Borderlands: The Randy Pitchford Interview

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Several weeks ago, we issued the call for all fans of Borderlands to send in questions for Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software. There was a great response from the community, eager to find out about the finer points of this Sci-Fi FPS.

So here's the interview, the second of our special Summer of Community features. Thanks to everyone who participated, this wouldn't have been possible without you. Don't miss the OXM Report on Inside Xbox this weekend for more questions and answers with Randy Pitchford.

Ben Talbot - Community Editor

Is there still armour in the game or is it solely upgradable shields?
The Bomfy, OXM Forums

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Pitchford: We moved from armour towards shields, combat modifications, class modifications and grenade modifications. The reason we did that was because we weren't getting value out of armour as an FPS - we're not seeing much of our character. To consume performance and memory, to take it away for something that you can't even see when you're playing the game felt like a bad decision. So we added shields and character modifications and spec modifications that you can augment yourself with. This is more relevant because we can see and feel and experience all this. In fact there's more total gear than when we first announced it.

How did you settle on the number of players for co-op?
Kyle Marsh, via email

Pitchford: There was an interesting experience I had when I played Diablo - I was hooked by that game, it really owned me. I started in single player and really invested in it. I got quite far and then decided I'd like to see what it was like online. But when I went online, the game said I had to start over, I couldn't take my single player character and bring it online. That was a big disappointment because I'd invested so much in my single player. I understand that Blizzard probably wanted to control the data and must have hoped at the time that it would prevent cheating.

We decided very early on that it was important to have a convenient experience. If I'm playing alone, great. If I decide to join a friend's game, my character can come with me. And if I earn anything in that game, experience or weapons they stay with my character - it's persistent.

With the convenience of joining a friend's game, the technical realities of Xbox 360 and the technical realities of bandwith, we basically started in the same place that diablo did, with a four-player cooperative option.

It's also worth noting that we support split screen too, because some people aren't connected but they still want to play with friends. And it's really fun too, when you're on the couch in your living room you can just yell at the guy when he tries to steal your loot and give him an elbow because he's sitting right next to you.

How will Borderlands accommodate a large range of play styles?
Savage Reindeer, OXM Forums

Pitchford: We actually added a fourth character class, and this was one of the decisions we made in 2008 to make the game bigger and that's why we're getting it now in 2009. The first three were the soldier class, and then there's the siren class - she's a mysterious creature and she has magical powers. She can phase-walk, and when she does this she goes into an ethereal state where enemies can't see her and she can move very quickly. It's like when Frodo puts on the ring. And when she comes out of it, she can blast people with different technology effects.

Will there be pet companions you can tame, purchase or earn?
Bryan Guzman, via Facebook

Pitchford: [The Hunter Class] has a pet bloodwing which is a kind of alien falcon which tears people apart, it's great. The hunter is an expert with sniper rifles and has all different skills when it comes to chaining kills together. He's the perfect assassin.

I want to know specifically how the skill trees will work in the game.
Gøran Tande, via Facebook

Pitchford: The soldier can deploy a shield turret and has a number of different specs that he can choose to either evenly balance or focus on one spec. He can build up a medic skill tree where he becomes really effective at healing himself and the party, or you can focus more on an infantry spec for delivering more damage. There's also a support spec where you can build different types of turret, and each of the players around you get advantages - whether that's combat bonuses, experience bonuses or protective bonuses.

The last one, the new character we added is like a tank or berserker character. He's huge - we call him Brick, but you can call him whatever you want. He's a tough dude man. He has huge fists and can go into a berserker rage. He becomes like the Incredible Hulk and you can run up to guys and punch them and gib them just by punching them in the face. It feels great. He's got a couple of interesting specs too, like a tank spec which is about mitigating damage and being the guy that takes the hits. He's got a brawler spec for doing greater damage with his fists.

Each of the characters has three specs that you can balance or go down deep into any of them.

I want to more about the 'day to night' system. How long will a day last in real time?
Chuck Ford, via Facebook

Pitchford: This is interesting because it's not earth. It's totally different in the physics. The star that it orbits is very tiny, old and dim. There's very little ambient light. But there's this moon, a very close geosynchronous moon. Half of the moon is covered in a fusion reaction and the other half is just dead dark stone. And this thing is spinning really fast in the sky. It takes about thirty minutes for it to rotate. It's almost like a day to night cycle every half hour.

The planet itself is very big, so relative to its actual star, it takes about ninety [in game] hours for a day to happen. It's really interesting when you're inventing science fiction because you can play with the physics of the universe.






What vehicles are there in the game?
Alex Galanopoulos, via email

Pitchford: It's really fun when you finally get your first vehicle. It's several hours in and you have a side quest which involves turning on all these vehicle stations which you use to digitally construct a vehicle. As you're constructing this thing you can decide what kind of paint job you want, you can pick what weapon you want to have loaded, if you're playing with a friend they can get on the turret and ride along with you. It's really great when you get them because it's a big connected world and they help you get around faster.

You can also get around using the fast travel system. There's a network of registration stations around the world of Pandora, and they digitally record every single bit of your character's DNA structure and disassemble and reassemble them. It's like a classic teleporter.

The thing I like about vehicles - if you've played World of Warcraft, there are similarities from the RPG side. In WOW, it's not until level thirty that you get your mount. You get vehicles a little sooner in Borderlands, and unlike WOW, yours' has a gun on it and you can roadkill people by smashing into them. It's a real physics object that you're driving.

Has Gearbox ever considered having someone create some spin-off media like a book?
Alex Galanopoulos, via email

Pitchford: We developed the Brothers in Arms brand with our care for the subject matter of warfare and World War II. That became very popular and spawned a television documentary on the discovery channel and there were a couple of comics, a novel and a history book written by colonel John Antal.

I hope that Borderlands sticks because it'd be really neat to do that kind of stuff. We don't think it's cool when people force entertainment down our throats, so what you should do is see whether you've got it or not. I think we've got it with Borderlands. It's tough right now, because people tend to prefer sequels. I keep saying, I wish there was something fresh and original. The whole machine seems oriented around things that are already known, so it's really hard for new things to get noticed. I think it's a big challenge we have to face if we want things that are fresh to happen.

I'll absolutely be purchasing Call of Duty again this year, but I also can't help but think those guys are so amazing and talented, it'd be great if it actually made fiscal sense for them to do something original because man, they'd probably blow us away.

Ben Talbot