As fans wait for news of the next installment into the series, there has been plenty of speculation about what kind of game Bioshock 4 will be. There have been rumors that that Bioshock 4 will become a full open-world RPG, taking an entirely new direction. There is now more concrete information that might clear the air on some key Bioshock 4 details.
Cloud Chamber, a relatively new game development company under the 2K publishing label, has a new job opening for its Montreal headquarters. The company is looking for someone who has experience working with Unreal Engine 5. Specifically, the job listing asks for a candidate who can use the engine to "work with existing systems while simultaneously building new technology in order to meet the team's technical needs and goals."
The position specifically is for a senior gameplay programmer to overlook the game's world and player progression systems. This adds Bioshock 4 to the long list of other next-gen games that are being made with Unreal Engine 5.
Using Unreal Engine 5 may add both pros and cons for Cloud Chamber and Bioshock 4. The good news is that the game will most likely be graphically impressive compared to previous titles. However, it could mean that Bioshock 4 will have a large file size due to Unreal Engine 5, a concern developers have cited with visually impressive games in the engine. This huge file size problem in modern games has become increasingly difficult to deal with on the limited capacity of console storage space.
Based on the Cloud Gaming job listing post, the senior gameplay programmer will also be responsible for collaborating with the Design, Animation, Audio, and Art departments to work from the ground up in polishing these progression systems in its technical direction. Along with that, they will also be in charge of keeping up to date on the latest technological advancements in the game industry and develop new gameplay features and systems into Bioshock 4.
Hopefully, with this new technology in mind, the company is able to bring the series to new heights. The Unreal Engine 5 software is still in its early access phase, with a full release not expected to come out until sometime in 2022, so it is still a program in murky water without the full list of features. That being said, Unreal Engine has been responsible for some hugely popular games in the past.
BioShock 4 is currently in development.
Source: Cloud Chamber