Borderlands case study.

Borderlands: The Pre Sequel!
Case Study
John Greenwood - Rae

Borderlands: The Pre Sequel!;
Game World; Terrain.
The game world for Borderlands: TPS is quite
extraordinary due to the fact the game is set on
the moon. The terrain that you play/walk/drive
around and explore on is ‘Elpis’, Pandora’s
moon. There is the ‘Helios’ space station, a big
‘H’ in space which you start on at the beginning.
Elpis is a large game world which can be explored.
Most of the gameplay consists of running on
Elpis into different area/locations to progress
through the game. Eventually, you head back up
to the Helios space station, and to the Vault at
the endgame, making both of these the terrain
within the game as well.
Advantages of having such a vast area to walk
around on is that you can explore most of the
map and view the different areas which have
been modified to suit the enemy lifestyle. Some
disadvantages is that you could get bored of
constantly seeing the same style of terrain
when you walk/drive towards objectives.
The graphics of the game can actually impact a
user’s thoughts and gameplay due to the
different style from other games. The game
uses cel – shading & exaggeration to express an
appealing ‘cartoon’ style look.
Terrain available for the player to
walk upon. (Elpis’ Surface)
Terrain available
for the player to
walk upon.
(Within Crisis
Scar.)

There are many things within the game world on
Borderlands: TPS which fall into the Architecture
category. Things like buildings, rocks, caves, enemy
spawn locations and world edges are all architecture.
On Elpis, you have most of these already generated
within the playable area, including things like
lava which can kill the player (but acts as a
borderline entry to prevent going out of
bounds).
Advantages of doing this is to prevent a player
glitching or even map exploiting in the game. It
can also show some sort of disciplinary towards
the players, showing they shouldn’t and can’t
break the rules. Sometimes this can also be a
disadvantage in some circumstances as there
may be/have something in an area which is
inaccessible to the player, preventing them
progression with their task.
As there are many buildings within Borderlands: TPS,
most of them have no entry. This may limit the
player’s exploration and how it gives them
freedom to explore anywhere. This also creates
a boundary for the player as it has a purpose to
not allow the player inside, but may allow other
things to generate inside. (Enemies etc.)
Game World; Architecture.
Lava creating a
boundary for the
player. (damage
taken by
standing in the
lava is shown by
the shield effect
here).
Player looking at
Helios.
Out of bounds area.
(causing instant death
if entered.)

In Borderlands, most of the game consists of objects. As the base
of the game Is designed on a ‘shoot & loot’ style of gameplay, it means
you have to interact with different items.
For starters you have Vendors, these allow the player to buy
health, ammo, class modifications (class mods) , shields and even
weapons. Then there are the original weapon looting crate system.
These are positioned in specific spots to reward the player for beating a
boss, getting through a tough part of the map area they are in, or in a
tough area to reach (top of a building etc.) There are smaller objects
such as loot crates which can hold ammo or money in, dumpsters,
explosive barrels in 5 different elemental forms.
The advantages of having such a vast amount of objects is that it
makes the play be able to interact with more things within the game,
creating a virtual world where they are the character. This allows to
have different loot spawn each time they loot the crates/area, meaning
they will never get the same item twice, as of Borderlands’ ‘Bazillion’
gun effect. Some disadvantages of having certain things in the game
world such as loot crates is that they may not be able to reach every
single crate to loot, causing them stress and anger. The barrels which
explode upon taking damage could also be a disadvantage within the
game since they may explode and damage the player, or even give them
a DOT, (damage over time) effect putting them down into the revival
stance.
As the game features different things like barrels, they can help
aid the player if they take a tactical approach on their level they are in.
An example would be, fighting against the boss; Colonel Tungsteena
Zarpedon. When assaulting the Helios space station to regain control,
you fight the commander of the lost legion, Colonel T.Z. during the
battle there are explosives which can be activated by the player, then
shot to damage Zarpedon.
Game World; Objects.
Player is currently in ‘Fight for
you life mode’. This is where the
player is incapitated and
requires either a kill or a revive
from a team-mate to survive.
Explosives which the player
can interact with.

