The One Who Resurrected Duke Nukem: Interview With Randy Pitchford, Gearbox Wizard
RUVDS together with Habrom continue the project consisting of a series of interviews with interesting, in our opinion, people in the IT environment. Last time, we met Richard (Levelord) Gray, designer Duke Nukem, American McGee's Alice and many other popular games.
Today we bring to your attention an interview with Randall Steward "Randy" Pitchford II. Randy is the president, CEO and co-founder of Gearbox Software.
Quick Reference: Pitchford worked for some time in 3D Realms, where he contributed to the development of Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition and Shadow Warrior.
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With Gearbox Software, Pitchford created Half-Life: Opposing Force (for which he received an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, as the best action game of 2000 on a PC), Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life: Decay, Counter -Strike: Condition Zero, James Bond 007: Nightfire, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Halo: Combat Evolved for PCs and of course Borderlands.
Habra editor Nikolay Zemlyansky, Richard (Levelord) Gray, spouse Randy Christie Pitchford and his son Randy Jr. took part in the interview.
Hello!
I talked about different things. DevGAMM had Russian game developers, mostly indie developers, like Gearbox. The best I could do was share the experience I gained in my work. The one that helped Gearbox achieve current results. That would be useful to the audience.
I talked a little about Gearbox history, a little about my entertainment philosophy and relationships that we need to maintain with the audience. He told about our values, our mission, that they are used by me and my company as a guiding star. So that we can always understand where we are going and what our goals are. It really helps us for 20 years. Gearbox Studios is already 20 years old, and this is a great achievement for a game developer.
Of course, I talked about Borderlands 3, I even showed a trailer.
At the speech, I presented Borderlands as the highest grossing project of Gearbox. In many ways, Borderlands has become a transitional project for us, allowing us to grow and try new things - for example, to become a publisher. Prior to Borderlands, Gearbox depended entirely on other publishers who supported us and helped reach the audience. But with Borderlands, we have the capacity and resources to come to the audience directly and help others do it as a publisher. This includes various activities - from marketing to production and distribution of physical copies of games in stores, direct interaction with different platforms: Steam, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo. And of course, Apple, Google, and indeed with all the platforms where they play games. Borderlands became a kind of pivot point with which we achieved the right balance.
Well, this is teamwork. It all started with an idea. She did not appear in the offices of Gearbox, she was in my head and among those who came to Gearbox. The idea was this. All fan first-person shooter is made up of individual episodes. It occurs at specific moments of the game, when you move, dodge, aim, shoot at a target, see the result. This fun comes in bursts, and at such times you like to play first-person shooter.
But there are completely different games. I loved these games before Wolfenstein 3D changed everything for me. I'm talking about role-playing games. In them, the fun never concentrated in specific moments, it was with you all the time - when you received new levels, experience, equipment. For example ... did you play Diablo?
For me, Diablo is a graphic version of one of my favorite games, Hack. Or NetHack. In it, directly with the help of text symbols, you drew a hero and monsters in dungeons. The plus sign was a door, and when you opened the door, there was another door behind it or something else.
Yes it is. Think about the principle of the game in Diablo? You move the cursor, press the buttons. Just like when you move the cursor on the desktop and click the icons. In Diablo, the whole point is not in motion, but in getting new things, getting stronger, discovering something new.
And that's what I thought. Fan first-person shooter - aim, dodge, shoot. He does not exclude the fan of role-playing games, more long-playing. You can connect episodic and long-playing fan together in one game. This was the beginning of the Borderlands.
All the games I worked on in their concept combine some history, style and design. Sometimes it all starts with a story — like, for example, Brothers in Arms. What if we became soldiers of World War II and fought with other soldiers? It all started with a story, and then style and design were brought up. Sometimes it all starts with style ... did you play in Mirror's Edge?
I think ... I do not know for sure, but I suppose that this game began with style. Rendering and art direction pulled the design and history behind them. I did not work on this project, but I think that this was the case. The idea is that the idea can start with one element, and the rest will follow. In Borderlands, everything exactly began with design, with the principle of combining a first-person shooter and role-playing game. It was as if Doom had met Hack. Or Halo with Diablo, if we talk about more modern games. Nobody did that before. And we thought that we could do it, that it needed to be done. The universe and history have already appeared after him, as well as style.
If we make a first-person shooter, and part of the game is to kill everyone and pick up their belongings, then we need to make sure that you remain a good guy. And the Borderlands universe allows it. We combine science fiction and western.
I was asked why the game is called Borderlands. It makes no sense. When we imagine what Borderlands means in English, it does not appear as a planet. This is part of some place. But I called the game so not because I wanted to show exactly this place. I put a broader meaning. The story and the universe of the game lie between science fiction and the western.
And in terms of game design, Borderlands is between the role-playing game and the shooter. Even her style is also in a borderline position, between the realistic and the surreal. The art direction is fantastic, it's almost a graphic novel. But at the same time everything is absolutely according to the rules of the game universe. You start and immediately feel the universe with style.
In general, a borderland is such an uncomfortable, uncomfortable position between two things. For example, there is a road, and grass grows along the road. In some places the road cracked, the asphalt crumbled and grass made its way through it. And this part is more like a road, the road is broken. But it is also not grass, there is both here and there. Something third, and his name is borderlands.
We made Borderlands 3 so that you can play it, even if you don't know what happened before. If you are a fan of Borderlands, then you will find many discoveries. If you’ve never played Borderlands before, we’ll take care of you. We made it so that people who had not played before in Borderlands, plunged into the game as if they did not miss anything. They are perfectly mastered and live a new story. But if you have played in the Borderlands before, the characters and the universe will give you more.
So if you have not played Borderlands 2, then I recommend: it is very fun! In such matters, I use my wife as a litmus test. She is a gamer, but she doesn't always like the games I do. We work in a team, and there are a lot of amazingly talented people around me. I am proud to work with them, that we do something as a team. But sometimes something that does one does not like another. Some like some games, others like other games. And I felt that we did it when my wife - and she is a fan of Borderlands, went through the second part six or seven times - in the last two weeks she returned to the first Borderlands and began to replay, now several times.
Yes, it's awesome when your wife likes what you work on with the team. But this is not always the case, this is not always the case.
I do not want to upset you, but this is not my decision. The game is published by 2K Games, it has publishing rights. and 2K Games is Take-Two Interactive brand. My company is Gearbox Software, we own the Borderlands, and we created the game. But the publishing license belongs to 2K, and they decide where the game will be published, on which platforms.
They decided to enter into an exclusive agreement with Epic. Take-Two - public company; at least it was when I checked it. They are businessmen, unlike us, artists and creatives. They love to make money. I’m sure they did this because it was the best way to make money. I also think that they work in the interests of buyers. A business like 2K cannot be successful without taking into account the interests of customers. I think many more factors are involved.
As for me ... I am not upset about their decision. I remember when Steam was launched, and many were against it. I remember how I bought Half-Life 2, and I could not play it until I installed Steam and went online. Changes are hard to come by, in life everything goes by inertia.
Do you know what inertia is? This is a scientific term, it has two meanings. If the object moves, then by inertia it will continue to move. If it stands still, it will. And it suits everyone. But inertia works not only in physics, but also in our character, in personality and in activities. Many people fear change. But without change the future does not come. So it will be fun. Anyone who wants to play, in the end can do it on any desired platform.
I remember when we did Borderlands 2 ... or 1 ... the main complaint was that we do not have a version for Linux. We made Borderlands 2 for Linux! The number of people who played this version ... very upset. Very little. I do not know if this example is appropriate, but it seems to me that if people are interested in content, they will search for it and find it, wherever it is. Let's see what happens. I want everyone to play our game. As a creator, I want everyone to try it, because this is our mission in the world of entertainment.
In general, I am often visited by such paradoxical thoughts. On the one hand, I have to be at the forefront, motivate for change. On the other - I just want people to have fun, this is what gives meaning to me and my company. Let's see what will happen.
It was so fun. Half Life itself, history, art, content - everything was beautiful. This work was a privilege for us, we were very pleased. When we first started, I went to Valve and threw an idea to them: what if we play on behalf of opponents, a soldier? Not on behalf of Gordon and scientists, but on behalf of those people who broke in and should destroy everything?
I liked the idea and sent me to Sierra Online - then the rights to Half-Life belonged to them. Here the idea also came, we made an agreement and now we could do what we want. We were able to pack our ideas into the world of Half Life, we loved Half-Life and wanted to do everything very carefully. Of course, our progress was observed from the outside. And if we did something that nobody would like, or were not consistent enough, then the project would probably be interrupted. But almost no one indicated anything to us, there were almost no restrictions.
I want to remember also the third game in the Half-Life universe - Half-Life: Decay.
Yes, she was cooperative and came out for PS2. It was fun. In Opposing Force you were a soldier, in Blue Shift - a security guard, and in Decay I wanted ... did you play Half Life?
Remember when Gordon Freeman gets a HEV suit? There are three capsules, and only in the center there is a suit, and the two extreme ones are empty. Who took these costumes? In Decay, you play for those who took them. You already know one character - this is Gordon's trainer, Gina. She was present earlier in the form of a hologram, but a real person was hidden behind her. One costume was with her, and the other was with a new character, Colette Green. The two remaining costumes were Gina and Colette. In Half Life: Decay was a cooperative game - one played for Gina, the other for Colette. We could play together, solve puzzles to go on.
Yes, on a single screen, divided, this is a console game. We saw each other, but the screen was divided. I do not remember, horizontally or vertically, it seems we were giving a choice.
We did everything consistently. Remember when, at the beginning, Gordon slides the sample into the reactor, and this causes a cascade resonance that has created a breakthrough between our world and the world of Zen. The sample rises from the bottom through the elevator. In Decay, you become a scientist who delivers a sample to Gordon. You're down! You prepare the sample, push it in, press the button, the sample rises - and you can hear everything happening from the side.
Yes, we had a lot of fun making it all. You see the story from different perspectives, it turned out a real crossover. When we started Gearbox, our first project was Half Life: Opposing Force. There were only five of us, and by the time the game appeared in stores, it was already twelve.
