Dean Tate Interviewed On Bioshock AI

Yesterday, Dan Bruno, of Harmonix, Tweeted about an interview with Dean Tate, who recently became a senior designer at Harmonix after working on titles such as Bioshock and its sequel as AI and level designer.

Of particular note is how the designers recognized their limitations and set up pieces so as to disguise this fact, as well as looking into the minuteness how we, the players, would react to the Splicers:

I'd like to point out one interesting thing that came out of the design process; these days, a lot of good AI design is focused on ensuring that AI states and behavioral intent is fed back to the player clearly, usually through the use of VO. Basically, AIs will scream out to the player what it is they intend to do. "I'm hiding!" or "Here comes a grenade!" or "Take cover!" or "Flank him!" or whatever. Our AI VO writer (and Audio Director) (and fellow Australian) (and my best mate!) Emily Ridgway pushed against this idea from very early on. She made the stylistic and creative choice to use our AI VO to help sell the idea that each splicer is a twisted, ruined husk of a person. A lost mind overtaken by dementia, paranoia and confusion. They're not battle-hardened soldiers employing military tactics against the player; they're lost and scared and want you to go away. And so, when writing lines for our splicers, she made the conscious decision not to have them clearly state their behavioral intentions. This was met with quite a bit of resistance, which I'm glad wasn't successful. I'm quite happy with the idea that in Bioshock, you never quite know what a splicer is thinking or planning...

The level of thought put into these minute elements of the game that enhanced its tone and atmosphere illustrate well why it has thrived in gamers' consciousnesses. Particularly as the interview further explicates the field of vision the Splicers and Big Daddies had, and how they tweaked it so as to give players a false sense of security and put them on the edge.

There is quite a bit more about design for the Big Daddies; how players initially thought them slow, and this was the original design, though that was worked on as the game progressed to add a layer of surprise. There was also care to make sure the entire level didn't kill itself before you ever arrived, and a minor hint stating there was a Big Daddy archetype that was cut pretty late in production from the first, and we may see in the future.

Tate's over-arching lesson learned from Bioshock, however (behind the fold for spoiler purposes)?