Borderlands Art Style Influenced Gameplay, Writing

Borderlands 2 might still be some time away from release but fans of the series will be happy to learn that the development team at Gearbox will likely keep the art style pretty much unchanged after switching to it when the first game was being created.

Scott Kester, who is the concept designer working on Borderlands, has told Gamasutra as part of a bigger interview, that, “We just really wanted to be us, so we didn't want to be somebody else. And really, when we looked at the artists on the team and the designers, and even the writers, as we started making these visual changes, it started influencing game design; it started influencing, obviously, the writing.”

The designer says that the core game mechanics were always solid but the team always felt that something was missing before settling on their unique art style.

Kester adds, “And when that slid into place, it seemed like the idea bubble just turned on for people, and game designers started doing crazy stuff, like creating midgets and big arm dudes. The writing got more interesting, the names of the guns.”

The developer says that Gearbox is not taking the Borderlands universe very serious, despite the success of the first title in the series, and will continue to inject humor in both the look and the writing of the franchise in order to keep fans happy.

Borderlands has been a surprising success for both the developers and for the publisher Take Two and no one was impressed to hear that a sequel was in development, set to be launched on home console, perhaps including the Wii U from Nintendo, in the 2013 fiscal year.

The new game seems an evolution rather than a revolution, with an expanded gun play system, a stronger plot and more role playing aspects.