10 Things We Learned About "BioShock Infinite" From PAX East 2013

This is what we took away from the Irrational Games press conference.

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There's no doubt that BioShock Infinite will receive endless accolades from gamers considering the buzz it has generated since it was announced last year. At the Penny Arcade Expo in Boston this past weekend, Irrational Games held a special press conference where Creative Director Ken Levine talked about what went on behind the scenes of putting the game together.

For the most part, Ken spoke on the character Elizabeth who plays an extensive role in the game and has revolutionized the mechanics of companion roles in gaming. So to kick off our week-long celebration of the BioShock universe, here are 10 Things We Learned About BioShock Infinite From PAX East 2013.

10 Things We Learned About "BioShock Infinite" From PAX East 2013

10. Courtnee Draper Got Yelled at a Lot

Voice acting is hard, and sometimes it takes a little something extra to get the performance you're going for. One scene in particular where Elizabeth breaks down emotionally was especially challenging because that level of personal duress is hard to fake. So, rather than be content with a mediocre performance that could compromise the believability of Elizabeth's character, Ken Levine and actor Troy Baker started yelling at actress Courtnee Draper to break her spirit while recording. Shouting things like "You're a f**king child!" and "Can you f**king do this scene or not!?" at her brought her to the verge of crying and allowed them to capture a very authentic performance.

9. Elizabeth Was Created From Two Acting Performances

Where some games will rely on just a vocal performance from an actor and leave the animators to fill in the rest, Elizabeth was a composite of two performances. Courtnee Draper provided the voice to Elizabeth while Heather Gordon provided her physicality through motion capture. This practice isn't uncommon, but rarely is such care paid to making both of the performances sync up. Heather confessed that she really tried to blur the personal lines between her and Courtnee's performance to make it as authentic as possible.

8. Ken Levine Doesn't Care About the Box Art

During the question and answer period, one of the first questions came from a young woman curious why Irrational had made the decision to make the cover art for BioShock Infinite feature Booker Dewitt rather than the equally central Elizabeth. Ken rationalized that despite whatever the choice could do for progressing representations of women in games, it came down to focus testing and the markets showed that the cover they ultimately went with would sell better – a necessity for a game of this scale. To any objection to the decision, Levine simply said, "play the game, forget about the f***king cover if you don't like it."

7. Irrational Games Assumed The Player Was a Psychopathic Alcoholic

Creating a dynamic system for players to enjoy is hard enough, but when you have to account for all the variance in player choice, it becomes exponentially difficult to keep track of all possibilities as you add more and more content. Irrational's philosophical approach to this was to automatically assume the player was a psychopathic alcoholic who will absolutely act in a dramatically unpredictable way every time they played. This methodology allowed them to create key moments that didn't require the player's immediate attention, but wouldn't be lost because of it.

6. There Are Invisible "Point of Interest" Markers for Elizabeth's A.I.

Part of programming Elizabeth's artificial intelligence required the team to put in floating points of interest that help dictate part of what will draw Elizabeth's interest. The example provided – a portrait painting – was laced with at least a dozen points relevant to what a normal person would look at when viewing a painting. While the game doesn't stall Elizabeth if the player wants to skip over these things, inquisitive players will get to enjoy the experience of watching Elizabeth view the world in a far more authentic way thanks to this technology.

5. Elizabeth's A.I. Has Extra-Sensory Perception

"The default state for sidekick characters is annoying," said level designer, Amanda Jeffrey when explaining where they started when considering Elizabeth as a permanent companion character. The trick in evolving the experience beyond this unfortunate state required the team to expand Elizabeth's awareness of the world beyond what's within her basic perception to enhance her pathing capabilities. Having her aware of what's just beyond her peripheral vision provides an almost ESP-like view of the world, but it also has made the smoothness of her motion a lot more evident.

4. Common Actions Were Re-Recorded To Keep Elizabeth's Emotional Arc

Like any game, voice actress Courtnee Draper was required to record a series of grunts, sighs, and other non-sequitur expressions for her interactions with the world. Where most games would be content with a single large database of these sound effects, the team at Irrational had several different versions of these audio files recorded as Courtnee finished her most emotive sessions ensuring that they'd have a wider sampling of "generic" audio files that more appropriately matched the character's emotional state as the game progressed.

3. The Partnership Mechanics For Combat Were Redesigned Several Times

Part of Irrational's plan to have you fall in love with Elizabeth was to allow her to be an asset in combat, primarily by tossing you items and weapons mid-fight. The initial version of this revolved around Elizabeth notifying the player she had something and waiting for a reaction from the player to execute, but this felt a little too rigid for the team. Going back to base with a new plan in mind, they wound up making a new system as if the player had an almost psychic link with Elizabeth so that she could offer things to the player and they could accept without having to go through the pain of forcing her into the field of view creating a far more natural and fluid combat experience.

2. There Was A Team Specifically Assigned To Elizabeth

Perhaps jokingly, Levine said that at one point he and the entire team questioned whether the scale of Elizabeth was just too grand to capture. Building a completely authentic artificial partner that reacts to player interaction with both the character and the world is no simple task, and even great minds like those at Irrational can be plagued with doubt. Thankfully, Levine decided to create a secondary team that would work exclusively on Elizabeth's AI and her interaction capabilities to make her as polished as she is for launch.

1. Elizabeth Is Well-Built, But Ultimately Imperfect

Despite all of the mechanics and moving logic parts that make up Elizabeth's artificial intelligence, Levine admits that she is still "a very complex machine." While she may be the most complicated and detailed A.I. companions ever to grace a video game, she is still bound by the logic that Irrational has given her. Levine and the team believe the line between A.I. and real interaction may be blurred here, but the task of creating a genuine A.I. is still beyond what their team can do – not for lack of trying though!

10 Things We Learned About "BioShock Infinite" From PAX East 2013

This is what we took away from the Irrational Games press conference.

10 Things We Learned About "BioShock Infinite" From PAX East 2013

10. Courtnee Draper Got Yelled at a Lot

9. Elizabeth Was Created From Two Acting Performances

8. Ken Levine Doesn't Care About the Box Art

7. Irrational Games Assumed The Player Was a Psychopathic Alcoholic

6. There Are Invisible "Point of Interest" Markers for Elizabeth's A.I.

5. Elizabeth's A.I. Has Extra-Sensory Perception

4. Common Actions Were Re-Recorded To Keep Elizabeth's Emotional Arc

3. The Partnership Mechanics For Combat Were Redesigned Several Times

2. There Was A Team Specifically Assigned To Elizabeth

1. Elizabeth Is Well-Built, But Ultimately Imperfect

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