Borderlands 2 Interview

Developed had the chance to talk with Gearbox Software’s concept designer Scott Kester about the upcoming sequel to Borderlands, with subjects ranging from how they wanted to make it a “true sequel” to how many of the people who worked on the original title are on the sequel to how Gearbox’s approach to tech will distinguish it from the original and more. Here’s a sampling:

Gearbox insists that Borderlands 2 is something much more significant than a typical sequel. Isn’t that something any developer would claim?

From the start we wanted to make a ‘˜true sequel’. We really didn’t want to just re-skin environments and rework textures.

Of course there is a little bit of reusing assets; stuff that will make the game familiar in the right way. Characters like the psycho bandits make a return.

But what was really important to us when making Borderlands 2 was to take what we did with the first game and do more of it, give it more variety in every context.

There were so many new ideas for this from our designers and across our office; almost more than we needed. That meant it was very important for everyone from the designers to us on the conceptual side of the design that with so many ideas that we were all very passionate about the game should not become a design clone.

But you must have to balance that devotion to new ideas with delivering a video game that is in spirit the same as the first Borderlands.

We do really have to be focused. Sometimes somebody from another internal project would come onto Borderlands 2 and do something or conceive something and we’d have to be honest if it missed the point of what Borderlands is. We’d just have to say no.

That said, one thing that’s really interesting from the conceptual side is that all of the guys here have certain things that they are better at, and in trusting in that there is a degree of freedom to what goes into Borderlands.

So, for example, I’ve concentrated on the characters and creatures and some environment stuff, and then there’s a designer I work with who can do anything but is really creative with guns, so he’s going to do guns for the game. With that kind of focused talent, when we’re designing stuff, it’s not so much about designing something to fit into a box that is considered Borderlands, but about what we have designed that can go in there. That helps make the sequel its own.

And part of how we define Borderlands 2 is by letting the project be really personal if you’re a game designer or level designer or concept designer. We put in a lot of ourselves to the game.

So, for example I wear a lot of skateboarding stuff, so maybe I’ll try and take that personal style and make it influence the design of one of the characters I’m working on.

There’s a little more of me coming in, and it gives the character a little more; some more depth, and more the player can associate with. So letting aspects of our team’s real world style in is part of the consistency of Borderlands.