GAME · 2007
BioShock
- Developer
- Irrational Games
- Publisher
- 2K
- Platforms
- PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, macOS
65 archived facts 5 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Sep 2026
8 Facts From Behind the Scenes of BioShock
- #026
Project lead Alyssa Finley described the early playtest feedback on BioShock as "brutal" but humbling, and the team concluded it was building a complex game that was not accessible to a variety of players. In response, the opening levels were redesigned as more deliberate experiences that taught key mechanics, with adjusted lighting, a quest marker for way finding, and an Irish accent for Atlas to make him sound more trustworthy.
- #030
Levine compared the approach of opening BioShock with a plane crash to the aircraft crash at the start of the television show Lost, saying it quickly established character and setting.
- #038
Scott Sinclair was the art director for BioShock. After the Rapture setting was selected, the art team started creating concepts for the city's interior and exterior appearance.
- #040
BioShock's art team chose Art Deco for the environments because its large, simple shapes could be replicated with few polygons.
- #041
For Rapture's skyline, BioShock's artists drew on a Gotham-style metropolis, Hugh Ferriss's architectural illustrations and New York City's Art Deco architecture for the look and massing.
- #049
During early level development on BioShock, levels were roughly blocked out but the art department's attempts to decorate them dissatisfied the team. Level designer Jean Paul LeBreton and artist Hoagy de la Plante then co-developed a level that became part of the released game's "Tea Garden" area, which Levine held up as a prime example of a "great BioShock space" and of the need for departments to work together.
- #064
BioShock features both licensed music and an original score. The licensed tracks, drawn from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, play on phonographs throughout Rapture, with 30 licensed songs heard across the game.
- #065
Garry Schyman composed BioShock's original score. He wrote the pieces to blend with the licensed music and preserve its feel, while also aiming for something eerie, frightening and at times beautiful that would mesh with Rapture's environments.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia BioShock — Wikipedia
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work