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BioShock
Lost level by Justin Pappas
“Destination Daedalus”

(Daedalus was the chief architect of the labyrinth used to house the Minotaur on Crete.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daedalus

Table of Contents
Background………………...1
High Concept……………....1
Environment Descriptions…2
Player Experience (Story)…4
Mechanics…………………11
    -Plasmids………………..11
Tech……………………….13
Goals………………………14
Maps………………………15

Background:
            Destination Daedalus is a side level that takes place before the player can take the elevator to Point Prometheus. When air pressure drops, the ceiling in Apollo Sq. buckles, and the player must make his way to Destination Daedalus where Air Pressure in Rapture is regulated to remedy the situation. Once there, the player encounters a large big daddy in a constant state of aggro, and can hear the cries of a child when near telephone tubes. The player discovers the nature of the relationship between the big daddy and the child during the course of gameplay and ultimately comes face-to-face with the facts behind the gruesome genesis of Adam.

High Concept:

  1. There are three distinct areas: the Driving Range, Destination Daedalus (DD), and the Slug Cave.
  2. There are two new plasmids in this level: “Light as Air” and “Stone Skin”. (See “Plasmids” section for other optional plasmids.)
  3. The Vita-Chamber in Destination Daedalus costs Eve. If the player does not have Eve, then they are resurrected at the Vita Chamber in The Driving Range.
  4. Fontaine takes advantage of the pressure drop to do away with the player.
  5. At two points in this level the player has the choice to kill or not kill, and reaps different rewards for each choice.
  6. The player must rethink his motivation behind RESCUING or HARVESTING a little sister.
  7. Saturnine populate the Driving Range and shoot at the player from afar with crossbows.
  8. Story is told with “Ghost Scenes” as well as audio logs.
  9. Strong gusts of air and differing air pressures provide a twist to game play in Destination Daedalus.
  10. The big daddy in DD is indestructible and is always aggroed. The player has to find a unique way to neutralize the Big Daddy.
  11. There are few splicers in DD as the Big Daddy eliminates all that he sees.
  12. Plot point: The player finds the first little sister in a cave populated by sea slugs, and she is barely alive.
  13. Plot point: The big daddy in this level is the little sister’s father, one of the divers who first discovered the cave and the slugs. Dimwitted from the operation to make him what he is, he has spent the last year searching in vain for his daughter, having only the sound of her cries to go by.

Environment Descriptions:

The Driving Range
Reference image: http://pro.corbis.com/images/YM001049.jpg?size=67&uid={58510BA7-AA05-4988-AA29-D6586B170175}

The air pressure here has fallen drastically; the ceiling is buckled-in and cracked to the point of a near-split second collapse. Water pours in from numerous cracks and breaches. The driving range once was populated with trees and hills. The area has long since flooded, filling in the areas around the hills and creating many pools of differing sizes and depths. The Saturnine took this place over long ago, and have since used whatever they could scavenge to build bridges and walkways over and around the pools of water. The Saturnine, drugged out of their minds, think that the near catastrophe is a sign of an ancient known as “The Trickster,” and they seek to destroy any that wander onto the driving range in fear that they will upset the coming of their pagan god and halt the arrival of the third Dark Age. The Saturnine hunt you in packs with crossbows.

Destination Daedalus
Reference Image:
http://www.gcal.ac.uk/thesaltirecentre/images/competition/achaudhry14.jpg

 

Cross section and top view:

..

 

Please see MAPS (pg. 14) section below for more diagrams of this space’s shape.