Imagine. We are 12 people. In the Opposing Force there seemed to be 45 cards. The original Half-Life was 88 or so. The Opposing Force addon was half the size of a Valve game. Valve had 40-50 people, and they spent 3 years on the game. We finished in 8 months with 12 people. Incredible. Each of us played different roles at once. I was a screenwriter, designer, producer and director. About a third of the levels I did myself as a level designer. The game had terrible code and scary textures that I made myself. The cool people on our team did a great job, for example, Stephen Bal made all the soldiers and about two thirds of all the monsters and weapons. Several types of monsters and weapons made Landon, along with some textures. Brian also created monsters, as well as many textures that we used later. Rob made a lot of sound effects that we used - and he was also a left-handed designer, made about a fifth of all levels. Everyone did everything.
Yes, and today 400 people work on Borderlands 3. The scale is great, and we are working on the game ... the first time I did something for the third part five years ago. The scale is completely different.
Yes, it was almost "forever". Not really, but almost.
I would not even say mixed, the reviews were pretty bad. It was a crazy situation. I left 3D Realms in 1997 ... yes, in 1997, and we’ve been working on Duke Nukem Forever for several months. I left 3D Realms, joined another company, the company went broke, then I founded Gearbox. The whole company managed to open and go broke. In 1999, I founded Gearbox. We developed all the Half Life games, all versions for different platforms, all add-ons, James Bond game, Tony Hawk's ProSkater game, Samba de Amigo, Halo for PC, Brothers in Arms, Borderlands. They did all this while 3D Realms continued to work on Duke Nukem: Forever. Throughout the history of Gearbox, even after the release of Borderlands, 3D Realms worked on Duke Nukem: Forever.
I remember when I was still working in 1997 in 3D Realms, we were developing another game - Prey. She used a new technology that was just emerging - a graphic 3D accelerator. This is the board that you inserted into the PC, and it accelerated the 3D graphics. Prior to this, everything was processed by the processor at the software level. When I got my first 3dfx graphics card, I thought: this is incredible! I launched the original Tomb Raider and thought: wow! 3D graphics! I had a Matrox video card, and I ran one of the versions of Quake on it. As a developer, I needed Matrox cards.
I remember, we somehow worked on Duke Nukem: Forever - I was actually not in the team at that time. We only got 3dfx and Matrox. And at one point, it was then decided: we will make Prey for 3D maps, but Duke Nukem will be released earlier and will be adapted for software rendering for now. Imagine: 3dfx appeared, gave a good start to the industry of 3D-cards, passed the whole development cycle and was eliminated. 3dfx no longer existed as a company, all within the Duke Nukem: Forever development cycle.
I remember at the dawn of Gearbox in Wired magazine - do you have a Wired in Russia? - then Wired used the term "vaporware". “Vapor” is about something that really isn't, like a ghost. And "ware" is from software. Vaporware is a software that was promised, still ghostly and unreal. Someone wrote an article about Duke Nukem and called it “vaporware”. Now this term may already be in the dictionaries, it is settled.
The following year, Wired made a new article entitled “Vaporware of the Year Awards”. They made an award that was given to all the developers of such software. There was a lot of awards for technical, specialized software. Wired talked about one vapoware, a friend, a third one and so on until the end of the article, where they presented the “No. 1 Vaporware of the Year Award” award ... Duke Nukem: Forever.
They handed it to Duke Nukem the following year. And a year later. And a year later, for now ...
10 years! A whole decade! And after 10 years in Wired they wrote: we give Duke Nukem: Forever a lifetime reward, we will not talk about it anymore, this is the king of vaporware, which no one will overthrow. Yes, Duke will not do anything in half and even among the vaporware will be king.
Yes, even though this should not happen. The guys ran out of money, and they closed.
I think it's all about expectations. Well, in the game itself. It reflects the history of its creation. I am not objective: I believe that I owe much of my Duke Nukem career. When I joined the Duke Nukem 3D team in 1996, it was my first commercial game. When I was working on Duke Nukem Plutonium Pak and Atomic Edition, which were shipped in a bundle, these were my first commercial games. I worked in 3D Realms just a year before I set up my company, but I felt I owed it a lot. I can not be objective.
When 3D Realms closed and left the employees with nothing, the company management thought that you could just raise your hands and say "well, that's all." But the publishers - we had previously discussed the difference, the publishers are promoting the game, deciding where to sell it and are interested in money - the publishers began the trial with 3D Realms, with George Broussard and Scott Miller. It was impossible to just get up and leave.
Take-Two, as well as Borderlands. They filed a lawsuit against George Broussard and Scott Miller. “You can't just go and leave. We have invested millions in this game. ” You have obligations.
Yes, the development took 15 years, and Scott and George thought they could just drop everything. But there was a problem. They made a deal and pledged to make the game - but did not make it. In addition, they personally took a lot of money from Take-Two, a lot of money. Take-Two said that the money must be returned, but the guys have already spent the money.
So, 3D Realms has problems. Big problems. We started discussing them with George and Scott.
Yes, I already worked at Gearbox, it was 2009 or 2010.
No. Absolutely none, since I left 3D Realms in 1997 until the time when George, Scott and I sat down in 2010 to discuss the closure of Gearbox. George and Scott had problems. They got a lawsuit and needed help.
What I felt about this. Imagine yourself driving alone on a highway in Siberia. No one for miles around. And suddenly you see a car accident: fire, blood, corpses. What will you do? Stop or go further?
Of course, most will stop. Now imagine: you recognize the car, and this is the car of people close to you. For example, your first boss who sent you to the profession. And while you head a whole column - an ambulance, tractor, utility vehicles. There is no one around.
That was us. We have agreed that I undertake obligations under the claim to them. I went under the bullets. Take-Two no longer suing 3D Realms, George Broussard and Scott Miller. They sued me.
I relied on two things. The first is my relationship with Take-Two, because they have already published Borderlands, which has become a big hit. I thought that in this situation they would go forward. I knew that Take-Two wanted the game. And I knew something else - Scott and George in a personal meeting told me that. They fired all-all developers and shut down the company. But there are a lot of people in the team, and they have been working on Duke Nukem for more than 10 years. They devoted themselves entirely to this game. And what happened was not their fault - George and Scott did not know how to handle the money and were forced to dismiss them. It was a big surprise for everyone.
But no one wanted to throw. Everyone was eager to make a game. And some guys still had money to continue - even without a salary. And one of the employees - Allen Bloom, who stood at the origins of Duke Nukem even when it was a side-scroller - he, producer David Rigal, and several other guys continued to work. They were fired from the studio, the studio was destroyed, they did not have access to work computers. They took computers from home, brought them to someone, set up and continued to work.
Almost half of the staff did this. I do not remember the exact figure, but they continued to work. And you know what you did? They sewed together everything that they had and got the game, with the beginning, the end, the middle and all the necessary content.
And they let me play. I played. And it was pretty cool! I could not even believe that this game exists, because for me Duke Nukem was the one that helped me get into the industry in 1997. I looked at the new Duke and understood - here he is! I did not expect anything like it. I know how to make games, I know how difficult it is for a 3D Realms company to compete in the market.
I thought it would be a nightmare, but when I played, I saw something cool there. It was fun to play! It was Duke Nukem. I could not believe that I play it. My expectations were about here [shows], and the game was at this level [shows]. For me it was wow!
The condition that Take-Two will take the claim was that the game will appear in stores. So we needed producers. We signed a contract with the producers to finish the work - and they finished! Our producers and their developers have finished the game. When you run it, you see "Gearbox Software presents a 3D Realms game"
Yes! Then we went with her to Penny Arcade Expo . Everyone thought that Duke Nukem will not work, because the studio was closed. By the time the game has already become a legend, people have been talking about Duke Nukem for more than ten years.We took a big stand and closed it with a black cloth so that no one could see anything in advance. And as soon as the exhibition opened, we removed the fabric.
There are videos on the Net, as people run into the exhibition, straight to the next game show, run past Duke Nukem, turn around, slip, double-roll back to return to Duke Nukem. For 15 minutes, an eight-hour queue has assembled. The game has become the number one topic on Twitter. Trailer became the most popular gaming trailer for the year, ahead of Call of Duty. Everyone was crazy with thoughts, what kind of hit they have prepared.
Everyone gladly tried our craft, and it tasted pretty good. It could be done cooler. Maybe it would be different if I were a publisher. This is all a matter of waiting. The game turned out the way it was supposed to be - popcorn shooter, bi action movie. But she was funny, crazy, funny, sometimes absurd. There is a moment where you fall off and run around the diner, jumping on french fries. The game is absolutely absurd. This is not the best game of all time, but it is fun.
If you expected it to be the best game of all time, you get a critical difference in expectations, think “to hell!” And your personal assessment of the game becomes lower than fair. My situation is reversed, as we remember, my expectations were low. What had to be done was not to sell this game as AAA for the full price. It had to be sold in a brown cardboard box and called Duke Nukem Forever: Bootleg Edition. She was not supposed to exist. After closing 3D Realms, the game consisted of individual pieces that the team collected and stitched together.
It was worth selling bucks for 20. And writing something like “It should not have existed. But if you are interested in how the last 15 years have passed, then hold on. ” Then the initial expectations would be completely different, and we would have a better chance of success. I think if today people come back and look at the game, given the realities of the market and what the team went through ... Duke Nukem will look charming.
But Duke Nukem fueled great expectations. 10 years, George and Scott told everyone that this would be the best game of all. When you say that, and then you don’t, that’s all, the end. You're in deep trouble. But the game had to come out necessarily under the contract, it came out, and now we can do something further.
Yes, of course, buy the version on the PC and replay. It is now cheap, it will cost five dollars. She's funny, I'm sure you will have fun. You will remember how you had fun in this game, and at the same time even forget some other, better ones. There is something special about it.
Are you a magician ?!
Yes!
Oh, you brought cards!
Yes it's good. We have a few advertising cards here, jokers. Do you have a favorite card?
Oh, I was close, I thought you would say a dozen rush.
So here are a dozen of rush. Put your hand like this, but relax your thumb, because I will insert a card there. Here is a ten peak, look, if you do not believe
Here I have a dozen clubs. Relax finger, I'm not good at it. Now I will quickly change your card. If I have a ten peak, what have you got?
If I return the card to you, what will you have?
Ready to be surprised?
Do not want to show first to the camera?
In fact, I have them ...
Here they are. Anyone can do this. Let's try more difficult. Can you interfere with the cards?
You really want me to teach you the trick. I can show one.
