I love things like this. I’ve got into some of my favourite things via creators of things I’ve loved recommending them – following the trails to interesting places. Because if they’ve inspired something you’ve loved, they’ve got to be pretty good, yeah? That thought process has lead me to everything from Vonnegut to the Buzzcocks to Nethack.
Anyway, Gametap asked Ken Levine for his list of works which kept the Irrational team’s creative engines fully stoked up. For example…
Animal Farm: (Book, 1945)
“You really only need to read this one book to understand power and what it does to people; it’s the ultimate story of what happens when ideals slam into less than ideal people.”Miller’s Crossing (Film, 1990)
“My favorite film of all time. It’s all dialogue, style, and more interconnected plot threads than you can possibly comprehend in one viewing; probably why I’ve seen it 20 times. A huge inspiration when trying to create the slang and language tonality of the city of Rapture.”
More in the full article including the music-inspiring Sweet and Lowdown, the Rand double-combo of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, the entire city of New York and Gilliam’s retro-sci-fi opus Brazil (For the record, which is in at least half of RPS’ staffs’ top 5 films ever).
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I’d like to talk to Ken about ducts.
Miller’s Crossing contains the single finest sequence of events in cinema history. Behold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcDAPjRvjAE
Thanks Jim, I watched that clip after you posted it on your blog a few months ago, and I’d completely forgotten the name of the film. I’ll consider it my duty to legitimately obtain both Miller’s Crossing and Brazil.
i saw Brazil when it was released, absolutely fabulous. Since it was an inspiration to Fallout, someone could pick Miller’s Crossing too and create a game around it.
With lots of words and silences, and just a few bullets. I wonder if it could be done?
Good taste! But don’t forget about Nineteen Eighty-Four either. What a game that would be – imagine trying to survive in Airstrip One!
Regarding Bioshock, I’m surprised Levine has never mentioned Nietzsche and the later phenomenologists, as that’s what Rapture immediately brought to mind for me. Did nobody else notice this link? Perhaps that’s more of a subconscious influence though?