The process of video game development might be a longer process than most people believe. The Art of Bioshock: Infinite, a brand new artbook from Dark Horse comics and based around the most recent release of the popular Bioshock series, shows the readers that the video game design team shoots down many more ideas than what actually makes it into the game. Ken Levine, the creative director for the game, touches on that exactly in the intro to the book. Character design, creature ideas, hair styles, and even building types are built up, broken down, and built up again, sometimes as an entirely new piece of art. Re-working and completely re-designing a character or world is just a part of the long, grueling process of video game design and developing a completely rad and glorious game. Of course, I’m sure Irrational Games would have loved to put in all of the unique and amazing ideas they came up with (they were their brain-children after all…) but unfortunately there would just be no room, and honestly would make a pretty cluttered game, don’t you think? So It is quite fun to look through The Art of Bioshock: Infinite, a book full of concept and game art from Bioshock: Infinite, and see what exactly the creators’ thought process was when they created this sure to be legendary game.

Looking through this book really started to bring the game to life for me, even though it wasn’t yet released and I hadn’t had an opportunity to play it yet. There is so much background that didn’t exactly make it into the game, but was hinted at through the subtle context of clues and small things placed in the final version of the game. Readers can see things like the original concept for The Handyman, which was first called Claw Daddy. There are even very in depth designs for things like the game’s iconic Sky-Hook.

The book is broken up into specific chapters, each named after a characters or concept in the game, outlining in rather great detail the process of its design and creation. To give you an idea of the book’s focus, some of the chapters are “Elizabeth”, “Vigors”, “Sky-Hook”, and “Booker Dewitt”. But my favorite chapter in the whole book has to be “Songbird”.

The mechanical feel to this game is so drastically different to the human, organic feel of the original Bioshock and its sequel. How they make it so different but manage to keep the concept art looking and feeling like the same Bioshock will confuse me forever. I speak specifically about The Songbird. The description of this in the book perfectly captured my feelings when they said “Just what is this creature? Alive? Machine? Or both?” The first concepts for The Songbird screamed machine to me. But, as they moved along in their designs, it became more and more organic. There are emotions, expressions, and different ways of making it seem like it’s alive, but…is it really? That’s one of the best parts of Bioshock, that it takes something and makes it into another, completely different, thing at the same time.

The art in this book really awed me (And I’m not just saying that because of my love of the Bioshock series). I loved loved loved that they showed us as the readers and cultists of the game franchise the makings behind the story and behind the characters. For a specific instance, in the chapter “Elizabeth” they tell and show us all the different types of faces and clothing that they thought about giving her before finally deciding on her look. When they finally decided on her look and feel, they drew her as a child, teenager, and young adult. They went through her entire life and built her from the ground up. That right there is dedication and love for what they do. It makes Elizabeth a person, not just a character design.

Thankfully enough, the creators thought to bring in details of the older games into this new ones, but still letting it be it’s on stand-alone game. The mask aspect of the first and second Bioshock still hold true in this game, hiding the people’s identities. Being a pretty big fan of the masks and splicers in the first two games (So much so that I made my own and may or may not have worn them and a splicer outfit to a convention…) I was happy that they kind of brought the theme to Bioshock: Infinite in regards to some of the big baddies…also presidents. Don’t worry, you’ll see.

So, all in all, I loved this book! It really showed the depth that the makers of Bioshock traveled to make this game the best it could be. Putting things together, scrapping ideas that weren’t perfect, following their characters from childhood to adults, and even making hundreds of faces and portraits to make a character’s emotions feel just right. Their dedication to the game and it’s background story is something to be proud of, and I can’t wait to sink my metaphorical teeth into this game! The book was released yesterday, March 27th, at the very reasonable price of only $39.99. It’s completely worth it for the amount of depth and detail that was put into this book. Go get it!