Borderlands: Killing Sledge

Who Was There: Gearbox software cofounder and chief creative officer Brian Martel, VP of product development Aaron Thibault, and creative director Mikey Neumann.

What They Talked About: When it was first shown to the public in 2007, Borderlands had the same sort of dark, realistically grim graphics as many sci-fi shooters. Then, after a brief demo at 2K Games' E3 2008 press conference, the game disappeared from public view, leading to some concerns that it might not see the light of day.

However, in early 2009, Borderlands resurfaced with a radical new look that its developer, Gearbox Software, called "concept art style." The change was a big gamble, given the fact that it called for scrapping months of expensive work and betting on an art style close to cel-shading--a type of visual not often seen in the first-person shooter genre.

Borderlands was originally going for a retro feel, which ended up being too close to that of Fallout 3.

The gamble paid off big-time, with Borderlands being called a "3 million-unit game" by Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford at last month's DICE Summit. Pitchford was to be the main speaker at Gearbox's GDC 2010 session titled "Borderlands & The 11th Hour Art Style Change (Don't Try This at Home)" along with fellow cofounder and chief creative officer Brian Martel.

While Martel was on hand, Pitchford had to drop out at the last minute. "He's off doing some cool business on something cool," said pinch hitter Mikey Neumann, Gearbox's creative director. Also on hand was Gearbox's VP of product development, Aaron Thibault. Over the course of the next hour, the trio outlined the origins and development of Borderlands--and what convinced them to give the game such a drastic overhaul when it was already three-quarters complete.

Work on Borderlands began in April 2005 with a simple concept: "Halo meets Diablo." Gearbox had finished the PC port of Halo: Combat Evolved three years prior and wanted to combine that sort of intense first-person action with "a game that had loot coming out of every orifice," as Neumann put it.

The style sheet for Borderland's original art concept.

After a "religious debate" over whether the game would be, at its core, a role-playing game or a first-person shooter (first-person shooter won), conceptual work began. A small design and art team assembled several "style sheets," which featured conceptual terms transposed with examples of those concepts in other media. Several styles were considered, including a high sci-fi style akin to Mass Effect (which Gearbox hadn't seen yet), a macho style along the lines of Gears of War (which Gearbox also hadn't seen yet), and a Ghost in the Shell-esque, anime-style game (which Neumann urged someone to make so he can play it).

In the end, Gearbox decided to go with a style sheet (pictured) that bore the concept words "Serious," "Gritty," "Fantastic," "Retro," "Realistic," and "Mechanical." Work ramped up in October 2005, with the team increasing in size to fashion a prototype. Once that was green-lit a year later, development began in earnest in order to fashion a demo for the 2007 Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. Then work really got under way, with demos at E3 2008 and Leipzig 2008 and a pre-alpha build.

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[scusemua123]

Can you fight sledge again after you beet him the first time? (not on a different play-through)

[SergiuHellDragoon]

@scusemua123 I don't think you can

[littleBIGnikk]

hes realy hard. i cant beat him. any advice ?

[SergiuHellDragoon]

@littleBIGnikk watch this video and you'll see how,I didn't killed him from the first time :P

Well,run away from him,and hit him with bazuca ;)

[Gowatch3kb]

The way I killed him was staying outside the main arena and opening the doors and throwing a turret inside and unloading on him. It's let your shields refill without risk. It's takes a bit longer but it works