BioShock Infinite's score is being composed by Garry Schyman, who also did the music for BioShock and BioShock 2, Irrational Games president and creative director Ken Levine announced during a Reddit AMA today.
According to Levine, Schyman's Infinite score is "very different from the first two games, yet very much guided by the same aesthetic principles. ... He's working in a different, sparer style, but it's awesome."
Levine also answered plenty of questions about BioShock Infinite and other topics. Regarding Infinite's replayability, he said, "It's very much like BioShock 1 in terms of length and replay," although he noted it has "another kind of replay value which is more [story-oriented]" without giving further details for fear of spoilers. He promised the game will include plenty of details about Columbia's backstory, citing designer Shawn Elliott's comment that "where [BioShock] was about [archaeology], this game is also about anthropology, in other words, you get stories from both the living and the dead in Infinite."
Irrational tried and scrapped more gameplay concepts than there are in the final game, according to Levine. "I'd say if you weighed the game vs. the cutting room floor, the cutting room floor is probably heavier," he explained. "That's a GOOD thing. We cut things because they don't work." Levine also spoke about the difficulties inherent in writing Infinite. "It was MUCH harder to have a speaking protagonist" in Booker DeWitt than the silent player character in BioShock, he said, adding that developing the character of Zachary Hale Comstock, the founder of Columbia, was "one of the hardest parts of writing the game."
Levine also pointed out that while he has "never claimed to be a brilliant marketing person," he said more trailers for Infinite are on the way; yesterday, publisher 2K Games released footage of the first five minutes of the game. Levine offered a personal suggestion to fans: "Protip: DON'T WATCH THE VIDEOS."
"Protip: DON'T WATCH THE VIDEOS"
In response to a question asking about his feelings upon hearing BioShock would be included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Art of Video Games exhibit, he called the honor "fun," but said it didn't make much of a difference to his career one way or the other. "I never felt the need for games to have mainstream recognition as a form of validation of them as an art form," he wrote.
Instead, it sounds like Levine already feels validated by his own work. "The BioShock Infinite ending is the thing I'm most proud of that I've ever worked on," he wrote. "I make no promises as to how much people will like it. But I can promise you the real story keeps going until the last frame."
BioShock Infinite is set for release March 26, 2013, on Windows PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Check out our recent hands-on preview for more details.