This area is the main focus of the level and where most of the gameplay takes place. This is a facility in which air pressure in Rapture is regulated and maintained. A gargantuan central fan is surrounded by two circular buildings made almost entirely of glass -- these circle the cylindrical fan chamber like rings on a dartboard, with the fan as the bull’s-eye. There are many glass walkways and catwalks connecting the rings with each other and with the central fan column. Giant, ornate fans hang suspended between the rings like train station clocks loudly blowing the air around. The air-flow between the outermost and innermost ring flows downward and clockwise toward the sea floor, while the air in the ring between the innermost ring and the fan column blows upward and counter-clockwise.  Since much of the facility has been destroyed, the player must use these wind-gusts to travel between catwalks in order to reach the upper and lower levels, be it by jumping down or riding the current up to a higher platform. (See “Mechanics” section to see how this is kept from being just a pain in the butt.) When inside the ring, the glass on either side can be broken. When broken, a large and forceful gust of air bursts in through the opening and pushes any physics objects and the player around before being covered by an emergency steel cover sheet. (Please see Tech section to see how this may be achieved in the engine.)  The large fans in the inner rings can be controlled via boxes in each sector of the facility. There are three stories in each ring, the lowermost ring (ring 3) is 80% submerged, and through the windows here you can see the beginnings of a small reef populated by sea slugs that has begun to grow on the structure. The area is dark and destroyed here, not by the smaller struggles of the war but by some large force.
There are none alive but a few lone splicers picking through the ruins and talking to themselves. There are telephone tubes throughout the facility to allow for communication between rings; when positioned near them the player can hear the erratic crying of a lonely little girl. A large big daddy, different from the rest, (perhaps a prototype, like “Yam Hand”) wanders the halls alone in a constant state of red aggro. When idle, the big daddy plays a record player into the telephone tubes so the crying person can hear the music (“I’m Making Believe” by the Inkspots -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK15L55CtGc  -) this is a dark, lonely, horrific and haunting place.

Lvl 1:  Main office for DD where requests were processed and technicians and repairmen were dispatched.
Lvl 2:   Formerly a show space where schoolchildren were to get tours of the facility.
Lvl 3:   Formerly a functional area where the fans were powered and airflow was controlled. This area has been converted into a lab space where sea slugs that have set up a colony on the walls of the structure can be viewed through the underwater windows.

The Slug Cave
Reference Image:
http://www.tirreniahotel.com/foto/territorio/antro_del_corchia.jpg

This is a totally alien landscape. The cavern is half flooded. From the ceilings hang monstrous and slimy cocoons. The walls are covered in slime that, upon closer examination, reveals itself to be a concentration of squirming baby slugs. Adult slugs slide all over the walls and floors, tending to the babies. Upon entering, the player can see transparent pipes along the walls that seem to be channeling Eve and Adam out of the cave. The player can hear the girl crying in the distance, interrupted by sounds of violent vomiting and belching. The Inkspots song can be heard carrying though a telephone tube at the end of the cave, echoing with ghostly resonance throughout the cavern.

Here the player discovers the first little sister, the big daddy’s daughter. She is two years older than the rest, but she is a near-dead husk of her former self after having been affixed to the wall by slime for over a year at this point. Slugs surround her, feeding off of her life force, half-deep in her nose and traveling in and out of her mouth and eye sockets, pulling away from her only when she vomits and belches Adam into a pool at her feet. When the poor girl is not vomiting Adam, she cries. She clutches a haggard teddy bear in her right hand. Crude and noisy pumps suck the Adam out of the pool and channel it into the pipes. This is intended to be scary and traumatizing for the player.

 

Player Experience (Story):
After finding the serum in Fontaine’s apartment the player makes his way toward Point Prometheus. As he runs, an alarm begins to sound and the surrounding splicers take off. There is a deafening groan as the ceilings buckle and new cracks form, letting in new showers of sea water.  Fontaine’s voice comes on over the radio.

Fontaine: (Something to the tune of:) “What did you do?! Trying to bring my whole city down, kid? Looks like the pressure drop happened on the driving range off of Mercury Suites. The air pressure in here is the only thing keeping the sea from flattening this place like a deck of cards. Check that out before you come up for me, will yah, kid?...would you kindly?”

Tennenbaum: “Looks like we better do what he says. If all of Rapture collapses in on itself, then none of us will have much of a future. Head to the driving range through Mercury Suites, and perhaps we can discover the source of this problem.”

The player then passes through a newly-opened gateway in the back of Mercury Suites and enters The Driving Range.

The Driving Range
Objective: To discover the source of the pressure drop.

Note: I have a vague objective here to give the player a little freedom and make exploration a part of the gameplay.

Upon entering, the player can instantly see that this area is on the verge of collapse. Wicker men and runes are visible to indicate the presence of the Saturnine. Tennenbaum advises him to turn around and go back, just as an alarm sounds and steel doors slam shut behind him.
           
Fontaine: “ I thought they woulda’ made you smarter, boyo. Welcome to your tomb. When the wing you’re in collapses, you’ll be joinen' Davey Jones for a nice long chat. Best engineers in the world down here, sport. You think they didn’t have a pressure drop contingency in mind? Kinda’ makes me sad to see you go down so easy fella, but I’m sure those Saturnine fruitcakes will accept you as a valued guest. So long, chum.”

