BioShock Infinite — Forrest Dowling

01 — Opening Hours

Welcome Center to Monument Island

My primary responsibility on Infinite was the game's opening, the stretch from the Welcome Center through Monument Island, where the player first meets Elizabeth. That meant owning event pacing and implementation, and directing the group of designers working across those levels.

By the time a player reached Monument Island, they needed to understand a long list of game systems and grasp the motivations of the world's main characters, all without a tutorial screen in sight. Threading that training invisibly into the path was the core design problem of the opening.

Alongside the layout work: scripting event triggers and world interactions, animating environments in Unreal's Matinee, scripting AI placement for combat and non-combat scenarios, and optimising memory and streaming to fit PS3 and Xbox 360.

02 — Sky-Lines

Pitching the first ride

I worked extensively on Columbia's Sky-Lines and implemented the Sky-Line sequences for the E3 2011 demo. The pitch was, roughly, riding a roller coaster while firing a machine gun. It's one of the mechanics most players remember first, and I drove the rules and best practices for how to build them.

03 — Clash in the Clouds

Leading the DLC

Clash in the Clouds was the first piece of Infinite's downloadable content, and I was lead designer on it. I was responsible for shipping a combat-focused challenge mode on a tight schedule with a small team, complete with leaderboards, scoring, and blue ribbon challenges.

With no narrative constraints and more room to spend on systems, we pushed combat scenarios in directions the main campaign never could, adding features built specifically to support that core-combat focus.

04 — Closing It Out

Two finishers, two months

For the final two months of development, I was one of only two designers still touching the game's content and closing out bugs across the entire campaign. It's unglamorous work, but it's also where a shooter either comes together or falls apart.

My favourite kind of accomplishment on Infinite is the kind players never notice: the mechanical horse at Columbia's entry that no longer killed you, flung you into a wall, or floated in a T-pose if you walked away and came back. Great level design is often measured by what nobody has to think about.