The Borderlands saga has many good things, that is clear, but one of the fundamentals is to have a tremendously careful aesthetic behind it. An aspect that has always differentiated it from the rest of shooters. How do they do it? We dive into GearBox to find out.
Ialways say that I don’t like fairs, but I have to admit that that GamesCom was very popular. It was 2007 , and among all the video games that were presented, the original Borderlands stood out . A title with the promise of offering thousands of weapons in a literal sense, and that had some ambitious playable ideas to bring to the table. Its visual section? Resounding and well established in a good use of its graphics engine already in a premature stage of development, but… perfectly interchangeable with dozens of other shooters on the market that were swarming at that time. Actually, something gray, without much personality and with the abuse of certain artistic licenses very typical of the time, as well as a very limited color palette .
What happened then? Someone at GearBox realized that the whole general aspect of their proposal was somewhat more generic than they needed to highlight their playable ideas, and they decided to stop in their tracks , ask for a time-out and bet on radically changing it. They revived the tones of the game, they bet on cel-shading and they loosed their hair on the artistic question for many of the designs. The game started to look a lot more cohesive. And, what was once serious visually, began to be casual to accompany the gameplay and story.
Since then, many games have passed and, especially, the last one has become a benchmark of aesthetic originality and good artistic work. Borderlands 3 is quite a visual spectacle and at 3DJuegos we have tried to understand the keys to all that that allows it to differentiate itself so much from the rest.
Total FreedomIf something stands out in the GearBox offices when it comes to formulating everything that is going to make up the visual part of a video game as striking as this is its degree of freedom. Something that your employees, in fact, appreciate very much. “Especially the phase of exploration of ideas is very fun, because it is almost free”, Sergi Brosa, one of the studio’s artists , tells 3DJuegos .
The operation is simple, an idea slides from the creative dome of the studio and the artists work on it. Depending on the caliber of the project (a full game or a DLC, for example), things can range from several weeks to just a few days. That is where the magic of “the craziest ideas” arises, according to the artist himself, although not all of them come to fruition. “There ends up having enough material that is not going to be used, ” he acknowledges, although he clarifies that much of it ends up being recycled for future projects “as the beginning of what will come later.”
Everything, of course, on track towards the whole. Ángel Pancorbo Díaz , 3D character animator in films such as Oscar nominee Klaus , video games such as Blacksad and who worked at Pendulo Studios , also tells us how to keep a specific goal in mind at all times. “In the end everything obeys the same purpose, organicity and credibility, ” he says. “You have to commit yourself to the death of the game idea and contribute to the suspension of disbelief.”
We usually make many changes until we find what we are looking forThe general feeling that is conveyed about this is that it is a very creative and fun process, one where the ideas of each other are mixed and they end up giving priority to those that convince more people. It is a process that seems, from a distance, quite democratic. There is no room for discouragement despite the fact that approximately half of the ideas are discarded and even those that end up elected have many ballots to end up being radically different from how they were initially conceived. “It is an interesting process, and one loaded with modifications. We usually make many changes until we find what we are looking for,” explains Brosa, while Pancorbo contributes something more about the strength of the group. “It is also super fun to talk with colleagues,approaches that would not have crossed your mind “.
The Characters: A Bastion for the FranchiseThe process for the creation of characters in particular also has an interesting logic, and more in a game from a franchise that stands out so much in this regard. “I receive descriptions of these, and the editing begins. First I have to think about the psychology of the character to determine many things that have to be transmitted also through their appearance,” Brosa makes clear. “Then, I draw naked bodies with different types of anatomy so that, later and on top, I layer clothes, hair and accessories”.
At the end of the day, each video game is a whole made up of hundreds of parts, and each one of them bears the stamp of its creator. “For example, I like to take the post-apocalypse towards a more futuristic terrain, more towards science fiction, ” says the artist, who has made all this clear in elements such as gadgets, suits, jackets … that they travel the galaxy and live on other planets should be noted.
Everything goes beyond the merely static, and in a matter of movements the sensation that it leaves even in professionals outside the studio is one of astonishing admiration. “The cheat and irreverent style of Borderlands 3 is very personal, you can tell that it is MoCap because it is very fluid”, explains Pancorbo in reference to the motion capture technique . “But it is also perceived that the direction of the mocap itself is led by people who are deeply involved in the world, who understand, above all, the theory of fun.”
“I like to take the post-apocalypse into a more futuristic terrain, more toward science fiction.”
The procedure is far from simple. “The MoCap must be treated,” he warns. “There are studios that clean, test the engine and if it works, they simply integrate it. Here you can see that the performance has been defined in a very crazy way , then that material has reached the animator and he has been in charge of cleaning, making it attractive the pose, give it the necessary weight, and many times include homegrown things. There are many elements that are very difficult to recreate in MoCap and are simply made from scratch and with a lot of documentation. ”
The direction of the mocap is led by people who understand the theory of fun above allThe process in general, of course, is also loaded with modifications and changes. The case of Borderlands 3, in this sense, has many cases. For example, Tyreen was originally going to have a mechanical, “robot-like” arm, which was eventually modified and ended up in Troy‘s body .
But there comes a time when after a lot of work it comes to fruition. “When everyone is satisfied, they take turn arounds (views of different sides of the same character) to pass it to the 3D team. Then there we work side by side to polish things, and so on,” he explains. It is somewhat long, of course, and not without some stress. “There are about three cups of coffee a day,” jokingly confesses the artist.
The Most Visible FacesAnother of the key aspects of the game to define its identity is its clear commitment to show an important diversity in its characters, both main and secondary. ” Tyreen is a totally empowered woman,” says the artist. “And furthermore, we also have other empowered women like Lilith or Lorelei, who are leaders of their factions.” This variety is also transferred to the silhouettes of all the characters, male and female. The third installment, in particular, is an authentic parade of characters of very different anatomies without any of that variety being a reason for social exclusion.
We like to play around with the ambiguity regarding the sexual orientation of each character“The logical thing is to try to establish a balance of equality between male and female characters, so what we try is to put both sexes in high positions of chains of command, or simply with important roles,” he says. “In addition, we like to play with the ambiguity regarding the sexual orientation of each character. So we are not only trying to talk about feminism, but we are already getting into LGTBI friendly terrain . We create gay characters, ambiguous characters, characters of the that we don’t know anything, straight characters and characters that are not defined by any gender “.
Nowadays it is difficult to create a risky productThe case of Borderlands 3 is also striking in another element that is one of the first contacts of the fan at a visual level. Its cover , one of the most celebrated and one of those rare examples of a beautiful cover that does not abound among so much generic and rather uninspired illustration. “Nowadays it is difficult to create a risky product “, assures Brosa himself, who acknowledges that everything is thoroughly studied. “We already have many years with a number of studies that support the fact that the covers or posters (whatever they are) are focused on that type of public depending on how they are composed, and that there are colors and compositions that will work in a objective better than others “.
“The one from Borderlands 3 has been very funny, really,” he concludes, but takes some of the iron out of the matter in a rather shocking statement for a report that extols, precisely, the aesthetic originality of the game in all its aspects. “It is unconventional and not classical, although I also think that as long as a game is good, with something more conservative it would also have worked very well .”