I'll show you the focus, and then, when we turn off the camera, I will teach him to do it. I swore never to give out secrets. So, now everything suits. I will not even touch them? Is the floor visible to the camera?
Can you remove about half the cards?
I will roughly mark the place so that we do not lose it. Okay.You just saw me do the trick. You know that I am a magician and I can manage maps. But if you mix it up and take it off, then you know for sure that I cannot control the situation. All honest, you can check it is very important. I'll show you the card you took off, but I’ll turn away. Had seen?
Yes, you will have to find and show yourself then
Let me help you. Now we have a demonstration. Now I will throw cards one by one. You look at the cards - I look at you. You look at the cards - I look at you. If you see your map, your task is not to let me know that you saw the map. Because my task is to understand by your reaction that you saw your map. Look at the cards and hold the poker interface. When you see the card, do not react.
[throws cards]
Only one card remains in my hand. We argue for anything - for a thousand rubles - that the next card I turn upside is the one you were looking at.
Look, here is the map.
I had to somehow determine which card is yours. Want me to teach you this trick?
Randy, it's so unexpected and nice to see you in Moscow.
What are you doing here, Richard?
I can not believe that you left small Garland in Texas, where we worked, and moved here to Moscow.
I like it here!
Of course!
I think it's great! I remember - and you remember - when everything was just beginning, it was available to very few people. You had to have access to the technology, to the tools, or to create the necessary tools yourself. Today, computers are available to everyone, because everyone has a telephone.
Yes, everyone has a telephone and Internet access. And that means you have access to everything. We live at a time when all the information is available, you can find it and use it for your work. You can study on your own. Therefore, we now have more game developers than ever. In game development, interaction is very important, so this situation is only for the better.
You can't do something good until you have tried it many times. Many start, do some shit, understand why it happened, do it again, repeat, repeat and finally come to the fact: oh, I'm already good at it! Here we need practice, we need to repeat.
This is not a problem at all.
The way it is. The team Borderlands 300-400 people. (Yes, this is a lot) This is really a lot! Do you remember how we all could stay in one room?
Yes, now a lot of time is spent on the organization, but do you know what? Thanks to this, specialization is now developing. One person can focus on one thing and do it very well, because he doesn't need to worry about everything else. The main thing here is to know that everyone is doing his own business, so that we can put everything together and take a step forward. This is very cool, this is just what I like today.
Yes, the whole level design has changed since we started. But level designers still exist, and some of them are involved in level geometry. They bring together what others are doing and are more concerned with designing the gameplay, the gaming space. Now we divide the creation of the game world into two parts - this is the design of the game level and the environment. And the design of the game level is divided further - the creation of architecture and scripts. And the environmental specialists put all the pieces together, from the elements. Everything is constantly divided by specialization.
Hah, Richard, you unhappy man!
Actually, I understand you. When we made the first game in Gearbox - it was Half Life: Opposing Force - as I said, there were only 12 of us. And I had to do a lot, I actively invested in the game, because I had no choice. Now I am only one of the 400 participants in the project.
Yes.And even though I bear the greatest responsibility, my role is one four hundredth. This is the work of the team. Everything we do is a common result. I made some contributions entirely by myself - I drew a logo, came up with a name. These are little things that everyone knows about.
But most of my work is behind the scenes, it is not easy. For example, when it comes to design principles or a game design system that extends beyond the same level. I don’t decide, for example, whether to put this door here - I don’t remember when I last put the doors on levels. I operate with larger entities and systems that must exist together.
Yes. This is hard.
This is how to comment on your code so that you don’t forget the important one.
It's great. Thanks to the success, Borderlands Gearbox was able to try itself as a game publisher. We help small games to enter the market. We have now published such a game, Risk of Rain 2. Three people worked on it. Three persons! The game is great! I played it and thought: God, that’s what the Borderlands would look like if we had ...
No, if we had 20 people. Those three did so well. Great thing, play, very fun.
Yes, you know who to contact.
Are you sure that 25 years old?
Let's go back for 25 years.
Well, at first I was a programmer.
This is the other side of creativity.
I will be honest: I'm not the CEO. Technically, I'm not a CEO, we don't have a CEO. I just do not argue with people when they call me the CEO, I do not want to interrupt the conversation. I started a company, I own it, and that makes me someone.
In fact, I feel happy when I create something. I have two offices - an administrative office and a development office. My participation depends on the stage of the project. At an early stage, I immerse myself deeply in the project in order to clearly understand what we are doing. But in what we do, I'm not the best anymore. There are people who create art levels much better than me.
Here it’s not even about age, but about specialization. I need to focus on different things, control everything at a much higher level, so I’m not so good at the levels below. Not like I did it every day. And I think that if I did this every day, I would be able to maintain my skills. If you do something, your skill grows in it. In my case, this is always a compromise.
One of the coolest things that appeared in Gearbox from the very beginning is that the reward system, the distribution of profits does not depend on your position in the company, but on the time you spend on the project. The producer receives the same portion of the profits per day as the level designer. This is cool.
Thanks to this, we can work where we are most effective. We do not think where exactly we will earn more money - everyone will receive the same. There are no compromises here.
I pulled you back!
And what you did is one of your best work!
Allen with Randy Pitchford, Doug Wood & Dirk Jones.
Oh, I'm glad you still got it!
Yes, you can earn thanks to your creativity, why not?
Yes, I was also glad when our financiers said: “Oh, we paid off. This game makes money. ” This is a great feeling.
Yes, let's do more. In Duke Nukem 3D six episodes, you can think of something else.
And thanks for taking the level in London! I started drawing this map but I realized that I didn’t have enough time for that.
Yes, that's my problem! I always do the most difficult puzzles.
And people themselves are like their puzzles.
I remember the puzzle that I put on the first level of the Shadow Warrior. Everyone said that I was crazy and nobody would pass the first level. That's my problem ...
I perceive everything as Tetris, my brain collects everything as a puzzle.
I do not know. I have such a way of thinking.
So great to be with you here. I still can not believe that you are in Moscow.
This is my first time in Moscow, and it's nice here. Thank you for telling me something and spending time with me. I want to come back again and come back. Let's meet again.
See you later.
I really like. The more I travel the world, the more I understand: all people are the same everywhere. We want to be loved, we want to have fun, rejoice, be happy. The more I understand this, the more I think politics and all this crap don't matter. People are important, and we all want the same thing. Have a good time and be loved.
We want to feel in comfort and safety, have fun. And I am pleased that the creation of entertainment has become my job. This industry creates joy and happiness.
Yes, I felt it perfectly on DevGAMM when I saw all these young independent gaming developers. They are the same as me, and it does not matter that we speak different languages. I - they are in 20 years. They are me 20 years ago. This is a wonderful feeling, and I'm already waiting for the moment when I return.
Hey. Thanks for calling!
I think where we intersect ... he does not drink coffee and alcohol, I like both, but he does not care. He likes what I do, board and video games are closely related. But when we have disputes ... I can't even call it disputes. We have different management styles. I am very attached to my employees. He, too, is close to them, but for Randy this is less of a friendship than for me. I do not think that we are arguing - we simply complement a friend, including in the style of company management.
It is more difficult to travel. We both travel a lot. We can not see for a long time. He does not tell me that he is going somewhere, but I have joint plans, but he did not know ... this is possible here. But we have an assistant who tries to match our calendars so that we know where everyone is and our plans do not overlap. In general, we do not argue. We do not argue often.
I think it was a natural development. Randy has his own game development, there are board games in my bar and coffee shop. And I have a team that is having fun with board games. Together we play a bunch of games.
We have a great opportunity to work with the Borderlands franchise. My own office is inside the Gearbox office. I can easily consult with artists, screenwriters, I make a single picture out of it. I am in the best position to give Borderlands life in board games. In general, working with someone else's intellectual property is a struggle. And I myself worked on the first part, and on the second, and in general a sick fan of the series. For me, this project has become a natural development. And again, my own team loves board games. So it all came together.
We made this game very quickly, because we wanted it to be released on the day of the announcement of Borderlands 3. I needed to make it all in four months. We worked with a company in Chicago that makes this funny game about robots [it’s about XYZ Games and RobotLabs - approx. trans.]. We took this game, changed it and turned it into a Borderlands card game, where you build different Claptraps - Kleptrap-gentleman, Kleptrap-pyroman. And you must prevent others from building their Claptraps. You give your opponents details that they don’t need, and you get the ones you need ... it's a pretty casual card game with beautiful artifacts from Borderlands. She can learn very quickly - we did it so that the gameplay was very dynamic.
Yes, and this game Tiny Tiny, which everyone also loves, like Claptrap.
Yes, this is a small box with ordinary cards, action cards, robots - this is such a game.
Yes of course.
No, I can't say anything, but we really enjoy working in this setting and bringing Borderlands to board games. This is my favorite intellectual property, I know this universe well, and we have plans for the future.
You know, this is such a big collaboration between different people. I was in charge of the dialogue. In the original Borderlands, I wrote replicas of Patricia Tannis and other characters. My work was not the most exciting. You have an NPC, he gives you a direction, tells you what to do. But if you come back and do not complete the quest, the NPC asks, “Did you do it? You did it?". But you do not want him to denounce this idea the same way every time, so I wrote a table where there were four variants of this replica. "You did it? How is it? Did you do it? It turned out? "And at the same time it is necessary that all the replicas correspond to the character of the character. This is a rather tedious part, but it is necessary that the player does not get bored by repeating the same actions.
I must be able to get used to each character in order to understand how he speaks. Will he be impatient, will he become frantic, will he be frivolous ... this is necessary to create individuality through dialogues. It's very funny.
Yes!
I think the beauty of Borderlands is that everyone can find themselves in one character or another. They are all very different. I believe, instead of having a limited set of similar characters, Borderlands offers truly unique characters. This is very attractive to players, they want to go back to each character, learn more about it. This is what makes Borderlands replayable - a large number of dynamic characters. Even more such incredible characters are added to the DLC - Moxy, Mr. Torrg. These characters were not in the original game, but they became the hallmark of Borderlands.
These gearbox writers are more experienced writers. But I think, due to the fact that the whole world is so crazy, you can be bolder and more unusual in introducing new characters. No need to strictly adhere to any rules. You can add road with cars in the middle of the desert, all sorts of crazy things (like Earl). No need to follow the exact rules, this is Borderlands, everything is strange here. This planet comes from everywhere, which gives us a crazy world in which there is a sense.