At this moment two security bots drop into the area and attack.
-The player would be wise to hack these bots as they will point out hiding Saturnine and attack them.
As the player explores the driving range, he is attacked from afar by Saturnine with crossbows. The player would be wise to employ stealth at this point. Saturnine in makeshift towers control spotlights that search for the player in this area; when spotted, they ring a bell and a group of Houdini splicers attack the player. (See “Mechanics” section for unique ways in which the player can dispatch Saturnine in this area.)  Throughout all of this, the Saturnine’s leader, Dyan, (Voiced by Terri Brosius… in my dreams.) can be heard over a crude loudspeaker spouting pagan dogma amid the intermittent squeal of microphone feedback. “Harness the flame, harness the mist! The Trickster comes, kill the unbeliever!” etc.
            -Optional: If the player finds Dyan, they can kill her and halt the dogma.

Audio logs detail:
            ~ Langford’s deeper involvement with the Saturnine. She had been testing out different formulas on them, the Lazarus vector’s effect on people, etc. She saw that the chlorophyll solutions she was giving them were causing madness as they became more and more obsessed with the natural world and pagan rituals. When Langford feared for her own life, she locked herself in her office with turrets to guard her. It was Langford who suggested they move to the driving range.
            ~ There is a fan tunnel in the back of the range that leads right to air pressure control facility C, Destination Daedalus. This facility is one of many like it in Rapture.

Ghost scenes detail:
~ The golfers running for their lives when the Saturnine decided to take the driving range.
            ~ What the Saturnine did with the survivors:
-Hung them upside-down from trees and drank blood from their cut throats.
                        - burned them alive in baskets made of sticks.
                        - gutted them on altars like goats.

The player leaves the area by finding an immobile fan in the back of the range and climbing into the tube that it once channeled air out of.

Destination Daedalus (Part 1)
Objective: Make your way to the central fan column in order to diagnose the cause of the pressure drop and remedy it.

The player drops down from the ceiling onto a cat walk that connects the inner ring with the fan column. It is very noisy as large, ornate fans blow air around the ring at great speed. The door into the central fan column is locked, but the player can make their way into level 1b of the inner ring. Here the only light is that coming in from the walls made up almost entirely of glass from the spaces between the rings. (Like the catwalks of Musee D'orsay in Paris, but darker. –
 Reference: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ausxZjGeWi0/R-oE7dO3P4I/AAAAAAAAKMc/lyql7sL30q4/GlassTunnel.jpg  ) 
Inside the ring it is much quieter, though the drone of the powerful fans outside can still be heard. There are desks, tables, dividers, and office cubicles set up here. Air blows in from a cracked wall panel and blows the cards of a rolodex round and round noisily. The player can hear the sound of a little girl crying and realizes that the sound is coming from a nearby telephone tube. The sound gets quieter as they move away from the tube. The crying is occasionally interrupted by sounds of gagging and vomiting. The player can ascertain from their surroundings (signage, office equipment.) that ring 1B was the main office for DD, where requests were processed and technicians and repairmen were dispatched. The area is free of splicers, though there are a few bodies here and there along with signs of a great struggle. Security turrets and cameras lie inactive and dormant all over the facility.  A ghost scene plays out between a man and his daughter.

            Ghost man: Now, you run along, my song bird! I’ve got work to do!
            Ghost girl: Why daddy? I want to play more!
Ghost man: I’ve got to help the scientists with a project, baby, to further advance the superiority of our great city. If I do a good job, perhaps we can spend ALL of our time playing make believe. Shouldn’t we do our best to make your mother…
Ghost girl: I miss her…
Ghost man: … proud of us?
Ghost girl: Ok, daddy. I’ll miss you too, but I know you’ll come back for me. (she kisses his cheek and he pats her on the head.)

The player must make his way around ring 1B, cross over into 1A, and then drop down from a catwalk onto level 2. He must then pass through 2B and enter the fan column.
            The fan column is dark and vacuous. There are catwalks all around its outer edge with ladders and wrought iron steps connecting them. The cylinder chamber rises up into the darkness, but below can be seen a cyclopean fan, stopped by a large metal piece of rubble. The crying child can faintly be heard coming from a telephone tube on a higher catwalk. From where the sobs can be heard a small light can be seen and a record player plays an Inkspots song. Something can be seen vaguely moving around up there. When the player enters this room, a ghost scene plays out.

