The state was also supposed to be fascist and Nazist influenced, with a Hitler Youth like program for the young (who appear similar to Boy Scouts in uniform " Youth of Columbia, Will You Bear Her Sword?") and racial purity was emphasized as a reason for their racism (" We must all be vigilant to ensure the purity of our people!"). Very early concept art even had an image of a Cabaret, something that would definitely would have been out of place in the Columbia of the game.Ĭolumbia's patriotism, as seen in the early trailers and promotional posters, was originally supposed to be more politically and socially based rather than religious, with Comstock being an aged politician rather than a prophet.
An early idea for the conflict in Columbia was also Luddites versus pro-technology. Ĭolumbia went through significant changes throughout its development, all surrounding the common theme of American exceptionalism and the issues of class and race in the early twentieth century.Ĭolumbia started out very different, most differences listed in the City in the Sky section above. This is seen in the early gameplay demonstration, but was not shipped with the final game. Despite the less oppressive atmosphere, weather was still going to play a roll as the engine supported a dynamic weather system that could affect Columbia's floating buildings. It was revised into a clearer and brighter environment. Still, some Art Nouveau assets do appear in the game, such as furniture, and decorative frames and signs in Emporia, Comstock House and the Church of Comstock.Īs for the stormy weather atmosphere, they found it was too dark, and the lighting resembled Rapture too much, with no emphasis on the environments as being an open sky. This caused them to revise it for the current Beaux-like appearance. However, it was found that while Art Deco architecture had simple shapes with low polygon counts, making it easy to generate in the game's engine, the Art Nouveau style was too complex, with very fine-tuned round designs which used more polygons - more than they could afford in their rendering budget. It was mentioned in the BioShock comparison interview that this was meant as an art contrast from BioShock's Rapture, since Rapture was focused with Art Deco. One of the current game's areas that appeared predominant throughout development was Emporia, only with automata-based statues, and buildings inside Rapture-like corridors with glass ceilings. In the early "City in the Sky" or "Rapture in the Sky" prototype for Columbia, featured in both screenshots in The Art of BioShock Infinite and IGN's Early Elizabeth video, it was considered to have an Art Nouveau inspiration to its architecture, along with a more weathery and stormy atmosphere to create cloud cover. Finally a choice would be made and the new city would be set in the sky. For a time the Renaissance was considered, but with the announcement of Assassin's Creed II which took place in that same time period, it was decided that a different setting was needed. While there was still to be a connection to Rapture in some way, it was decided that the game would take place in a new city. As work progressed it was decided that seeing the Rapture Civil War occur would destroy the mystery of the conflict and that it was best to leave it a mystery. Despite being set in Rapture, the team didn't want to repeat what had been done in BioShock and the story would place before the Civil War ravaged the city. 12.13 Fink Manufacturing Propaganda PostersĪt the start of development for what would become BioShock Infinite the setting for the game was to be a familiar place, the underwater city of Rapture.12.12 Columbia Chronicles Newspaper Issue.11.16.1 Prototype or Alpha Motorized Patriot.10.2.1 Prototype "Gibson Girl" Elizabeth.