No, it has its own rules, but Borderlands does not play by the rules.
Yes, you can deal with them more freely, this is the style of the game.
No, did not study.
I was in college, but Randy met back in school. And he just graduated. I got a job at an ice cream shop on the beach, and he was already working there. We became friends, started dating. He went to study in Los Angeles, and I went to Santa Barbara. Between them 90 minutes drive. We were together, we went to different colleges. When he received an invitation to 3D Realms in 1996, he was still studying. In the video game industry then it was very difficult to get through, we decided that this was our chance, we dropped out of colleges and left for Texas. That's how it was. And now, after more than 20 years, we are sitting here ...
Yes, everything goes like clockwork.
I think we are both not looking for proven paths. We love to risk. There was a big risk of dropping out of college, leaving many states away from home, not knowing exactly what lies ahead. But we both love adventure, it captures us. And I think Randy would not be happy being a lawyer. It did not suit him. He was already engaged in magic, tricks most of the time, programmed, worked in the editors of Doom and Duke Nukem. He did this all the time, so it simply didn’t make sense to ignore that passion and study for a lawyer. We then only recently turned 20 - it's time to risk in life, as long as there are no children and a lot of responsibility. I think we both wanted to start the adventure and get off the safe path.
Well I do not know. I returned to college and graduated five years ago, received a degree in psychology. And this after 14 years! I like to go to school, get an education. But this did not allow me to achieve what I achieved. But it helped me focus, I got an incredible experience. It seems to me that there is no right way here, everyone must choose for himself. For those who do not know what to stop at, college is perfect - you can visit different subjects and understand what you need. But if you already know the direction, and you do not need a formal education, all that remains is to gain experience. Especially if we talk about art and entertainment, where the portfolio is much more important than education.
The first time in college I did not like. I was too young and did not understand what I was doing. But when I returned, I liked it. So I do not know.
No, I finished five years ago.
Yes, I have a degree in psychology, and I think psychology is useful in any interaction with people. You can better understand people's motives, and I find this very useful. I have about 48 employees, and psychology helps me a lot. I interact with everyone, from dishwashers to managers, and my psychology degree helps a lot. And also, of course, in communicating with customers. So for me it was great. If I came back and got a degree, for example, in history, it would not be so useful, but a degree in psychology would be useful to me everywhere.
And Randy is also helped, in decisions regarding the games of the company. I came home, told him about what I had learned, and it perfectly intersected with his work.
Yes.
Well, my father was like me. He was nerd. He worked for military intelligence, made computers and communications equipment — probably to spy on you guys.
Yes, and we had computers all over the houses, just like when you were growing up. Technology has always been a part of my life.
In fact, I remember the computer that my father made in Xerox - it was Sigma 7 . It was a huge mainframe. But the first computer he gave me was based on the Z80 processor and was quite compact. It was one of the first home computers.
He had only 2 kilobytes of RAM - this is a bit. I could program on BASIC. My computer was not bad, he could do more than it seems, but I always lacked memory.
It was not so sudden. My wife helped me understand that I must work in the entertainment industry. Everything that I loved somehow gave new impressions to other people. My tricks, my work as a game developer. It moved me. Christie helped me to understand that money is not important, it is important to do what you want. It is important that there is a goal, and the process itself brings pleasure.
When I started work in game development, there was not a lot of money there, at least for me. I earned more as a magician. But you just do what you like, become better at it and ... one day it all works.
I think the most important thing is to never quit, do not stop, even if something does not work. We learn through our mistakes. Through constant attempts you achieve quality. I think failure has taught me more than success. So never need to stop. If you like, you do not stop, so success will come anyway.
I realized that Randy went to me when he somehow showed our friends how to have a fire. Really eat the fire! And he did it on stage. He lit a torch and put it in his mouth! And the point is not that he knows how to do it. He wants to show others what it is like to put a burning torch in his mouth and eat fire. This is a crazy sight. Randy will surely find himself in the industry.
Until!
So. Take your card and put it in the middle of the deck.
Good.Now take the map, which I did not see, show the camera. Align the cards. Do you remember the one you took now? We now have two cards that you can find out when you see them. We do it once ... two ... three ... We know that this is exactly your map, because it has an autograph. Oh, and you chose this card?
No, this card is not here, it is in my pocket. Now, you think she's in the deck? And she is in my pocket.
Let's try something here. Choose any card. Align them. Now throw out one by one. You can take from the middle. From below. Until you want to stop.
Now these cards are no longer needed. Divide in half. So.How many happened in each pile. One, two, three, four, five, six. By you?
All right, put three away. Six and six. One, two, three, four, five, six. Now you.
I like the scene we're working on. Watch it. I have a line here, here, here. You have here, here and here. Choose one line from these three.
Okay, now choose a pair.
Today we bring to your attention an interview with Randall Steward "Randy" Pitchford II. Randy is the president, CEO and co-founder of Gearbox Software.
Quick Reference: Pitchford worked for some time in 3D Realms, where he contributed to the development of Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition and Shadow Warrior.
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With Gearbox Software, Pitchford created Half-Life: Opposing Force (for which he received an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, as the best action game of 2000 on a PC), Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life: Decay, Counter -Strike: Condition Zero, James Bond 007: Nightfire, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Halo: Combat Evolved for PCs and of course Borderlands.
Habra editor Nikolay Zemlyansky, Richard (Levelord) Gray, spouse Randy Christie Pitchford and his son Randy Jr. took part in the interview.
Table of contents
- Borderlands as a perfect hybrid. Randy and Nikolai
- Addons to Half Life, or how we shuffled the protagonists. Randy and Nikolai
- Duke Nukem Forever is a game that should not have come out. Randy and Nikolai
- The show starts: Randy and Nikolai
- What they say honorable igrodely. Randy and Richard Levelord
- Why quit college and how to do chic settings. Christy Pitchford and Nikolai
- The most important advice. Randy and Nikolai
- "Yes, how he does it, damn it." Randy and the deck of cards
Hi, my name is Nikolay, I am the editor of Habr.com, and today we welcome Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software. Hi, Randy!
Hello!
Randy, you came to Moscow to speak at DevGAMM. Your report was yesterday ... or the day before yesterday. (A couple of days ago) What did you talk about at the show?
I talked about different things. DevGAMM had Russian game developers, mostly indie developers, like Gearbox. The best I could do was share the experience I gained in my work. The one that helped Gearbox achieve current results. That would be useful to the audience.
I talked a little about Gearbox history, a little about my entertainment philosophy and relationships that we need to maintain with the audience. He told about our values, our mission, that they are used by me and my company as a guiding star. So that we can always understand where we are going and what our goals are. It really helps us for 20 years. Gearbox Studios is already 20 years old, and this is a great achievement for a game developer.
Oh cool. I'm a little surprised, because I read that you will talk about Borderlands 3, but you talked about game developers for young developers ... unexpectedly!
Of course, I talked about Borderlands 3, I even showed a trailer.
Borderlands as a perfect hybrid. Randy and Nikolai
I was going to ask you about the Borderlands, (of course, ask about the Borderlands) but since we talked more about the industry, let's start with that.
At the speech, I presented Borderlands as the highest grossing project of Gearbox. In many ways, Borderlands has become a transitional project for us, allowing us to grow and try new things - for example, to become a publisher. Prior to Borderlands, Gearbox depended entirely on other publishers who supported us and helped reach the audience. But with Borderlands, we have the capacity and resources to come to the audience directly and help others do it as a publisher. This includes various activities - from marketing to production and distribution of physical copies of games in stores, direct interaction with different platforms: Steam, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo. And of course, Apple, Google, and indeed with all the platforms where they play games. Borderlands became a kind of pivot point with which we achieved the right balance.
Tell us, did you start the Borderlands from scratch? Have you invented it entirely, its whole world?
Well, this is teamwork. It all started with an idea. She did not appear in the offices of Gearbox, she was in my head and among those who came to Gearbox. The idea was this. All fan first-person shooter is made up of individual episodes. It occurs at specific moments of the game, when you move, dodge, aim, shoot at a target, see the result. This fun comes in bursts, and at such times you like to play first-person shooter.
But there are completely different games. I loved these games before Wolfenstein 3D changed everything for me. I'm talking about role-playing games. In them, the fun never concentrated in specific moments, it was with you all the time - when you received new levels, experience, equipment. For example ... did you play Diablo?
Yes of course.
For me, Diablo is a graphic version of one of my favorite games, Hack. Or NetHack. In it, directly with the help of text symbols, you drew a hero and monsters in dungeons. The plus sign was a door, and when you opened the door, there was another door behind it or something else.
This is similar to the next generation of text quests.
Yes it is. Think about the principle of the game in Diablo? You move the cursor, press the buttons. Just like when you move the cursor on the desktop and click the icons. In Diablo, the whole point is not in motion, but in getting new things, getting stronger, discovering something new.
And that's what I thought. Fan first-person shooter - aim, dodge, shoot. He does not exclude the fan of role-playing games, more long-playing. You can connect episodic and long-playing fan together in one game. This was the beginning of the Borderlands.
All the games I worked on in their concept combine some history, style and design. Sometimes it all starts with a story — like, for example, Brothers in Arms. What if we became soldiers of World War II and fought with other soldiers? It all started with a story, and then style and design were brought up. Sometimes it all starts with style ... did you play in Mirror's Edge?
Yes, I adore Mirror's Edge. I do not like Catalyst, it sucks, but the original Mirror's Edge is great.
I think ... I do not know for sure, but I suppose that this game began with style. Rendering and art direction pulled the design and history behind them. I did not work on this project, but I think that this was the case. The idea is that the idea can start with one element, and the rest will follow. In Borderlands, everything exactly began with design, with the principle of combining a first-person shooter and role-playing game. It was as if Doom had met Hack. Or Halo with Diablo, if we talk about more modern games. Nobody did that before. And we thought that we could do it, that it needed to be done. The universe and history have already appeared after him, as well as style.
If we make a first-person shooter, and part of the game is to kill everyone and pick up their belongings, then we need to make sure that you remain a good guy. And the Borderlands universe allows it. We combine science fiction and western.
Yes, western. I thought it was some kind of futuristic western.
I was asked why the game is called Borderlands. It makes no sense. When we imagine what Borderlands means in English, it does not appear as a planet. This is part of some place. But I called the game so not because I wanted to show exactly this place. I put a broader meaning. The story and the universe of the game lie between science fiction and the western.
That's the problem…
And in terms of game design, Borderlands is between the role-playing game and the shooter. Even her style is also in a borderline position, between the realistic and the surreal. The art direction is fantastic, it's almost a graphic novel. But at the same time everything is absolutely according to the rules of the game universe. You start and immediately feel the universe with style.
In general, a borderland is such an uncomfortable, uncomfortable position between two things. For example, there is a road, and grass grows along the road. In some places the road cracked, the asphalt crumbled and grass made its way through it. And this part is more like a road, the road is broken. But it is also not grass, there is both here and there. Something third, and his name is borderlands.
Oh, you explained how cool and lively I now understand more. Maybe you should go back to Borderlands 2 (thanks!) And play it before leaving Borderlands 3.
We made Borderlands 3 so that you can play it, even if you don't know what happened before. If you are a fan of Borderlands, then you will find many discoveries. If you’ve never played Borderlands before, we’ll take care of you. We made it so that people who had not played before in Borderlands, plunged into the game as if they did not miss anything. They are perfectly mastered and live a new story. But if you have played in the Borderlands before, the characters and the universe will give you more.
So if you have not played Borderlands 2, then I recommend: it is very fun! In such matters, I use my wife as a litmus test. She is a gamer, but she doesn't always like the games I do. We work in a team, and there are a lot of amazingly talented people around me. I am proud to work with them, that we do something as a team. But sometimes something that does one does not like another. Some like some games, others like other games. And I felt that we did it when my wife - and she is a fan of Borderlands, went through the second part six or seven times - in the last two weeks she returned to the first Borderlands and began to replay, now several times.
Oh, here is a fan!
Yes, it's awesome when your wife likes what you work on with the team. But this is not always the case, this is not always the case.
Let's continue about Borderlands, but let's move on to more controversial issues. I know that you will release Borderlands 3 on the Epic Store, and only six months later there will be a release on Steam. Tell me why you decided to do this? As far as I know, you can sell much more on Steam. Why did you decide to make it exclusive for six months?
I do not want to upset you, but this is not my decision. The game is published by 2K Games, it has publishing rights. and 2K Games is Take-Two Interactive brand. My company is Gearbox Software, we own the Borderlands, and we created the game. But the publishing license belongs to 2K, and they decide where the game will be published, on which platforms.
They decided to enter into an exclusive agreement with Epic. Take-Two - public company; at least it was when I checked it. They are businessmen, unlike us, artists and creatives. They love to make money. I’m sure they did this because it was the best way to make money. I also think that they work in the interests of buyers. A business like 2K cannot be successful without taking into account the interests of customers. I think many more factors are involved.
As for me ... I am not upset about their decision. I remember when Steam was launched, and many were against it. I remember how I bought Half-Life 2, and I could not play it until I installed Steam and went online. Changes are hard to come by, in life everything goes by inertia.
Do you know what inertia is? This is a scientific term, it has two meanings. If the object moves, then by inertia it will continue to move. If it stands still, it will. And it suits everyone. But inertia works not only in physics, but also in our character, in personality and in activities. Many people fear change. But without change the future does not come. So it will be fun. Anyone who wants to play, in the end can do it on any desired platform.
I remember when we did Borderlands 2 ... or 1 ... the main complaint was that we do not have a version for Linux. We made Borderlands 2 for Linux! The number of people who played this version ... very upset. Very little. I do not know if this example is appropriate, but it seems to me that if people are interested in content, they will search for it and find it, wherever it is. Let's see what happens. I want everyone to play our game. As a creator, I want everyone to try it, because this is our mission in the world of entertainment.
In general, I am often visited by such paradoxical thoughts. On the one hand, I have to be at the forefront, motivate for change. On the other - I just want people to have fun, this is what gives meaning to me and my company. Let's see what will happen.
Addons to Half Life, or how we shuffled the protagonists. Randy and Nikolai
You did Borderlands, where you had free rein, but at the beginning of Gearbox history, you made two games in the Half-Life universe, the Opposing Force and Blue Shift. Here you have already been limited to a ready-made setting. The plot, too, I think, was almost ready, all the characters. But you did something cool, even twice - Opposing Force, Blue Shift. These games were similar, but people liked it, and they bought both. How could you do it in such conditions?
It was so fun. Half Life itself, history, art, content - everything was beautiful. This work was a privilege for us, we were very pleased. When we first started, I went to Valve and threw an idea to them: what if we play on behalf of opponents, a soldier? Not on behalf of Gordon and scientists, but on behalf of those people who broke in and should destroy everything?
I liked the idea and sent me to Sierra Online - then the rights to Half-Life belonged to them. Here the idea also came, we made an agreement and now we could do what we want. We were able to pack our ideas into the world of Half Life, we loved Half-Life and wanted to do everything very carefully. Of course, our progress was observed from the outside. And if we did something that nobody would like, or were not consistent enough, then the project would probably be interrupted. But almost no one indicated anything to us, there were almost no restrictions.
I want to remember also the third game in the Half-Life universe - Half-Life: Decay.
Did he come out for PS2?
Yes, she was cooperative and came out for PS2. It was fun. In Opposing Force you were a soldier, in Blue Shift - a security guard, and in Decay I wanted ... did you play Half Life?
Yes of course.
Remember when Gordon Freeman gets a HEV suit? There are three capsules, and only in the center there is a suit, and the two extreme ones are empty. Who took these costumes? In Decay, you play for those who took them. You already know one character - this is Gordon's trainer, Gina. She was present earlier in the form of a hologram, but a real person was hidden behind her. One costume was with her, and the other was with a new character, Colette Green. The two remaining costumes were Gina and Colette. In Half Life: Decay was a cooperative game - one played for Gina, the other for Colette. We could play together, solve puzzles to go on.
Together on the same screen?
Yes, on a single screen, divided, this is a console game. We saw each other, but the screen was divided. I do not remember, horizontally or vertically, it seems we were giving a choice.
Oh, that's great.
We did everything consistently. Remember when, at the beginning, Gordon slides the sample into the reactor, and this causes a cascade resonance that has created a breakthrough between our world and the world of Zen. The sample rises from the bottom through the elevator. In Decay, you become a scientist who delivers a sample to Gordon. You're down! You prepare the sample, push it in, press the button, the sample rises - and you can hear everything happening from the side.
That is a cool story from any point of view.
Yes, we had a lot of fun making it all. You see the story from different perspectives, it turned out a real crossover. When we started Gearbox, our first project was Half Life: Opposing Force. There were only five of us, and by the time the game appeared in stores, it was already twelve.
Good growth!
Imagine. We are 12 people. In the Opposing Force there seemed to be 45 cards. The original Half-Life was 88 or so. The Opposing Force addon was half the size of a Valve game. Valve had 40-50 people, and they spent 3 years on the game. We finished in 8 months with 12 people. Incredible. Each of us played different roles at once. I was a screenwriter, designer, producer and director. About a third of the levels I did myself as a level designer. The game had terrible code and scary textures that I made myself. The cool people on our team did a great job, for example, Stephen Bal made all the soldiers and about two thirds of all the monsters and weapons. Several types of monsters and weapons made Landon, along with some textures. Brian also created monsters, as well as many textures that we used later. Rob made a lot of sound effects that we used - and he was also a left-handed designer, made about a fifth of all levels. Everyone did everything.
Indie studios at the beginning of their history - this is complete madness. How do you think how many things everyone does ...
Yes, and today 400 people work on Borderlands 3. The scale is great, and we are working on the game ... the first time I did something for the third part five years ago. The scale is completely different.
Duke Nukem Forever is a game that should not have come out. Randy and Nikolai
Okay, let's talk about another old title - Duke Nukem. Everyone was waiting for the new Duke Nukem from the very release of Duke Nukem 3D, rather, soon, rather, but Duke Nukem Forever was released only in 2011.
Yes, it was almost "forever". Not really, but almost.
In 2011, the game came out and received ... mixed reviews.
I would not even say mixed, the reviews were pretty bad. It was a crazy situation. I left 3D Realms in 1997 ... yes, in 1997, and we’ve been working on Duke Nukem Forever for several months. I left 3D Realms, joined another company, the company went broke, then I founded Gearbox. The whole company managed to open and go broke. In 1999, I founded Gearbox. We developed all the Half Life games, all versions for different platforms, all add-ons, James Bond game, Tony Hawk's ProSkater game, Samba de Amigo, Halo for PC, Brothers in Arms, Borderlands. They did all this while 3D Realms continued to work on Duke Nukem: Forever. Throughout the history of Gearbox, even after the release of Borderlands, 3D Realms worked on Duke Nukem: Forever.
I remember when I was still working in 1997 in 3D Realms, we were developing another game - Prey. She used a new technology that was just emerging - a graphic 3D accelerator. This is the board that you inserted into the PC, and it accelerated the 3D graphics. Prior to this, everything was processed by the processor at the software level. When I got my first 3dfx graphics card, I thought: this is incredible! I launched the original Tomb Raider and thought: wow! 3D graphics! I had a Matrox video card, and I ran one of the versions of Quake on it. As a developer, I needed Matrox cards.
I remember, we somehow worked on Duke Nukem: Forever - I was actually not in the team at that time. We only got 3dfx and Matrox. And at one point, it was then decided: we will make Prey for 3D maps, but Duke Nukem will be released earlier and will be adapted for software rendering for now. Imagine: 3dfx appeared, gave a good start to the industry of 3D-cards, passed the whole development cycle and was eliminated. 3dfx no longer existed as a company, all within the Duke Nukem: Forever development cycle.
I remember at the dawn of Gearbox in Wired magazine - do you have a Wired in Russia? - then Wired used the term "vaporware". “Vapor” is about something that really isn't, like a ghost. And "ware" is from software. Vaporware is a software that was promised, still ghostly and unreal. Someone wrote an article about Duke Nukem and called it “vaporware”. Now this term may already be in the dictionaries, it is settled.
The following year, Wired made a new article entitled “Vaporware of the Year Awards”. They made an award that was given to all the developers of such software. There was a lot of awards for technical, specialized software. Wired talked about one vapoware, a friend, a third one and so on until the end of the article, where they presented the “No. 1 Vaporware of the Year Award” award ... Duke Nukem: Forever.
This is victory.
They handed it to Duke Nukem the following year. And a year later. And a year later, for now ...
How many did they award the Duke Nukem award?
10 years! A whole decade! And after 10 years in Wired they wrote: we give Duke Nukem: Forever a lifetime reward, we will not talk about it anymore, this is the king of vaporware, which no one will overthrow. Yes, Duke will not do anything in half and even among the vaporware will be king.
But he still came out.
Yes, even though this should not happen. The guys ran out of money, and they closed.
So what is the reason that the game is badly accepted?
I think it's all about expectations. Well, in the game itself. It reflects the history of its creation. I am not objective: I believe that I owe much of my Duke Nukem career. When I joined the Duke Nukem 3D team in 1996, it was my first commercial game. When I was working on Duke Nukem Plutonium Pak and Atomic Edition, which were shipped in a bundle, these were my first commercial games. I worked in 3D Realms just a year before I set up my company, but I felt I owed it a lot. I can not be objective.
When 3D Realms closed and left the employees with nothing, the company management thought that you could just raise your hands and say "well, that's all." But the publishers - we had previously discussed the difference, the publishers are promoting the game, deciding where to sell it and are interested in money - the publishers began the trial with 3D Realms, with George Broussard and Scott Miller. It was impossible to just get up and leave.
And who was the publisher?
Take-Two, as well as Borderlands. They filed a lawsuit against George Broussard and Scott Miller. “You can't just go and leave. We have invested millions in this game. ” You have obligations.
It's almost 15 years to invest! And then they just quit!
Yes, the development took 15 years, and Scott and George thought they could just drop everything. But there was a problem. They made a deal and pledged to make the game - but did not make it. In addition, they personally took a lot of money from Take-Two, a lot of money. Take-Two said that the money must be returned, but the guys have already spent the money.
So, 3D Realms has problems. Big problems. We started discussing them with George and Scott.
You said you already left 3D Realms. What was your role?
Yes, I already worked at Gearbox, it was 2009 or 2010.
What was the gearbox role here?
No. Absolutely none, since I left 3D Realms in 1997 until the time when George, Scott and I sat down in 2010 to discuss the closure of Gearbox. George and Scott had problems. They got a lawsuit and needed help.
What I felt about this. Imagine yourself driving alone on a highway in Siberia. No one for miles around. And suddenly you see a car accident: fire, blood, corpses. What will you do? Stop or go further?
Of course I will stop! People need help!
Of course, most will stop. Now imagine: you recognize the car, and this is the car of people close to you. For example, your first boss who sent you to the profession. And while you head a whole column - an ambulance, tractor, utility vehicles. There is no one around.
That was us. We have agreed that I undertake obligations under the claim to them. I went under the bullets. Take-Two no longer suing 3D Realms, George Broussard and Scott Miller. They sued me.
Brave step!
I relied on two things. The first is my relationship with Take-Two, because they have already published Borderlands, which has become a big hit. I thought that in this situation they would go forward. I knew that Take-Two wanted the game. And I knew something else - Scott and George in a personal meeting told me that. They fired all-all developers and shut down the company. But there are a lot of people in the team, and they have been working on Duke Nukem for more than 10 years. They devoted themselves entirely to this game. And what happened was not their fault - George and Scott did not know how to handle the money and were forced to dismiss them. It was a big surprise for everyone.
But no one wanted to throw. Everyone was eager to make a game. And some guys still had money to continue - even without a salary. And one of the employees - Allen Bloom, who stood at the origins of Duke Nukem even when it was a side-scroller - he, producer David Rigal, and several other guys continued to work. They were fired from the studio, the studio was destroyed, they did not have access to work computers. They took computers from home, brought them to someone, set up and continued to work.
Wow! Home studio!
Almost half of the staff did this. I do not remember the exact figure, but they continued to work. And you know what you did? They sewed together everything that they had and got the game, with the beginning, the end, the middle and all the necessary content.
And they let me play. I played. And it was pretty cool! I could not even believe that this game exists, because for me Duke Nukem was the one that helped me get into the industry in 1997. I looked at the new Duke and understood - here he is! I did not expect anything like it. I know how to make games, I know how difficult it is for a 3D Realms company to compete in the market.
I thought it would be a nightmare, but when I played, I saw something cool there. It was fun to play! It was Duke Nukem. I could not believe that I play it. My expectations were about here [shows], and the game was at this level [shows]. For me it was wow!
The condition that Take-Two will take the claim was that the game will appear in stores. So we needed producers. We signed a contract with the producers to finish the work - and they finished! Our producers and their developers have finished the game. When you run it, you see "Gearbox Software presents a 3D Realms game"
It is generally a miracle that she came out!
Yes! Then we went with her to Penny Arcade Expo . Everyone thought that Duke Nukem will not work, because the studio was closed. By the time the game has already become a legend, people have been talking about Duke Nukem for more than ten years.We took a big stand and closed it with a black cloth so that no one could see anything in advance. And as soon as the exhibition opened, we removed the fabric.
There are videos on the Net, as people run into the exhibition, straight to the next game show, run past Duke Nukem, turn around, slip, double-roll back to return to Duke Nukem. For 15 minutes, an eight-hour queue has assembled. The game has become the number one topic on Twitter. Trailer became the most popular gaming trailer for the year, ahead of Call of Duty. Everyone was crazy with thoughts, what kind of hit they have prepared.
Everyone gladly tried our craft, and it tasted pretty good. It could be done cooler. Maybe it would be different if I were a publisher. This is all a matter of waiting. The game turned out the way it was supposed to be - popcorn shooter, bi action movie. But she was funny, crazy, funny, sometimes absurd. There is a moment where you fall off and run around the diner, jumping on french fries. The game is absolutely absurd. This is not the best game of all time, but it is fun.
If you expected it to be the best game of all time, you get a critical difference in expectations, think “to hell!” And your personal assessment of the game becomes lower than fair. My situation is reversed, as we remember, my expectations were low. What had to be done was not to sell this game as AAA for the full price. It had to be sold in a brown cardboard box and called Duke Nukem Forever: Bootleg Edition. She was not supposed to exist. After closing 3D Realms, the game consisted of individual pieces that the team collected and stitched together.
It was worth selling bucks for 20. And writing something like “It should not have existed. But if you are interested in how the last 15 years have passed, then hold on. ” Then the initial expectations would be completely different, and we would have a better chance of success. I think if today people come back and look at the game, given the realities of the market and what the team went through ... Duke Nukem will look charming.
But Duke Nukem fueled great expectations. 10 years, George and Scott told everyone that this would be the best game of all. When you say that, and then you don’t, that’s all, the end. You're in deep trouble. But the game had to come out necessarily under the contract, it came out, and now we can do something further.
Anyway, it's good that she came out. Maybe it is worth replaying.
Yes, of course, buy the version on the PC and replay. It is now cheap, it will cost five dollars. She's funny, I'm sure you will have fun. You will remember how you had fun in this game, and at the same time even forget some other, better ones. There is something special about it.
The show starts: Randy and Nikolai
Randy, you know, I met a girl at the bar yesterday. I had a deck of cards with me, and I tried to show her something cool like a magician. But it all failed, because I'm clumsy.
Are you a magician ?!
Yes, I try a little, but the cards fell to the floor, the floor was sticky, fu. But she laughed, and I think I have a second chance. Can you teach me some trick that is impressive and not too complicated?
Yes!
I have a deck of cards here ...
Oh, you brought cards!
I knew you would agree. Here are the fit?
Yes it's good. We have a few advertising cards here, jokers. Do you have a favorite card?
Yes. Ten of clubs.
Oh, I was close, I thought you would say a dozen rush.
So here are a dozen of rush. Put your hand like this, but relax your thumb, because I will insert a card there. Here is a ten peak, look, if you do not believe
Ten peak, ten peak.
Here I have a dozen clubs. Relax finger, I'm not good at it. Now I will quickly change your card. If I have a ten peak, what have you got?
Ten of clubs.
If I return the card to you, what will you have?
Dozens of rush and clubs.
Ready to be surprised?
Yes.
Do not want to show first to the camera?
This is a dozen of clubs and a dozen of spades! (points to camera) Oh hell!
In fact, I have them ...
They are not in my pocket? Not behind my ear?
Here they are. Anyone can do this. Let's try more difficult. Can you interfere with the cards?
Yes.
You really want me to teach you the trick. I can show one.
Yes.
I'll show you the focus, and then, when we turn off the camera, I will teach him to do it. I swore never to give out secrets. So, now everything suits. I will not even touch them? Is the floor visible to the camera?
Can you remove about half the cards?
Stripped off
I will roughly mark the place so that we do not lose it. Okay.You just saw me do the trick. You know that I am a magician and I can manage maps. But if you mix it up and take it off, then you know for sure that I cannot control the situation. All honest, you can check it is very important. I'll show you the card you took off, but I’ll turn away. Had seen?
Can we show the camera?
Yes, you will have to find and show yourself then
Oh, I can not find.
Let me help you. Now we have a demonstration. Now I will throw cards one by one. You look at the cards - I look at you. You look at the cards - I look at you. If you see your map, your task is not to let me know that you saw the map. Because my task is to understand by your reaction that you saw your map. Look at the cards and hold the poker interface. When you see the card, do not react.
[throws cards]
Only one card remains in my hand. We argue for anything - for a thousand rubles - that the next card I turn upside is the one you were looking at.
I bet.
Look, here is the map.
Damn, here she is!
I had to somehow determine which card is yours. Want me to teach you this trick?
Yes, come on when we finish.
What they say honorary igrodely. Randy and Richard Levelord
Randy, it's so unexpected and nice to see you in Moscow.
What are you doing here, Richard?
I live here.
I can not believe that you left small Garland in Texas, where we worked, and moved here to Moscow.
Yes it is a big city. It's so great that you, Christie and Randy Jr. come here.
I like it here!
I want to ask you some questions, do you mind?
Of course!
I am interested in this. I haven't worked in the gaming industry for more than 10 years, and you are the CEO of Gearbox's big studio. During the ten years that I retired, I managed to play around with Unreal and Unity. Tools for creating games during this time greatly developed. Anyone can make games, and there are a lot of indie developers like that. How do you feel about this, is it good or bad in your opinion?
I think it's great! I remember - and you remember - when everything was just beginning, it was available to very few people. You had to have access to the technology, to the tools, or to create the necessary tools yourself. Today, computers are available to everyone, because everyone has a telephone.
And the Internet is.
Yes, everyone has a telephone and Internet access. And that means you have access to everything. We live at a time when all the information is available, you can find it and use it for your work. You can study on your own. Therefore, we now have more game developers than ever. In game development, interaction is very important, so this situation is only for the better.
Agree with you. There are more bad games, but at the same time more good ones.
You can't do something good until you have tried it many times. Many start, do some shit, understand why it happened, do it again, repeat, repeat and finally come to the fact: oh, I'm already good at it! Here we need practice, we need to repeat.
Another question about the gaming industry. I left there because I was already old.
This is not a problem at all.
Yes, I know, I left AAA tiles and now I love casual games. In general, the games have become so complicated, so you work on Borderlands 3 ...
The way it is. The team Borderlands 300-400 people. (Yes, this is a lot) This is really a lot! Do you remember how we all could stay in one room?
8 people, 8 people.
Yes, now a lot of time is spent on the organization, but do you know what? Thanks to this, specialization is now developing. One person can focus on one thing and do it very well, because he doesn't need to worry about everything else. The main thing here is to know that everyone is doing his own business, so that we can put everything together and take a step forward. This is very cool, this is just what I like today.
. . , . . . . . , . , , , . , - .
Yes, the whole level design has changed since we started. But level designers still exist, and some of them are involved in level geometry. They bring together what others are doing and are more concerned with designing the gameplay, the gaming space. Now we divide the creation of the game world into two parts - this is the design of the game level and the environment. And the design of the game level is divided further - the creation of architecture and scripts. And the environmental specialists put all the pieces together, from the elements. Everything is constantly divided by specialization.
I still think that in this state of affairs I would not be happy.
Hah, Richard, you unhappy man!
Yes, and my vanity is too great, I do not like to share toys.
Actually, I understand you. When we made the first game in Gearbox - it was Half Life: Opposing Force - as I said, there were only 12 of us. And I had to do a lot, I actively invested in the game, because I had no choice. Now I am only one of the 400 participants in the project.
400 people ...
Yes.And even though I bear the greatest responsibility, my role is one four hundredth. This is the work of the team. Everything we do is a common result. I made some contributions entirely by myself - I drew a logo, came up with a name. These are little things that everyone knows about.
Yes, it turned out great.
But most of my work is behind the scenes, it is not easy. For example, when it comes to design principles or a game design system that extends beyond the same level. I don’t decide, for example, whether to put this door here - I don’t remember when I last put the doors on levels. I operate with larger entities and systems that must exist together.
As a designer.
Yes. This is hard.
The last two games that I created - to earn extra money for retirement - are two games with hidden objects. For three years, I made two games, and 90% of all the work was mine. I didn’t write music, but I found it and paid royalties. The whole process gave me great pleasure. I had no meetings. I kept the documents only for myself.
This is how to comment on your code so that you don’t forget the important one.
I didn't need to explain to some idiots what I want to do, I just did it.
It's great. Thanks to the success, Borderlands Gearbox was able to try itself as a game publisher. We help small games to enter the market. We have now published such a game, Risk of Rain 2. Three people worked on it. Three persons! The game is great! I played it and thought: God, that’s what the Borderlands would look like if we had ...
Three…
No, if we had 20 people. Those three did so well. Great thing, play, very fun.
Yeah, she's on Steam, and I already have the key.
Yes, you know who to contact.
Last question. He is connected with the rest. When we last worked together, it was 25 years ago. I'm still a level designer ...
Are you sure that 25 years old?
Yes, exactly, three years ago!
Let's go back for 25 years.
Let's go back to 25, when you were still a boy, and I am a respected developer. You started as a level designer.
Well, at first I was a programmer.
Yes, you were a programmer before you came to 3D Realms to work on Duke Nukem. There you were a level designer - this is a very creative job. And now you are the CEO of a company of 400 people. I do not think that this is a creative work - it is more focused on business, on management.
This is the other side of creativity.
She is creative, but in a different way. How do you combine everything together? Do you miss those days?
I will be honest: I'm not the CEO. Technically, I'm not a CEO, we don't have a CEO. I just do not argue with people when they call me the CEO, I do not want to interrupt the conversation. I started a company, I own it, and that makes me someone.
In fact, I feel happy when I create something. I have two offices - an administrative office and a development office. My participation depends on the stage of the project. At an early stage, I immerse myself deeply in the project in order to clearly understand what we are doing. But in what we do, I'm not the best anymore. There are people who create art levels much better than me.
Yes, they are younger, faster ...
Here it’s not even about age, but about specialization. I need to focus on different things, control everything at a much higher level, so I’m not so good at the levels below. Not like I did it every day. And I think that if I did this every day, I would be able to maintain my skills. If you do something, your skill grows in it. In my case, this is always a compromise.
One of the coolest things that appeared in Gearbox from the very beginning is that the reward system, the distribution of profits does not depend on your position in the company, but on the time you spend on the project. The producer receives the same portion of the profits per day as the level designer. This is cool.
Yes, it's great, it unites.
Thanks to this, we can work where we are most effective. We do not think where exactly we will earn more money - everyone will receive the same. There are no compromises here.
Let's remember Duke Nukem: 20th Anniversary Edition. For me, this was the first project since I retired from Ritual Entertainment, which is no longer there.
I pulled you back!
It was so fun working with Allen ...
And what you did is one of your best work!
Allen with Randy Pitchford, Doug Wood & Dirk Jones.
Yes, here Allen distinguished himself, I always liked how he works. With Ritual, we received more money from games than we invested in them, but I never received a check depending on royalties.
Oh, I'm glad you still got it!
We received money there, here, most of the money went back to the company. And then I received the first royalty-check ... it seems, for $ 250,000. I received it in Moscow from you from Texas via mail. I look and think ... what is it? My God, this is a check from royalty!
Yes, you can earn thanks to your creativity, why not?
I printed it and hung it on the wall. It was nice!
Yes, I was also glad when our financiers said: “Oh, we paid off. This game makes money. ” This is a great feeling.
Let's do more.
Yes, let's do more. In Duke Nukem 3D six episodes, you can think of something else.
Of course. The world needs more.
And thanks for taking the level in London! I started drawing this map but I realized that I didn’t have enough time for that.
I put it all together, and at this level I got two puzzles. And then your Q & A guys said they are too complicated.
Yes, that's my problem! I always do the most difficult puzzles.
Level designers love this.
And people themselves are like their puzzles.
And I love it when the fun starts right away, I'm here to shoot.
I remember the puzzle that I put on the first level of the Shadow Warrior. Everyone said that I was crazy and nobody would pass the first level. That's my problem ...
I do not like puzzles, I like to shoot.
I perceive everything as Tetris, my brain collects everything as a puzzle.
Great game. She came up with in Russia. I don’t know if he is here or in America ... I think here.
I do not know. I have such a way of thinking.
Tetris is one of my favorite computer games. Together with Colossal Cave.
So great to be with you here. I still can not believe that you are in Moscow.
Yes, I still can not believe that I am in Moscow. I walk, look around and think: well, the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral ... okay, I'm here, I'm here.
This is my first time in Moscow, and it's nice here. Thank you for telling me something and spending time with me. I want to come back again and come back. Let's meet again.
Yes of course. Super.
See you later.
Since we're here, I want to ask you. I used to have some idea of ​​Russia. I came here in some fright, not knowing what to expect. And the point is not propaganda, but the fact that we simply do not have enough information. But I, and another 30-40 of my friends come here and say: Russia is a great place, people are excellent, cities are fantastic. What do you feel before leaving home?
I really like. The more I travel the world, the more I understand: all people are the same everywhere. We want to be loved, we want to have fun, rejoice, be happy. The more I understand this, the more I think politics and all this crap don't matter. People are important, and we all want the same thing. Have a good time and be loved.
Have a roof over your head, food, start a family ...
We want to feel in comfort and safety, have fun. And I am pleased that the creation of entertainment has become my job. This industry creates joy and happiness.
And connects the world.
Yes, I felt it perfectly on DevGAMM when I saw all these young independent gaming developers. They are the same as me, and it does not matter that we speak different languages. I - they are in 20 years. They are me 20 years ago. This is a wonderful feeling, and I'm already waiting for the moment when I return.
Yes, we will definitely call you again.
Why quit college and how to do chic settings. Christy Pitchford and Nikolai
We are delighted to welcome Christie Pitchford. Christie is CEO of Nerdvana Game Studios, Nerdvana Spirits Bar and Nerdvana Coffee Shop. As many as three companies.
Hey. Thanks for calling!
Christie, on your twitter I read that in 29 years of your life with Randy, he never drank coffee or alcohol. Although you have your own bar and coffee shop. This shows great mutual respect. But sometimes ... I know that you are doing a number of projects together, and you are working together. Maybe sometimes you have conflicts, there are even disputes, your interests overlap. If this happens, what do you do to make a decision?
I think where we intersect ... he does not drink coffee and alcohol, I like both, but he does not care. He likes what I do, board and video games are closely related. But when we have disputes ... I can't even call it disputes. We have different management styles. I am very attached to my employees. He, too, is close to them, but for Randy this is less of a friendship than for me. I do not think that we are arguing - we simply complement a friend, including in the style of company management.
It is more difficult to travel. We both travel a lot. We can not see for a long time. He does not tell me that he is going somewhere, but I have joint plans, but he did not know ... this is possible here. But we have an assistant who tries to match our calendars so that we know where everyone is and our plans do not overlap. In general, we do not argue. We do not argue often.
I know that your latest project in my game studio is a board game in the Borderlands universe. Can you tell me her story? I know people love board games, including in Russia. But why now? As far as I noticed, at least in Russia, the boom of board games passed 5-10 years ago. Why did you come to this now? That was the plan? Tell us about it.
I think it was a natural development. Randy has his own game development, there are board games in my bar and coffee shop. And I have a team that is having fun with board games. Together we play a bunch of games.
We have a great opportunity to work with the Borderlands franchise. My own office is inside the Gearbox office. I can easily consult with artists, screenwriters, I make a single picture out of it. I am in the best position to give Borderlands life in board games. In general, working with someone else's intellectual property is a struggle. And I myself worked on the first part, and on the second, and in general a sick fan of the series. For me, this project has become a natural development. And again, my own team loves board games. So it all came together.