            Ghost1: C’mon! We’ve got to get out of here, he’ll kill us all!
Ghost2: I left my key up by the telephone tube! I’ve got to go back for it! What if this facility fails?!
            Ghost1: There’s no time! Where is Cartwright?
            Ghost2: Last I saw him he was in the cave! He has his key with him.
Ghost1: Then he’s on his own. Ill hold onto my key then… ours are the only two that can get us back into the fan column!
            Ghost2: (looking up) Jesus, he is angry.
Ghost1: Do you blame him? C’mon I know a place in 3B we can hide till this blows over.

The player climbs up to the higher platform to see a strange big daddy holding the record player up to the telephone tube. This big daddy has Eve needles sticking out of it at every angle and strange tubes siphoning Adam from a pack on his back into his chest. As the player approaches, the big daddy’s eyes go red and it releases a horrible bellow. The BD mashes a control panel on the wall and a security camera, once in the dark, now lights up and fixates on the player as an alarm sounds.  Security bots drop down into the space as the BD pounds the ground, making the catwalks tremble and collapse, falling down onto the platform below. The BD gathers his senses, then charges directly at the player. When the player retreats out through the door back onto the catwalk connecting 2B to the fan column, the big daddy pursues, smashing the door that was in the way wide open and casting it into the water below.
           
            Tennenbaum: Can it be?

Tennenbaum continues to speak as the player flees the angry big daddy. The player now discovers upon entering the inner ring that the security cameras and turrets are now active. ( See mechanics section for details concerning the big daddy chase.)

            Tennenbaum: I never thought he would still be alive! My chickens have truly come home to roost and now you must reap what I have sewn. We’ve all made such horrible mistakes, haven’t we? How will the world ever forgive us? …if you can somehow free up whatever may be blocking the fan, you’ll need the three technicians keys in order to get it running again, if I remember correctly from my time at the facility.

Objective: Find the three technicians' keys.

The player must now search for the three keys, all while being pursued by the big daddy and attacked by the now-active security turrets and cameras. One key is in 3B in a cubby where the two technicians, (the ghosts) had hidden away and eventually perished. One key is in the Slug cave and the third key is in 2A.

Audio logs detail:
            ~ The discovery of a whole cave of sea slugs just off of DD that can be entered by scientists via the pumping of air into the cave.
                        “One of the divers found a whole cave of the things! A “nest!” lucky for us the cave is right off of air pressure control. If we pump air into the cave, perhaps we can explore it. The true potential of these slugs is just waiting to be cracked open for the good of rapture and mankind.”
            ~ How scientists set up shop in sector 3A of DD and were big jerks, telling the staff what to do, etc.
            ~ How one of the divers left his daughter to run free around DD while he went into the cave for the scientists.
                        “Does he expect us to babysit the little brat? Why, just the other day I caught her lowering the speed on fan belt 16  just to cause an alarm to sound! Someone is going to have to speak with him about this.”
            ~ The scientists know what a major find these Adam producing slugs are and are worried that the discovery may lead to war in Rapture. How some of the scientists want to sell Adam on the black market and have brought them into DD and dropped them into the pools there so they can be observed through the windows in sector 3.
            ~ How the diver was the first to volunteer for a secret experimental project proposed to him by the scientists. They offered him money enough to allow him to stop diving and provide for him and his daughter.
            ~ How there were complications with the experiment, but the scientists did not deem it a loss. The subject had lost most cognitive function but had gained amazing strength.
            ~ How once the war started the diver was held in Point Prometheus against his will and injected with all sorts of plasmids to make him a soldier for Ryan being told that his daughter was in the care of the scientists.
            ~ The diver broke free from his bonds, donned his diving suit as armor and came, blind with anger to DD searching for her, destroying everything and anyone that got in his way.

In 3a the player finds the makeshift lab and the tunnel leading to the slug cave.

The Slug Cave
            Objective: Find Cartwright’s key.

