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[Perrott]

Judas

The project began with us wanting to tell stories that are less linear, that react to the player and unfold in ways that no one's ever seen in one of Ken's games. That told us a lot up front about what we'd need: namely, characters with strong, competing objectives, who each had a stake in everything the player did. Starting with that framework, we spent a lot of time thinking about those characters, their conflicts, the right setting to force them all together, and the systems underpinning it all. For a long time, there wasn't even a set protagonist — just sort of a cipher, a blank slate.

Eventually, the story and world started to coalesce into something specific, and we needed to figure out who the player character should be. As a rule, you want to put your heroes in the last place they ever want to find themselves. So, what kind of person would really struggle to deal with all these relationships and warring interests? And I remember that was the point where Ken came up with this monologue that kicked everything off.

I often come up with ideas when I'm out on runs, and one day I thought of this speech that would define this character that we were trying to figure out. This speech popped my in my head as I was struggling through the third mile.

I only eat at vending machines, because I don't like interacting with waiters. Restaurants are more complicated: there are greetings and "hellos" and "Is this table okay?" And I'm thinking, "Why should I care what you recommend? You're not me!" But I'm not supposed to say that, so I just have to count the seconds until the interaction can end, devise socially acceptable ways of saying "Go f*** yourself." Because for me, conversation is a prelude to failure. Vending machines never ask me a question that I don't know the answer to. The exchange is reduced to the transaction: money in, product out. Why can't people be more like that?

Where I think Judas differs the most from BioShock or BioShock Infinite is right there in the name. The game is named after her. Booker and Jack were strangers in a strange land, just like the player. Judas is a native of the Mayflower. In fact, she's at the center of the events that set the story in motion. She's got history with this world and the people in it — most of it very, very bad. Her story is about so much more than getting off a sinking ship, and it gives the player so many ways to determine how her journey plays out.

It's always a risk to hand the player a really defined, really vocal character to control. You always worry about creating dissonance between them. So, it's been great to see testers stop and ask themselves, "What would Judas do here? How would she react?" It shows they're in conversation with the character and taking her and the journey seriously.

The Mayflower

At the beginning of its journey, it was a more practical, conventional, modular starship. But over the course of its mission, due to conflict between factions of people and ideals, it's changed into what you see now. And we're working on communicating this through the environment. Like with any city with significant history, if you start digging up the street, you would find layers of the city's past. Older eras of street long buried, forgotten, and built over by the roads upon which you now walk. With the Mayflower as a generational starship, we want to imbue this world with the same sense of time, history, and credibility; this is a civilization that went through eras of conflict and rebirth. And having the characters and the architecture of the world reflect those layers of the onion is a powerful mechanism for visual storytelling.

This allows players to act as a sort of historian and architect as they explore the Mayflower. Through uncovering more, you'll make increasingly informed decisions with the story and characters on your journey.

We basically identify the puzzle pieces and buckets of content that we want to make up the setting of the Mayflower. One example is living quarters. We don't just have one type of space — we have different categories: VIP Pilgrim Quarters, Regular Pilgrim Dorms, all the way down to Violator Quarters. The art team creates the set pieces and materials for each of these quarters and the design team does deep dives on how all those pieces can fit together in a variety of layouts that feel grounded for the theme and support gameplay. When assembling the layouts in game, the system has to understand the various buckets of puzzle pieces and the hierarchy of the content so it can stitch it together in a meaningful way that supports the storytelling. More exclusive and fancier places can have high ceilings, giant windows, and grand lobbies. But the Violator space is in the lower, grungy, underbelly of the ship and you have to take what we call the "Stairway to Hell" to get to them — separating these spaces both visually and physically.

Judas developers Ghost Story Games discuss the origins of its main character

Ken Levine and team dive into the creative process and ideas that led to Judas

blog.playstation.com

 

[Luipadre]

Is this still alive? Color me surprised

 

[Elios83]

New trailer with a release date at TGA or stfu Ken.

 

[The Cockatrice]

DOA

 

[Gonzito]

Is there a bible lore reason why the game is called Judas?

 

[Perrott]

Is there a bible lore reason why the game is called Judas?

At the very beginning of the game you betray the three other main characters of the story -- the Big Three, who are worshipped by the Mayflower's residents -- by revealing to everyone that they're not real people captaining this expedition through space but AIs, which sets off a series of riots that... basically turn the spaceship into a BioShock setting.

