There's a lot more to building game worlds than most people realize - level designers combine all the pieces that make a game with a sharp sense of design to create interesting environments and gameplay that keeps the player interested and having fun.  Graeme's job working on Borderlands is certainly not easy, but he works with great skill with a team of great designers.  Let's see what he has to say about working on Borderlands!

ennui: Tell us a little about your job on the Borderlands team.

Graeme: As a level designer on Borderlands, I'm responsible for "bringing it all together" so to speak.  I take art, code, animation, audio, and game design and create the environment that players experience using all those elements.  Basically I make the world go boom as I see fit.  It's a creative and rewarding experience.  

ennui: What does a typical "day in the life" look like for you – who do you work closely with and how do you go about your tasks?

Graeme: A typical day for me has be in the office between 10 and 10:30.  I start up my computer and take those few minutes to clean up the cans, trash, and junk I probably left on my desk from the day before.  Once my rig is up, I grab the latest build and check my email.  I'll look for updates from our test department, general e-mail from coworkers, and anything from our level design mailing list.  Also during this time I usually hit up my gaming and general news sites.  At that point I start up the editor and get to work on my latest task.  

Depending on the task at hand, I'll speak with any number of different people or departments.  If code is working on a specific issue for level design, I'll probably speak with coder at some point during the day.  The same goes to an artist working on an asset I need.  I interface with my lead, Patrick Blank, regularly throughout the day.  I often get an update from Steve Jones, the lead programmer at some point on the day as well.  After working through the afternoon I take a break at 5 for game time, then get back to work for a few more hours afterwards.  By that time it's in the evening and I make my way home.

ennui: What challenges do you face as a level designer on Borderlands?

Graeme: As a level designer on Borderlands we face some particular challenges specific to our title, as well as tons of general issues.  One of the biggest challenges we face on our project is creating the seamless world.  Each level has to give the player the illusion of a vast planet, but contain the player so that the level runs under memory constraints.  Level design is constantly trying to push the limits of the hardware so we can create an environment that matches our vision.

Also given the size of each of levels, which it's a challenge just filling them with compelling content.  Having a big world isn't much fun if there isn't anything to do or see.  Taking all those elements I mentioned earlier, and placing them throughout a world of Pandora's size is a daunting task.  Just landscaping Pandora is a time consuming task!  

Another seemingly simple challenge we face is creating terrain that is fun to drive on, and shoot people on too.  Players get a vehicle really early in Borderlands and experience all kinds of vehicular combat.  Vehicle terrain requires more hills, bumps, valleys, and changes in elevation than a typical combat space.  On top of that, we need to make sure the terrain matches the art goals for the area, in shape and design.  Finding that balance of terrain that gives players tons of fun driving and combat can be difficult, but can be a lot of fun "testing" it out.

ennui: What sorts of things do you have to think about when designing for co-op; how do you approach that task?

Graeme: I did two of the co-op levels for Earned in Blood's Skirmish mode so I had experience with co-op going into Borderlands.  That game gave me a lot of general knowledge on things to watch out for when I started on this project.  Space, combat, and layout are things that have to be looked at differently depending on the number of players.  For instance, a path a player can traverse needs to be a little larger in our game because there will be more than one person using it a time.  No one wants to take a path so thin that you have to move around single file.  Simple stuff like that requires a extra second to think through.

Combat is also more difficult to plan for.  Each of the main character types play differently, and accounting for that in each level can be a lot to juggle.  You need to give Mordecai sniper perches, but also keep some close quarters combat space for Roland and Lilith.  The on top of that, Borderlands uses a procedural system to spawn enemies.  You're never too sure what will end up specifically around each corner!  It could be a skag, a ruthless dog like creature, or maybe it's a couple of bandits out on patrol.  Depending on how many players are in that area can radically change the challenge of that area.

Another  issue I face is allowing players that balance of exploring their environment, while moving them together towards a larger goal.  For performance reasons we can't just have everyone split up, spawn a bunch of enemies, and load in tons of assets at once.  (We could, but the framerate would be in the single digits.)  This may sound derogatory to the player, but we really need to herd them around like sheep to make sure they all have the best experience they can.

There are a lot of technical aspects within the edge that we have to keep in mind as well, such as client and server side events.  Thankfully we have a stellar code team that keeps as much of that stuff taken care of on their side.

ennui: What has been your favorite part of working on Borderlands so far?

Graeme: The best part of working on Borderlands has been working with all the experienced people on our team.  I am constantly learning new techniques and ways to become a better level designer each day.  Everyone's ideas, opinions, and perspectives has taught me to look at things from as many angles before settling on a solution.  It's also helped me broaden my ideas and be more ambitious as a level designer.

ennui: Making games is hard work, but what do you enjoy doing in the free time you have?

Graeme: When I'm not busy making a game, I can usually be found playing one.  Recently I've been playing in a Team Fortress 2 tournament with other guys in the office.  Besides video games I'm a bit of a movie buff and try to get out and see what I can.  In the summer I like getting people together for a game of volleyball every so often.

Thanks to Graeme for spending the time with us!  Discuss this feature on our forums!