System Shock 2 - Secrets @ Irrational

Dhruin

SasqWatch
Joined
August 30, 2006
Messages
11,842
Location
Sydney, Australia
The return of the Irrational site and regular updates brings a nifty background feature on System Shock 2. Titled What Might Have Been, the piece describes some of the ideas they had that were dropped:
Zero-G vs. Technology
“Originally, the level that would become The Many had the player traverse from the Von Braun to The Rickenbacker on the outside of the hull,” says Levine. “We thought it would be a really cool mission because it would change everything the player was used to by introducing a zero gravity environment as well as changing the behavior of all the monsters.” The technology in 1998, when System Shock 2 was in development, really didn’t allow for such grandiose ideas unless it was a major feature in the game. Levine remembers chatting with Lead Programmer Robert Fermier to discuss the level and being told, “Dude that is going to be a huge amount of work for it to work properly.” A feature specific to only a single mission of the game didn’t fit into the schedule. Levine adds, “It was good that it got cut. If you don’t have the resources for it, you can’t make it that good.”
More information.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,842
Location
Sydney, Australia
Levine demonstrated what he's about with Bioshock.

I realise he was the designer on System Shock 2 - but he must have had more respect for its legacy at that time.
 
Back
Top Bottom