forms part of the BioShock retrofuturistic media franchise created by Ken Levine and published by 2K Games and developed by several studios, including Irrational Games and 2K Marin. A prequel to the first BioShock game the novel tells the story of how Andrew Ryan founded the underwater city of Rapture. The book follows multiple BioShock characters. The cover art was designed by Craig Mullins, who also produced the cover art for BioShock 2. It was released July 19, 2011.
Robert Lutece and Rosalind Lutece, collectively known as the Lutece twins, are a duo of characters from the BioShock video game series created by Ken Levine, published by 2K Games. They debut in the 2013 video game BioShock Infinite, where they serve as the drivers for the game's events and often materialize under mysterious circumstances to guide protagonist Booker DeWitt. By the game's end, both characters are eventually revealed to share no family relations, and are in fact parallel universe versions of the same individual. Robert and Rosalind are voiced by Oliver Vaquer and Jennifer Hale respectively. Concept artist Claire Hummel was responsible for the visual design of the Lutece twins.
Ghost Story Games, LLC is an American video game developer based in Westwood, Massachusetts, and led by Ken Levine. The studio is the rebranding of Irrational Games as announced in February 2017, and while still the same business subsidiary under Take-Two Interactive, the rebranding was considered a fresh start by the founders as they move into more emergent narrative-driven titles compared to the larger titles they had made under Irrational.
Atlas is a character in the BioShock video game series created by Ken Levine, published by 2K Games. He first appears in the first title of the series, where he sets himself up as a benefactor of Jack, the game's player character, upon his arrival in the underwater city of Rapture. During a pivotal scene later in the game's narrative, Atlas discloses that he is actually the crime lord Frank Fontaine in disguise, the main antagonist of the game, and that he had been manipulating Jack to act against the city's founder Andrew Ryan. It is also revealed that he is responsible for orchestrating Jack's mental conditioning during his infancy and later a chain of events that led to his subsequent arrival in Rapture. Atlas/Fontaine also appears in the sequel BioShock 2 through audio diaries, and more prominently in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea, a prequel which sets up the events of BioShock.
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