Gearbox has an interesting story about how Borderlands’ art style came together – and it debunks a very old urban myth.
Reviewing The Codehunters – Borderlands Rumor
A few months after the first Borderlands released, fans found a Ben Hibon animated short called Code Hunters. Some fans accused Gearbox of plagiarizing the animation wholesale.
At the time, Randy Pitchford shared this response:
I would like to thank news sites who chose to share the awesome work in Code Hunters with their readers. It’s great content and one can no doubt imagine that a number of artists and designers at Gearbox were inspired and influenced by it.
Pitchford then suggested that other Battlefield Heroes and Team Fortress 2 also took visible inspiration from Pixar movie The Incredibles. At the time, fans were unsatisfied with this response, and thought that Hibon and his production could have sued Gearbox and 2K Games for it.
Telling The Real Story
Gearbox staff shared an oral history of Borderlands to GameInformer. They explained how its comic book art style came together.
In the late 2000s, Gearbox’s pitch for Borderlands looked a lot like two other games from the time: id Software’s Rage and Bethesda’s Fallout 3. Like those games, Gearbox also used a gritty realistic style. But though they knew that it didn’t quite fit the game they were making.
Here’s Where The Accident Happens
The game’s art director Adam May looked over the work of Scott Kester, one of their concept artists. May’s eye caught a peek at one of Kester’s pieces of ‘illustrated graffiti’. This sketch would go on to become Borderlands 2’s Captain Flynt.
Catching inspiration, May and Kester worked with executive producer Brian Martel to turn Flynt from 2D to 3D. They showed it to Pitchford and convinced him to let them explore the idea.
Randy Pitchford Becomes The Hero
Pitchford thought he would eventually tell them to stop working. He didn’t want the game to go over budget if they were going to change its art style.
But Gearbox’s art team won him over. Pitchford said this:
Two weeks go by, I go into the meeting and, looking at it, it’s f—ing right; It’s right. It feels right. And it’s like everything we knew about what was wrong was confirmed when we felt it was right.
Pitchford convinces 2K Games to bankroll this change. He flew over to 2K’s headquarters and got the direct approval from their management and marketing.
This meant the game took a little bit longer to make, as they delayed its alpha. Obviously, hindsight tells us that was the smartest decision Gearbox and 2K Games ever made.
Was There Ever A Connection With Codehunters?
Plagiarism and copying allegations can easily fly fast and quick. As a matter of public record Ben Hibon never pursued legal action or even spoke about Borderlands.
In the succeeding games, Gearbox would refine Borderlands’ aesthetic. Fans would remember that the games’ colors would become brighter, and the writing would become colorful in a completely different way.
Don’t cry for Ben Hibon, though. Today, he is the creative mastermind of a different million dollar franchise, the Netflix cartoon Star Trek: Prodigy.
