Ultima Underworld inspired Ken Levine to make BioShock
Ultima Underworld inspired Ken Levine to make BioShock
Interview - posted by DarkUnderlord on Thu 4 December 2008, 01:13:46
Tags: Ken LevineForbes had a chat with Ken Levine, maker of BioShock. Here's the part I referenced in the subject:
What game inspired you to make games? It was [1992's] "Ultima Underworld." The feeling of being in a place compared to this abstraction that was adapted from board games--the feeling of being in a 3D world--was incredible. All the things that I wanted to do and all the games that I ended up working on came out of the inspiration I took from that product.
What is the most successful game you've worked on? We never really had a hit before "Bioshock." We had marginally successful projects--we never lost money--but "Bioshock" is head and shoulders above the rest. We're north of 2 million sold.
What is the industry's biggest mistake? I'm a real believer in industrial Darwinism. It's hard for an industry to make a mistake because the market tends to be self-correcting...but I wish the industry could find a way to make PC gaming more broadly successful.Maybe PC games would be more broadly successful if they stopped making so much crap? Just a thought.
Spotted @ GameBanshee
What game inspired you to make games? It was [1992's] "Ultima Underworld." The feeling of being in a place compared to this abstraction that was adapted from board games--the feeling of being in a 3D world--was incredible. All the things that I wanted to do and all the games that I ended up working on came out of the inspiration I took from that product.
What is the most successful game you've worked on? We never really had a hit before "Bioshock." We had marginally successful projects--we never lost money--but "Bioshock" is head and shoulders above the rest. We're north of 2 million sold.
What is the industry's biggest mistake? I'm a real believer in industrial Darwinism. It's hard for an industry to make a mistake because the market tends to be self-correcting...but I wish the industry could find a way to make PC gaming more broadly successful.
Spotted @ GameBanshee
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