Producing Borderlands 2

1. Producing Borderlands 2

2. Who am I? • My name is Matt Charles. • My title is Producer. • I graduated from UTD in 2008.

3. 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.

4. 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…

5. 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.

6. 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…

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. A useful version • Improve rather than invent in order to… • …make a better product using… • …a team built on deservedtrust and respect.

13. 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.

14. Initial SCHEDULE • First step: create a high-level schedule (example below) • Break down high-level schedule and missions into attainable, short-term goals...

15. MILESTONE GOALS

16. Raw Numbers

17. Ratings

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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

22. Level Development • Plan stages of progress for each map. • LD is where everything comes together!

23. Art Development • Art style • Guiding principles remained consistent • Art Style Guide for new artists • Could’ve improved communication between Art and Design / LD

24. Code Development • Established engine that passed certification • Debugging tools

25. 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.

26. construct

27. 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.

28. Jira • Task-tracking is essential. • Requires constant maintenance and upkeep, but is infinitely useful. • Powerful tools help expose trends and help give insight to the state of the project.

29. Perforce • Source control – GOOD!

30. Perforce • Source control – GOOD! • Not making backups – BAD!

31. Q&A