PAX Prime 2011 Interview: Borderlands 2

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By now, all of you have heard that Gearbox Software has officially announced the development of Borderlands 2, as was featured on the most recent cover of Game Informer. Most of you should also have read my eyes-on preview of Borderlands 2 here at PAX Prime 2011. If you haven't, get out from under that rock or ignore that pesky hurricane or whatever other excuse you have and go read it. Now.

After that, check out this quick interview I did with Borderlands 2 concept artist, Scott Kester.

gamrFeed: The art styles for Borderlands and Borderlands 2 are very similar, well known, and easily recognizable. What old stuff are you bringing back to Borderlands and what new stuff are you bringing to Borderlands 2 ?

 Scott Kester: One of the things we knew (about the original Borderlands) is that it was a little monotone, maybe, to put it nicely. Variety was a big thing for us, expanding on the environments, going to get to new areas. So every few hours, you’re in a zone that feels different. Here we’re only showing the snow area and a little bit on top of the dam, but we’ve shown some screenshots of a more green, Scottish Highland sort of area. We have multiple areas that are new that we’re headed to, which I think will help with the visual fatigue. Not only that, but lots of new creatures that inhabit those environments and the ways that they live and breathe inside of those. We tried to make sure, whatever we were doing, that we weren’t just adding something to add it, but actually creating legitimate value.

The gun system, we’ve taken and basically obliterated it away, the way we had built them before. It’s done in a similar manner, but we re-concepted (sic) all of the guns, the identities to the manufacturers, giving them a little shtick that’s their own and their own visual thing. Doing that just means there’s a lot more personality inside of those. Character was one of the things we were very proud of in Borderlands, making sure the gun feels like it’s part of that, so really doubling-down on the gun creation aspect. There’s a lot more components and individuality that you can find inside of those. There’s a laundry list of those things from improving the AI to improving vehicle controls. A big thing was to take what we had done the last time, but really expand and add some new layers and some new tacked-on features but also give people more of what was there but make a more solid experience this time.

gamrFeed: Conceptually, was Pandora always like this with these different climates and zones or is this a development due to the vault being opened at the end of the first Borderlands? 

Kester: Large parts of it is that’s just the way the area was. What you’re going to see in this game is you’re going to see the effects of some of the things that have happened with The Vault and what has happened since then. Handsome Jack is our main antagonist, he’s basically put his stamp everywhere from putting an “H” up on the moon to the things he’s doing to the land. You’re going to see a lot of the effects of him and also post-Vault opening and what really happened there. A lot of the areas, they’re just there and we’re just seeing more of the planet. We’re traveling across more of that. There’s a lot of it that’s been untapped.

I also asked Kester about classes in Borderlands 2 , but he wasn't able to comment outside the already announced Gunserker and returning Siren classes shown in the demonstration. How excited are you for the new environments, new creatures, and facing off against Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2 ?