STACK May 2016 Issue 139

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visit GAMES FEATURE
62 MAY 2016
GAMES
What do you get when Gearbox decides to introduce a new first-person-shooter IP with 25
badass heroes in a 5v5 fight to the death? If you were expecting a cheesy punchline, you can
be assured Battleborn is no joke. RandyVarnell, creative director on the new title, offered some
insight into what to expect from the studio's latest release.
Where did the idea for the new IP
originate?
After Borderlands 2 , there were two big
things we wanted to do next. First, make
more characters, because we LOVE doing
that! Second, find a way to bring the Gearbox
“stuff” from Borderlands into a competitive
multiplayer space. We also really wanted
swords (really, melee in general). Multiplayer
and melee aren’t quite a part of the
Borderlands DNA, and some of our character
ideas stretched beyond what we were
currently doing in Borderlands. So, Battleborn
was... born? We decided to embark on a new
IP and create a game around those thoughts. Why was 25 heroes the soft spot?
We love, love, love making
characters. The core promise of
Battleborn for us has always been
crafting unique and cool characters
who can blend together in a number
of interesting teams. When developing
the characters, we made an early
choice to also invent five factions, to
both help group up aesthetic and tone
choices for players as well as to give
our lore some teeth with philosophy
and conflict. With game modes based
on 5v5 multiplayer, the math speaks
for itself: five factions and five player
teams, with a “sweet spot” of 25
playable characters as a starting point.
There’s a progression system within
every game to unlock character
abilities for that game, and there’s
an external system that encourages
the use of different characters.
Is this all about reinforcing the
importance of replay?
Yes, but it goes further than that.
At Gearbox, we love creating games
that offer players lots of choice, sort
of the RPG influence in what we do.
In Borderlands, you have guns and
shields and mods and talent trees. In
Battleborn , you have the Helix system
in-match. We loved playing with
different talent builds in Borderlands,
and Battleborn essentially allows you
to try a different talent build every
game if you want. Gear, Command
Rank, and Character Rank provide
something to tie those matches
together.
born to be wild