Ken Levine Writing a New Game

After BioShock Infinite captured the cultural zeitgeist in the latter part of March, many gamers were left wondering how developer Irrational Games will follow up their ambitious shooter. Most immediately, the developer plans to deliver some pieces of downloadable content, so that gamers can adequately get their fill of Columbia.

After that, however, there's no telling where Creative Director Ken Levine and his team might go. Given the way things ended in Infinite, it's pretty safe to say the BioShock IP has been laid to rest, but even that isn't for sure.

One thing is for sure, though, Ken Levine is hard at work on something, or at least that's what he wants all of his Twitter followers to know. What exactly that might be is unclear, but just knowing Levine is writing is pretty exciting.

Game writing this afternoon. This is something else.

– Ken Levine (@IGLevine) May 13, 2013

While we would like to believe that Levine is starting work on a new game, there's no way to know that for sure. It's just as possible Levine is writing for the BioShock Infinite DLC.

As Levine has already revealed, development on Infinite's DLC did not begin until after work on the retail product was completed. In other words, Levine might be scripting out the various bits of dialogue and story beats for the 3 DLC packs. If Infinite's DLC is to have a new AI companion like a recent rumor suggests, Levine likely has quite a bit of writing to do.

Either way, Levine talked a little bit more about his writing on Twitter, revealing that he looks to the works of Paul Thomas Anderson, the Coen Bros., Tom Stoppard, and Stephen Sondheim for inspiration. He also cites the popular TV series Mad Men as an influence.

Some might try to draw a through line between the various works, but to me they simply seem like examples of good writing. Although it might be cool to see Levine's riff on a PT Anderson-esque tale.

So, while it's still too early to assume Ken Levine is working on a new game, we know he's writing…something. It could simply be BioShock Infinite DLC, or it could be something completely new and unexpected. Whatever it is, hopefully we don't have to wait 6 more years to see it.

Do you think Ken Levine has started writing a new game? Or is it just working on BioShock Infinite DLC?

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Source: Twitter — Ken Levine (via GameSpot)