The moderators suggested I do an out-of-character AMA after the ludicrously fun Torgue AMA I did a little while ago, so this is that.
So, yeah. I was the lead writer on BL2 and I am the co-creator, co-writer, and co-star of a web series called Hey Ash Whatcha Playin (also known as HAWP).
Also answering questions is Matt Armstrong (reddit name "MisterArmstrong"), creative director of BL1 and designer on BL2 (he made all the guns, for instance).
Proof: https://twitter.com/reverendanthony/status/273864926114758657
Tip Reveddit Real-Time can notify you when your content is removed.
I'll work on it.
GEARBOX LEAD WRITER CONFIRMS DINOSAURS ARE COMING TO PANDORA
Click Restore to load this comment.
Um, did Sexual Tyrannosaurus not do it for you?
Bloodwing. WHAT THE FUCK?
I'm still irritated about that.
EDIT: I have about 1000 hours into B1 and about 350 into B2. Love those games, but damn dude. Worst moment for me in 25+ years of gaming.
Then again, you also had some of the best. "A siren." "Sup?"
Loved that.
Thanks! For your reaction to both things.
I was hoping for more of a reason WHY you ... took the storyline that direction.
We wanted to start a transition where the player's opinion of Jack went from "heh, this guy's a dick but he's kinda funny" to "I will do everything I have to in order to fuck this guy up." We thought it'd give Mordecai something to emotionally work with if he lost Bloodwing, and the promise of doing a Bloodwing boss fight was too cool to pass up.
In retrospect, I had no idea that the actual moment would be as emotionally effective as it was -- Paul Hellquist set up the scene and our animators did some spectacular work making Bloodwing's last moments really goddamn heart-wrenching (the way she tries to stand up just before her head pops is brutal).
Yeah, it was. Seriously. I put so many hours into Mordecai using Bloodwing, that I just knew that it was going to be ok, that he'd be fine.
I did NOT see it coming, which made the horror so much more effective. It also made me wonder if the writers changed midway, since the tone was so much lighter and it got dark, FAST.
Anyway, can't thank you guys enough for doing such an awesome job writing this game. The story was engaging and fun, the characters interesting, and yeah, surprisingly enough, there was heart.
Not trying to slob your collective knobs here, but this is easily my favorite game since Half-Life came out and I just don't get tired of it.
I don't know how you can top it, but I'm looking forward to you trying.
Oh, and lastly, if you ever need writers, I'm glad to do it for free, just to be a part of it.
Not it. She.
Ah, I understand you, then. English really needs a gender-neutral pronoun. That said, transgendered folk typically prefer the gender pronoun of the gender that they express; in Bloodwing's case, she self-changed into a female expression for the second half of her life cycle, so feminine pronouns are better.
But we're talking about a bird from a video game, so it isn't exactly serious business.
Heh, I feel your pain. As a fan of Adventure Time, the character BMO confuses the hell out of me.
S/he is voiced by a woman, referred to as a female by the female cast, and a male by the male cast.
BMO's gender did not change in the gender bender episode. (The only character to not change.)
BMO refers to himself as "a real living boy" and his reflection Football as being a "real baby girl, now."
So, yeah, the English language needs to catch up! Writers have started viewing gender as less of a dichotomy and more of a chaotic ball of fluff. ENGLISH. GROW UP. PLEASE.
Thanks, Those of us who don't know how to refer to BMO and Bloodwing with pronouns.
I believe it had the desired effect. I had never even played the first game and built a bond with BW like most gamers and it still hit me in the feels pretty bad. Follow up questions were you signing autographs in Dallas at midnight of the launch? I got everyone's who was there.
Alright. Alright, I've got to ask.
"She"... Why?! :(
Bloodwing inexplicably changed genders between the two games!? Yeah, I know, I know, Bloodwing is a "sequentially protandric creature", but I ain't buying that. What really happened here?
Also, as a pre-follow up, if the protandric nature of Bloodwing is really legitimate, why wasn't this expanded upon or made clear to the player? I dunno, I just felt really attached to Bloodwing in the first game, and then hearing the incorrect gender of the bird in the second made me feel like not even the developers cared as much for the bird as I did. :(
PS - Even with gender confusion in mind, that battle was awesome. In the heat of combat, I legitimately did forget what the final element was. Until...
You got my reaction spot on. Right afte that fight the first thing I said was I want to kill that bastard, I hated him so much. Yet I proceeded to hate myself for laughing at this quote, "Blake where's a bloody violin!" thanks do helping to make such an awesome and funny game, also I love the HAWP series. One last thing, will we ever get to see butt stallion in game? That would be amazing.
I played as a Hunter in the first game. That wasn't Mordecai's Bloodwing, it was mine.
I was a bit quiet after that happened. My brother, who I do split-screen co-op with, got his moment later. He played as Roland in BL1.
When it got time to fight the Warrior, my brother and I dueled one another for the privilege of finishing off Jack. If I had won, I would have used the Trespasser. My brother beat me in the duel (Decepti0n is just no match for those damn turrets) and killed Jack with his specially saved Scorpion.
So really I don't have a question, but I wanted to thank you for helping to make a game where, not only were my brother and I totally invested in the characters, but we were able to play side by side in the same room. Split screen is, in my opinion, an essential part of gaming that most companies pay little attention to.
Hey Anthony,
I recently acquired an iOS device, and am in a bit of a pickle. You see, I desperately need some sort of method of finding out what the best games are for it, preferable in the form of some sort of app. Do you have any suggestions?
Also, Anthony "Race Wars" Burch we live in an apartment.
There was a remarkable amount of effort put into getting "Sup" just right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5mu_vCNIqg
I loved this entire sequence.
By the way, "sup" is how my 8-year-old and I greet each other. It never gets old.
Really amazing and awesome game.
I think not enough credit goes to the "Hm." from Jack. I love the way they managed to have Jack progress as the story does and he goes from "That dick" to "He is taking the players seriously" to "He's got to die" to "Holy shit REALLY JACK?"
Edit: also thanks for linking this again. This was one of both my and my wife's favorite scenes in the game.
So who's idea was Face McShooty? That was a streak of genius and was greatly enjoyed by myself.
That was mine. I saw this video: http://www.theonion.com/video/hot-new-video-game-consists-solely-of-shooting-peo,14325/ and thought it was hilarious, and thought we could play off the idea with Face McShooty.
slow clap
Bravo.
I thought I killed the Sarcastic Slab...
Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized Butt Stallions, or one Butt Stallion sized duck?
The former, if only so I could find out what a Butt Stallion looks like in real life.
This was probably the most disappointing part of the game - I wish Butt Stallion was actually a boss or something that would poop out some awesome weapons when killed. you know, like a unicorn or something.
I am calling for some butt stallion DLC
The Rise of Butt Stallion
The Taming of Butt Stallion
This is the correct title.
Butt Stallion is made of diamonds. You don't want to fight anyone made of diamonds. Unless you're a girl, then there's no fight because you are inherently best friends.
Was it tough to create personalities for the original vault hunters, as they were more or less blank slates or silent protagonists or whatever?
It was incredibly tough, and I don't necessarily think I succeeded. Lilith and Brick were pretty easy -- their dialog in BL1 actually gave them fairly clear, if simple personalities (Lilith's was "I'm arrogant" and Brick's was "I like punching things").
Roland and Mordecai, on the other hand, were extremely tough. They needed to be distinct from each of the other Vault Hunters and still feel like real characters, all while hopefully not shitting on the memories players have of playing them in BL1.
Roland and Mordecai's battle dialog was almost tonally identical in the first game (they'd say things like "BOOM" upon killing guys), so I had to take some creative license with Mordecai (making him a cynical loner and an alcoholic) and Roland (making him a socially awkward introvert) to make them distinct from one another, and have them serve different purposes in the story.
Again, I think Brick and Lilith are pretty good, but I can understand it when people say things like, "hey -- MY Mordecai wasn't a drunk! What gives?"
For whatever its worth, MY Mordecai was both a cynical loner and an alcoholic.
That's what made him MY Mordecai lol
The backstory created about Mordecai winning the Underdome and dating Moxxi, only to lose her to Jack really cemented his alcoholic loner vibe in my eyes.
Drunk Mordecai is awesome Mordecai. "I'm an even better shot when I'm drunk," is a favorite of mine. Though it did get annoying when he was killing the guys i needed for my second wind.
In regards to your last point, I just don't remember my Mordecai being quite so Spanish Truxican.
But the extra characterization was really nice.
I really liked the characterization of Roland. The story needed a straight man to provide a center to all the crazy people running around, and the fact that he was the moral compass of the group made the events of Control Core Angel far more affecting than they would have been otherwise.
Also, I like that while Roland is an inspiring leader and cunning tactician, he still has no idea what to do about girls. It makes him relatable, I guess?
edit: I should add that I played Soldier in BL1.
Roland (making him a socially awkward introvert)
While you may have intended him to be a Socially Awkward Penguin, I love that by making him the social glue that brought everyone else together (not just the vault hunters either), he's actually Socially Awesome Penguin.
I just wanted to say, I think you got Lillith perfect in BL2.
I particularly like the quest in BL2 where you pick up her lost ECHO's to prevent Lillith's faked-death from being unravelled. The writing for those ECHO's was just perfect.
(Also, having a mechromancer for my main, I thought Gaige's echo casts were pretty great too! My only complaint is that we never heard her dad's reaction to her arm being, y'know, voluntarily lopped off.)
I think the socially awkward Roland worked, honestly. There was a hint of that before.
All the way back in the intro to Borderlands 1, when the camera is zooming in on him, he's shaking his head and when is comes in for his close up camera pick he tries to block the camera with his hand.
I think it was great that he is in his element and kicking ass when fighting, but kinda clumsy at social interaction. :)
I GET THE FEELING MOST OF THESE QUESTIONS ARE COMING FROM THE EIGHT TO TEN PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME
I have a well documented space water allergy.
Hey Anthony, whatcha playin'?
Scribblenauts Unlimited and a bunch of games I'm judging for the IGF. Oh, and WWE 13, where Davis and I created a character who looks just like me. Shit is HILARIOUS.
Three part question:
I heard on the internet that your sister has a pooty butt. Confirm/Deny.
In all seriousness, I remember when you began working at Gearbox, you expressed nervousness about criticizing other games since you were working one that would be in the public eye. Has the success of Borderlands 2 made that nervousness go away to a degree?
Also, What is Brad Nicholson's shoe size?
Confirmed.
Not really. I try to be less dickish in my critiques of other games because (A) it could hurt me and the company I work for (see above), and (B) having worked on a game, I know how goddamn hard it is. The thing I didn't realize before is that there is a SPECTACULARLY good chance that if you don't like something in a game, the designers ALSO don't like it. They didn't make those decisions because they were dumb, or assholes, but because of the restrictions on time or money or manpower or whathaveyou.
I'll never tell.
This brings up a very good point. I find the best games are the ones that follow a clear creative vision by a single or handful of people, and never undergo the "design by committee" method. Where does Gearbox stand on this? Where do you stand on this?
Also, bordlands 2 appears to have slotted itself squarely into my midlife crisis. Thanks for preventing me from buying a motorcycle and killing myself.
Is your father still just as humorous when not being filmed and "in character"? I understand the writing has a lot to do with it, but his consistent deadpan delivery just steals the show nine times out of ten when he's included in an episode.
Thank you for your time and keep up the great work at Gearbox and on HAWP!
Nope! Not at all. My dad is about as far away from the Papa B character as is humanly possible.
Who do I have to bribe/fuck/kill to get you to do more Rev Rants?
Seriously, that series (amongst a couple of others) is what caused me to stop fucking around and take my interest in video games seriously. I'm halfway to my degree as a direct result of the motivation that series gave me to be productive with my interests.
Holy shit. That's incredibly flattering to hear -- I really didn't know anyone cared about the series so much.
In answer to aDFP's question: I don't think I'll be bringing back the Rev Rants anytime soon. I still stand by the opinions I had in those videos, but they were pretty vitriolic -- it's kind of hard to be that angry and aggressive when you're actually in the industry.
Nobody would make a news post entitled "blogger calls Assassin's Creed 'a piece of shit,'" but it's possible that if I said the same thing in a rant today, I (and by extension Gearbox) could get in a world of hurt for a headline like "GEARBOX WRITER SAYS ASSASSIN'S CREED STORY IS PATHETIC" or something like that.
Thanks, that's a fair answer.
Are there any bloggers/vloggers out there that you'd recommend?
I read Critical Distance and RockPaperShotgun pretty much exclusively.
Do you think you could continue them on through critiquing your own work? You'll already recognized the flaw with the New-U Stations in BL2 and commented on it numerous times and I've heard you talk about a number of other things you'd do differently while watching you, Ashly, your wife and friends play B2. But listening to you chat in-game is not even close to what you did with Rev Rants (although I've loved listening to you talk about stuff in BL2 I'd never find out about otherwise.
Part of the reason that I think you're such an incredible writer is that you've stood by your previous opinions when they're right, but continued to grow as a writer entering the industry and learning all the baggage that comes with that. Would any future Rev Rants have to focus on specifics or could you look at general game mechanics and the like?
Looking back at all you've written for HAWP, BL2 and everything else you've worked, does it provide enough material to make more Rev Rants? While working for a big name like Gearbox means you have to be careful about naming specific games/developers/publishers to a degree, can't you comment on the industry as a whole?
And, as Red_Ring_Ryko said, thank you so much for your passion as it has inspired him, me and likely many others to care about video games on a much deeper level. You're one of probably three people that influenced me to pursue a degree in game design/writing as well as self-educating myself in my free time.
TL;DR Can you make more Rev Rants based on your own work or just without getting specific about games/developers/publishers?
Good luck with the degree! Indie developer and ex-simulations & training software developer here. Errant Signal helps fill the void, but I miss Rev Rants like crazy.
I don't really have any questions, I just want to thank you for writing an incredibly enjoyable game, especially since you were following up an already amazing game in BL.
How tooootally handsome and nice is Topher? I mean seriously, that guy is the coolest. Yessir.
guy sucks
You are so not getting a christmas card this year.
Did you go into writing it to try and make it funnier than the first one, or did it just sort of end up that way?
Was there anything that you wanted in there that ended up getting cut?
I think any good sequel should at least attempt to outdo its predecessor, so I certainly attempted to make it funnier, yeah.
There is one thing that got cut from BL2 that I really really miss. After a certain character dies, you get a quest to go tell all of that character's friends that the person is dead. Originally, you were going to go tell Tiny Tina and she -- for the first and only time in the game -- would lose her insane manic tone and actually get really solemn. She'd thank you for telling her and ask you to leave, before disappearing into her workshop. And then, if you moved really close to the workshop, you could hear her quietly sobbing.
I'm bummed we didn't get to implement that.
wait a sec, I heard that on her voice reel on youtube, and thought I just missed it or something... t'was still touching.
Edit: 4:20ish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD4WrEpO_JA
Warning: this contains a spoiler.
I think what makes BL2 good story wise is it follows the same sort of plot setup as Saints Row 2. The funny bits are made all the funnier by the shock and awe of the drama thrown in.
Example being: Tina and her past in the Exploitation reserve. Oh man.
You just made me the saddest panda. And yet, I want it.
that would have been epic. tiny tina is one of my favorite BL2 characters, and not just because she is goddamn hilarious (and i totally have a crush on your sister), but because she is surprisingly well developed. you guys do damn good work and i genuinely appreciate the level of care, depth and humor that you put into the game. as a side note i also wanted to let you know that since BL2 came out my great dane puppy has been referred to almost exclusively as "butt stallion", so thanks for that
Was that cut purely due to her being so much farther away than the other characters?
Honestly, adding that kind of emotional depth to the characters can only ever be a GOOD thing.
Tina has always been one of my favourite characters, and all the Echo logs you find accounting what happened to her parents in the slag experiments really resonated with me.
I realize I'm late as fuck to this party but when Tiny Tina says "Best party ever" after her quest ends it was some of the most effective writing/voice acting in any game, ever. She's pretty nuts, then you find out what she went through, then her tone breaks just a little bit when she drops that line after the object of the quest is disposed of.
I'm not sure if ending her arc in the game with her crying in her workshop would have been the best way to go. It feels like that character has more stories to tell.
I am kinda bummed that didn't make it into the game.
The most vocal complaint I've heard about Tina is that she's not serious enough. -- I, for one, don't really care... I think Tina's awesome.
But honestly I think that quest would've given many people a more positive impression of Tina.
On the off chance you read this: please make more Tina missions in the remaining DLCs. I would love to see her character developed a bit further. And her dialogue with Moxxi & Torgue was just epic!
Who was the inspiration for Tiny Tina?
A mixture of Ash and a friend of ours named Christina Cole, who appears in a few of the HAWP videos (she plays Grant's wife). I took most of Tina's manic, hip-hop flavored weirdness from Christina.
