2K Marin creative director Jordan Thomas left the developer to found an indie studio with an unnamed partner and create an equally unnamed project inspired in part by his time working on the BioShock series, he told GamesIndustry International.
While at 2K, Thomas served as a consultant on BioShock, was the director of BioShock 2 and helped with the story and game design on Irrational Games' BioShock Infinite. Thomas said that his time working on BioShock Infinite was part of what convinced him that he could make the transition from AAA to indie development.
"Without spoiling things for anybody, there are elements of the ending that spoke to me," Thomas said. "And I wanted to make something that evoked those feelings more consistently throughout. And that could be a niche within a niche. I have yet to complete that experiment, but it's something that's really driving me right now."
Though he isn't opposed to creating the project at a AAA development house, he said his plan is to "keep it as lean as possible for now, in the hopes that we're not writing checks our asses can't cash. Indie ambition is its greatest strength and its greatest weakness."
According to Thomas' LinkedIn profile, he began his career at Warren Spector's Austin, Tx. branch of Ion Storm, the developer of Deus Ex and Thief: Deadly Shadows, among other games. After its closure and a stint at BreakAway Austin, Thomas moved on to 2K and BioShock.
For more on the development of BioShock Infinite, be sure to check out Polygon's feature article on Ken Levine, in which Thomas makes a cameo appearance.