Main Characters; Playable Characters.In Borderlands, there are 4 characters of the game. This allows variation and choice for the
player to choose who they want to play as. The characters on Borderlands: TPS are;
• Athena – The Gladiator
• Wilhem – The Enforcer
• Nisha – The Lawbringer
• Claptrap – The Fragtrap
Each playable character has a specific skill set, so as you progress you level, you can enhance
your capabilities to do things. Each character has 3 skill tree’s which can create a massive amount
of choice for the player. This is an advantage as this allows the player to view what sort of skills
they can obtain, and allow them to persue which skills they want to get.
Each character is different and unique not only from their skill trees, but from their action skill.
The action skill is what defines them as that type of character (Gladiator, Enforcer, Lawbringer &
Fragtrap.) These actions skill do not always allow the player to complete the game solo, as the
skills do not always provide enough to help defeat the enemies. That is why for multiplayer it is
best recommended that you try have 1 of each of class within your session.
There has been a 5th character released as DLC for the game recently, which is;
Handsome Jack – The DoppelGanger
As ‘Handsome Jack’ was seen in the previous Borderlands game, (Borderlands 2), most of his
skills on his 3 skill tree’s as well as his action skill, have been seen within Borderlands 2 at some
point. This was an easy character to make as DLC and with the high popularity for Jack in BL2,
this made 2K games and Gearbox create another great character to play as.

There are many non playable characters within
Borderlands: TPS, which consist of 3 main
groups;
• Friendly NPCs – Help, and may fight
alongside the player. Does not attack the
player.
• Enemy NPCs – Hostile enemies which spawn
within an area in the game world. Will always
attack the player on sight if they get too
close.
• Enemy Bosses – Bosses are challenges which
the player must overcome to progress. These
will always fight back, and are much more
difficult to beat than ordinary enemies.
NPCs usually are the key for the game to run
properly, as they provide the player with the
main story line and help them progress through
certain areas after requirements are met. They
can also offer additional side missions within the
game, which rewards the player upon
completion.
Main Characters; Non - Playable Characters. (NPCs)

There are a few friendly NPCs within Borderlands: TPS.
As you are working for Jack, you’re first ally is
automatically any Hyperion personnel. There are also
other friendly NPCs located in the game world which
help the player who are;
• B4R-BOT
• Handsome Jack
• Janey Springs
• Lilith
• Moxxi
• Nurse Nina
• Roland
• SC4V-TP
• CU5TM-TP
• Gladstone
• Nakayama
• Pickle
• Skipper
All of the NPCs help the character when progressing
through the main storyline. They may also offer
additional side quests which can give the player specific
and unique rewards upon completition.
Roland & Lilith are both NPCs which aid the player in
the game. They are 2 of the few NPCs who actually fight
alongside the player.
Friendly NPCs
Roland & Lilith, both
Playable characters in
Borderlands 1 and NPCs
in Borderlands 2.

Hostile NPCs are the characters within the game who try to stop and kill
the player. These are the enemies which you have to fight through the
game, gaining experience to level up off them from each kill. These
enemies are;
• Kraggons
• Lost Legion
• Rathyds
• Scavs
• Scavenger Beasts
• Shugguraths
• Stalkers
• Threshers
• Torks
• "Borrowed" Laser Turrets
• Jet Fighters
These are all of the hostile enemies within the game. They all are hostile
towards each other (scavs will kill torks, etc) which means the player
could encounter a battle which already consists of 2 or more enemies.
Killing these enemies allows the player to either receive a weapon drop,
ammo drop or health drop from the enemies.
Enemies tend to come in packs, and they can be lethal when in a group.
Sometimes, if there are more than 1 player in a session together with
others, the enemies may spawn in as a ‘Badass’ enemy. Badasses deal
out more damage to the player, as well as absorb more damage dealt by
the player. They can have a high drop chance of good loot, and give
more experience than killing other enemies.
Sometimes enemies may have elemental powers, shields, grenade
mods or weapons. These can be damaging to the player and can also
help resist the player's attacks, due to have immunity to that element.
Hostile NPCs
Kraggons; Elpis’ natural
enemies created from the
crackening.
Pandora; after
Borderlands 1 events,
showing an eridium
deposit.

