They tinkered with the different elements of the weapons' design to evoke a mood and a tone, he said. In the case of Apple's influence, the developers looked at the sorts of materials to use and how shapes were put together. We took some Apple design influences, there was some Austrian car manufacturing that we looked at."ĭuc said those influences are sometimes very subtle. "If you are a big sci-fi fan you're going to play with Maliwan. "I think one of the goals was to provide weapons so that every player can at least identify with one of them," Duc said. Maliwan is meant to be the game's elemental weapons, inspired by high-tech manufacturing. The Dahl focus on burst fire and accuracy and look very modern. Vladof is a Russian design, often with multiple barrels, that picks up its rate of fire the longer you fire. Jakobs have a western influence and are accurate, high-damage weapons. ![]() It was the robot that inspired the weapon's brand, Duc said. The Hyperion brand drew its inspiration from the Claptrap robot, a mainstay in both the first and second game. ![]() Pulled all of these element in and made these huge beefy looking guns and then that influenced design back again and we ended up making those guns' unique ability explosives." We brought in some 1940s, 1950s aircraft design. "We took that concept and we started looking at big beefy motorcycles," Duc said. The Torgue, a weapon that is all about explosives, started out with a single idea: A big, macho 1980s machine gun. The end result are high capacity weapons that feature box, drum or multiple magazines and a very home-built look. "So we started looking at this Death Race, Mad Max style, bent quarter-inch steel, spikes, and developed a language on top of that." "What does a psychotic bandit that is wearing huke spikes use for a gun? The new Bandit brand, for instance, started out as a sort of home-made line of weapons. While the game procedurally generates the weapons players find, the developers used these brands, and their codifying visual rules, to make sure that weapons had one of eight cohesive looks.ĭuc, who helped created the visual identity of each brand, walked me through the names and what they bring to the game. In the world of Borderlands 2 there are eight weapons manufacturers. "One of the interesting things we've been getting back is even after an hour of playing the game they are able to identify a brand they like and describe it. and tell us what they like and don't," he said. "We have internal focus groups that come in and play the game. What Duc can talk about is how much more important weapons and their brands are this time around and why. "That is unannounced right now," he says. Zach Ford, senior designer on the game, gives me a bit more when I push him on character customization. "You should come to our PAX East panel," he says smiling. What if, I ask, players could brand themselves with a weapon manufacturer and get a distinct look, ability or discount? I found myself in a level called the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve with a pre-made level 20 Gunzerker, a dual-wielding weapons master.ĭuc is hesitant to tell me if players of Borderlands 2 will be able to change the look of their characters, or perhaps even augment their abilities, with an extension of the branding found in the game's weapons. Players could choose between one of four classes and then change their name and color of parts of their outfit. In the original Borderlands, players became accustomed to a spectacularly diverse selection of weapons, but the characters they controlled were missing even the most rudimentary ability to customize their look. He's dodging, he acknowledges, my questions about whether the game's heightened use of branding is going to bleed over into the way a character looks. "We are definitely exploring ways to implement the branding," Kevin Duc, Gearbox Software's concept artist on Borderlands 2, tells me, repeating himself for the second time in two questions. The branding of Borderlands and its munitions becomes all the more important in Borderlands 2 as those brands start to seep into the look and actions of enemies, storyline and, perhaps, even the way a player's character looks and behaves. What grew out of that organic process of melding design influences from around the world and across the centuries was a carefully crafted set of eight brands, each tied to an imaginary gun manufacturer. ![]() While the upcoming Gearbox Software shooter has a multitude, nearly endless selection of weapons littering its landscape, they were each born from a meticulously-shaped design language. These brands make the weapons cohesive, inspire the storyline and may help shape how some characters are customized.ĭisposable razors, iPhones, Austrian cars: Death in Borderlands 2 comes from a surprisingly eclectic mix of design inspirations. Borderlands 2 is powered by eight gun manufacturer brands.
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