Tell me more about this Grant character
I'm not anthony but I have experience with Gront. He is an alright guy. He is generally bad at video games and can only play as kirby in SSB64 if he spamcamps dairs on the edge of dreamland and he usually fucks that strategy up anyways.
he is an alright guy except he has never beat the game Earthbound
That says so much about a person.
Then again, took me 2 years to beat that game, so I'm not one to talk. (Got halfway through in 48 hours after a rough breakup. Then put the game down for a year and change before coming back to it and powering through.)
Hello, Anthony! I truly enjoyed/still enjoy playing Borderlands 2! Handsome Jack is the most original video game villain since Psycho Mantis. I based my term paper on his interactions with the player(s), in comparison to other video game villains in the past decade. Got a B+ because my professor is a dickbutt.
I also enjoy looking at your wife's artwork and I recently purchased one of her awesome Banjo Kazooie shirts. If it's not too personal, I've always wanted to know how the two of you met.
Thanks for the entertainment!
P.S. Is it true that Ash has a pooty butt?
Our mutual friend Aaron Linde introduced us. She listened to me on Podtoid (Destructoid's official podcast) and developed a crush on me, and we started chatting via AIM. After a while I invited her to Phoenix for an extended, weeklong date. Then we realized we liked each other a shitload and things took off.
First you do the podcasts, then you get the women.
I always assumed she lived in Arizona, that's an awesome story! Small follow up to that, since Gearbox is in Texas, did you both move out there? I notice you still film back at your house, so I was curious if you have some kind of remote arrangement with Gearbox or do you just travel a lot?
When's the Borderland 2-themed HAWP episode coming?
I honestly dunno. It's just such a big, obvious thing to do that we haven't actually thought up a good idea for it yet.
Conflict of Interests!
Don't do it, Anthony! Don't sell your soul, or what little soul you have!
Do one about Blue Shift. That game was awesome.
Hey Anthony, I have just one question.
Do midget engineers pilot Constructors?
I'd like to know where your inspiration came from with regards to Handsome Jack.
I knew I wanted a strong villain for the game to imbue it with some narrative focus. I also knew I wanted the villain to be funny, because humor is the only thing I'm moderately good at. I took the most inspiration from this Nathan Fillion interview, where he's funny, arrogant and charming all at the same time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-izj1P9G0d4
No inspiration from Archer? They seem so alike personality wise.
Hey, I wanted to let you know you did an amazing job with Jack.
I managed to really enjoy and absolutely hate that guy. Great balance.
I don't know how much you had to do with this, but my favorite part of the game and the part that impressed me the most was jack's death. He was starting to rant about how he couldn't just die like this, but I shot him before he could finish. I couldn't believe that when I shot him he died, in most games he would be invincible until he stopped talking and then he would have a death animation, but I was able to just say "fuck you" and kill the bastard.
BL2 might be the most awesomely written game ever. The dialogue is funny and entertaining while not coming off as "Trying too hard" or cheesy.
You have some AMAZING character personalities too like Claptrap and Tiny Tina.
Did you do all of the writing for all the characters? What inspired you? are any characters based on people you know?
Did you write most of BL2 while INSANELY high? or are you just THAT creative?
you rule.
Except for about half of the dialog for Scooter, Tannis, and one of the Psycho bandits, I wrote all the dialog in the game.
I took inspiration from movies and TV I'd watched, friends I've known, and those weird thoughts that occur to you at 8pm when you're desperate for ideas and on the verge of opening a vein because you feel like you're a talentless hack.
Wasn't high while I wrote BL2, sorry to say. I've actually never gotten high (or drunk).
you can't forget handsome jack. He made my gameplay time increase because I was busting up after every single one of his joke. "Can you please tell me why you look like you head butted a belt sander." I had to do the intro 5 times with 5 other people just to hear the recorder. Again. and Again.
First off, hey anthony, just wanna say I'm a mediocre fan. thanks for the ama.
Until, your borderlands gig, you were primarily involved in critique of games.
Could you explain how this kind of start influenced your work on the creative side of things?
Knowing your background in gaming, what have personally been the most formative/influential games from your youth?
Oh and, has anyone reached out to represent you? Do things work like that in the video game world?
Uber thanks!
<3
(Note: I am being a dick in the following response because Ryan Freeborn is my IRL friend)
I will only speak to John Scribbles about representation. I do not speak to plebes such as yourself about these things.
My background in game reviewing gave me really strong opinions about design and game narrative that I think helped me get the job -- I had clear ideas of what I thought did and didn't work within interactive storytelling and I think Gearbox appreciated that. Or they just liked my racist jokes.
Shadow of the Colossus and Metal Gear Solid were probably the two most influential games for me: the latter showed me games could deliver emotion and Big Ideas and Themes and Stuff through their stories, and the former showed me they could accomplish the same thing without resorting to twenty minute cut scenes.
you are so dumb
I second Ms. Winstar's comment
Hi guys, what does your average day of work at Gearbox entail?
Also, I really enjoy your streams on Twitch Anthony, any chance of a Harvest Moon stream from you and Ash?
Cheers for the games and videos, I love them!
Most of the time, I just stand behind Anthony and shake my head slowly. Occasionally I sigh.
This goes on for about 10 hours, then I go home. Oh, I also have a lunch break were I made guns and grenades and balance and population and shields and characters and creatures and things. But even as I do that, I sigh, but it has to be louder because our desks are almost 10 feet apart, and sighs aren't very loud.
I spend my day trying to pretend that I can't hear Matt sighing.
Thanks for the reply! It's great to play a game that clearly had so much care put into all that stuff rather than just "here's the AK-47! Use it to kill the guy in the vest and headscarf!".
Do you mind if I ask what your motivation was when you started getting into the industry? I ask out of curiosity because I'm potentially going to university next year to study in order to make games. I had games essentially save my life when I was depressed (plug for Ashly Burch's site How Games Changed My Life) and I want to inspire that feeling in someone else.
It honestly varies. For a few months I was writing everyday, then for a few months I spent every day at the recording studio. And some days I do AMAs, evidently.
Glad you like the stream (which is at http://twitch.tv/heyashtwitch in case anyone really wants to hear my sister and I play games live)! We should definitely do some HM at some point.
Will there be more Tiny Tina? Why isn't there more Tiny Tina?
Yes, and because some people seem to hate her.
Some people hate Jews, those people are Nazis. Do you want to be a Nazi anthony? Then give us more Tiny TIna.
I mute my speakers when ever I do Tiny Tina quests. i find her jokes to be artless, idiotic and she uses a vocabulary that screams "I'm trying too hard to be funny". she is the single most annoying character ever created in a video game. I find it hard to believe you are the same person who wrote the fantastically well done script of the many other characters (Jack, Torgue, and Karima's quest in overlook is fantastic). I can't decide if i should love you or hate you. I'm leaning toward like as we all make mistakes.
OH YOU
Anthony "Race Wars" Burch presents: Borderlands 2: #RaceWars
I like it...
From what I hear, Gearbox is teaming up with Pontiac to have the 2013 Pontiac Racewars as a selectable vehicle at Scooter's Catch a Ride stations.
JOKE COPYRIGHT 2012 BY PAULTHEMAPGUY
So you're married to Ashley, making her Ashley Burch. Seems like there would be material in that for the show, yet it's only been used in season two's underlying plot. Would it otherwise be a joke too far?
Also, fuck waffles.
We did! In the Sims 3 episode.
ALSO FUCK YOU
You're a talented young lad. You married a talented young lass (who has shown up in HAWP a few times). As a couple, do you ever just do talented things for fun? (not work related)
Sometimes I touch my wife's butt. Sometimes we eat pizza together.
It is a blessed life.
Big fan of yours from your days back at Destructoid. Your Rev Rants made me try so many different games I'd never have played, even if I didn't wind up enjoying them). Your awesome success at your age makes me incredibly envious!
I'm curious about the genesis of HAWP. Did it start as simply as "hey, sis, let's talk about games and you can be silly with stuff and Dad will be there too?," or is there some hilarious story about how that all got started?
After high school, all my friends had scattered to different colleges across the country and I was pretty much alone in Arizona (state motto: "the place where dreams go to die"). Feeling bored and kind of useless, I wanted to film a documentary about art game designers like Jason Rohrer and Jon Blow. So I bought an HD camera.
Before filming a documentary, I thought, I should probably learn how to use this thing. Maybe it'd be funny if I filmed the Would You Kindly scene from BioShock with Ash as Andrew Ryan.
As it turned out, documentaries are goddamn expensive and hard and recording poop jokes with your sister aren't.
How did Blavis react to her cameo in the first DLC?
What is your favorite gun? Like, what type is it, and why?
I really like Maliwan SMGs because I tend to spec for elemental damage. I also really like Jakobs shotguns because I tend to play in a really reckless, in-your-face kinda way and their high damage incentivizes that sort of play.
What is your opinion on the moral quandary faced by the character Bo Abobo in the classic film Double Dragon?
Bobobo.
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo?
HAWP is pretty hysterical. Thanks for taking one for the team so many times on Youtube!
A lot of the humor in HAWP involves making you uncomfortable/injured/dead. In the writing process, who comes up with most of the fictional abuse you pretend to endure?
Ash and I split it up fairly evenly, but as of late I've been responsible for some of the more horrifying things I've had to do (cross dressing, for example). Granted, it was Justin's idea that I pull down my pants and run at an elementary school screaming "WHO WANTS TO PLAY MY BONE FLUTE," so take from that what you will.
Out of curiosity, what was your contingency plan for if a cop was at that Elementary School?
Anthony, if you were to fight someone on top of a volcano, who would it be and why?
Chad, but you would be ref.
Was the "game critic" quest in the Torgue DLC a response to actual criticism of BL2?
No, not at all. It was a response to the weird way that people tend to react toward review scores -- something I experienced firsthand while working as a reviewer at Destructoid.
What was it like knowing the first game you was going to write a story for was a highly anticipated sequel to a successful game that was going to be played by people all over the world?
Terrifying and flattering and weird. I feel stupidly, stupidly lucky that Borderlands 2 was my first game.
I also, because this is how I am, can't stop myself from thinking, "welp -- it's all downhill from here."
Which was your favourite HAWP to make?
The epic finales are pretty fun, if only because filming fight scenes reminds me of all the short films we used to make in high school. I really liked fighting Grant in A Death in the Family Pt 1.
What exactly did you like about fighting Grant?
CAUSING HIM PHYSICAL HARM
How's the new DLC where you fight Brad coming along?
There's a bug where he can't be harmed and does infinite damage just by flexing. We're trying to fix it.
Hey Anthony, could you provide me with a 1-3 sentence statement on why "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler is the greatest song in the world?
Because there is literally no action in the world that isn't better with it playing in the background.
Did you and Ash, Justin, Grant, ect. have the state of mind that HAWP would become as big as it is now? What was the group's reaction to the raise of fame on the internet? How does Papa Burch feel about its success? Does he look forward to participating in an episode?
We absolutely did not believe HAWP would get at all popular. The fact that we are still doing it, and on our own terms, is the greatest thing in the goddamn world to us.
Papa Burch is pumped about the success but awkwardly keeps hoping it's going to get him laid or something. But yeah, he enjoys being in the episodes.
Do you ever get the urge to continue a more serious video series. Something akin to your rev rants?
Not really. I like humor.
I have a quick question for Matt Armstrong:
Why did you decide to drastically change how gun drops work from BL1 to 2? Considering players can dupe items anyways, (ex. PC?) doesn't it just make farming specific bosses more cumbersome than the 'anything can drop anything at a higher %' of BL1?
P.S. I miss S&S and Atlas guns.
And for Anthony:
I really like your work man, you're a good writer. I especially give you props for making Mr. Torgue awesome but still keeping him perfectly moral and likable. The alcoholism and respect for women comments in the new DLC made me respect you a bunch as a guy, cause over the top maschismo characters are way overdone.
P.S. WRY U KILL ROLAND?! He was my second character in BL1 man. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY TIMES I HEARD "It's like christmas!" and SMILED.
P.P.S. You killed christmas.
P.P.P.S. Props for acknowledging the Bloodwing bug in that Lilith/Roland convo after he died.
P.P.P. POST SCRIPTUM. We need more of your dad in everything you do. He is the best character ever.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Your wife is hot.
We killed him to (A) irreversibly solidify your desire to destroy Jack, and (B) start the second-act "all is lost" moment that is intended to hurtle you into the third act and the end of the game. To quote Will Smith, Roland's death is meant to be the moment that Shit Gets Real.
In BL1, weapons and items were generated from parts, and parts had rarity values. The rarity level of the gun was determined AFTER the gun was created. I could do an entire talk on this concept. It has some strengths, but it also has some glaring weaknesses, for instance we couldn't FORCE a quality level on a weapon, so you could open a gold chest and get a white gun. In BL2, the rarity is determined, then the parts are chosen to match the rarity. This lets us control better the rarity of weapons dropped. When that happened, how weapon drops got modified. That's why. Both BL1 and BL2 had specific enemies dropping specific rare or unique weapons. The difference there is in BL1 it only happened once you hit the level cap, while on BL2, it happens from the very start. This is why it's possible to get a legendary gun very early in BL2.
The bandits undercut S & S. Blame them.
As for Atlas, it's those damn Vault Hunters who ran them out of business. Bastards.
For the record BL2 has been some of the most fun I've ever spent playing video games.
Was linking the various DLC offerings from both Borderlands 1 and 2, and the entirety of Borderlands 2, to specific weapons manufacturers completely intentional or was it something that just sort of happened and then you guys stuck with it?
Any chance we'll get a Borderlands 2 DLC that focuses on Maliwan, Dahl, Tediore, or Vladof in the same vein that The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned = Jakobs, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx = Atlas, Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage = Torgue, and the whole of Borderlands 2 basically = Hyperion?
Speaking at least for BL2's Torgue DLC, it was certainly intentional. Using a manufacturer is a good way to create a distinct visual identity and theme that can tie everything together.
Yo Anthony, I just wanted to thank you for being a pretty stupid huge inspiration. Every so often I go back and I listen to your Rev Rant videos and I get hella inspired. I write about games sometimes but I'm in the process of learning how to make games and you're a pretty big reason why I'm still at it. I wanna make awesome games with meaning and shit, the kinds you talked about. So, uh, yeah, thanks.
I take offence – indeed, hella offence - to you calling Anthony “stupid”. He’s not quick, but stupid is taking it too far. Also, he’s not huge, he simply has a glandular problem.
Hey Anthony! I don't have a particular question, this one's for Grant Cushman: GRANT CUSHMAN.
Yes yes Anthony this question should be answered
Even though I am reasonably sure this Grant, I'd like to pretend it was a really avid fan who has a started a Grant Cushman fan club.
We have t-shirts
Do you think the BL series would have been such a big hit had you stuck with the original art direction and feel?
I suspect it would have done well, but as big a hit? No.
The art direction change suited the gameplay. They complimented each other and the game and attitude flowed from that point.
Why we vanished:
Development continues. Things happen.
Well, we were answering an AMA when someone literally ran into the room and said "You are needed!" and we both had to go immediately to a meeting. That sort of thing happens. There are many questions left unanswered because of this, so Anthony and I will both answer a few more questions today as time permits.
We aim to please.
- Was Tiny Tina written with Ash in mind, or specifically written for her?
- What is your current best example of non-linear design in a mainstream game (is it still Far Cry 2, a.k.a. the most important game of 2008)
- You seem like your sis might just be your best bud, which I think is awesome... Just how cool is she?
- Where do you go from here? How do you top this?
- I hope numbered lists are ok with you, but if they're not, I'm thinking you haven't gotten this far.
Signed, a fan.
- Midway through I realized I was writing the character for Ash.
- The Sims, Crusader Kings II, and XCOM.
- She's very, very cool.
- I'm worried I don't and that the rest of my life will be a downhill slide.
- They are.
Just wanted to say that I took a 2-week vacation in September just for BLT and it was awesome.
- Aside from BLT, what are your top 3 games of this year?
- Why the decision to make only certain bosses drop certain legendaries?
- How much did you discuss before nerfing The Bee?
- Did you play Guild Wars 2? If so, how do you like it? I ask because my main problem with Borderlands' multiplayer is trying to join my lower level friends and feeling too overpowered, and GW2 solves this by level scaling all characters by each map/area (but higher level chars are still powerful because of equipment, skills, etc).
- XCOM, Dishonored, Mass Effect 3. 2 and 3. Matt could probably answer these better than I could.
- I've played a couple of hours of GW2, but not very much.
1 part 1. The Walking Dead. That was a surprise. Expected little, got one of the best interactive stories ever told.
1 part 2. XCOM. I always liked the promise of X-Com but found the frustration factor too great to enjoy. This is the first one in the franchise that I feel really captured the promise without causing the pain. Those are hipster answers. I’d better have a real mainstream answer for the third one so everyone doesn’t think I’m a game snob.