In Borderlands, as most things in the game tend to be hostile to the player,
at some point they will encounter a boss. A boss is defined from regular
enemies with a specific cutscene and quote to suit that boss. A list of the
bosses are as follows;
• The Bosun
• Deadlift
• The Empyrean Sentinel
• Felicity Rampant
• Flame Knuckle
• Raum-Kampfjet Mark V
• RedBelly
• Colonel Zarpedon
• Iwajira
• Nel
Bosses are what makes the player work for their levels and loot. As the
bosses are stronger than all enemies, they also deal more damage, and
have help from fellow friends. Bosses are usually based higher level than
the player, to make them test their witts to beat the boss, and if the
succeed, there is usually a reward for the player which is either a weapon
crate to loot, or the boss can drop a rare/unique item only obtainable from
that boss.
This does make a massive advantage for the players as it means if they
wish to obtain specific loot they have to ‘farm’ for it. The term farm in
borderlands: TPS means to constantly kill the boss in a rapid succession.
E.G load up your save, kill the boss, check loot, save and quit, repeat.
Farming allows the player to have more things to do once they have
completed the game, or maxed their level, as they get to constantly try aim
for something unique.
Hostile NPCs - Bosses
Quote which
relates to the
boss.
Name of the
boss.
Actual image of
the boss.

FMVs (Full Motion Videos) – Cut Scenes
Each of the Borderlands installments contain cut-scenes.
Mainly known for the same approach at the start of the
game, they have cut scenes which occur not only at the
beginning, the end, but also while playing through the
game.
Borderlands: TPS contains multiple cut scenes in the
game. At the start, the game has a cut scene showing
playable character Athena, captured by Lilith. Before she
is ordered to be executed, Lilith asks her why she helped
Jack. This is where the players play the game and it tells
out Athena’s story.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkB1UMC6eeY)
(Opening cut scene for the game)
There is also an ending cut scene, which also reflects
back to the start where Athena is captured, hence the
game being her story she told to Lilith. After she has told
her, Lilith orders Athena to be executed. Once she is fired
upon, a large eridian warrior (seen in a cut scene during
the game near the start) appears and stops the bullets
from killing Athena. It then tells Lilith ‘war is coming, and
you will need all the vault hunters you can get’.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urkgk70pERY)
(Ending cut scene for the game)

Avatar
The avatar you play is in the borderlands entirely
depends on which character you picked at the start.
You may save your character’s data and progress and
create a new one which can be a different character.
When spawning in a vehicle in the Moon Zoomy
stations, once you jump into that vehicle, that
becomes your new avatar as you are controlling it.
There also can be gun turrets you can jump in and use,
making them your avatar for a short period of time.
The advantage of creating vehicles for the player to be
able to drive its to let them have different limitations in
the game. It allows them to have their own fun and
freedom, while exploring ad choosing their own
pathway to the current goal. There are no real
disadvantages as vehicles speed up travelling, and
allow the player to have more fun and cause more
mayhem with them.
Menu when in the
Moon Zoomy. Used to
pick and spawn
vehicle.
Vehicle chosen to
spawn.
A Stingray, another vehicle to spawn from the
Moon Zoomy.

Game Setting
The franchise as a whole set’s the time and where. Borderlands 1 & 2 are both set on
Pandora, a planet which is corrupt from bandits, mercenaries of interstellar corporations,
dangerous wildlife and, eventually, eldritch alien abominations.
Both of these games take place here, and Borderlands 2 takes place after Borderlands 1.
However, Borderlands: TPS is a prequel to Borderlands 2, set before the events that
happened then, showing how Jack came to power in the Hyperion Corporation & his idea to
cleanse Pandora.
Borderlands: TPS is set on Pandora’s moon, Elpis. The reason for this being is that an alien
vault which can contain either loot or cash, is hidden upon the moon. Jack hires 4 vault
hunters (you) to come seek for the vault, and loot the contents.