What genre did you make the game? What does she look like?
We made this game very quickly, because we wanted it to be released on the day of the announcement of Borderlands 3. I needed to make it all in four months. We worked with a company in Chicago that makes this funny game about robots [it’s about XYZ Games and RobotLabs - approx. trans.]. We took this game, changed it and turned it into a Borderlands card game, where you build different Claptraps - Kleptrap-gentleman, Kleptrap-pyroman. And you must prevent others from building their Claptraps. You give your opponents details that they don’t need, and you get the ones you need ... it's a pretty casual card game with beautiful artifacts from Borderlands. She can learn very quickly - we did it so that the gameplay was very dynamic.
Starting with Claptrap is a great idea. Everyone loves Claptrap.
Yes, and this game Tiny Tiny, which everyone also loves, like Claptrap.
Is it a set of cards in a small box?
Yes, this is a small box with ordinary cards, action cards, robots - this is such a game.
Any plans for future games in the Borderlands universe?
Yes of course.
Can you give me some teaser?
No, I can't say anything, but we really enjoy working in this setting and bringing Borderlands to board games. This is my favorite intellectual property, I know this universe well, and we have plans for the future.
Perfectly! Let's go back to the times when you were just starting the Borderlands universe. Randy said it all started in a mix of RPG and shooter. But we also love Borderlands for the setting, a post-apocalyptic, crazy universe. I know that basically you did it. Can you tell us any secrets of a cool setting?
You know, this is such a big collaboration between different people. I was in charge of the dialogue. In the original Borderlands, I wrote replicas of Patricia Tannis and other characters. My work was not the most exciting. You have an NPC, he gives you a direction, tells you what to do. But if you come back and do not complete the quest, the NPC asks, “Did you do it? You did it?". But you do not want him to denounce this idea the same way every time, so I wrote a table where there were four variants of this replica. "You did it? How is it? Did you do it? It turned out? "And at the same time it is necessary that all the replicas correspond to the character of the character. This is a rather tedious part, but it is necessary that the player does not get bored by repeating the same actions.
I must be able to get used to each character in order to understand how he speaks. Will he be impatient, will he become frantic, will he be frivolous ... this is necessary to create individuality through dialogues. It's very funny.
You have to get used to each character's head, to say the same thing forty to fifty times in different words on his behalf. Crazy experience! You need to live right in the universe of Borderlands.
Yes!
And what do you say about the creation of sequels? You made the first Borderlands, character set, cool world. What about Borderlands 2 and 3? How to make people want to return to the game world?
I think the beauty of Borderlands is that everyone can find themselves in one character or another. They are all very different. I believe, instead of having a limited set of similar characters, Borderlands offers truly unique characters. This is very attractive to players, they want to go back to each character, learn more about it. This is what makes Borderlands replayable - a large number of dynamic characters. Even more such incredible characters are added to the DLC - Moxy, Mr. Torrg. These characters were not in the original game, but they became the hallmark of Borderlands.
That is, in each new part of the game you integrate new characters, new stories. You have no problems with the docking of the characters, placing them inside the world, where their connections and rules have already been established? How do you place each new character in such a way that it looks organically, as if it were always in the game?
These gearbox writers are more experienced writers. But I think, due to the fact that the whole world is so crazy, you can be bolder and more unusual in introducing new characters. No need to strictly adhere to any rules. You can add road with cars in the middle of the desert, all sorts of crazy things (like Earl). No need to follow the exact rules, this is Borderlands, everything is strange here. This planet comes from everywhere, which gives us a crazy world in which there is a sense.
There are no rules in Borderlands, there is only style, yes?
No, it has its own rules, but Borderlands does not play by the rules.
There are rules in Borderlands, but they are not strict, you can break them.
Yes, you can deal with them more freely, this is the style of the game.
Okay, the games are cool, but let's go back to the times when you first met Randy. You also studied as a lawyer ...
No, did not study.
You were not going to be a lawyer. Where did you study?
I was in college, but Randy met back in school. And he just graduated. I got a job at an ice cream shop on the beach, and he was already working there. We became friends, started dating. He went to study in Los Angeles, and I went to Santa Barbara. Between them 90 minutes drive. We were together, we went to different colleges. When he received an invitation to 3D Realms in 1996, he was still studying. In the video game industry then it was very difficult to get through, we decided that this was our chance, we dropped out of colleges and left for Texas. That's how it was. And now, after more than 20 years, we are sitting here ...
And it's cool!
Yes, everything goes like clockwork.
I heard that you played a big part in getting Randy to leave the legal profession and start doing what he really likes. What was the story here? Was there a moment when he clearly decided to change everything?
I think we are both not looking for proven paths. We love to risk. There was a big risk of dropping out of college, leaving many states away from home, not knowing exactly what lies ahead. But we both love adventure, it captures us. And I think Randy would not be happy being a lawyer. It did not suit him. He was already engaged in magic, tricks most of the time, programmed, worked in the editors of Doom and Duke Nukem. He did this all the time, so it simply didn’t make sense to ignore that passion and study for a lawyer. We then only recently turned 20 - it's time to risk in life, as long as there are no children and a lot of responsibility. I think we both wanted to start the adventure and get off the safe path.
It's great. Today, many are arguing about education, university education in Russia. For example, some sites with vacancies exclude education from user profiles, leaving only lists of skills. Do you think that classical education will cease to be necessary? Maybe people just need to look for themselves?
Well I do not know. I returned to college and graduated five years ago, received a degree in psychology. And this after 14 years! I like to go to school, get an education. But this did not allow me to achieve what I achieved. But it helped me focus, I got an incredible experience. It seems to me that there is no right way here, everyone must choose for himself. For those who do not know what to stop at, college is perfect - you can visit different subjects and understand what you need. But if you already know the direction, and you do not need a formal education, all that remains is to gain experience. Especially if we talk about art and entertainment, where the portfolio is much more important than education.
The first time in college I did not like. I was too young and did not understand what I was doing. But when I returned, I liked it. So I do not know.
Wow Back to college after building a career in another field ... Are you still in college?
No, I finished five years ago.
Oh, right, you already finished. Does it help you in your work?
Yes, I have a degree in psychology, and I think psychology is useful in any interaction with people. You can better understand people's motives, and I find this very useful. I have about 48 employees, and psychology helps me a lot. I interact with everyone, from dishwashers to managers, and my psychology degree helps a lot. And also, of course, in communicating with customers. So for me it was great. If I came back and got a degree, for example, in history, it would not be so useful, but a degree in psychology would be useful to me everywhere.
And Randy is also helped, in decisions regarding the games of the company. I came home, told him about what I had learned, and it perfectly intersected with his work.
You share your experience and knowledge.
Yes.
It's great.
The most important advice. Randy and Nikolai
Randy, I know that you have a computer in the late 70s - early 80s. And then you were still a child. How could this happen then?
Well, my father was like me. He was nerd. He worked for military intelligence, made computers and communications equipment — probably to spy on you guys.
The Cold War and its tricks.
Yes, and we had computers all over the houses, just like when you were growing up. Technology has always been a part of my life.
Can you describe your first computer? He probably occupied the whole room, the garage? How big was he?
In fact, I remember the computer that my father made in Xerox - it was Sigma 7 . It was a huge mainframe. But the first computer he gave me was based on the Z80 processor and was quite compact. It was one of the first home computers.
And what could he do?
He had only 2 kilobytes of RAM - this is a bit. I could program on BASIC. My computer was not bad, he could do more than it seems, but I always lacked memory.
Randy, what's next? You grew up, you will have a solid education, and then a solid legal profession. But suddenly something went wrong, and you ended up in the gaming industry. How did this happen?
It was not so sudden. My wife helped me understand that I must work in the entertainment industry. Everything that I loved somehow gave new impressions to other people. My tricks, my work as a game developer. It moved me. Christie helped me to understand that money is not important, it is important to do what you want. It is important that there is a goal, and the process itself brings pleasure.
When I started work in game development, there was not a lot of money there, at least for me. I earned more as a magician. But you just do what you like, become better at it and ... one day it all works.
Great. Can you give advice, one or two short tips to novice game developers? You saw a lot of them on DevGAMM. One. One most important tip, from the height of the Gearbox experience.
I think the most important thing is to never quit, do not stop, even if something does not work. We learn through our mistakes. Through constant attempts you achieve quality. I think failure has taught me more than success. So never need to stop. If you like, you do not stop, so success will come anyway.
Was your passion for entertainment given to your son? Randy went to you?
I realized that Randy went to me when he somehow showed our friends how to have a fire. Really eat the fire! And he did it on stage. He lit a torch and put it in his mouth! And the point is not that he knows how to do it. He wants to show others what it is like to put a burning torch in his mouth and eat fire. This is a crazy sight. Randy will surely find himself in the industry.
Oh, randy! We could have made the interview much more exciting. But it's too late. Next time come to Russia, take the fire, we will arrange a master class and you will show everyone! Thank you guys, it was very cool with you. I hope you will return to Russia for the second and third time, we will meet again and chat. Thank! Until!
Until!
"Yes, how he does it, damn it." Randy and the deck of cards
So. Take your card and put it in the middle of the deck.
Like this.
Good.Now take the map, which I did not see, show the camera. Align the cards. Do you remember the one you took now? We now have two cards that you can find out when you see them. We do it once ... two ... three ... We know that this is exactly your map, because it has an autograph. Oh, and you chose this card?
This is incredible.
No, this card is not here, it is in my pocket. Now, you think she's in the deck? And she is in my pocket.
Haaa ha ha!
Let's try something here. Choose any card. Align them. Now throw out one by one. You can take from the middle. From below. Until you want to stop.
Like this.
Now these cards are no longer needed. Divide in half. So.How many happened in each pile. One, two, three, four, five, six. By you?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine
All right, put three away. Six and six. One, two, three, four, five, six. Now you.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
I like the scene we're working on. Watch it. I have a line here, here, here. You have here, here and here. Choose one line from these three.
This one.
Okay, now choose a pair.
Thank you, Randy, we had a great conversation with you and Christie, we learned a lot about Gearbox and other things. Hope you enjoyed it, we will come back with other interesting people.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/455228/
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