Note: For the full effect, play this song a little bit too loudly while you read this section: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK15L55CtGc

As the player enters the cave, the first thing they see is Cartwright’s body with the technician’s key right next to him. The player should now be driven to explore the cave further, seeing as the sobs now sound close. The sounds of squirming slime, the sobbing and the Inkspots song that echoes with an alien resonance coupled with the strange light emitting from the cocoons should create an otherworldly, dreamlike ambiance here. As the player explores the cave further, they see a little sister against the back wall. She looks slightly older than the others, attached to the wall by the slime, and next to her is a telephone tube. Slugs crawl all over her emaciated body and seem to be “working” on her. Suddenly the slugs pull away from her as she belches and vomits Adam in thick chunks and loafs down the front of her dress into a deep pool at her feet. Her eyes turn to look directly at you as she continues to sob. She clutches a teddy bear in her right hand. Her left hand is attached to the wall and rendered completely immobile. Crude pumps suck the Adam out of the pool and channel it through pipes down and out of the cave.
            -There is an audio log here that details how the scientists, unfettered by morality, kidnapped the girl, thinking that she was the perfect test subject as the father would forget about her after his operations and there was no one else that would miss her. They brought her into the cave and set the slugs upon her, leaving her there to produce great amounts of Adam for them. We learn through this log that this was Tennenbaum’s idea.

            Tennenbaum: I was hoping this would remain a secret. How can I ever atone for what I have done? All any of us can do is play our part in the solution, though we know it may never absolve us of our crimes. Make your decisions and hope only that what you choose does not haunt you for the rest of your life.

Here the player must decide whether or not to RESCUE or HARVEST this girl.
-In this situation “Harvest” would be an act of mercy and “Rescue” would be an act of cruelty.

Little Sister: (Difficult to understand, there being a slug in her throat) Please, mister…harvest.

-If they HARVEST her then she drops her teddy bear and it glows, indicating to the player that they should pick it up. The bear appears in their weapon inventory and can be wielded as such. As she dies, she sighs contentedly.
            -Reward: LOTS of Adam.

-If they RESCUE her then she acquires new life and screams ‘NOOO! NOOO!” as you do it. She becomes healthy again but is not freed from her bonds. The slugs go nuts with a feeding frenzy. The little sister will now glow and give the player a boost of strength. This boost of strength is just enough to allow them to kill the big daddy with their weapons, though this will be very difficult. If the boost expires the player can return to the little sister for a refresh. Tennenbaum will explain this to the player.
            -Reward: Small amount of Adam and temporary strength boost.

Note: It is possible that the player will choose, “rescue” not knowing that this is the choice that the little sister is most hoping he will not make. It is important that the player doesn’t feel “tricked” or “misinformed” by the game.  It will be interesting to see how players in play tests deal with this mistake, revealing whether or not it disconnects them from the experience. If players are not disconnected and were attempting to do good in Rapture, then they may experience a genuine sense of regret much like all others involved with Rapture also feel.

Note: This segment also serves to further blur the line between good and evil as was one of Ken Levine’s many missions in the conception of BioShock

The player then must exit the cave and return to DD.

Destination Daedalus (Part 2)
            Objective: To get the fan running again once and for all.

The player must now find the angry roaming BD and lure him back up to the fan cylinder. Once the bear is equipped and brought near the big daddy he goes green and follows the bear slowly, cooing gently.
The player must now decide if they wish to bring closure and peace to this confused and angry creature, or if they simply wish to exploit him.
           
-If the player DOES have the teddy bear:     
                        -They can do one of two things:
1. They can throw the teddy down into the fan. The big daddy will bellow and jump after the bear, hitting the piece of debris and freeing the fan.
            -Reward: none.
2. They can hand the bear to the BD who will hold it close and go green and docile, cooing and cradling the bear. The BD will then take off his backpack, tear the tubes from his chest and leap into the fan, dislodging the debris.
-Reward: the player can loot the BD’s pack to get money and a strength upgrade.
           
            - If the player does NOT have the teddy bear: 
                        -They have only one option:
1. Using their power boost, they must fight the big daddy head on. When the BD is near dead he crawls to one of the telephone tubes and caresses it. The player must pop him as he caresses the telephone tube. Once the big daddy is dead, they need to use telekinesis to carry the BD’s body back to the fan column and throw the body in. The body will dislodge the debris and release the fan. (If this is too tough, Tennenbaum can provide a hint.)
-Reward: The BD’s body can be looted for money and a strength upgrade.

Now the player must use their three keys to activate the fan. Once done the player can jump into the column of air and activate their “Light as air” plasmid to ride the current up and out of a tube to find themselves back in Apollo Sq.
            Note: This is a good opportunity to provide an outdoor view of rapture that the player has not seen since the intro. The tube can be made of glass and travel through the city “streets” so they player can get an outside feel without the developers needing to create a swim mechanic.