Goals/Challenge
There are different goals & challenges to overcome while playing
Borderlands: TPS. A main example for these would be a boss
fight, but there is more than that for the player to go for. The
main obvious goal/challenge is to complete the game, by opening
the vault, but that happens later on and it is not the only
challenge/goal to do.
The player can do different challenges within the game. There are
the story missions to progress through the game, boss fights, side
quests and something called ‘Badass Rank’. These all allow the
player to have interaction within the game, allowing them to
choose a specific goal/challenge to attempt.
The story missions & side quests consist of the same style things
to do, go here, complete this objective, turn in mission. Boss
fights are self explanatory. Each player has their own Badass
Rank. The Badass Rank carries over through different characters,
and can gives the player permanent in-game bonuses.
Badass Rank for each player is determined by a number of
challenges. Complete the challenge, and you get some Badass
Rank, fill the bar fully, you get a Badass token. These tokens can
be used to purchase certain upgrades which stack up and make
your character more specialized. An example would be using the
token on your max health stat, increasing it by 0.8% for the first
token. You could stack this up to be 100% eventually, doubling
your max health while in-game.
Badass Rank stats. Allows
player to choose which stat
they want.

Rewards
• Borderlands reward system has been
consistent through the whole
franchise. Depending on what
challenge you manage to over come, it
depends on if you get a reward. For
basic missions, story or side missions,
there is an initial reward.
• There is also a loot crate reward
system. These can be found in the
game world in certain area’s which are
complex to overcome. This can vary
between boss battles, large groups of
enemies (waves of enemies come) or
at exceptionally hard to reach areas.
These loot crates can have different
items which can vary from weapons,
shields, grenade mods, class mods or
O2 kits.
Some missions have
additional rewards such
as weapons, shields, class
mods, grenade mods or
even O2 kits.
Each mission also has
money rewards, which can
vary the amount on the
difficulty of the mission.
Each mission completed has
an exp yield reward. The
amount given is based on how
difficult the mission is.

Difficulty
• Borderlands has a different difficulty setting than any other game.
Compared to a game like Call Of Duty which features 4 difficulties
from the player to choose from, Borderlands has a different way of
making this.
• You start the game in ‘Normal mode’ where the enemies at the
start are level 1 (like yourself) and as you progress through the
game, their level changes to suit that area. Once the game has been
completed, you can now access ‘True Vault Hunter’ mode which is
where all of the enemies are tougher. So the start enemies are now
around level 27-30 and at the end 48-52.
• In Borderlands 2, the level cap was 50, but soon followed by 2
DLC’s to allow you to go to 61 and then 72. This also introduced
‘Ultimate Vault Hunter’ mode, where the enemies levels were the
same level as the highest leveled player in the current session. I
think this feature will be added into Borderlands: TPS as the level
cap is currently 50, and the audience will want to exceed that level.

Inventory
• Borderlands inventory system is completely
different from any other game. The inventory
system consists of 5 different things;
- Map of the current area you are in (Concordia
map shows all of Concordia, travelling to a new
place like Outlands Canyon, the map will show
Outlands Canyon).
- Mission/Quest log
- Badass Rank log & Badass Rank Challenges
- Player equipment inventory (weapons etc)
- Player skill tree.
• This has been like such since the first
installment of Borderlands. Over time, they
have changed the style of how the inventory
looks, how it is all layed out and easier usage.
Also, while in the inventory status, to other
players in multi-player it shows a barrier
which shows you are in your inventory, but
also allows the current player to see their
character in 3rd person while in the inventory.
Character’s skill tree’s. 3
tree’s so player has variation
of skills to pick.
Remaining skill points (1
gained per level)
Player inventory,
includes all
weapons, shields,
class mods,
grenade mods
and O2 kits.

Win Condition
• Borderlands’ win condition for the initial player is to open
the vault. As we see at the start, the story pushes that
objective away, making the player/players achieve this
objective first so they can open the vault.
• The players’ win condition is to help Jack open the vault on
Elpis, get the loot from the vault and get paid by Hyperion.
Unfortunately as this objective is pushed aside, the new
temporary win condition for the player is to create a robot
army with Jack and help from others, and re-take over the
Helios space station.
• The player could set their own winning conditions by
setting goals to complete all of the side missions, or gain all
achievements/trophies for the game, or even complete all
of the badass rank challenges.

Balance
• In Borderlands, like many games when released,
they are glitches/exploits within the game. Some
players use these to their advantage to cheat the
game and get more from exploiting it.
• Sometimes the bosses can be too easy to kill, like
in Borderlands 2, you could kill the boss
‘Terramorphous The Invincible’ which was
supposed to be the most difficult boss in the
game (before any DLC’s or patches were out). If
you had a Bee shield, and a Conference call
shotgun, you could kill him in less than
15seconds, allowing the player to check his loot,
walk in and out of his area, summon him again
and repeat.
• Patches get released to balance out the game to
make it more fair for the player. Although some
people may not like the patches and what they
do, it is to make the game more challenging and
keep it fair for everyone. Currently, Borderlands:
TPS has not had any patch changes to balance
out the game as It is already balanced enough. I
think there will be one soon to patch the secret
boss Iwajira so it is more difficult to beat.
Compatibility packs;
Borderlands release
these so all patches
are within this pack.
Released with new
DLCs to balance the
game for everyone on
co – op play.

Graphic Style
• Borderlands: TPS’ graphics are a lot different from other First person
shooters/role playing games. As it has been released lately, the graphics
are really good. The game uses cel – shading and exaggeration techniques
to portray the visuals to the player.
• Since Borderlands uses these type of graphic styles, it changes on how
people think of the game. Some people may enjoy these graphics and love
to play them, but others may hate them as it is too cartoony for them.
• Using exaggeration for the games graphic style really brings an impact on
the audience. Since the game is an FPSRPG, the graphics allows the player
to see a world they can relate to, as the graphics can easily be drawn if
doing some sort of art about the game. This allows the players to using the
same style techniques to draw/create art about the game. Some people
may say the graphics could ruin the game as they are not as realistic as
Call Of Duty. This may upset some people and cause them not to like the
game, due to the fact that the graphics are not what they expected them
to be.

Box Art
Game developing and publishing
companies are always on the box
art for the game to show who
created the game.
Title of the game
clearly stated.
Tends to be bold
to stand out.
Showing the 4 playable
characters on the front,
allows the player to see
what they are in for.
Age rating, pending
before release, states
the age group it is
suitable and targeted
for.
‘Psycho’. Been portrayed on
each instalment of
Borderlands. This NPC is
the trademark of the game
and can define the game
from something else by just
looking at it.

Game Type: Single Player & Multi -
Player
• Borderlands: TPS has its own different styles on single
player and multi player. In single player, you can play
through the game by yourself, doing so, allows you to
focus on training and taking time to pay attention to the
campaign. In multi player, you also do the storyline with
team mates, so the story line does not change except
certain dialogue. There is also local split screen which is
multi player but only focuses on 2 players working
together on the same console.
• Single player makes your story a challenging one as you
will have to do side missions to gain exp to level up. As for
multi player, 2 players can easily take down a foe which is
2-4 levels higher than themselves. Single player does
actually decrease the chances of getting a rare loot drop
or better items from loot crates, and also maintains the
enemies to be a lower level than with a full team of 4.
Multi player does have the benefits of being able to
revive team mates if incapped, a higher chance of getting
rarer loot to spawn, and more exp from enemies as they
are tougher.
Single player, more difficult for
the player to progress.
Co – op, although it is split
screen, allows the players to
help others to progress.

Narrative
Borderlands: TPS’ narrative is different as it is set before the previous installment,
Borderlands 2. In TPS, the game focuses on Athena’s story of why she teamed up
with Jack. As you carry out the actions through gameplay, this is what she is telling
Lilith in the cut scene you see at the start.
As shown in the prologue, Athena states that the got an offer from a low level
Hyperion engineer saying ‘be a vault hunter, come to the moon.’ She was hungry
not to pass up a paying job. Doing so, her and 3 other potential vault hunters go to
the moon. Jack is helping them hunt the vault down, but, the lost legion are trying
to prevent anyone finding the moon, by attacking and claiming ‘Helios’ to use its
laser and destroy Elpis (Pandora’s Moon).
Jack then gets the vault hunters to find the jamming signal jamming Helios’ defense
systems, build a robot army, and retake Helios. Once the player has done this, Jack
discovers that the vault is open, as Zarpedon tells him (before she dies). The vault
hunters then proceed into the vault, defeating all of the vault guardian protectors,
and lost legion employees. Once done, the Epilogue starts, and shows how Jack
‘becomes’ the tyrant he is in Borderlands 2.

Borderlands case study.

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