GamesRadar: What else influenced the Splicers' appearance? For example, why do they all wear masks?

HP: We created specific characters with the Splicers. We wanted some of them to underscore the stratification of classes in Rapture, so there's the old racist lady, a horrible upper class woman talking about the servants in an offensive way. Then there's the ceiling crawler with her hooks. We called her "the hooker" around the office and I think her aesthetic evolved accordingly.

The masks originally came from the New Year's Eve party in the first level. But they were also so weird and unsettling - we started thinking that maybe more of the characters could wear masks, almost as if they were ashamed of what they'd become. They've become addicted to ADAM and splicing themselves. They're like junkies.