Mechanics
           
Plasmids:
Light as Air: This plasmid drastically lowers the player’s weight. The player can use this plasmid to ride the air currents in DD. This lasts as long as the player’s Eve lasts. If the player has full Eve it will run out in 1 minute. It was originally created and sold in the driving range to help golfers with their swing. Found in “The Driving Range”
- There is an audio log documenting a DD technician’s experience with the plasmid, using it to get drunk and ride the air currents for a thrill.

Iron Skin: This plasmid for a moment turns the player’s skin into iron. The player suddenly weighs a ton and can deflect bullets. Their movement is slowed by 75%. This plasmid can be used to resist gusts of air in DD. This only last for 5 seconds and costs 25% of the player’s eve. The big daddy in DD uses Iron Skin. This plasmid was originally created to help workers in DD work around the strong gusts of wind there. Found in 2B of DD.
           
            Additional optional plasmids:
Re-animator: Originally created to be sold in funeral homes, Re-animator takes some of the user’s electro-kinetic energy and transfers it to the dead cells of a corpse, thereby animating it. If the player is aiming at a corpse when they use this plasmid then the corpse will stand. If they are pointing at anything other than a corpse when they use this plasmid, the corpse will walk towards that point. Players can set corpses on fire or stick them full of proximity bombs then lead them into groups. This plasmid also costs 5% of the player’s health. This plasmid can keep a corpse animated as long as the player has Eve. If they have a full bar of Eve this plasmid will take 50 seconds to drain it.

Porcupine: Originally developed to help shoppers carry more bags, the Porcupine plasmid causes spikes of flesh to shoot out from all over the player’s skin. The spikes will impale anyone in the vicinity and lift them into the air. When retracted, the victims slide off and drop to the ground. This move costs 15% Eve and last 3.5 seconds per use.
                       
Acne Drain: Originally designed to clear teens of excess skin oil the Acne Drain plasmid turned out to be merely disgusting and unsellable. This plasmid sprays oil all over the floor that can then be set alight with Incinerate. This costs 25% of the player’s Eve.

The Driving Range
-The driving range is mostly dark and provides many shadows for the player to sneak through. Towers, trees, rubble, and makeshift dwellings all provide shadows.
- Saturnine in makeshift towers search the range with spotlights. If the player is spotted then a bell is rung and three Houdini splicers appear on the scene to dispatch the intruder.
- There are many puddles and pools in the area that Saturnine will run through, allowing for some nice electrocution opportunities.
- The small shrubs and trees here can be set on fire. The player can then use “Push” to thrust Saturnine into the flaming trees.
            -Players can set shrubs and trees on fire to divert the attention of the spotlights.
-Saturnine will often shoot at the player from afar with crossbows, so in turn the player is encouraged to use their own crossbow to take them out. The crossbow is also most effective on the Saturnine in the towers.
-There will be much crossbow ammo here, but little else.
-The player can use telekinesis to create bridges across pools.
-The player can use the ice plasmid to freeze the pools. Saturnine in the pools will be trapped, frozen at the ankles. Saturnine that run onto the pools after they are frozen will slip and fall over, becoming vulnerable. ( See tech section for details as to how this can be achieved in the engine.)

Destination Daedalus

  1. The gusts of air here play a major role in the game play.
  2. If the player misses a jump, back tracking could very quickly become a huge pain. To avoid this, the level will have to be small and there will need be many varying paths the player can take to their goals.
  3. In between the rings the air blows in a circular direction. Clockwise / counterclockwise and up / down differs depending on the ring.
  4. There are switches in each sector that change the direction of the air flow.
  5. The player must use “Light as Air” to ride up to higher catwalks in order to access areas previously unreachable.
  6. The player can jump off catwalks, down to other catwalks.
  7. In order to more accurately simulate depth perception there will need to be many protruding reference points that the player can easily use to better determine their position in the space. Having repeated reference points like star shaped bolts the size of Frisbees on each corner window will more easily allow the player to subconsciously ascertain his distance to his goal, via the distances between starbolts, those being farther away smaller and closer bigger.
  8. If the player activates “Iron Skin” as they fall they can destroy the catwalks as they land on them and thereby cutoff the path of the big daddy. (Essential catwalks are made of metal rather than glass and are indestructible.)
  9. The big daddy in this area roams, looking for the player. If he sees the player he attacks, until the player is able to loose him again.
  10. Stealth users can use shadow here to hide from the BD.
  11. When windows inside of the rings are destroyed, gusts of air will blow in and push the player and any physics objects in the room around. To avoid being pushed out the other side of the ring by the air, the player must use “Iron Skin” to stay in place until the emergency shutter closes over the broken window.
  12. Players can break glass to cause a gust to disorient and delay the big daddy.
  13. The Vita Chamber here costs Eve. This is detailed via an audio log recorded by a man who was testing out the idea of charging for the service. He was planning to propose it to Ryan himself and hopefully find great success this way.
  14. The Big Daddy’s behavior here is similar to that of the final pig-man boss of “Manhunt 1” on ps2.

Slug Cave

  1. Here the Harvest vs. Rescue motivations are reversed.

Tech
Note: This section details how these effects may be executed within the engine.  A lot of this tech is “blue sky” tech in that some effects would cost large amounts of forced labor or serious tweaking in unreal script. These ideas serve as a stepping stone as far as thinking about how some of these effects can be achieved.
           
            Intro
            -Ceiling Buckle.
The ceiling in this section of Apollo sq. would have had to have been created out of many animated movers. An animator would have to animate the buckle of the ceiling to be triggered when a trigger near the elevator to Point Prometheus was tripped, having become active after the player obtained the second half of the serum in Fontaine’s apartment. The trigger used to make the serum disappear when it’s picked up would activate the trigger that activates the buckle animation. There would need to be dormant emitters in place that become active when the trigger is tripped and the buckle animation begins in order to show the new water leaks. ( If these water leaks are not emitters and are tex-panners applied to a mesh surface then those meshes too would need to be movers that drop down quickly into the space when the trigger is tripped.)
           
            Driving Range
-Freezing puddles.
Each puddle would have to be it’s own water volume separate from the rest. These volumes would have to be made moveable. When the player froze the pool there would need to be an effect to provide visualization of the freezing process. This effect could be applied to a flat mesh that is always present over the water pools but does not have any collision. An alpha channeled texture would pan across the flat mesh when the pool was frozen. Instantly the water volume would need to be moved down and away from the play space, via an attachment to a triggered mover. In this same instant a new solid “ice surface” (which would have to be created), would have to move into the place of the water surface to allow the player to walk on top of it and slip and slide around. In order to trap Saturnine that are already in the ice a physics volume that does not allow for movement and collides both A.I. and players would have to be moved into place the instant the ice plasmid was used. The use of the Incinerate plasmid would reverse this whole process.
           
            Air Pressure Control
            -Broken window wind gusts
A unique physics volume would have to be created. This volume would have to be made moveable. The physics volume would have to push objects in the direction that player has set the wind to be moving and must be set to affect A.I., the player and physics objects. The pushing effect of the physics volume could be achieved by tweaking gravity settings within it. When windows are broken, animations and emitters can be triggered as well to blow papers around the room. Each breakable window would need two separate physics volumes, one for clockwise wind and another for counterclockwise wind. When the player toggles the directions of the wind, they will also be toggling which triggers connected to the movers that are connected to the physics volumes will become active. When the windows are broken these volumes will move for a moment into place, then be removed once the emergency shutter closes.
                                   
Goals

  1. To provide twists in the game play that challenge the player without deviating too much from the core tone of BioShock.
  2. To give the Saturnine some more face time while developing further Langford’s relationship with them.
  3. To encourage the player to use their crossbow.
  4. To allow more options and game play for the stealth enthusiast.
  5. To provide a more intimate look at a particular Big Daddy / Little Sister relationship and raise questions about the others.
  6. To create a new game play mechanic.
  7. To further explore the sea slugs and their role in the discovery of Adam and Rapture’s downfall.
  8. To further develop Tennenbaum’s change of heart as far as protecting the little sisters.
  9. To use the ghosts a bit more.
  10. To provide a heavy reward vs. consequence moment for the player.
  11. To flip the Harvest vs. Rescue relationship on its head, driving the player to more deeply explore their own ethics.
  12. To tell an emotionally effective story.
  13. To design a level that works for BioShock one, but could also be tweaked for future iterations of BioShock.

Maps
Enlargements of these maps can be seen included with this file.

Destination Daedalus cross section:

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Destination Daedalus top view:
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