1 part 3. FTL. They do a lot of things right in this simple game. Very impressive work.
Borderlands has a strong community. We always look for opportunities to strengthen that. It’s a co-op game, but on a meta level, this is one of the things that spreads the co-op to the community. You want a particular legendary. You know a certain enemy has a higher than usual chance to drop it, but you don’t know exactly which one, so you go on REDDIT and ask. Someone answers. Maybe they even offer to play with you. Awesome. Community level co-op.
Level scaling is a tricky problem. We have pretty good matchmaking, and BL2 makes some progress in quest joining, but there are still things we can improve upon in the future, assuming we ever make another game, which may or may not happen. Who can say?
Just wanted to respond to this as a dedicated fan to the first BL.
Let me start this of with some hedging, and let you both know that I love many, many things about Borderlands 2. I applaud your creativity, how it improves upon its predecessor in many ways, its humour and the writing is top notch (seriously Anthony, very well done. Your first game, don't let it get to your head! <3).
HOWEVER.. I was very, very confused about the decision to make specific bosses drop specific legendaries, especially considering the fact that Anthony (whose strong opinions on game design I've followed in the past) was a part of the team (and of course the general high quality nature of Gearbox developers).
The community factor that was referenced I get, but it is a fleeting moment of interaction, whereas the grinding you've introduced has become a glaring step down from the care-free nature of BL1 and permeates through ALL of BL2, but most frustratingly in the "late game". You see, one of the great strengths of BL1 (and one often mentioned in the plethora of reviews) was that you could get friends together even at max level, decide where you want to go to just "shoot stuff", and be rewarded in the form of loot and occasional legendaries. See how the gameplay took priority, and that the random nature of the legendary drops made it so that you were never pigeonholed into repeating a specific activity or event to get that ONE gun that you desperately wanted?
BL2 on the other hand has added grinding. As much as I would assume any game designer intends for all weapons to be so perfectly balanced that no hierarchy exists, it is rather inevitable that players decide on what they consider "best" and gravitate towards it. Case in point: the bee and the conference call. Instead of rewarding the player with these weapons for enjoying the game by actually playing it, players seek out and gravitate towards these "high tier" weapons and wish to acquire them. The process of acquiring them, however, is the very opposite of fun.
It was deadening to kill the Warrior 150 times in rapid succession. It was NOT, in any way shape or form, fun. And I miss that. Nor do I get how such an intrinsically flawed mechanic was added. Loot is an integral aspect of the Borderlands formula, but so is gameplay that is FUN. And it IS fun to run around BL2 with friends and shoot stuff, but the main reward and incentive has been broken away from the gameplay, and instead been relegated to short, repetitive scripted sequences, which are mind numbingly boring after the 5th time you've repeated it within an equal number of minutes.
I played BL1 for several hundreds of hours with friends, even though I had everyone at max level. Every few months we would go "let's play some borderlands" and run through whichever level we wanted to visit again and just tore through everything, having fun and comparing the legendaries we acquired. That was fun.
Borderlands 2 has been grinding legendaries, helping other friends grind legendaries, rinse and repeat. Which is so incredibly un-fun, and so fundamentally different to BL1 in terms of design that I just can't help but feel that a horrible mistake was made. In fact, the first two weeks I assured all of my friends that you'd surely patch this asap.
But one by one all my friends lost interest, and we actually went BACK to BL1 because it simply was more fun to play, and felt much more rewarding.
Which I really really hate, because BL2 improves upon BL1 in almost every single way, and does so fantastically. The only thing standing in the way of making it a fantastic game is the glaring design flaw of the weapon drop system (the main endorphin releasing incentive of the gameplay) being very anti-fun. The priority should be "Play and enjoy game -> be rewarded with cool loot".
Not "Cool loot can be acquired, but only if you don't play the game, but rather endlessly repeat specific boss events time and time again".
I hope you can answer this query, and please please please patch in the BL1 style random loot drops.. <3 you all regardless, thank you for an otherwise fantastic game.
Matchmaking does its job just fine, but I don't want to join random people, I want to join my friends who don't play as much as myself. If they're lv 26-ish and I only have a lv 50 and a couple of lv 10-ish who just reached Sanctuary I'm pretty much screwed.
Currently the best solution I know for this is 1) respec and not reapply all the skill points, and 2) get lv 26-ish equipment from your friends or from vendors. Not ideal, takes some preparation, leads to situations like not having elemental weapons when needed, but it kinda works. I kinda wish respec-ing also reduced max health, I even commented about it in Mr. Torgue's AMA.
GW2's scaling makes this kind of multiplayer really drop-in. I can take my lv 80 toon and play just fine with my wife at lv 10-ish, or lv 35-ish friends who only play on weekends.
Anyway, just food for thought. Any improvements on this, either by patching BLT or in a sequel, would be very much appreciated.
Hey Anthony,
I have a feeling that this comment will get buried and/or you won't read it because I anticipate it ending up being pretty long, but I'm putting it out here anyway because fuck it.
I started listening to Podtoid ~5 weeks before you peaced out from Destructoid, and I want to tell you that from your hosting of the show, your RevRants and your articles, you've taught me an entirely different way to think about games (blah blah games as art blah blah).
Before Podtoid and your Revrants, I always just considered the medium as this faceless construction with enormous teams of programmers, lacklustre writers, and a couple of bourgeois-types sitting behind a desk evaluating how much money they're projected to earn. Which is, in many cases, not too far from the truth.
You and Aaron Linde showed me a completely different side to the medium. From your discussions on Metal Gear Solid's ridiculous plot-lines, themes of censorship, privately-owned military powers, etc., Earthbound's final boss Giygas and his significance to Shigesato Itoi's life, Passase, Gravity Bone, no kill run-throughs of various games, and so on, I have another appreciation for the medium in which I feel that game developers (some, at least) really want to do something with their games and that they aren't solely commodities. Sure, I had played Shadow of the Colossus before knowing who you were and understood the themes of moral ambiguity, love, devotion, etc., but until reading stuff you've written about Shadow of the Colossus and other games, I didn't know people could be scholarly about this shit.
From here, I became interested in blogging about games. Not contributing anything at first, but just reading various blogs with good editorials, observing different reviewing styles, and basically loving how Destructoid produces both of these without taking itself too seriously, thus, for example, alongside a quality review of Bit.Trip Beat by Jonathan Holmes would appear right next to an absurd un-boxing video by Jim Sterling; a good mix of seriousness, humorousness and humility. I then wanted to write about games, and I wanted to do it for Destructoid. This was about 2 years ago from now but, long story made short, I immediately became disenchanted from the idea by with the realization of the sheer amount of individuals trying to do the same as me and that the "games journalism" infrastructure is enormous, with a large amount of blogs being completely unknown (many of which actually quite good), and a small few occupying a position in which they receive any sort of acknowledgement. I can talk a lot more about this but I'm sure you've some DLC to write so I'm trying to finish this shit up.
I want to thank you for showing me that people can be smart about games and they actually mean something. I know that you're just a regular, smart dude who had a lot of luck and are probably thinking about how strange (you may use a different word) it is that you had an impact on the intellectual development from some 20 year old Canadian kid, but you did, and I thank you for it and I want you to keep making shit. Just keep doing shit, dude.
So to actually ask you a question: do you think Destructoid has changed significantly in the years you've left? I know a lot of other writers have left so it wouldn't be right to suggest a direct change as a result of your leaving, but I think there's been more of a focus on news and reviews rather than editorial and criticism, and I'd love to see more of the latter.
tl;dr: thanks for being smart and doing stuff. has destructoid changed since you've left? (I totally could've gotten away with just posting my tl;dr as my entire post but fuck it)
Firstly, thank you for all the kind words. It's awesome (albeit incredibly surprising) to hear that someone thought all the random nonsense I did at Destructoid was worthwhile.
That said, you shouldn't let the sheer number of blogs stop you from writing stuff. If you wanna write stuff, write stuff -- it's worth it just to express yourself, traffic be damned. If traffic was all that mattered we could all just repost cosplay pictures endlessly.
To be honest, I wouldn't really know if Dtoid has changed because I haven't kept up with it since I left. Not because I think it's gone downhill or anything, but because it just feels a bit weird to me -- like hanging out with your ex-girlfriend after she's met another guy. You're both friends and everything, and there's no reason you shouldn't be able to hang out, but...it's kinda weird.
Man, the story behind Giygas' creation is just crazy stuff, and I'll be honset it really shows through in that game.
MOTHER 3 also has some great writing. I hate to spoil it, but there's a scene where your dad beats the shit out of a guy after your mom dies.
I've had a GBA since I was frickin' 12. Never in my life did I expect for that handheld to bring my 20 year old self to tears.
So much care went into those games and their musical scores, and man does it show.
I love the characters in this game. They are so diverse, each one is unique, each one brings something cool to the table. My friend and I were talking, and we remarked about how in another story, most of them would seem too over the top, but in Borderlands they all work.
Is this simply because the Borderlands story itself is over the top? Or do you feel that any of these characters could work in other stories, it's just a question of tweaking them until they resonate with their environment?
Have you ever come up with a character that was so gone that they were scrapped from the start, or does it always take time before you can say 'yes' or 'no' definitively to a character idea?
We did a lot of work to make sure that the characterization fit the world. We were careful not to many any one character TOO insane or quirky, and to make sure that any goofiness (a la Tiny Tina) was counterbalanced by something dark (Tina's backstory).
I had a character called Grandma MacReady who was a soft-spoken scottish granny who massacred dudes with a machine gun. We cut her pretty early, partially because her premise was too goofy.
I've a really big fan, the series is my favourite, and I find the dialogue and the gameplay to be amazing. I liked that there was such an emphasis on Jack, and how much of a dick he was, on top of thinking that he was the hero.
1) Telling my friend about Bullymongers made her ask if you guys deliberately knew about some of the references. Are there any you made that you didn't know about until hindsight?
2) Any teasers on the next DLCs, or the next game?
3) You guys are very active on social media and youtube - how much effort goes into marketing and the like daily for the series?
I'm going through a ridiculously complicated process to get the Mechromancer pack (PS3 is region-locked for US, and I'm in Canada), and Borderlands 2 is the only game I've gotten the season pass for without blinking an eye. Thank you guys so much for providing such an entertaining series.
Lots of things that people think are references were definitely not intended to be. On the Borderlands wiki, somebody pointed out that people bang on doors at the same rhythm as the Master in Doctor Who, which was hilarious, albeit unintentional.
Sorry!
More than you'd think. Steve Gibson, Adam Fletcher, and Chris Faylor's daily lives revolve around social media and community and all that good stuff.
Will you employ me if I tell you I love you? (p.s. I really do. GJ on BL2 my friend)
We don't let Anthony hire people. If you do, you get this:
"Did you see that guy's head! It was so weird! Let's make him a producer!"
"Does he have any production skills or experience?"
"Experience? Did you experience THAT HEAD?"
Do you own a Wii U yet and if so may I come over and play on it?
I do not! But you could if I did.
Hey Anthony, met you at E3 briefly this year after being a fan of the Rev Rants and HAWP for years. My question: can you describe your writing process when sitting down to work?
Also, for Mr. Armstrong: can you tell us about the seemingly 11th hour shift in design and tone Borderlands 1 underwent between the original presentation and what we received at launch?
I sit down, open a word document, and start typing ideas stream-of-consciousness. Argue with yourself in text. Never delete anything. Type "what about this: what if the bad guy was made of chocolate," then type "no anthony you're an idiot and you suck, shut up." I just try to keep typing ideas and arguing with myself via word document until eventually I stumble upon an idea I happen to like. Then I start working on the script proper.
And then there's a lot of revision and re-editing and navel gazing and crying and talking with my co-workers and sussing out what's not working and what is.
On the 12 hour schedule, it was closer to hour 7.
Way back in hour 2, our first art director left the company to have an adventure. Our new art director(Jen Wildes) and our producer at the time(Marc Tardif) almost immediately suggested the art style change, believing it would stand out against the competition and compliment the gameplay. The problem was an art style change was considered a risky move at that point. Not everyone understood what the game wanted to be yet. Adding risk to an unknown is not always wise, so the change was rejected.
Around hour 6, the art style still wasn't making anyone quite happy, but the unknown was becoming known. People were starting to understand the game, and more importantly, were starting to believe in the game. Yes, the art change was more significant work at that point, but the upside was more clear. So the change happened, and I believe the game is more successful for it.
I never would have picked up the first BL if it had just looked like "Generic FPS+Level ups!" The art style was what initially piqued my curiosity, and once I saw the game's opening, I was sold. That said, props to everyone involved in the intros to both games—there's just the right mix of humor, gratuitous violence, and awesome music (seriously, No Rest for the Wicked and Short Change Hero? Perfect setups for both of the main storylines.).
Anthony, I once spoiled a character death in Angel for you. Can you ever forgive me?
Sure.
Hey, I am a huge fan since seeing your Rev Rants on Destructoid! My question is, why don't more intelligent criticizers, writers, journalists, reviewers of games become involved in the development side of the industry? You are one of the only ones I can think of who actually made the jump, but this seems like such a likely move I am a bit surprised more of you guys don't get 'poached'.
An awful lot of them do, actually. Chris Remo worked for Irrational for a little while, N'Gai Croal is now a consultant or something, and like half the guys I worked with at Destructoid now have industry jobs. It's actually one of the more reliable ways of getting an industry job as it shows a familiarity with games and the gaming community.
Hey Anthony! I've been a HAWP fan for a long time and loved BL2! Given how insane the Borderlands universe is, were there any ideas you came up with while writing that were somehow too over-the-top and didn't make it into the game?
Tons. Part of my first few months on the job was working with the team to understand where Borderlands draws the line as far as humor goes -- basically, discovering what was "too silly" or "not Borderlands-y" or "not badass enough."
For instance, my original (stupid) idea for Ellie was that she'd have Brick's body and Moxxi's legs, and be strong enough to toss cars around. After some discussion we figured that was way too over-the-top and not grounded enough.
Tell me more about this Grant Cushman character I keep hearing about.......
HEY ASH, REMEMBER THIS? http://imgur.com/gWnLw
Much love, The Psycho and his Chihuahua
Blanche.
Hey Anthony.
Now that Borderlands 2 is out and loved by everyone and their doggies, Is there anything you wanted to put in the game that you just didn't have time for or it wouldn't fit?
Also, are there any super secret easter eggs that have yet to be discovered by the fans? Nothing is better than an easter egg that goes undetected like the Wave Race Easter Egg or the Splinter Cell Seal Rescue Easter Egg
Thanks for doing this AMA!
There's a bunch of stuff I and everyone else wanted to put into the game, but at some point you have to stop yourself and say, "ah, well -- maybe I'll put it in a sequel or something." Otherwise, the game would never get done.
Unfortunately, I think everyone's pretty much noticed all the major easter eggs in the game. There are a lot of little references and jokes hidden in the mission text and skin names, but most of the really impressive stuff has been discovered.
What do you consider to be the funniest line you or someone else wrote in Borderlands 2?
Funniest? Gah, I dunno -- I'm so sick of hearing my own jokes that I don't play the game with dialog on anymore.
I had a couple lines that I thought were great that, in reality, I had subconsciously stolen from other places ("I built this ship with my own two slaves" is from Futurama, "Heroes don't murder children/Yeah but in my defense, that baby was a dick" is from Penny Arcade). Does that count?
Thats pretty interesting. I know when I write, I find that people like the things I hate and they hate things that I thought were great so I can understand not wanting to hear your own jokes.
Is there anything you wrote where you're surprised they let you get away with it?
Please make a patch so that bullymongs are bonerfarts for the entire game.
what caused your decision to kill off certain characters in the borderlands 2 story?
We wanted people to realize that Borderlands 2's story wasn't just some worthless bit of fluff -- we wanted to convince people that Borderlands, as a universe, had big, worthwhile stories to tell that could be surprising and dark and shocking. We wanted people to be invested in the world and its characters, and it's not easy to do that if you pull all your punches and nobody ever gets hurt (which is why Serenity is a thousand times better than Return of the Jedi).
Anthony, why do you never come downstairs to say hi anymore? We miss you.
<3 11.24
What's your favorite easter egg in BL2?
Did you have any input on the creation of Tiny Tina? If so was Ash any inspiration? Also what is your favorite HAWP?
Waffles or pancakes?
GOD FUCKING DAMN IT I MISSED IT AGAIN!!
Thank you for this: http://i.imgur.com/kohGQ.jpg
I really loved the parts of the game where you were running and fighting alongside the NPCs. I know you wanted to play up the coop aspect, but I wish you'd let your characters shine a bit more in person and not just over the radio most of the time.
Dear Anthony, I bought Boarderlands 2 the day it came out off the fact that I loved the original. These days, as I approach adulthood, I find myself only playing enormous open world single player epics (ie: Bethesda games) but I thought I'd give something new a shot.
All of these weeks later I'm approaching level 50 with all 5 classes and gladly snapped up the season pass. I enjoyed BL2 right off the get-go but what's made it one of my favorite games ever has been the writing and tone of the game. I was playing the other day while my roommates decorated the living room and we were all laughing out loud to Tiny Tinas dialogue regarding different types of cookies. Thanks for making a first person RPG that doesn't take itself too serious. Playing Boarderlands 2 feels like playing a really good cartoon and I'm hooked. I just wanted to say thanks, I honestly look forward to seeing your future products.
Can you give us any kind of hint on our next character to be released?
Color Blind Power!
Anthony, 2 trains are leaving Chicago borded solely by horney birds, one going west, the other going north, if we assume they are both traveling at 70 miles per hour:
What sport would you most like to play in 0 gravity?
Anthony, was it your idea to introduce an "assassin" character into BL2?
I guess I'm way too late by now, but no harm in asking anyway. What's up with Bloodwings' gender change in Borderlands 2? In Borderlands 1, Mordecai said stuff like "Haha! Good boy" and "You looking at Bloodwing? Huh? They looking at you, boy?". Then in Borderlands 2, Bloodwing is referred to as a female. If Bloodwing decided to get gender reassignment or something, I'm totally cool with that, but it took me some time to adjust ... and then he/she promptly died. .
Bit late to this party. Doubting you'll answer this one so late in the game, but worth a shot.
I've not yet finished the game. I pre-ordered it, meaning to play with my flatmate who I loved playing BL1 with. I got into BL2, he gave it one half hour go and went to bed. I got sick of waiting and kept going.
Firstly, I should point out that I'm really enjoying the game and love the tone and direction the story takes as it moves one, but my early experience with the game left me feeling a little uneasy, particularly the re-introduction of the NPC characters from BL1. To elaborate, I played Saints Row 2 to death, and loved that it balanced it's humor and violence and style really well. When Saints 3 came out, it was too much; too purple, too crude, too hyped up on itself. The core of the game didn't feel the same, and I've been wary of sequels since.
The introduction to Marcus in BL2 especially struck me and had me worrying about the way Saints 3 had tried to turn everything up higher from the previous game, leaving it overcooked.
I suppose my question is this: How did you feel, trying to build a bigger, more expansive world and story without over-doing the tongue-in-cheek dark humor? It seems like it could have been all too easy for it to slip into ludicrousness, and while it's laugh-out-loud funny in lots of places, it doesn't over do things, and doesn't get awkward. Most genuinely funny game I've played since Portal 2. My feeling is that having such a strong and funny antagonist as Handsom Jack helps immensely with this, and the small jokes in the flavour text and bandit taunts are fantastic. "I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS!"
I also note it's already been answered, but I should add that from the moment I read about it, I didn't envy anyone the tast of developing personalities for the original Vault Hunters. Their blankness seemed one of the first games strengths and weaknesses combined; I could jump right into the action, but I felt very little affinity for my character. Having them appearing and starting to chatter was really jarring at first, but feels much more natural when they start coming together in Sanctuary. I've gotta commend you for that, sir.
My best friend pulled himself out of a post-breakup depression by watching HAWP.
Thanks for getting my friend back.
Will we ever see butt stallion?
i really admire what you and ash have done with hawp, especially when it comes to bringing criticisms of the gaming industry and the public's attitude toward it in general, which you guys do flawlessly while making me choke on my drinks and spit them on my monitor.
i'm curious though, because you and ash sort of have characters that you tend to play within hawp. so, when you guys uploaded "Hot Slutz", i was kind of trying to feel out who was saying what. all the fun and randomness of hawp aside, do you and ash have similar opinions that you'd like to get out with the videos or is there something you're each passionate about as well?
also anthony...down for a gow2 roleplay? ;]
Ash singing the MGS song on the HAWP DVD was the best thing ever. When can we expect the HAWP album to drop?
What inspired you to start making HAWP's?
That horrible feeling when you get the chance to ask Anthony Burch anything you want and that's the best you can think of. I'll be back...
How do you get your beard to be so glorious?
Do you have any personal writing projects going on or plans to start something new?
Rev, wudup! I recently starting watching HAWP, just gotta say keep up the awesome bits, very helpful toplayers like myself who doesn't rent games and is on a limited budget. Any feedback on DOOM re-mastered versions?
Dearest Mr. Anthony Burch,
You are a fantastic writer. Borderlands 2 has drastically increased in awesomeness since its predecessor and you have done a impeccable job making an already great game series even better. The DLC's are great, and the Torgue DLC is one of my favorite add-ons, entirely due to Mr. Torgue's hysterical narration. So thank you and please keep doing what you're doing.
Also Mr. Armstrong, you're great. One question, is there any gun/type of gun that you made that you would actually want to have in real life? Not functioning, if that helps, even if it's not as cool...
We'd talked about doing something like that, and do wish we'd been able to implement it, but time and production constraints precluded us from doing so. I definitely know what you mean, though -- it would have been nice at the very least for Lilith to say something like "oh hey, another Siren" when you meet up with her if you're Maya.
You make me happy when i'm sad and alone. I don't know if you're actually going to see this message, but you're incredible.
Hey Anthony, big fan, shit I've been watching HAWP for ages, gatdamned hilarious. Your dad tops it for me on there.
Anyways question time, how the holy balls did you manage to land a gig as awesome as lead writer for Borderlands 2? And what was the creative process like while writing it along with your inspiration for a lot of the story?
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED THIS!! It was one of the few AMA's I knew was coming! Fuckit. I'll ask anyways.
I saw you and your crew at PAX Prime in late Aug. The panel was awesome. I was the big orange Castle Crasher! My question is, I never got to see you guys on day two. BUT I was really excited to see your costumes. Could you tell me about who you dressed as and if you have a photo of that it would be even better. :)
Thanks! Hope you and your family are well!
Dear Anthony,
SCCCCCRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!
Wishing you well on your 16th,
Rampant Rakktually the Pseudo-Invincible
What do you think is the all around high point in gaming in the last five years or so?
What are our chances of a Papa Burch AMA?
Do you have any grooming tips for fans of your beard?
On your twitter you stated that Hitman Absolution was an embarrassing game. Please, explain! Give me a Rev Rant...
Matt, what games (if any) inspired you during the creative process of Borderlands 1?
Anthony, I'm a mild fan of yours through Electric Hydra. I just want to say thank you for providing me with some of the best entertainment I've had in video games.
Quick bit of praise: Mechromancer was the character that got me interested in Borderlands 2 - I'd played 1 for a bit and never really enjoyed playing as any of the characters, and the characters from 2 were looking like more of the same. . . then I saw the concept art of the redheaded girl sitting on the shoulder of the giant robot and was, like, "Okay, now I'm a little interested."
Then the "Girlfriend Mode" controversy hit, and looking past the semantics of it, I realized that the entire concept of "Best Friends Forever" basically described a playstyle I could get behind. . .
. . . and so of course when I actually get the game I end up playing an almost pure Ordered Chaos build. :P Best Laid Plans of Mice And Men and all.
So now the question: one of the more entertaining parts of playing Anarchy Gaige is listening to her "stacks" shouts slowly go from giggly glee to outright manic screaming, all the way to fourth-wall breaking insanity. How many of those shouts were scripted, and how much of it was the voice actress just ad-libbing?
Also, who's the "Alan" she's yelling at to write more dialogue?
All of those barks were scripted. They came about when I sat down with Paul Hellquist, Matt Armstrong, Jonathan Hemingway and Randy Varnell and we discussed how we could give Gaige some unique dialog that had different triggering rules than the original four Vault Hunters (who generally share the same set of conditional events for when they talk). Jonathan and Matt suggested that she should say more and more crazy stuff depending on how many Anarchy stacks she gets, which is why when you get up to like 300 she starts breaking the fourth wall entirely.
That's what the "Allan" thing is -- a fourth wall breaking reference to this meme. I was trying to get across the idea that the writer didn't think anyone would ever get these many stacks so he neglected to even write dialog.
Ahh. That explains it. My working theory was that it was the voice actress goofing around, confusing your name, and the staff decided to throw it in.
(The Anarchy barks are, by the way, one of my group's favorite parts of the game. Every once in a while, I'll hear one of my fellow vault hunters just start laughing out loud over Skype, with the explanation that Gaige just screamed something hilarious.)
If you have time to answer a couple more questions unrelated to Gaige (but related to awesome badass girls): whose idea was it to have Ash punch Randy Pitchford in the balls? And can we ask Ash to do the same to Jake Solomon? XCOM: Enemy Unknown's ending made Borderlands' look like Call of Duty 4's. . .
I wish voices weren't client-side, or whichever side they are. One person hears a Psycho start quoting one of Hamlet's plays, another hears him go "WHY ARE YOU YELLING?!"
It gets annoying and a bit disconnecting. "Here I heard my character say something hilarious let me repeat it for you okay it sounds decidedly less funny when I say it."
Ditto on that. I bought BL2 because a bunch of my friends got in on preorder, and it looked like a lot of fun.
Plus it's been a long time since I've actually played the same game as my friends.
Anyways, after playing with the Gunzerker for a bit, I was definitely enjoying the game, but I wanted something more.
Then I saw that there was a premier club DLC, Gaige. The character art was awesome, her voice and personality line up with my humor, so I figured "what the hell" and spent $10.
As I was saying in another thread: BL1 never pulled me in. I didn't have the DLC, but I started all 4 classes and just got incredibly tired of the game.
I feel like the difference between BL1 and BL2, for me, was that BL2 doesn't really "baby" you. The starting quests feel less like a tutorial, and more like a revenge plot. In BL2, from moment zero, the very first cutscene, you know who the badguy is [Jack], and you know he just ATTEMPTED TO MURDER YOU.
Rather than "trusting" some random AI that messages you on a bus and tells you to talk to the most annoying robot ever, you're being helped out of the snow by a robot who shares your goal for revenge.
I just think they really learned how to make the early game far more entertaining, and the whole game scales much better in the early game.
For instance, the BL1 early level skills were kind of lackluster compared to Gaige's skill tree. You can get Anarchy as one of your first skills [after the actoin skill]... and that literally changes your entire playstyle for your character. I don't remember any low-level skills that had such an impact on playstyle from BL1.
Overall I think BL2 is a great game, and Gaige is definitely responsible for sucking me into the BL universe. :)
Hey.
Am I right in detecting a Firefly sort of feel to some of the universe and music? I think it makes it pretty awesome - I love that show to bits.
I love you, Anthony! Your podcast is great!
Where did the idea of papa hodunk come from?
Some of the voice actors in BL2 (sonny strait and chris rager) are also voices for dragon ball Z charcters....Coincidence?
Nope. Funimation (which dubs DBZ) and Gearbox are both in Texas.
I noticed the voice actress for Gaige, Cherami Leigh, has done a lot of Funimation shows. [Sorry if I butchered the spelling.]
For some reason though, her dialogue and deliverance really reminds me of Ashleigh Ball, more specifically, Rainbow Dash of Faust's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Is this just completely coincidence?
(Seriously, here is a clip of Gaige saying something is "awesome", and here is a clip of Rainbow Dash saying something is "awesome"... please tell me I'm not crazy.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fi01jRHtSM&t=09m50s (about 9:52), and rainbow dash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s5Mf4JcQtg)
It's probably because they two characters are similar in personailityish/character archetype. The tough tomboyish sorta hardcorish chick.
Not sure what you mean by asking if it is a coincidence, but I can confirm that the two are not the same person! (Having met Cherami and seen videos of Ashleigh).
The two just seem to have a similar range in their voice. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Ashleigh auditioned/was considered for the part of Gaige. (I'm not saying she was, I have no idea if she was. I'm just saying as someone who has a background in theatre/acting, if those two were up for the same part, I wouldn't have been surprised, because their voices could both "fit").
By "coincidence": I guess I'm just curious if Rainbow Dash factored into the inspiration for Gaige or any of her dialogue.
Several of the skills seem to be a reference to MLP:FIM as well... (Fancy Mathematics; 20% Cooler; Potent as a Pony; then there's Buck Up, and Sharing is Caring)
Fancy Mathematics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucE05W3W8WA
20% Cooler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PvDPOT3_Y0
Evil Enchantress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3VOwdwBPos
Discord???: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a57j9-zqtnY
If I were really paranoid, I'd even say "Make it Sparkle" from the LBT tree is a reference to Twilight Sparkle...
Basically: http://imgur.com/iYPHK
I'm less curious about your plans for the DLC and BL3, and more curious about your plans for the Borderlands Universe as a whole.
I believe there's a scene where it shows the locations of vaults on many different worlds. -- The possibilities of this really excite me.
ACTUAL QUESTION: Money, time, and staff permitting, do you guys plan to broaden the series to go "off-Pandora" at some point in the distant future?
(P.S: I know my opinion counts for dickbutt, but when I see galaxy maps, I immediately think of the game "Escape Velocity" [popular Mac title from Ambrosia way back when]... if you revive that dying genre and tie it into the unique FPS/RPG you've got going, I will personally pledge to pay $59.99 + tax + cost of DLCs. I MIGHT EVEN BUY THE STRATEGY GUIDE.
Think about it.
Please?)
You've said that Firefly was an influence for the character aspects of BL2. Any chance we can see a more direct correlation to the show in a future DLC?
TL:DR Make a Firefly DLC!
Since the voice actors are from my favorite anime, Sgt. Frog, is there any hidden references to the show in BL2?
Unfortunately I haven't seen Sgt. Frog, or indeed any of the animes dubbed by the actors we used. If I had, there'd probably be some references there.
Are you part Thai?
You and your sister are the only people I have ever bothered to take a photo with at a con pic. I've been running around espousing the great writing in Boderlands for weeks and I had no idea you were responsible.
How did you break your way into the games industry?
Who's lame brain idea was it to have us teleported off Sanctuary to watch it take flight from a far? You guys missed out on a potential epic moment where we all could have been running around a city that is taking off! That would have been an awesome and memorable moment.
We'd actually considered keeping you on the ship, but decided not to for production, memory, and creative reasons.
Creatively, if you were on the ship when it took off, it'd actually be less cool than watching the city from a distance -- you'd feel some rumbling and the horizon would begin to dip, but if you were in the middle of town (and surrounded by buildings that blocked your view) or weren't looking out at the world below, you wouldn't get that sense of movement.
Putting you outside of the city and watching it take off from a distance, I think, actually accomplished that sense of scale and spectacle better than being on the ship would have.
How and when did the idea arise to kill Angel?
Pretty early on. We decided to do it to tie off the lingering question from BL1 of what Angel was, and what her motivations were. After we revealed her true identity to the player she was no longer narratively relevant, and we thought that having her go out in a final act of resistance against Jack would be a good way to go.
Did you write Scooter's love poem? If so, bravo.
Can I use that?
Might be a bit late to the party here, but what tips could you give those of us wishing to get into this field? Any software that's good to know? Do most artists actually smoke weed to aid in creativity?
I do not smoke weed, but I do drink a lot of orange juice and I jerk off a lot.
I would learn Final Draft Pro because while film scripts are very different from game scripts, a lot of people prefer reading game scripts in that format.
Would you play Planetside 2 on waterson to fight with the NC, we could use your wits, and AH DAMNIT PLEASE JUST SHOOT THEM IN THE FACE!
I need to watch more video tutorials before I can properly enjoy Planetside 2. As it stands it's completely inscrutable for me.
I just wanted to tell you guys did a great job honoring Michael Mamaril in Borderlands 2. Very humble.
I know that the chance of this being read now is silly but..
Anthony. For DLC3 or DLC4, pleasepleaseplease have a Concelmo reference. I would probably explode, LITERALLY GO TORGUE over it. Even if it's just a dolphin poster somewhere with AMAAAZING! over-top it.
Alas, a man can dream :<
When is Grand Theft Space Man 3 coming out?
Is there any way to audition for voice cast for the next bl games or dlcs. I have tried to find it on gearbox careers page but there was nothing along the lines of voice talent I have also tried to email the support but with no avail. Are they going to make another zombie like dlc because I thinks that one was my fav and all. On an end note do you play the game after it is done to see how everything panned out and if it lived up to your expectations who ever had the idea for McNulty I thank it has to be the tabasco on my pork fried rice.
Just want to say thanks for the great game! Me and my brother had lots of fun with BL and now it's even better with BL2! Thank you for everything the both of you and all of gearbox for the beautiful moments we lived laughing or asses off.
p.s Turtles all the way down.
OMG I didn't know you were lead writer of Borderlands 2! I'm a huge fan of HAWP and I loved the first Borderlands. I'm gonna have to check this game out now.
Why is the second DLC not called "Mr Torgue's Wild Ride"?
How did you get such an awesome job? Was this something you happened into? Or did you work at it for a long time?
| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Did you go into writing it to try and make it funnier than the first one, or did it just sort of end up that way? Was there anything that you wanted in there that ended up getting cut? | There is one thing that got cut from BL2 that I really really miss. After a certain character dies, you get a quest to go tell all of that character's friends that the person is dead. Originally, you were going to go tell Tiny Tina and she -- for the first and only time in the game -- would lose her insane manic tone and actually get really solemn. She'd thank you for telling her and ask you to leave, before disappearing into her workshop. And then, if you moved really close to the workshop, you could hear her quietly sobbing. |
| So who's idea was Face McShooty? That was a streak of genius and was greatly enjoyed by myself. | That was mine. I saw this video: Link to www.theonion.com and thought it was hilarious, and thought we could play off the idea with Face McShooty. |
| Bloodwing. WHAT THE FUCK? I'm still irritated about that. EDIT: I have about 1000 hours into B1 and about 350 into B2. Love those games, but damn dude. Worst moment for me in 25+ years of gaming. Then again, you also had some of the best. "A siren." "Sup?" | Thanks! For your reaction to both things. |
| I was hoping for more of a reason WHY you ... took the storyline that direction. | We wanted to start a transition where the player's opinion of Jack went from "heh, this guy's a dick but he's kinda funny" to "I will do everything I have to in order to fuck this guy up." We thought it'd give Mordecai something to emotionally work with if he lost Bloodwing, and the promise of doing a Bloodwing boss fight was too cool to pass up. |
| In retrospect, I had no idea that the actual moment would be as emotionally effective as it was -- Paul Hellquist set up the scene and our animators did some spectacular work making Bloodwing's last moments really goddamn heart-wrenching (the way she tries to stand up just before her head pops is brutal). |
View the full table on /r/tabled! | Last updated: 2012-12-03 09:17 UTC
This comment was generated by a robot! Send all complaints to epsy.
I was out of town when this AMA went down, but I want to know why in the hell this didn't get more attention?!
How does one deal with gratuitous amounts of awesome?
Are you planning to continue Anthony Saves the World? Or is the series done?
Who tought of the intro? The music and everything was sooo sick
Hi there! I just finished the first playthrough of Borderlands 2 a few hours ago. Overall I was thoroughly impressed with how much the writing improved as a polished whole this time.
In particular, everything to do with Handsome Jack was outstanding (and in my mind he's possibly one of the best video game villains in my memory) and the voice-acting for all of the characters was really, really good. The Sanctuary takeoff scene, character ECHO logs and the Angel parts near the end were high points.
That said, what kind of involvement did you have in the casting and recording of the voice-acting? Were you present during studio sessions etc.?
Awesome job writing Borderlands 2. I had a blast experiencing the story unfold; which is full of laughs, Oh shit!'s, and just an overall fun experience.
Did you always want to write for video games? If so, how hard was the transition from writing YouTube shorts into having to write for 25-30 hours of game-play? If not, what did you originally want to write?
I ended up discovering H.A.W.P. a few weeks ago, after searching "who is the voice of Tiny Tina?" because that shit is hilarious. You and your sister seem to have a pretty awesome time making those videos. Keep being awesome and I am anxious to play the games you work on, in the future. - as well as watching future H.A.W.P. episodes.
Are there any job openings at gearsoft at the moment. Or internships?•
One year,(maybe not next year, but some year), I'm able to fly to San Diego and attend the greatest game convention I know of in the summer, I will get to meet you guys. Anthony, you're a genius. Ash, you're fucking funny and I wish I was you (sign my tits). Davis, I want to hug you the most I've ever hugged(also, sign my tits).
Oh wow, I love your guys' stuff. The mini-series where you spoofed Metal Gear Solid was brilliant, as it's my favorite series.
Questions I guess -
How did you guys get started?
What's the process like for you? Do you just sit around playing video games until you come up with something or is the process more planned?
How do you know when you misspell things if you can't see anything that's red?
Does it bother you that people sexualize your sister so much? The level of creepy I've seen on the comments of some of your videos is alarming, even for the internet.
Any idea what your plans for the future are? Just take it as far as you can or do you guys have specific projects coming up?
Thanks for all the laughs over the years :)
Also - Hello to the whole crew. If you're ever doubting yourselves, just think "Man, popomo really believes in us."
Just wanted to say I love you, bro.
Alright, I don't know if you're still up here doing this, but I've got a bone to pick with you about the DLCs that have been released so far in Borderlands 2. I want to say first, though, how straight-up Jesus nearly everything Borderlands is. I'm still finding new things in both games.
Right, so, the DLCs from the first one (mostly Zombie Island and Secret Armory) were fucking fantastic and long and challenging and great and oh my god were they crazy rad. But the DLCs that have been released so far have been, while pretty fun because, I mean, it's Borderlands, (and mad funny. Love me some EXPLOSIONS) they just lack the... Oomph, by which I really mean the length (like, length of the story), of the previously mentioned DLCs. What gives?
Oh, and my friends and I keep talking about a wereskag character who's action skill is, y'know, turning into a skag. We even have a whole set of skill trees that my friend made up. Any chance of a character like that actually getting added?
Didn't realize your sister voiced Tiny Tina. My girlfriend put a lot of effort into her Tiny Tina costume for Halloween. I put significantly less work into my Axton costume.
Here's a pic:
This is a question for Matt.
Why did you make the sniper rifles in the original borderlands pump action? It kinda confused me at first but they were still pretty awesome.
Thanks to both of you for making these awesome games!
I love the positive self image quest line and that Hammerlock has an ex-boyfriend. I think stuff like that will help some kids that feel different feel better about themselves when there are so many things make them feel worse. No questions, Just-sayin.
Sooooo..... BL3?
Hey just wanted to say thanks and let you know that Borderlands and Borderlands 2 are some of the funniest and best written games I've ever played. Also one thing, who's hotter Moxxi or Lilith?
First I have a question for Mr. Burch: Whos decision was it to multiply the humor in Borderlands 2 tenfold, and what were your inspirations in writing it?
Now I have a question for Mr. Armstrong: Why did you decide to make the manufacturers so unique in BL2? I thought the manufacturers were fine enough in the first game, but I would really like to know why Torgue only fires explosives, and Dahl always has burst-fire, etc. On a side note, other than burst sniper rifles, I thought they were all great quirks.
Three-part question.
1) Looking back on your life, would you say there was any one singular moment which shaped or was largely responsible for where you find yourself today? Did you set out to be a writer or is it something you just fell into, and where do you go from here?
2) Would you say that being "on the inside" of the games industry has positively or negatively affected your outlook on gaming (in other words, is "the magic" gone or has it given you a newfound appreciation for it)?
3) Did you write Tiny Tina's character specifically with your sister in mind for her voice actor or was that just coincidentally the way things played out?
4) Sometimes I get your sister confused with Sarah Silverman. That's not really a question. I just wanted to point that out.
CROSSPOSTED FROM AN IMBEDDED REPLY. Hoping to get this upvoted and see a response by Anthony or Matt.
Just wanted to ask about Loot Mechanics and your reasoning as a dedicated fan of the first BL.
Let me start this of with some hedging, and let you both know that I love many, many things about Borderlands 2. I applaud your creativity, how it improves upon its predecessor in many ways, its humour and the writing is top notch (seriously Anthony, very well done. Your first game, don't let it get to your head! <3).
HOWEVER.. I was very, very confused about the decision to make specific bosses drop specific legendaries, especially considering the fact that Anthony (whose strong opinions on game design I've followed in the past) was a part of the team (and of course the general high quality nature of Gearbox developers).
The community factor that was referenced I get, but it is a fleeting moment of interaction, whereas the grinding you've introduced has become a glaring step down from the care-free nature of BL1 and permeates through ALL of BL2, but most frustratingly in the "late game". You see, one of the great strengths of BL1 (and one often mentioned in the plethora of reviews) was that you could get friends together even at max level, decide where you want to go to just "shoot stuff", and be rewarded in the form of loot and occasional legendaries. See how the gameplay took priority, and that the random nature of the legendary drops made it so that you were never pigeonholed into repeating a specific activity or event to get that ONE gun that you desperately wanted?
BL2 on the other hand has added grinding. As much as I would assume any game designer intends for all weapons to be so perfectly balanced that no hierarchy exists, it is rather inevitable that players decide on what they consider "best" and gravitate towards it. Case in point: the bee and the conference call. Instead of rewarding the player with these weapons for enjoying the game by actually playing it, players seek out and gravitate towards these "high tier" weapons and wish to acquire them. The process of acquiring them, however, is the very opposite of fun.
It was deadening to kill the Warrior 150 times in rapid succession. It was NOT, in any way shape or form, fun. And I miss that. Nor do I get how such an intrinsically flawed mechanic was added. Loot is an integral aspect of the Borderlands formula, but so is gameplay that is FUN. And it IS fun to run around BL2 with friends and shoot stuff, but the main reward and incentive has been broken away from the gameplay, and instead been relegated to short, repetitive scripted sequences, which are mind numbingly boring after the 5th time you've repeated it within an equal number of minutes.
I played BL1 for several hundreds of hours with friends, even though I had everyone at max level. Every few months we would go "let's play some borderlands" and run through whichever level we wanted to visit again and just tore through everything, having fun and comparing the legendaries we acquired. That was fun.
Borderlands 2 has been grinding legendaries, helping other friends grind legendaries, rinse and repeat. Which is so incredibly un-fun, and so fundamentally different to BL1 in terms of design that I just can't help but feel that a horrible mistake was made. In fact, the first two weeks I assured all of my friends that you'd surely patch this asap.
But one by one all my friends lost interest, and we actually went BACK to BL1 because it simply was more fun to play, and felt much more rewarding.
Which I really really hate, because BL2 improves upon BL1 in almost every single way, and does so fantastically. The only thing standing in the way of making it a fantastic game is the glaring design flaw of the weapon drop system (the main endorphin releasing incentive of the gameplay) being very anti-fun. The priority should be "Play and enjoy game -> be rewarded with cool loot".
Not "Cool loot can be acquired, but only if you don't play the game, but rather endlessly repeat specific boss events time and time again".
I hope you can answer this query, and please please please patch in the BL1 style random loot drops.. <3 you all regardless, thank you for an otherwise fantastic game.
The most important question here
What do I need to do in order to get a signed piece of Borderlands Mr Torgue artwork for my four year old bedroom
PS: This is a serious question (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Why with the massive upscale in numbers in general from 1 to 2? I miss my 1120 damage sniper rifle that would destroy anything :( Also I love how you mention the problem with bloodwing from bl1 in bl2 how sometimes he didn't attack and flew in circles
Will we ever know about the other 3 sirens?
Anthony, glad to see you're back after the Torgue AMA! Is it weird seeing people analyze and comment on the writing in Borderlands 2? Were there any parts of the story that you had trouble getting just right?
Anthony, don't you think you should be more supportive towards Grant Cushman? He is your friend, right?
Why is there no Butt Stallion in the game? You've got insane, ridiculous stuff in there - why not make a pony made of diamonds?
A HAWP question, is there any chance the crew might come to Australia next year for PAX Australia?
Borderlands 1 & 2 are two of the three games I've ever finished. Seriously, they are my favorite games. I originally was drawn into it because of the sweet ass cell shading and wanting to impress my ex boyfriend, but it's the one game I really love. The ridiculous of the entire game is fantastic.
Like most I was upset with the end of the last game, but everything I disliked in the first you guys totally made up for in the second. Huge maps, ballin guns, and a plot that made me want to cry.
"Your ability to walk short distances will surely be Handsome Jack's downfall" and damn right it was. What a perfect, hilarious, beautiful villain.
What is the best way to get notified of new HAWP episode?
Also, thank you (and Ash, Davis and Papa Burch) for all the laughs over the years.
BL2 was/is awesome but it fried my laptop. I don't hold that against you or anyone else, my fault for trying to play it on such a near death laptop :P
What's your IRL dynamic like with Ash? I had the privilege of meeting her at the premier of Must Come Down, and when I asked her she said it was more or less just like it is in HAWP - albeit toned down.
No BL2 questions since I haven't played BL2 but I've been a huge fan of HAWP for years and show it to all of my friends whenever I get the opportunity to force it upon someone.
What is your favorite HAWP episode you've done and your least favorite?
And why is Grant so devilishly good looking scared of horror games?
Hi Anthony. Do you and Ash still play TF2? I'd like to play with you sometime.
Do you think your being hired to write BL2 represents any kind of shift in the games industry? It seemed like the company took a risk hiring someone without game design experience but now that it's obvious that the move paid off, do you see other companies going the same way in terms of hiring dedicated writers more often? How do you think the games industry is going to change as it grows?
Given your other successes with HAWP etc., how do you want to proceed, in terms of splitting your time between making games and making video/other content?
Hey Anthony, I don't have a question for you but I wanted to say thanks for making me laugh from beginning to end in BL2. The sheer number of cultural references in this game are outstanding!
edit: grammar
Any plans on restarting the Rev Rant series? those were great.
I'm very interested in game writing as a career, so I have a few questions about that.
I'm really shocked that none of the top questions have asked this kind of thing, and I know I missed the AMA proper, but I gotta take a swing here anyway since I saw you posted recently:
- What kind of advice would you give to aspiring game writers?
- What kind of writing do you think is most useful to work on for this? (Screenwriting, short stories, novels, etc.)
- What kind of writing samples do you think help most in an application for a game writing position? (Comedy, genre-specific, dialogue-heavy, or just badass stories?) Or does it not matter all that much as long as the writing is quality?
- Anything else you think me and folks like me should know.
BL2 is hilarious and awesome, and one of the kinds of game I hope to work on some day. Thank you both for helping to create it, and thanks for doing the AMA.
Make your own stuff and keep writing.
Game writing is most useful. Screenwriting is nice for getting your ideas succinct and novels are presumably good for understanding long-term arcs (I've never written a novel) but game writing is its own beast with its own rules that you need to show you understand.
If you're trying to get a sample together, write a game script -- or more specifically, write a spec script for a fifteen minute chunk of gameplay. Show that you understand how story is best delivered in a game: don't write pages and pages of dialog and just say "this will be in a cut scene," because that's sloppy -- delinate between things people hear in the world or through their radio, or optional things they can pick up, or things they'll see in (brief!) cut scenes.
Writing is probably the least clear and least likely path to get into development.
Develop your other skills. Code. Art. Level design. Game design. Go to a school that has a gaming program. Bring more to the table. The competition is rough, and the writing jobs are very thin on the ground.
I do appreciate the sensible, pragmatic advice, and I have dabbled in code and spent a lot of time working on art, both 2D and 3D, but I want to write.
I know you're right, and that getting one of those coveted writing positions is unlikely at best, but if I'm not writing for games, I'll be writing something else. It doesn't matter which direction you go, trying to make it as a writer of any flavor is tough, and only a few of the many who try will succeed, but I've made peace with that because it's what I want to do.
On the other hand, I've been writing as a game critic/journalist for a while now, and trying to learn about the development process as I go, and I've learned that a game writer should have other skills as well, and be able to contribute in other areas of development if the need arises. So I won't be entirely ignoring those other skills either.
Thanks again for taking the time,
(And sorry, I know you didn't ask for my life story, haha.)
tl;dr: I do appreciate the wisdom in what you say, but I want to write.
Hi there!
You guys are really great at naming things, so many of the characters/places and items have such cool names in Borderlands.
I on the other hand, I am awful at naming things. Our band still needs a name, don't suppose you fancy helping a girl out?
As a side note, I bullied my band into covering Short change hero and we made a little Borderlands themed music video to accompany it. I really look forward to showing you guys!
Lilith's was "I'm arrogant" THAT'S why she's my favourite.
Thanks in advance. <3
I named some things. The guns. Some Characters. Manufacturers. Stuff.
Naming Rules -
- Themes are nice. They help you stay organized and help you focus on character.
The main characters of BL1 have a theme. Only one person to my knowledge ever recognized the theme. Much respect to Mr. Goyer. He's as sharp as they come.
- Alphabet matters. People don't remember names well.
Sauron, Saruman, Salmon, and Slevon walk into a bar. Oh, please don't do that.
In interviews about the naming of Nine Inch Nails, Trent Rezner spoke of the "2 week test". Give your name time to settle. Make sure you still like it after 2 weeks.
Look up names you like on the internet. Skip the obvious place, and try and figure out where they came from. You'll find underlying themes you had no idea existed. Look for opportunities in those themes.
Think about abbreviations. Think about logo treatments.
If your band does lots of Disney covers or kid school plays, the name "Baby Slaughter Magpie" is probably bad. Also consider that one day your parents and children will find out. If you pick the name "HellFace" because it makes your mom laugh, you might find it hard to explain to the kids you didn't have yet many years later. Don't embarrass yourself.
When in doubt, there's always "Baby Slaughter Magpie". That's an awesome name.
Thank you so much!
So in the end we named the band "rexon", it was the guitarists suggestion (being that it's a pink monster from Sonic). I think he may have been saying something.. (I have pink hair).
I'm lucky to have dorks in my band!
This is SO helpful though. I'll be sure to keep this all in mind for album/song names, and err.. also if we don't like the name in two weeks. :P
AHH I LOVE REDDIT. WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN HERE BEFORE.
I can't wait to show you guys the video. ;o;
All the location names came from Keith Schuler, who is awesome. I am frigging atrocious at naming stuff.
Have you ever thought or making a comic/written story for Borderlands? I would love to hear more details of other planets and such as a friend and I are doing a story based in the borderlands universe for fun and have had to make our own planets.
Got a lot of ideas for comics, yeah. It's a fun universe to work in, so ideas just naturally come bubbling up.
Maybe the most impressive triumph of the BL2 script is how you took this (imo) really annoying existing character Claptrap and turned him into something genuinely funny and endearing. So my questions are, 1 how did do this, and 2 were the original creators of Claptrap resistant to you taking their character in a different direction?
I did it by trying to write Claptrap in such a way that a person who didn't like him in the first game (like myself) would at least feel sorry for him and hopefully learn to care for him as a result of that.
Originally, I planned to write him as just a straight-up asshole like he was in the Claptrap marketing videos; after some meetings with Dave Eddings (the voice of Claptrap) and Randy Pitchford, though, they suggested I take a softer touch with him and make him more eager to please. I did that, then added the whole feeling-sorry-for-him angle.
Why did you make Brick sound black? I kind of always had him pictured as Russian or something eastern european.
What would the case of Borderlands 3 look like, assuming there would be a Borderlands 3?
I know the coverart of the first game has a Psycho with his hand at his head, mimicking a gun, and BL 2 has a Psycho with 2 hand/guns at its head. So what would BL3 have?
Maybe a midget on his back? I dunno. Or maybe BL3 would be a Toxic Avengers mashup and the guy would have a third mutated arm growing out of his torso.
Partially because they bring a lot of narrative baggage with them (where did these guardians come from, why are they in this specific location) and partially for production and schedule reasons.
I'd never considered the giant turtle-type questgiver. It's an interesting idea, but the thing about huge creatures like that is that they tend to eat up a lot of memory, so they often require their own map. If, say, the Warrior was a questgiver, you'd have to sit through a minimum of two loading screens everytime you wanted to talk to him.
Similar to another question earlier regarding characterization of the original vault hunters, did you have this in mind when creating the vault hunters for BL2? Such as giving the characters a bit more of a personality that could be built upon further if the opportunity arises.
I could certainly love to see Axton taking a similar role to Roland with a bit more of a badass in-your-face personality, or at least that's what I would envision...you know...when you work on Borderlands 3 in the future...fingers crossed
Actually, for a really long time none of the new Vault Hunters had a great deal of personality -- or they did, but it was just in their battle dialog and was pretty subtle (a la the BL1 Vault Hunters).
At one point, though, our focus testers told us that they really wanted to know who they were playing as -- what their backstories were, why they'd come to someplace like Pandora, and so on. We honestly hadn't even considered anyone would care about that (nobody cares why the Barbarian arrives in the rogue camp in Diablo 2), so fairly late in the game we added the collectable audio logs and the inventory ECHOs to flesh them out further and make their personalities more distinct.
I just want to say Thank you and your sis for the hilarity, and that you two have fantastic taste, which is arguably one of the key traits that separates a good artist from a great artist.
Just noticed that you're still actually answering these, which is kind of awesome since most AMA's end whenever the 'm' gets bored (which is usually after a few hours).
SPOILERS AHEAD
Anyway, onto questions! Sort of! First off, the mandatory: I'm a huge fan of the games and HAWP. I spend a lot of time in the games just exploring and looking around, admiring all the tiny details in every map. Borderlands 2 is honestly in my top 3(?) games of all time.
Now more kind of questions. Handsome Jack may be one of the most underrated characters of the decade and, to be honest, I haven't gotten to the point where I can fully appreciate him yet. I saw you answered earlier that he was partially inspired by Nathan Fillion as far as his mannerisms are concerned, but what of the rest of him?
1) I'm just curious about what inspired the backstory between him, Angel, and his wife (is there an official explanation of that anyway? Or did Angel accidentally kill her which is how they made it sound in the echo recording?)
2) What were the easiest and most difficult parts of the character for you to create?
Onto the questions that I was actually planning on asking. My two favorite characters in the game are Tannis and Tiny Tina. Both characters have extremely traumatic backstories that we find in the in various echo recordings and are explained in various missions.
For Tannis, I'm just talking between Borderlands 1 and 2. Finding her echo logs where she describes her torture at the hands of Jack was where he really turned into the villain for me. Even for Bloodwing, he jut seemed like a little kid trying to piss you off, but the torture brought it to a new level. One of my favorite lines in the entire game is from the Caustic Caverns when she's discussing the Dahl corporation and says, "They broke us." The delivery on that line was perfect. Really, she epitomizes the dramatic difference between BL 1 and 2, where in the first game you had all these dark things in the background waiting for you to find, but in the second one, they're right out in the open.
Jumping straight in for Tiny Tina, finding the slag experimentation echologs over in the Animal Exploitation Reserve and completing Tiny Tina's teaparty was heartbreaking. Can you add an option to give her a hug after doing those two missions? Complete with third person animation and everything.
1) You said you wrote TT based off Ash and a friend, but where did the inspiration for the Flesh stick storyline come from? Did you receive any help writing that particular arc? I only ask that because, as someone whose interested in child psychology, I think you had her reactions to everything handled amazingly well.
2) Why not bring her to Sanctuary after meeting her? Was that ever discussed?
3) How much of her history was already in mind when you started writing and how much came afterwards? (For Tannis and Tina)
4) What parts of her were your favorite and least favorite to write or experience ingame and why? (For Tannis and Tina)
5) Obviously, adding a child character in a game adds certain risks (FOX News) to the publication; were there any parts of her character that you or your team was unsure about keeping, but someone demanded stay in?
6) Also, any parts that you really wanted in, but knew you couldn't keep?
I had other questions, but forgot them while writing my fan-babble. I'll think of more some other time. Till then, thanks for doing the AMA
We wanted to make Jack a little more sympathetic and give him a reason to imprison his daughter other than "he's mean". We felt the angle with his wife (which I won't fully explain just to be a vague dick) helped with that.
The douchiness was the easiest -- it's not hard to write somebody unlikeable. The difficulty came in giving him funny dialog, giving him somewhere to emotionally go as the game went on (Mikey and I passed a few revs back and forth on how dark and serious he could get after the Angel thing happens), and finding the right voice actor.
I honestly just kind of pulled the Flesh Stick thing outta nowhere. I just thought seeing your parents butchered in front of you would be a decent reason to go insane. I'm glad to hear Tina's reactions were reasonable, though!
Memory and design reasons, mainly.
Tannis was pretty much all Mikey (except for the story of her trying to acclimate to Sanctuary) so I can't really speak to that. When I started writing Tina, I just knew I wanted an insane little girl -- the backstory came later when I tried to justify why someone woul dbehave like that.
I didn't really have a least favorite part, to be honest -- both characters are fun (and again, I didn't write all that much of Tannis).
Just Tina's reaction to Roland's death.
Just noticed how much I actually wrote. Sorry for making you read through all that. As for the Tiny Tina thing being reasonable, I mean reasonable in the context of Pandora of course. Also, I did laugh at Tannis' nosebleed defense and her comments afterwards (something about possible passing out due to blood loss I think?). As for Jack, I like how his communications go from passive sarcasm ("do me a favor and kill yourself") to aggressive sarcasm ("Why don't you just die already?"/ "He charged at me with a spoon"(that one was fuckin hilarious)) to him telling you he's going to kill everyone you've ever known and then finally to his last psychopath stage at the final confrontation.
Wow, I really suck at making things short and sweet...
Also, what do you think about this: http://www.reddit.com/r/Borderlands/comments/13vr5h/can_we_get_a_jurassic_park_style_dlc_also_known/
First, Tiny Tina is my spirit animal. Her dialogue and the way she's voiced both remind me of Lori Petty's Tank Girl, which may not be intentional, but I actually thought it was pretty great and quite fitting for the setting. And she loves crumpets! So fuck the haters, they are wrong.
Additionally, I would like to commend you on making a game that is delightfully puerile and disgusting (I, for one, didn't hate the memes or think they were overused- I thought there was plenty of original humor), and utilizes a lot of its characters really, really well. I was one of the people left kind of disappointed with Borderlands because it felt like a very empty victory in the end, and 2 really managed to make me feel like all of that was worth it because ultimately I felt like I got a much better story out of it. By the end of the game, I was more than satisfied.
Also? As a fat chick, I thought I was going to absolutely loathe Ellie, but I actually adore her & I have to chalk that up to her dialogue. She could have very easily been a stereotype and she wasn't, and that felt like the case with a lot of characters. I, for one, think this is awesome.
I actually haven't seen the Tank Girl movie and the comic makes me bizarrely uncomfortable, so that's interesting to hear!
I'm glad you like the game and I'm especially happy you liked Ellie. We really wanted her to feel like a legitimate and likeable character whose body shape was a part of her personality, but not her sole defining characteristic, and not something she was ashamed of. I'm really really happy you felt she wasn't a stereotype.
I am a screen writer and would love to write for a video game. Any tips, tricks, or secrets on getting to that point?
Any chance of fighting Butt Stallion in future DLC? I was bummed at the end when Jack's battle didn't involve him riding around on his diamond horse.
Do you now know who Brent Friedman is?
Hey Anthony, I've been a big fan of HAWP, RevRans, and OUP. I've introduced HAWP to my roommate and he loves the Minecraft episode. My question is: When writing the episode how do you choose what the part of the game you will you in the episode?
Thanks
Is Shade in the DLC voiced by the same voice actor that does The Warden in "Superjail"?
I know it was asked in the Torgue AMA, but as you blamed giving the New-U stations commentary on breaking the out-of-game existance of them, can you give us a semi-canon reason for why we can respawn, but the original Vault Hunters / Jack cannot?
I could, but I'd just be pulling it out of nowhere. Maybe Jack and the Vault Hunters are doing permadeath runs? I dunno. Really, I just screwed the pooch and it's my bad.
There's one line that just rustles my jimmies. And I've only heard it once [and I've got a Lvl 41 and a Lvl 16, and trust me, I die a lot], it's something like:
"Hyperion recommends you don't think about the fact that this body is merely a digital reconstruction, and your original body was destroyed after your first death."
Do you have any plans to flesh out how the respawn system works in-game or perhaps in extra-game materials? I find myself suddenly intrigued by the philosophical implications of such a system.
Because someone else is pulling the strings. Maybe Jack only thought he was in control of Hyperion. Whoever it is is interested in the Eridians and the Vaults and that is not good. The Cult of the Vault has arms that reach far past the pitiful waste of Pandora. The first nine vault hunters were only tools to find the map. They have arms everywhere. Enough so that they have already found the newborn Siren and planted a tracking chip in her as well as the others. The Cult seeks only to control the vaults as they already control everything else.
Borderlands 3 with four all new vault hunters including one (slightly older) Tiny Tina!
Wow, 17 hours later and you're still answering questions? Might be there's some hope for me after all.
2 things:
1) Has ANYONE in games media given Borderlands 2 the time of day it deserves in its treatment of homosexual relationships? You and your team (or just you?) completely nailed this one, and yet, I have not seen a single expose from the usual sources about the fact.*
2) Did you have any schooling in Arthurian myths/literature in college? I was extremely interested in the way you cast Jack as the self-proclaimed "hero" of Borderlands, which got me to trying to justify it from a literary perspective, and the more I thought about it, the more the whole thing makes sense in the Arthurian mythological worldview. Hero As Violent, Woman As Traitor, Land As Wasteland, Man As Civilizer Of The Wilderness, etc. Was any hint of that intentional, or am I reading too far in?
Thanks for doing this Anthony. LOVE the game and your humor.
*NIGHTMARE MODE BONUS: Back to question 1, how did it feel, given your own obvious sympathies to the everyday bullshit that female gamers need to go through, industry stereotypes, etc. etc., when the whole "Girlfriend Mode" crap came out? Did you feel it undermined what you were doing at all as a writer and creator of characters? Or did everyone make too big a deal of it?
I play my Zero as melee and I fucking love it. When will borderlands get melee weapons?
It has them. They just happen to shoot bullets as well. Some of the shields also seem to more or less function as melee weapons.
I realize this, but I'm wanting a badass Torgue warhammer that causes explosions! Or a set of Maliwan brass knuckles that electrocute a bandit when i give him a little love tap...
Ahh, that's actually a cool idea.
If you want something a bit closer in the meantime, get the Mechro Mancer. The ultimate skill of her ordered chaos tree is a melee override. It uses 1 anarchy stack to digistruct claws. It basically does 2 slashes, and I believe the engine applies anarchy bonuses.
tl;dr: You can cut midgets into ribbons, and it does more damage than my level 34 purple jackob's pistol can in a single shot. It's a lot of fun.
If I come to the HQ in plano will you do something cool?
Given my current state, I'll probably sneeze and blow my nose in front of you then try to say something racist and funny before slinking away to walow in my own horribleness.
Anthony Anthony.....Saints Row 3
IT'S LIKE IN THE THING I DID
I know it's a little late in the AMA, but I missed the start of it and I really wanted to post anyway.
First of all, I love the game. I've played it a couple hours almost on a daily basis after I get home from work since launch.
My brother and I just finished the Pirate's Booty dlc, and I'm assuming you wrote for that as well. The two characters that I loved the most in that dlc were Aubrey Callahan III and C3n50r807.
Was C3n50r807 supposed to be a satirical representation of real-life censorship advocates? He kept mentioning a noble purpose of protecting Pandora from profanity, but I couldn't stop laughing when he requested the porn magazines and I lost it when he said something like, "[DJ Tanner] can no longer spread his profanity around Pandora. Now blow up his studio."
That's just the dlc. I loved every bit of dialogue and I couldn't stop laughing for most of the game. I didn't start Campaign of Carnage yet, but I can't wait. You are awesome.
Censorbot was definitely a satire of censorship advocates, yeah. He's a complete hypocrite and disregards the fact that what he's asking you to do (kill people) is far worse than what he believes is corrupting Pandora (cursing). And he curses and watches porn himself.
How did you guys come up with Handsome Jack? Is he based off someone?
Anthony. Sup!
So I'm an avid gamer and filmmaker whose been working in the film industry for about 5 years. With games becoming more and more cinematic and awe-inspiring, I would love to make the transition to writing/developing/project managing at a game company. Do you have any suggestions about how to make that transition?
Ps: The Torque AMA was some of the most hilarious shit ever. You may now gloat.
Gloating.exe activated.
Regarding transitioning into the games industry, I would start making game-themed films (like this one, I guess http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nYuuRqbi2s) or just start making videos about the games community in general like I did with Hey Ash Whatcha Playin. You should be able to find a community that likes your stuff and then ideally use that as an "in" for the games industry.
My friend keeps telling me about how he once joined a Left 4 Dead game and you were in it. Can you please reply to this saying "Jake sucks at Left 4 Dead"? Thanks!
(OOC: MR.TORGUE, WHY ARE YOU IMPERSONATING A WIMPY VIDEO GAME WRITER/JOURNALIST ON THE INTERNET?)
Why aren't the motorcycles from Torgue's DLC ridable by players? We want more than 2 vehicles!
And again, give us a Tabitha St. Germain-voiced Butt Stallion to ride after defeating it.
Wow, you're still answering questions? I'm impressed, I have another one for you by the way.
The intro section, what made you choose guys choose Short Change Hero as the song? Were there any other song that were considered?
Also I loved the callback to BL1 with the ain't no rest for the wicked line at the very end, fantastically done
Wow, you're still answering questions? I'm impressed, I have another one for you by the way.
The intro section, what made you choose guys choose Short Change Hero as the song? Were there any other song that were considered?
Also I loved the callback to BL1 with the ain't no rest for the wicked line at the very end, fantastically done
good lord... your work... freaking amazing
Just popping in to say that I love HAWP. Are you and Ashly planning on doing any more?
Being somebody who played through BL1 with Mordecai, I immediately noticed a difference in the voice actor. Whats the reason for that?
Hey, Anthony, new big fan here. Your work on Borderlands 2 is nothing short of badass.
As someone who also hopes to one day break into writing game stories, got any advice on how to reach my dream?
I recently started a blog for written let's plays (although this semester has been so overloaded I've only got 4 chapters up so far), and I'm working with some friends as the main story/dialogue guy on an indie RPG. I'm also currently doing a computer science degree (game option), although the post-calculus math is the biggest pain in the world.
Do you have any advice for a writer hopeful?
If you invented a car that could travel at the speed of light. Then you brought it to light speed and turned on the headlights. Would you be able to see the light from the headlights?
Have the DLC's for BL2 already been planned out? If so what about BL3?
Hey Anthony,
Just wanted to drop by and say thanks for answering almost every single comment in this thread.
You are a Sexual Tyrannosaurus.
-Me.
Why did a character in Borderlands have three nuts?
I just wanted to say that the dialogue/VO of the Goliaths never fail to crack me up even after hearing it over and over. Especially if I can get a gang of them fighting each other. It reminds me of my family.
When you showed brick and mordeci "together" that sent me into such a f*cking rage Well done
Sorry dude, the game HAS been out for almost 2 months, I didn't think it'd be a huge deal for now!
Please tell me we are going to go into the Hyperion satellite in one of the DLCs
Wha elightebed you to create HAWP? I love the work you guys have done btw and is Ashe a dude? (just kidding).
This is probably more up Mr Armstrong's alley, but is there any chance of filling up or expanding the characters' skill trees?
For example, every character but Zer0 has something useful for when they're in FFYL. Gaige and Axton have their action skills, Axton can throw grenades, Salvadore can gunzerk and Maya gains extra damage. I think it would be cool for Zer0 to be able to unlock the ability to aim down the sights of any of his guns during FFYL, possibly as a 1-point skill in the Sniping tree.
Since I'm to lazy to scroll all the way down to the bottom, are you planning on doing another installment (I don't follow all the gaming news).
Why can't I burn the newsstand down, if there's always money in it?
SPOILER Hey, I understand the motivation for killing Roland to make you really really really want to kill Jack, but I didn't SEE Roland die. With the way your stories have been structured in the past, is there any chance that we haven't seen last of Roland? I mean, can't he have been discovered by pack of wild skags and taken in, then you have to train him back to being human?
I'm probably too late to get this one answered, but here goes.
I saw the answer about tiny tina and roland, and that made me wonder, any other story elements like that, that you really wanted to put in, but had to get cut?
T.K...
REALLY? D:
What did you think of Willowtree when you first heard of it, did you like the idea?
Are there any plans to have the Vault Hunters do something about Hyperion's moonbase? Every time I look at the moon, I feel like Hyperion is taunting me!
I am a big fan of Borderlands and recently bought Borderlands 2 when the Mac version was released. Aspyr, the guys who ported the game go the Mac, aaid it would take probably weeks before the Mac and the PC version would be in sync, so cross platform gaming is not possible. Could you pleas check if you can make the net code backward compatible, so that the PC version could successfully work with A game hosted by an "outdated" Mac version? Not really story related, but perhaps you could help?
Is it safe to assume there will be a Borderlands 3? Because SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
from someone who owns a PS3 the rare moments where i have gotten to play BL i have enjoyed more than any FPS, congrats for you have just converted me to XBOX.
Hey guys.
I would first like to say thank you for your contributions to these awesome games. My brother and I played the first Borderlands thoroughly and have dropped every game for the time being (Diablo III, League of Legends, Starcraft II, and a few other game we play), to religiously play Borderlands 2. It is a goddamn blast, with a sprinkle of adult humor that is the some of the first in video games to make us laugh simultaneously.
QUESTION: Do you guys play? If you do, which characters did you choose and why?
What made you guys think of theaon charecters?
This is the very first AMA I've been interested in. The Burches are geniuses.
I've played borderlands 1 and feel that I'm exhausted on the game play mechanics. The only reason I'll finish Borderlands 2 is because... well... I made it to Tiny Tina and internet stalked the hell out of the Burches to find out more about whoever's brain child that character was.
Hi Anthony, I work at a boys and girls club, and I have a teen that is just addicted to the game and loves it, you have any advice for someone that wants to get into designing and creating video games so he can just get his foot in the door.
Hey Anthony, When new HAWP Episode! (sorry if its already been asked).
do you and ash really have such a funny relationship outside of HAWP or are you really just 2 normal siblings?
Get me a job, you know you wanna ;)
HAWP-cast / Keeping It Real anytime soon?
Hey Anthony, I just wanted to say that I remember you from probably 5 years back or more from destructoid and seeing that youre the lead writer for this game is both awesome and inspirational.
Any advice for someone who might like to land a job in the video game industry in the future?
Again, congrats to you on your success and the incredible, amazing game.that is borderlands 2. (Funniest game I can remember)
will there be more Ash/Tiny Tina in future DLCs? I cannot get enough of her
Have you ever thought of doing an alternative serious dialogue set for borderlands 2?
where does the "dahl efficiency" skin come from x_x
Thank you guys for making such a great game! What gave you the inspiration for the Goliath character? He scares the piss out of me...
Can I just say thank you oh so very much for this game AND for making it 2 player split screen coop. Current game makers often forget that some people just like killing shit together on the same couch.
Care to explain why the Badass ranks gone bug? D:
Is there anyway we can get an MP3/WAV file of that Psycho reciting Shakespeare? Everytime it comes up in rotation I hide and listen to as much as possible.
frailtythynameiswoman
The Bane is terrible and awesome. We need to fly buzzards if there is a BL3. Would you consider using our music for future endeavors?
Hey guys, can we get a hint at the new DLC? Pretty Please? Also, who the Hell came up with CL4P-TP?
fuck, I'm late
Mr. Armstrong, why is the part selection on very rare/legendary weapons so limited?
All Purple guns have only ONE viable receiver and ONE Material per brand/weapon type. This both dramatically decreases the gun variety AND aesthetics.
I just want so say and admit that I really didn't like BL1 but rented BL2 and bought it the very next day. I have never played a better game. Its just so funny and awesome!
PS. You iz awesome
I know you may not be the person responsible, as this is more of a software thing, but I'm just curious: What's your opinion on the Bee nerf? Do you feel it was justified? Do you think it's a dumb idea? Would you change how it was done? Also, great job with the writing on both games. Amazing work you've done with the team at gearbox, and I want to commend you for that. Way to go.
Also this should have been an AMA not IAmA.
Two questions, but quick preface: I was a multiplayer programmer at Volition that worked on Red Faction: Guerrilla and Red Faction: Armageddon (left during RFA development).
- Did you play RFG multiplayer/what did you think about it?
- Did you play RFA/what did you think about it?
I've been watching HAWP forever and love it :-) Keep up the good work.
What do you wish you could take back now that the game is out? Do you wish there were some characters or aspects that you could rework or touch up?
CL4P-TR4P and GIR get into a fight, who would win?
Sheeeet. Well I have been a fan of Hawp for ages. I have your season 1 DVD and love it. I guess a question I have would be... Were you limited in creating Borderlands 2? I know how many beliefs you have about the game industry and I really feel like in the position of power you have right now that you could create some ground-breaking stuff. I just hope that you don't have people changing things and diluting potential amazing. My solution: make some cool indie games at some stage.
Also, Hey Ash.
If you could write a spin off or expansion what title would you like to try out?
Where did you get the idea for CL4P-TP? It is an ingenious character. Thank you for creating something so fun and enjoyable.
On a scale of 1 to 7 if I gave you a roofie...and had my way with you, What food would you be craving when the mixtape starts playing "Staying Alive"?
As one game dev to another, bravo for both. Really enjoyed both of them.
I complemented your beard.
Better still have it.
Also a serious question, do you think you guys will ever add another playthrough? I loved the story, wish I could replay it this time with my highest character.
Anthony, where did the inspiration for Handsome Jack come from?
Also, please tell me that Chris Rager will do more voicing in the upcoming DLC's. Please?
First of all I love your Rev. Rants, Hawp, and BL2. So here is my question not related to any of those things. If a Wizard and a Ninja fought who would win?
I love what you guys did in BL2 in terms of making each manufacturers very different. I especially love Tediore weapons because you can chuck them to reload. (Different animation are also a nice bonus).
Are there any manufacturers that didn't make it into the final game(s)?
First, thank you for creating the best video game I have ever played. Using character deaths to create dramatic tension, perfect balance between comedy and tragedy...you were excellent.
As for my question: How do you feel about players using exploits and/or glitches without explicitly hacking the game?
My best friend was diagnosed with liver cancer last year and a few months later his wife filed for divorce. He had months of chemo and radiation, hitch escalated to a 12 hour marathon surgery that tried to kill him twice. After a few months of what seemed like remission, more cancerous spots appeared on his liver, kidney and lung.
Needless to say the guy is pretty depressed, and doesn't have much to live for at the moment. Except for borderlands. The guy is a fanatic. I wrote this all out just to say thank you for giving my friend something to look forward to in an otherwise hell. And thank you also for giving me something to share with my friend.
Hey Anthony, gotta say you did an amazing job with BL2. I enjoyed the heck out of the first but BL2 was like Wrath of Khan compared to Star Trek the Motion Picture. Fantastic writing.
Especially Tiny Tina, her dialogue and Ash's voice acting crack me up every time. Put her in all future DLC's. It's like minting solid gold peanut butter cups!
Funnily enough, I first stumbled onto HAWP because of your "ending to Borderlands sucked" video. Circle of life man...
BTW, who's idea was it to put Fyrestone and parts of the old Arid Badlands in? Had such a great nostalgic feeling when I saw it.
I don't have a question but wanted to thank you for HAWP. Whenever a new one would come out me and my roommates would watch it together. My favorite one is the color blind episode.
Second, props to you for taking the time to go through so many questions and posts as a lot of AMAs fizzle out and hardly anyone gets their questions answered.
Please keep doing incredible work. I'd like to thank and congratulate you for being part of the first game to ever truly drop my jaw in awe.
Your job is my dream job. How do I get to where you are?
Gonna make this short because I'm really late to the party.
Love BL2. Awesome job! You and everyone else.
- Been a big fan of yours since Dtoid, and podtoid.
- Can we be best friends?
Hey, hey, hey Anthony.
How big of an influence did your dad have on you with games? I saw your fathers day video, but it was short. Is he proud of your ties and work in the industry?
Also, my boyfriend doesn't like HAWP, but then again, he gets drunk and listens to Taylor Swift.
First of all I'd like to say that I love your show, but my question is; where do you get your inspiration to write? Is it all just crammed in your brain? Or did you need external inspiration?
Do you have any idea why you can't playback echo recordings in BL2? I loved that feature in BL1, and I feel like I missed some bitchin' dialogue when I ran too far ahead.
Also, when did Roland go from "It's like Christmas!" and "All right! HEALS!" to all serious and whatnot?
In light of the comedic atmosphere the first game established, how much of the story writing process of Borderlands 2 was taken completely seriously in production?
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to...
Destructoid.
This isn't so much of a question, but more creative feedback.
In BL1 after opening the vault and continuing on into playthrough 2, i found i got bored quickly. The group i was playing with didn't get much further the second time through than 9 toes.
In BL2 though, after starting PT2 it was more a case of "awesome, we get to do all that again!"
Not sure if this was due to the storyline constantly remaining interesting with twists and turns and genuinely defining emotional moments bringing the characters to life, or simply the interesting and immersive game world design, but i it's clear everyone involved had a lot of fun making the game, because it's a lot of fun to play :)
I love you.
I have nearly 200 hours of Borderlands 2 played and it is easily my favorite game of all time. Except here's the problem: I can't open the game anymore. Apparently some file is corrupt and I know you're not tech support or anything but maybe you could lead me to someone that will help! Thanks for your time, I appreciate it!
Although a lot of my friends have played BL2 and don't take it seriously at all, I really liked the dark tone that the game has if you take a step back and look at what's really happening/has happened (things like Tiny Tina's backstory, all the murders, etc).
Also, are we ever going to learn what happened to the Dahl mining expedition or why they pulled out of Pandora?
Can you answer this question?
Anthony, was the original intention for the game's humor to have a rather caustic bent, or did it devolop out of the creation process?
the worst part of the original borderlands was it was short, and had no replay value, my friends and I beat it 1 time in about 3 days ( including all the quest). I haven't gotten the 2nd one yet, but I hear it is much better. if there is a sequel to BL2, will it be even longer and have more side missions or are you content with the content in BL2?
Will there be more Tiny Tina in the upcoming DLC?
Off topic, but is grant cushman gay / bi? If yes, is he single?
(there grant, now Anthony's ama mentions you again. ;D )
On a more serious note, how did you end up going from writing about games to writing borderlands 2? Did gearbox approach you or you them?
If you're still here, was Handsome Jack's face partially inspired by the character Pavi from "REPO: The Genetic Opera"?
I had no idea that was you in HAWP!
You are ever funnier than I originally gave you credit for, which is saying something.
Ok, now for the actual question (to both you and Mr Armstrong[if he feels like answering too]): which character (and build) is your favorite to play? And if that changes depending on whether you're soloing or co-oping, could you compare both?
Who came up with Tiny Tina? She's hilarious.
Dear Anthony and/or Matt, One, Borderlands is my favorite series evar. Two, what kind of advice would you give someone who has taken an interest in sound design for the video game industry? Love, DL
Has there ever been a moment within in the writing process for video games that was disenchanting. What I mean is, obviously you're passionate and happy about what you do but was there a point where you just had to trudge forward because you knew hard work would pay off?
Also, you make a damn fine short. A damn fine short.
Just finished BL2! I loved it.
The word "badass" appears in the game a lot -- an initiative of yours, or did the idea come from above?
Matt, what was the most for visually pleasing for you, gun in Borderlands 2?
Have you guys ever considered patching Borderlands 1 on PC?
Is there any ideas you have had for a game that you haven't seen in another game and wanted to put in one of your own if you got that chance? I don't mean in story as much but in world design, core mechanics or something like that?
Not a single post about Eridium? I was told it was gonna be super rare and now I'm wiping my ass with it.
Hello Anthony! What is it like writing for a video game? Day to day or overall experience. It would honestly be my absolute dream job. Even more so after watching interviews of you about Borderlands 2 - your passion for both video games and great stories/characters was very inspiring!
In what ways does videogame writing differ from writing prose/film/TV script? Obviously this differs depending on the format, but for Borderlands at least, what new challenges did it offer compared to your previous work on HAWP, for example? Since you need to be careful not to alienate the player and keep them involved without actually making them have a dialogue role, how did you approach that?
Also, I love the 'Keepin' it Real' interviews, but I actually really miss the standard HAWPcast format. You guys are very funny people, but also have really interesting views on random stuff I like, which has been sort of suppressed by the more structured interviews. Can we expect to see them make a return as well?
Finally, just wanted to say that I'm a big fan, and note that there is no fence on this fence. Thanks for doing the AMA.
On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the the most important, how important are the following aspects to make a really good game?
- Graphics/Aesthetics [incl. Leveldesign]
- Sound
- Story
- Refined (already existing) mechanics [i.e. Macro/Micro in RTS, Lootsystems]
- New mechanics/features [Tribes skiing in FPS]
Hi Anthony. I just wanted to say that I think your contributions to Borderlands 2 were easily the best parts of the game. I enjoyed BL1, but Borderlands 2 was so much more engaging, in no small part to the much improved storytelling and much more interesting characters, particularly Handsome Jack, which I feel is one of the best villains to come along in this medium in recent memory. Oh, and I'm a big can of HAWP. Thanks for being awesome!
Anthony, thank you for doing this AMA, but it appears that it is over. But I will ask anyway! Why is there no in game references to Gaige? Not even a wanted poster. I was quite disappointed in the "Everyone wants to be wanted mission" in the torgue DLC that Gaige doesn't even have a wanted poster!
I don't have question but my brother works for 2k and got an email from you once. I was pretty jealous, we're HAWP fans, so I just wanted to say hi on the AMA. You and your family are cool people, keep being cool. :)
I've always felt like the comedy style of the game was really similar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. When I saw you quote Mitch Hedberg it all made sense. It's irreverent I know, but it transitions into my question. I think..
Do you feel the content of the humor is more important, or do you feel the delivery is the more important aspect?
My friend has a nasty habit of repeating every line from the game, but with a monotone voice and no enthusiasm. To me that seems to completely dissolves the joke. That's irrelevant again, Sorry.
What is your favorite video game?
thank you for that claptrap dialog in the eridum blight specifically the final mission. I have not laughed that har in a long time
This question is for Matt. Where do you get your inspiration for all the guns that are being put into the game? Do you get them from other games, from feedback from the fans, from movies and comics, and/or from other sources?
So are you AN Anthony Burch, or THE Anthony Burch?
Who came up with the gem from the Torgue DLC where Moxie talks about Big Momma and says something to the effect of "Nobody eats my girlfriends but me." My buddy and I died laughing at that comedic gold. I can't find a link to it. I guess I'll have to play through again.
I just bought Borderlands 2 in the recent steam sale and I have to say I have really enjoyed it so far.
What is your favorite class?
What's your favorite game of all time?
Hey Anthony, let me just say you guys at Gearbox really made a great sequel for Borderlands! I've put in hour after hour on it, and I'm still very excited of what will be coming next
My question is this: Handsome Jack is by far, the greatest villain I have ever gone up against in a video game. He's a absolutely hilarious, and yet at the same time, he is extremely ruthless. How did the idea for making Handsome Jack as great a villain as he is come about?
I expect that you get a lot of negative feedback as well as positive feedback. How do you handle them both?
After such an amazing career at Destructoid, you got an amazing oportunity to wok on games in the real worlf, writing for one of the best written games of 2012. Looking to the future, due to your experience writing sequels is there aby posibility that you would consider writing for Aaron Lindes's Boner Quest 2, The Afterglow?
I hope I'm not too late but I wanted to ask, how does one become a writer for video games?
So how did you convince Randy Pitchford that he needed to take a punch to the balls?
This is gonna be a big one, how did you come up with CL4P-TP? GO!! Also, my favorite character is Sarcastic Slab :3
Hey guys, just wanted to say I'm a massive fan of Borderlands 1 and 2 and I a question for Anthony and a question for Matt
Anthony: How different is writing videogame dialogue to writing short film dialogue? As someone who is currently doing a film course that contains a module on scriptwriting I'd be very interested to know how do you profile the characters you created? Do you give them a brief history or write them an autobiography?
Matt: How difficult was it to make all the guns within the game look and feel different? I love how the guns sleekness and quality looks better the higher it's rarity.
Thanks for your time guys, thanks for Borderlands 2 which has kept me sane these last few weeks and keep doing what you guys do :) because you're doing it pretty bloody well
Did your dad do anything at Paxil prime other than people watch?
When are you guys going to release HAWP season 3 on DVD? Also you guys ever going to put out more merch? I mean I love the would you kindry shirt but I want to support you more damnit!
I wanted to just say Borderlands 1&2 are my favorite games of all time. I got all my friends into the game and even bought a few extra copies to make sure we all could play together. I do have a few questions for you (Anthony):
1). What made you want to critique/write video games? 2). How old were you when you played your first game and what is your favorite game?
Thanks for making the best game ever! :)
Anthony, I really dig seeing the Twitch streams as it's cool to hear you and the gang talk about the game and generally shoot the shit. Have you ever considered doing a Let's Play?
Also, what's up with Grant and horror games?
What are your Favorite games?
Hi Anthony, big fan here
What advice would you give any budding young writers?
What kind of freedom did you have to write Borderlands 2?
How awesome is Randy Pitchford?
How different is writing videogame dialogue to writing a short film?
Hello Anthony, I dearly love the podcasts you do with the whole HAWP team, it has made me burst out laughing in public on several occations, which is great. My questions: Are you already in the process of working out a new game? a new writer's world? are you working on new ideas in general? SPILL IT OUT, BURCH
i had no idea you did BL2 and are the same zen-like colorblind bastard from HAWP. i dig your work man. keep that shit up.
i need to find a way to get this game now
Your relationship with your sister in HAWP seems to legit to be fake, do you both drive each other crazy in real life as well?
Also: thanks for making me laugh my ass off in both HAWP and BL2, Tiny Tina is by far my favorite character in the series. There were times I had to pause the game because I was laughing to hard to continue.
How would you recommend a writer get into the narrative design field of video games? I'm in university right now and I really have writing for video games as my goal profession. How do you recommend getting first started in the field when you're at the level where you don't have connections or solid, game-writing experience?
Firstly, BL2 is without a doubt my favorite game this year, and I have laughed more times then I can count, so thank you. Second, is there any more character ideas floating around for DLC other then the Mecromancer? For the love of god, say yes. Thirdly, will the game come out for PS Vita? also say yes. And lastly, perhaps most importantly, what extents would you go to for a Klondike bar?
I asked earlier in the AMA if there were any references you made unintentionally, so here's the flipside - are there any references you made that completely went over people's heads/were too obscure?
Tamara sucks at diddy kong racing
Hey Anthony. I'm a huge fan of the Borderlands series and my signed BL2 poster is among my most treasured game collectibles. The writing in BL2 is awesome and I can't think of a single instance where I thought something was sub-par or pushing it too far. Great job so far.
Anyhoo, here's my question - I've been working in the games industry for a few years, first as a programmer and then as a customer support rep, and I'm trying to make a transition back into development. I've even applied to Gearbox since most of the stuff I've been working on lately is in UDK. Any advice on getting noticed as someone without a lot of hard experience?
Is this the place for the free blowjobs?
Yo Antonio Why does Tiny Tina seem more sane that Ash? This makes little sense considering that Tina is a 13 year old psychotic orphan and Ash is somewhat real.
If I paid for a plane ticket to New Jersey, would Ashly go to prom with me?
I say this cause celebrities are always going to prom with common people nowadays.
what is love?
Anthony! Me and my buddies from www.twinfinite.net got to interview you on the last day of E3, so I wanted to thank you for that opportunity.
Do you have any plans on working on any future Gearbox games?
Hey there, been a long time fan of yours back when you did Rev Rants on Destructoid. I also love HAWP with all of my heart and your panel from this year's PAX Prime was the very first thing I set out to see (It was also my first PAX ever!). Anyways, will we get any more season DVDs of HAWP? I own the two that are currently available and would LOVE to own season 3. Thanks!
PS- You should join us on some Friday Night Fights on Dtoid if you can!
Hi Anthony,
Love the BL2 work and HAWP stuff, got three questions: 1) From BL1, the only vault hunter who seemed to make the most drastic turn suddenly seems to be Roland. The remaining three were all kinda what you'd expect them to be, but Roland seemed like a complete 180. (No christmas references made me sad). Was this a day 1 decision?
2) The Launch trailer was awesome, and I was secretly hoping some of it would return in the game, which it didn't. Was that footage based on old cinematics that didn't find their home in the actual game and was written out?
3) Love the hawpcasts, but I have none of the old episodes. Is there a way to get them?
Anyways, love Borderlands 2 and Mr. Torgue's DLC :D
what inspired you to join the borderland team
ANTHONY! When is the S3 HAWP DVD coming? My DVD player has been craving it for far too long.
when the idea for cl4p-tp first came up was he intended to go insaine, or was he even in the game from the begining. are there any secret eastereggs noone has found yet... and as a student in college following a game writer career where would i go from college or how would i get about doing this? could i have an signiture?
Dang it, I had another question I forgot to ask... What can I do to facilitate you and Tim Schafer getting together and making what I assume would be the funniest adventure game of all time...? Please.
PS: Above all else, I'd love to know what you thought of Doritosgate... the Rab Florence saga, that unfolded over on Eurogamer. RPS had some great coverage on it!
Can you explain a double Keljore?
Whats a good way to get it the gaming industry Im a junior in high school and games like the original borderlands and the mass effect games have inspired me to work for someone like gearbox, riot or bioware im planning on going to itt tech or full sail university for game design so any tips would be helpful.
Those first dozen podcasts were outstanding, thanks for that. Just the Two of you retelling old stories was fun to listen to.
Did anything ever come out of the adaption of the Cookie Day story someone asked you about?
Have you played any of the NOLF games? I am just replaying them these days and amazed how good they hold up. The sneaking feels tight and the writing is great. Plus: it is so refreshing to play a female protagonist in such a male dominated genre.
What is the writing process for a game? I can't imagine they must wait for you to have an entire script before they begin working, so do you have to rush to give basic outlines or do you work off of level and character designs given to you and then get to sort of play with the world?
Sub-question: I would love to hear how the word "bonerfarts" came to be, assuming there is even a story other than "someone said that thing that one time and we all laughed and laughed and then I put it in a game."
I hated the gun system in BL1. Procedural stuff is great, but I wish the devs hadn't made every gun random, but constrained the generation to common/uncommon/rare builds.
What are your feelings on PCG in AAA titles?
Click Restore to load this comment.
Asking again.
Duke Nukem Forever. What was your involvement in that project? (For the record i liked the game)
Anthony had almost no involvement. I personally had almost no involvement. We were quite busy on Borderlands 2 at the time.
Hey anthony i got a question... Does it bother you that in most HAWP episodes you're generally portrayed as the butt of all of ashley's jokes?
3 questions 1.Is papa hodunk scooters father? 2.Can you explain what a seraph guardian is and where they get there power from? 3.Does axton still care about his wife?
Can i expect a BL 3?
Just wanted to say the game has been making me laugh so far.
What isn't funny how it's giving me a pile of really awesome fire weapons before introducing me to the Pyro Nomad.
Seriously I have 3 weapon slots with fire weapons, a fire damage shield, and a fire damage grenade. What a time to find out about "resist".
Anthony Burch I am incredibly late to this AMA but I just want to say I am IN LOVE with your HAWP. I knew you were involved with Borderlands, but I'd be lying if I knew that you were the lead writer.
You seem like an incredible guy with an incredibly sense of humor, and I can now connect the dots as to why I find the dialogue in the Borderlands universe to die for. Thank you so much for the great work.
On to my question: Does Papa Burch know how hilarious he is or does he just do the videos because you ask him to and think "God that shit is stupid" while he does it?
EDIT: Also, your wife (Fiance? Girlfriend?) is damn cute.
Hi Anthony, I highly commend you and your writing team for creating some of the most hilarious lines I've ever heard in a video game.
Matt, the look and feel of the Borderlands universe is so unique that I was immediately drawn in when I first laid eyes on it. Great job!
Question for Anthony: It seems like you've either been writing commentary and critiques of games for some years with the work you did on the Destructoid podcast and your Rev Rants as well as the recent writing you've been doing for HAWP.
Did all these factors coalesce to landing you the job of lead writer for BL2? Was it a series or following up with contacts in the industry? Did you become an executives lap dog? Did the job fall out of the sky for you?
I have no idea how writing gigs in the video game industry are found but I'd love to know more.
My game has been periodically freezing on me. Sometimes when it quicksaves, sometimes at the black screen crediting the tech used, sometimes because it hates me. I've tried the recommended 'delete all the dlc, patches, format the hard drive, and reinstall'. It didn't work.
When can I hope for a patch for this? Currently my game is unplayable.
On 360, btw.
hello, are you really a reverend?
bye.
Ok,im gonna have to ask this one.
Duke Nukem Forever.
Yes,for better or for worse it came out(i liked the game) but obviously many people were against alot of the decisions that 3DRealms had made during development. And obviously there was a backlash to these decisions(mostly to its HL2 esque approach to overall design).
My question is thus:Has Gearbox taken into consideration the feedback(both negative and positive) into Duke 5/Begins that Triptych is also working on?
Also what was your involvement in that particular project?
Big fan.
How long is your wee wee?
Also, this probably doesn't concern you, but I just wanted to say: 2K games customer service sucks...Remember the Gearbox Community Day livestream? None of the winners (I was one of them) have gotten their prize. I've sent emails asking for updates and I get told to wait. It's been over two months and I feel thoroughly annoyed.
Though maybe it's the suppliers. I dunno. Just venting.
is the AMA over?
Going to be truthful, never played the games but still would like to take the chance to ask; I'm hoping to go to Uni next year to write scripts for games like yourself. I come up with game ideas in my constantly, so do you have any advice on how to so and how to get started in the industry. Also what is your main source of inspiration?
Why the hell hasn't this IAmA got more upvotes!
guns in bl1 look way different then bl2 why is that?
Don't you or any of your co-workers, perhaps during the wee hours of the morning when the absolute silence invites the conscience to talk the loudest, have any shame about plagiarising Codehunters?
Codehunters hardly invented the cell-shaded art style, so unless you're arguing that setting Borderlands in a wasteland is plasgiarism, I don't see how the accusation has much weight. You could argue that the concept for Borderlands was inspired by Codehunters, but being a dick about it is just, well...dickish.
Click Restore to load this comment.
Who is your favorite pony?
is there offline death match in borderlands
Do you fear that your sense of humor is exactly the same as the epic movie guys?
If you don't fear that, why? Your brand of humor revolves around "LOL remember this HAHAHAHAHHA"
Also, why are you such a dick to Yahtzee for saying he didn't like your shitty game?
Seriously? Me pointing out, "hey, Yahtzee stopped playing the game after A Train To Catch" is being a dick?
I acknowledge that if he didn't like the game, he made a perfectly valid decision to stop playing it. He is in no way required to finish games he doesn't like -- that's one hundred percent okay.
I just pointed out that making general statements about the story like "Wilhelm was built up as a badass and then was a chump" without getting further into the story and finding out that, hey, there's a narrative reason Wilhelm is a chump is kind of like playing BioShock, stopping halfway through, and then saying "the story's kind of lame because I put this plasmid in my arm at the beginning for no reason and it made no sense." Yahtzee's complaint was that the entire story never actually raised the stakes in any serious way, which is a hard critique to accept when he hadn't yet beaten the first act yet. "The beginning of the game has a weak story," I would accept. "I haven't played the whole game but it seems like the story is kinda lame," I'm fine with. Saying "nothing happens in the entire story" without having actually played through the entire story, I felt, was kind of a weird thing to say.
What made you think it was a good idea to make it meme after meme after pop culture reference with no real writing? Ruins the game.
I'm really surprised so many people have had this reaction. I understand that the memes aren't funny -- I get that they come off like a 50 year old trying to sound hip and with it, I do -- but they only appear in the challenge names and skin/head titles. The main plot and sidequest don't have you go meet Chuck Norris or anything like that.
I mean, it's perfectly valid to hate the meme stuff, but I really don't get where the "this game is literally memes and nothing else" mentality comes from.
Coming at the writing from the perspective of a writer, I thought most of the content in BL2 leaned too much towards the puerile, dropping in cheap toilet jokes and sacrificing actual character development in favor of canned plot ideas. I know it's difficult to write intricate content for a video game due to the open, interactive nature of the medium, but there are better, funnier ways to convey humor than dropping in the word bonerfart or having Tiny Tina spout out a few ghetto lines (ditch her now, please). While the writing in the original BL was a little less cohesive, it didn't fall for this trap, and characters like General Knoxx were hilarious (Mr. Torgue is, too, so nice work on that!).
Otherwise, though, the writing is interesting and entertaining and I definitely commend you on that!
I don't know why, but your condescension actually irritated me more than all the open hostility in the troll-y comments combined.
Month-late reply! Writer here also. Don't listen to this douche. There are so many different comedic story types. You went the hip/toilet-humor route and absolutely fucking nailed it (TT included). The actual translation of his comment: "I'm a writer, which has nothing to do with anything, and I didn't find the game funny because I'm a hipster with a stick up my poophole."
Love your work, dude. Any game or show you write, I'm consuming, for life. Thanks man.
I bought BL2, having never played BL1. I didn't enjoy it.
Visually, it was a lot of fun. I even really liked the story, as far as I saw. I expected a first person shooter, which it was not...
Thanks for the AMA though!
How do you respond to the videos that prove you being a giant hypocrite(interviews when you said one thing about bl2, and none of this happened)? Why is memelands so pretentiously badly written? Why is Brick suddenly black, Lilith is 5 years old single child, Roland is a pussy, Mordecai is mexican and Bloodwing is female? Why is borderlands the best port ever, yet it's so shallow and boring? Why Handsome Jack is so pointlessly stupid, when he could be absolutely best antagonist in gaming for last 5 years? Why claptrap changed from "funny little robot" into this absolutely disgusting piece of scrap which doesn't resemble old one at all? Which demographic did you try to aim at with this so-randumb-meme-jokes "story"? Why is the one fully redeeming factor in borderlands (visual style) actually, let's not lie here, stolen? I bought BL2 on release, yet I barely finished it once! Only thanks to my awesome co-op partners. Borderlands 1 had so much potential, why did you waste it?
I don't understand how someone who wrote the mostly hilarious dialogue for Borderlands 2 can be involved in "HAWP", that shit show is some of the most embarassing stuff I've ever come across.
Why did you kill Scooter?
Edit: All the downvotes for a joke. :/
why is the team lazy with humor? for instance, unfunny unoriginal memes
Click Restore to load this comment.
Can I have a free copy of Borderlands 2 please?
Anthony, why do you smell and why do you in fact have the poopy butt all along I'll take my answer off the air.
Dear Ashly,
Fuck you,
Love Anthony
PS fuck you
If /u/PowSmash is actually Ash, then TIL Ash is a bit of a relationship guru.
Edit: gooder spelling.
Whether or not it is Ash, I can't help but read any of those posts in her voice.
*betterer spelling
Hey
I see you troll
I'm colorblind too! High five?
I’ll take this one. Anthony smells because otherwise he would be unable to tell an orange from a lemon. He is, after all, color blind. He’s frankly running low on senses as it is. The poopy butt is hereditary. At least that’s what he told me.
You tried the invisible trick yet? He still doesn't know I've been coming into his house and stealing his cereal.
Holy Smackeral, when she's not an on-air psychotic... she's a relationship psychiatrist.
TIL Ash only comments in /r/relationships
Ash is on reddit. Awesome. Great job with Tiny Tina btw. One of my favorite characters in Borderlands 2.