It is then with those Big Three -- all of which have basically gone rogue and have their own factions, warring with those of one another -- that you are forced to make and break alliances with in order to save yourself from this spaceship that is caught in the gravitational pull of a nearby sun or about to get hit by a meteor, or maybe both.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Ken Levine is basically the American version of Peter Molyneux.

 

[DKehoe]

I'm still interested in it. But it is odd how he took all this time away to work on different concepts but is then emerging with something that very much looks like System Shock/Bioshock.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

Where I think Judas differs the most from BioShock or BioShock Infinite is right there in the name. The game is named after her. ​

≠​

Judas is a native of the Mayflower. In fact, she's at the center of the events that set the story in motion. She's got history with this world and the people in it — most of it very, very bad. Her story is about so much more than getting off a sinking ship, and it gives the player so many ways to determine how her journey plays out.​

​

​

How they handle/write this character is going to make it or break it for me. Hope they nail it.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Lady Gaga theme song?

 

[Perrott]

I'm still interested in it. But it is odd how he took all this time away to work on different concepts but is then emerging with something that very much looks like System Shock/Bioshock.

Gameplay innovations (Narrative LEGOs) aside, at least he has managed to re-capture the lightning in a bottle that is coming up with something comparable to the "look and feel" of BioShock... which the teams assigned by 2K to work on a fourth BioShock game have not been able to achieve in over a decade now.

 

[AJUMP23]

Cool Ken, go finish this bioshock style game I will play it.

 

[Hohenheim]

This could be GOTY 2026 for me.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Enough dick teasing Ken. What is the release date?

 

[viveks86]

This could be GOTY 2026 for me.

Is it coming in 2026 though?

 

[Branded]

This could be GOTY 2026 for me.

Try 2027.

 

[falconhoof]

Where I think Judas differs the most from BioShock or BioShock Infinite is right there in the name. The game is named after her.
≠
Judas is a native of the Mayflower. In fact, she's at the center of the events that set the story in motion. She's got history with this world and the people in it — most of it very, very bad. Her story is about so much more than getting off a sinking ship, and it gives the player so many ways to determine how her journey plays out.

​

How they handle/write this character is going to make it or break it for me. Hope they nail it.

Same. That's a tough thing to pull off because as much as Judas might be a resident of the location the player obviously isn't. So how is the game going to provide context in such a way that the player can quickly become informed without making the character sound odd and out of place.

It does make sense why you have the stranger in a strange land, or the amnesia suffering protagonist.

I've not been a fan of the "voice in the head" approach that's been used more recently, or the side kick, used to divulge plot dumps and worse, to drag the player along. "Hey we should investigate that door", "maybe if we pulled that lever". "hey, how about that lever", "boy, that lever looks odd".

 

[Jinzo Prime]

I have a bad feeling about this one, lads.

 

[adamsapple]

This could be GOTY 2026 for me.

I have a bad feeling about this one, lads.

 

[Hudo]

"After going through absolute development hell with BioShock: Infinite, which turned out to be mid at best, I thought: "Let's do this again!". So here we are."

 

[rm082e]

I know he has to do these dog and pony shows so the big wigs will let them keep working. I don't begrudge him playing the game.

But honestly, I just DGAF about any more info. Release the game. If the reviews aren't terrible, I will buy it. Done.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

Same. That's a tough thing to pull off because as much as Judas might be a resident of the location the player obviously isn't. So how is the game going to provide context in such a way that the player can quickly become informed without making the character sound odd and out of place.

It does make sense why you have the stranger in a strange land, or the amnesia suffering protagonist.

I've not been a fan of the "voice in the head" approach that's been used more recently, or the side kick, used to divulge plot dumps and worse, to drag the player along. "Hey we should investigate that door", "maybe if we pulled that lever". "hey, how about that lever", "boy, that lever looks odd".

Oh God no, please no internal voices or radio-buddies.

Yeah, taking the role of an established character is a difficult balancing act. You don't want her to be void of a personality/wet blanket if you want players to get invested. But you'd also want a character that most people can, at the very least, sympathize with on some level.

 

[Hohenheim]

Try 2027.

I think it's gonna be 2026. But if it needs even more time, I guess 2027 is fine. Gonna be shitloads of awesome games to play in 2026 anyways, as it is every year.
But I reeeeally look forward to this one.

 

[DAHGAMING]

DOA

Yea im with you, Im keeping fingers crossed for Judas but would rather a new Dead or Alive.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I see where they get their inspiration,