Ken Levine
Encyclopedia
Ken Levine is the creative director and co-founder of Irrational Games
. He led the creation of the multi-million selling, multiple "game-of-the-year" award-winning video game BioShock
, and is known for his work on Thief: The Dark Project
and System Shock 2
. He was named one of the "Storytellers of the Decade" by Game Informer and was the 1UP Network's 2007 person of the year.
after replying to a job ad in Next Generation Magazine
. At Looking Glass, Levine worked with pioneering designer Doug Church
to establish the initial fiction and design of Thief: The Dark Project
.
. Levine served as lead writer and designer, and the game shipped in 1999 to critical acclaim.
Irrational's next project was Freedom Force
, a real-time tactical RPG that drew heavily on the love Levine and Irrational artist Robb Waters had for the Silver Age of Comic Books
. After the first Freedom Force game, Irrational developed Tribes: Vengeance
and SWAT IV, on which Levine served as writer and executive producer respectively.
Although Tribes: Vengeance, SWAT IV, and Third Reich all shipped within a year of one another in 2004 and 2005, Irrational had been working in preproduction on the first-person shooter BioShock
, the studio's most ambitious game at that point, since 2002. The game went through numerous revisions to its premise and gameplay, and was released in August 2007, soon after Levine, Chey, and Fermier sold Irrational Games to publisher Take-Two Interactive.
BioShock was an immediate critical and commercial success, and remains one of the best-reviewed games of all time. The BioShock franchise has sold over 8 million units to date.
In 2008, Levine delivered the keynote address at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, discussing his youth as a nerd in the 1970s and how it impacted the path of his career.
Since the release of BioShock, Levine has been serving as creative director on BioShock Infinite
, set in 1912 in the fictional floating city of Columbia.
Irrational Games
Irrational Games is a video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier as Irrational Games...
. He led the creation of the multi-million selling, multiple "game-of-the-year" award-winning video game BioShock
Bioshock
BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...
, and is known for his work on Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project is a 1998 first-person stealth game developed for Windows by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive...
and System Shock 2
System Shock 2
System Shock 2 is a 1999 first-person action role-playing video game, designed by Ken Levine for Microsoft Windows. The title is a sequel to the 1994 PC game System Shock, and was co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios...
. He was named one of the "Storytellers of the Decade" by Game Informer and was the 1UP Network's 2007 person of the year.
Pre-Irrational
Levine studied drama at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a film career, writing two screenplays. In 1995, he was hired as a game designer by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Looking Glass StudiosLooking Glass Studios
Looking Glass Studios was a computer game development company during the 1990s.The company originally formed as Looking Glass Technologies, when Blue Sky Productions and Lerner Research merged....
after replying to a job ad in Next Generation Magazine
Next Generation Magazine
Next Generation Magazine was a video game magazine that was made by Imagine Media publishing company . It was affiliated to and shared editorial with the UK's Edge magazine. Next Generation ran from January 1995 until January 2002. It was published by Jonathan Simpson-Bint and edited by Neil West...
. At Looking Glass, Levine worked with pioneering designer Doug Church
Doug Church
Doug Church is an American computer game designer and producer. He attended MIT in the late 1980s, but left and went to work with Looking Glass Studios, when they were making primarily MS-DOS-based first-person adventure/shooter/roleplaying games, including Ultima Underworld, Ultima Underworld II,...
to establish the initial fiction and design of Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project is a 1998 first-person stealth game developed for Windows by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive...
.
Irrational Games
In 1997, following his work on Thief, Levine left Looking Glass along with two coworkers, Jonathan Chey and Robert Fermier, to found Irrational Games. The studio's first game was the science fiction RPG/shooter System Shock 2, a direct sequel to Looking Glass' original 1993 System ShockSystem Shock
System Shock is a first-person action-adventure video game developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. Released in 1994, the game is set aboard the fictional Citadel Station in a cyberpunk vision of 2072...
. Levine served as lead writer and designer, and the game shipped in 1999 to critical acclaim.
Irrational's next project was Freedom Force
Freedom Force (computer game)
Freedom Force is a real-time tactical role-playing game developed by Irrational Games and published by Electronic Arts and Crave Entertainment in 2002. The player guides a team of superheroes as they defend Patriot City from a variety of villains, monsters, and other menaces. A sequel, Freedom...
, a real-time tactical RPG that drew heavily on the love Levine and Irrational artist Robb Waters had for the Silver Age of Comic Books
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
. After the first Freedom Force game, Irrational developed Tribes: Vengeance
Tribes: Vengeance
Tribes: Vengeance is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game of the Tribes video game series. It was developed by Irrational Games and released by Sierra Entertainment in October 2004...
and SWAT IV, on which Levine served as writer and executive producer respectively.
Although Tribes: Vengeance, SWAT IV, and Third Reich all shipped within a year of one another in 2004 and 2005, Irrational had been working in preproduction on the first-person shooter BioShock
Bioshock
BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...
, the studio's most ambitious game at that point, since 2002. The game went through numerous revisions to its premise and gameplay, and was released in August 2007, soon after Levine, Chey, and Fermier sold Irrational Games to publisher Take-Two Interactive.
BioShock was an immediate critical and commercial success, and remains one of the best-reviewed games of all time. The BioShock franchise has sold over 8 million units to date.
In 2008, Levine delivered the keynote address at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, discussing his youth as a nerd in the 1970s and how it impacted the path of his career.
Since the release of BioShock, Levine has been serving as creative director on BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite is an upcoming first-person shooter video game, and the third game in the BioShock series. Previously known as "Project Icarus", it is being developed by Irrational Games for a 2012 release on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms...
, set in 1912 in the fictional floating city of Columbia.