Producing Borderlands 2

PRODUCING BORDERLANDS 2

WHO AM I?• My name is Matt Charles.

• My title is Producer.

• I graduated from UTD in 2008.

WHY AM I HERE?• I’m here to talk about Borderlands 2.

• I want to share information about our methodology and processes and some generally-interesting things that happened during the development of BL2.

• I want to give an overview that prompts questions.

WHY AM I HERE?• I’m here to talk about Borderlands 2.

• I want to share information about our methodology and processes and some generally-interesting things that happened during the development of BL2.

• I want to give an overview that prompts questions.

• But before that, let me provide some important context…

WHAT DOES A PRODUCER DO?• Be responsible for the game shipping on time, on budget, and to quality.

• Maintain the mission.

• Establish goals.

• Anticipate needs.

• Remove obstacles.

• Track progress.

• Be camp counselor.

• Ask questions.

DEFINING TERMS• Project: It’s the thing that makes a ...

• Product: A product is the result.

• The Product is named Borderlands 2 – the thing that’s on shelves.

• The Project was named Willow2. It’s a collection of ideas, people, structures, goals, love, trials, hope, etc…

THE MAKING OF BORDERLANDS 2

• At Gearbox, a project like Borderlands 2 has a single point of authority and responsibility. That person is the producer for the project.

• Projects tend to take on a lot of the personality and philosophy of the producer.

MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY• Work with great people and get out of their way.

• Don’t spend your effort trying to change people.

• Instead, understand people and apply them where they fit best.

• Making games is a team sport.

• Nobody cares if you’re great if no one wants to work with you.

ANALYSIS OF “GET OUT OF THEIR WAY”

• Zero-creative production:

• It’s the responsibility of the Producers to enable the team.

• Producers don’t want to make my game, we want to make your game.

• To allow us to do our job better, we’ll endeavor to have as little creative stake as possible in the game.

MISSION STATEMENT• We believe in spending a lot of energy on crafting a mission statement for a project.

• This mission statement is something that guides us on decisions big and small.

• It sounds corporate. Maybe it is. It’s super useful anyway.

THE MISSION STATEMENT FOR BORDERLANDS 2• Iterate if possible; innovate where necessary, but always stay true to the proven RPS

formula while building a foundation for the future of the franchise.

• Demonstrate a significant, measurable improvement in both customer and critical acclaim that positively impacts purchase intent and expands the customer base.

• Maintain a high performance team that trusts one another in decision making and execution.

• Improve rather than invent in order to…

• …make a better product using…

• …a team built on deserved trust and respect.

A USEFUL VERSION

CRITICAL REVIEW ANALYSIS• A massive undertaking!

• Gained insight as a team into our game and our processes.

• Absorbed findings, made decisions.

• Vehicles? Improve.

• Arenas? Cut.

INITIAL SCHEDULE• First step: create a high-level schedule (example below)

• Break down high-level schedule and missions into attainable, short-term goals...

MILESTONE GOALS

RAW NUMBERS

RATINGS

PRODUCTION STAGES• “When did you leave pre-production and enter production?”

• Have important questions been answered?

• Gradient based on ‘ready-for-iteration’ status.

• Iteration loops can be traps. Keep the testable surface area low.

OUR FRAMEWORK• Extremely important for a large team.

• Establish a ratification process to establish clear goals and avoid wandering direction.

• The ratification process itself requires consensus-building, so problems are aired and worked out sooner.

DESIGN AND STORY• Have a good story, but gameplay wins.

• Example: No non-interactive cutscenes.

• Design is the reason why we have the aforementioned framework in place.

• Proximity matters.

CHARACTERS• ~1 month for design consensus on our cast

• Rules:

• Easy to learn, challenging to master

• No ‘wrong’ class

• All play well solo & co-op

• Action skills work with core FPS loop

• Familiar and new promises

LEVEL DEVELOPMENT• Plan stages of progress for each map.

• LD is where everything comes together!

ART DEVELOPMENT• Art style

• Guiding principles remained consistent

• Art Style Guide for new artists

• Could’ve improved communicationbetween Art and Design / LD

CODE DEVELOPMENT• Established engine that passed certification

• Debugging tools

CREATURE DEVELOPMENT• Skags 2.0, Stalker, Loader

• Tools and debugging features arehugely important for enemy development.

• With new systems, it’s difficult to predictwhat types of bugs you’ll encounter andwhat the dependency chain looks like.

CONSTRUCT

CONFLUENCE• It’s one thing to have an idea, it’s another to have it documented and peer-reviewed.

• Crucial for time-saving.

• Usability of the software and readability of the document are extremely important.

JIRA• Task-tracking is essential.

• Requires constant maintenance and upkeep, but is infinitely useful.

• Powerful tools help expose trends andhelp give insight to the state of the project.

PERFORCE• Source control – GOOD!

PERFORCE• Source control – GOOD!

• Not making backups – BAD!

Q&A