After Gearbox announced that it was in development on Borderlands 3 I've been interested in hearing about how it's shaping up. At this years GDC some footage was shown of Borderlands 3 using the latest Unreal Tournament 4 engine and how it's effecting the look of the game. They wanted to stress that they weren't showing a game but an engine but I imagine this is what they will be eventually rolling with when the game launches... when it launches. The video shows off how they make the art style for Borderlands, the new lighting system and some production art assets.

Azurephile   Super Member wrote on 03/13/2017 at 05:01am

Looks nice!

Travis   Admin wrote on 03/13/2017 at 02:05pm

Its a stretch yet to call it footage from Borderlands 3 since it's just tech demos but yeah this is shaping up nicely.

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 03/13/2017 at 05:05pm

> Its a stretch yet to call it footage from Borderlands 3 since it's just tech demos but yeah this is shaping up nicely.

I'd actually say it's a stretch to say otherwise. Will some of the art change? Yeah sure, but the core engine will be used for sure. Companies don't spend a zillion dollars making this stuff to be scuttled. Even if the code changes, this is the foundation and i'd bet money it will be the foundation for Borderlands 3. The reason he is saying "this isn't a game" is so fans don't get locked into a set of features and then go crazy when they are different in the game or don't show up the way they think. It's more damage control than "yeah man this is what we're gonna do for sure" which again, i'd bet money it will be.

Travis   Admin wrote on 03/13/2017 at 05:43pm

Ehhh well, I think I agree with almost everything you said there, so we're probably talking semantics about what is meant by "game footage."

What I mean is that it's a room or two, some random objects, and a character model. There's no game yet to have footage of. For sure this stuff is being worked on FOR Borderlands 3, no question. But they're taking very basic pieces of it to figure out their lighting tech for Unreal 4, essentially.

So what I meant was, taking some assets people have built for BL3 and dropping them into a tech demo to show off lighting isn't game footage.

But again, that's semantics.

However...
> "Companies don't spend a zillion dollars making this stuff to be scuttled."

A lot of them do. Remember the PS3's Final Fantasy VII tech demo? And Valve reportedly did this a lot with games when Source 2 came out, re-creating an entire Left 4 Dead 2 level just to test the engine (and that thing looked amazing). Bethesda may have as well; they claimed at one time that the first step in developing Fallout 4 was to port Skyrim to new consoles and that they had no plans for a Skyrim port... but their plans obviously changed.

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 03/13/2017 at 07:51pm

Art assets change, for sure. The base engine? It evolves for sure but i'd be surprised if the game doesn't look a lot like that when it launches. Companies change things but my main point really is in this instance I bet Borderlands 3 will look very much like that and use that tech.

Travis   Admin wrote on 03/13/2017 at 07:57pm

I think there's some miscommunication here because as I said, I totally agree with what you're saying there.

I'm just saying that this is light effects. Yes, they'll probably use those, along with the assets. But it's *just* art and lights now. It's too early to say "footage of Borderlands 3" because it isn't even a game yet.

A video of a wheel and a door isn't footage of a new car.

That's what I mean when I say we're talking semantics.

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 03/13/2017 at 07:58pm

Heh, right.

Games are composed of elements like lighting to make a final product. This is as much Borderlands 3 as my arm is me. That said, detached from my body it's just an arm... That came from me.

But you're right.

PS BORDERLANDS 3 FOOTAGE CONFIRMED! THE GAME CONFIRMED TO HAVE LIGHTS AND SIGNS!

Travis   Admin wrote on 03/13/2017 at 08:02pm

So when I said "It's a stretch to..." what I meant was just a simple "wow this is early days so we're a long way off just yet" but here we are talking about "what even is a game?" :D

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 03/13/2017 at 08:15pm

BORDERLANDS 3 FOOTAGE CONFIRMED! lol

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 03/13/2017 at 08:16pm

That's really all I have to say now. I think I'm gonna put that in my email signature. smile

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 03/13/2017 at 08:18pm

My guess is that they actually have a playable game built. I bet they've more than started that and are integrating all the parts, creating art and doing level design. I've seen what a smaller team can do with UE4(System Shock) in a short amount of time. I bet they are much further along than that demo would suggest.

ALL SPECULATION but they have teams of a zillion so I bet they are pretty far along. MY GUESS is we will see gameplay by years end. That might be really optimistic and wrong though.

Travis   Admin wrote on 03/13/2017 at 08:23pm

They probably have the team chunked into smaller ones working on all the parts right now and lighting was the one they were ready to show off. From what I've read about UE dev, it makes things really easy to integrate like that.

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