The game starts off after the plane has gone down somewhere
in the ocean, the beginning intrigues the player to play on as the it says in
the opening sequence "My parents said I would do great thing, They were
right". Instantly the player is given a reason to play the game, what are
these great things that the story speaks of? It sets the tone by establishing
that there are going to be great moments in this game if you're willing to
follow it through to the end. As the player you hear the carnage of the plane
going down and everything going to black, however the character awakens in the
water being lucky enough to survive the crash but is stranded between walls of fire
all around him except for in front of the player is a clear indication of where
to go to progress the story. This was done well in a way that the player isn't
told directly to go forward but is more lead by the level design of the game to
move forward. Naturally as humans we avoid fire as we know of its properties
and how it can burn you so naturally you would look for a way forward by
finding where there is no fire to go through. As a test I went into the fire to
see what would happen and to see if this would kill the player. The visual
effects when you are in the fire are quite jarring with bright flashy lights
and sound effects of someone burning. Your first instinct is to quickly back
away from the fire as this is an indicator that the player is getting hurt and
that if you stay you will die. However upon testing this in the demo I've found
as far as it goes the player seems to constantly look like he is taking damage
however is not taking any at all, you could just sit there in the fire with no
consequence.
I found this to be used to great effect to lead the player away
from the fire by doing this as in most games when the screen flashes and you
hear hurt sound effects in general you back away from the object that is
causing damage. When you go through to the portion where there is no fire
blocking your path you immediately notice there is a strange building in front
of you, the flames to the left seem to be spreading further along the sea as an
visual queue not to go that way and to head towards the building. To build onto
of this, at the bottom of the building are lights that seem to invite the
player to take the stairs, if you walk right around the stairs you can see on
the other side that there are no lights as an indicator to the player that this
is not the right way to go. When you look left there is a door that is open,
like an invitation for the player to go inside. When inside the player is
locked in and greeted by a strange statue. From here music plays, the music
sounds old in the way that it could be from anything prior to 1960. This in
itself sets the setting of how the world you are about to see is affected by
the time period the music is from. The building's architecture also lends
itself to the idea that it is from an older time period.
Yet again the lighting
plays a powerful role in being the guide to the player and guides him down into
the room where the submarine is. The light turning on the closer you get is
again a great way to lead the player. In the submarine room the walls have 4 plaques,
one reading 'science', another 'industry', another 'art' and the last one
behind the submarine reads 'R'. This feels like symbolism to advise that player
where they are going is built on science, art and industry where they are
combined to create 'R'. Walking into the submarine and pulling the lever the
player is given a quick in-game cut scene where he is turned around to look out
the door he came in. It forces the player into looking at the setting that they
are about to partake in. The video goes on to explain the three plaques, and
goes on to state that with all three of these combined this is what Rapture is
built upon. The architecture of what the player sees resembles 1960's America
underwater. The music, the visuals and the narrative all combine perfectly in
this sequence to set the tone of what's to come. You as the player can hear
people talking over the speaker and upon listening can tell that this place isn't
as great as the video has advised as there sounds as though these is danger all
around "Watch out for the splicers".
Upon getting to the end of the
submarine ride the player is greeted by more imagery of something called
plasmids. The player is then introduced to a splicer for the first time and now
can put into context what was said earlier over the communication unit. Again
the lights are leading the player, it never really feels like the game is
telling you to do anything however is leading you right to where it wants you
to go. Just from going this far in the game, it has already established the
atmosphere the time period and the urgency for the player to move quickly.
Bioshock leads the player without actually having to tell them where to go and
majority of it is done through level design which leans heavily on the use of
Art Deco. Only when the player picks up the communication unit is it then that
they have someone that tells them what to do and yet even this is done in a way
where the player isn't necessarily told you have to do this but simply asks
them a question of what he should do.
References for images
Image 1
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/Bioshock_series.jpg
Image 2
http://d1vnh8mbrp67em.cloudfront.net/image/file/2/47/74652/bioshock.jpeg
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