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Eurogamer has published a story from Ian Vogel, a former level designer at Irrational, and the man who authored Med/Sci.
We had to do a lot In System Shock 2 with the first level. We’re giving you all the world-building, we’re giving you all these new notions of who you are, what’s going on with the ship, all these new mechanics, new weapons. And on top of that you want that feeling of emergence, of autonomy as a player.”
When I met with Ken [Levine] and John Chey, the guys at Irrational, I got this scrappy, hungry feeling that I wanted to be part of. I got this feeling that these guys wanted to make their mark. I loved the game design and I loved the theme, and I loved the original System Shock. So I was like, ‘I want to make this my own, and I want to leave my imprint on this title.’
There wasn’t a really great plan for Med/Sci at the time because we’re all scrabbling to make the entire game at once, right?. It was basically a flat basement space, and it just didn’t feel like a spaceship. It didn’t feel interesting. There weren’t any nooks and crannies that were either architecturally true to what a ship could be. It just felt flat and kinda lifeless.
Ian Vogel, a former level designer at Irrational
And here’s how the iconic levels from System Shock could look like now: