Science & Technology

Game Mode: Managing Producer Of Narrative, Randy Varnell

WAMU 88.5

Published July 17, 2019 at 10:45 AM CDT

Anne Leanzo, of Virginia, plays Ash from the Evil Dead movie and her daughter Gina, 15, plays Lilith from the Borderlands video game during Comic Con 2017.

The Borderlands series of video games has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

That’s not just the creative team at work — there’s a whole story that has to be designed as well, just as a movie needs script.

Gearbox Software makes Borderlands, and managing producer Of Narrative, Randy Varnell, told us what he thinks makes the open-world shooter game unique and how he approaches storytelling within the game.

“You can make a really good game that’s just run and arcade-y and shootery. But I really think the great games, the games we remember, have characters that we relate to. They give you a reason for that conflict to exist. It’s not just going out and mass murdering the universe. Our characters are authentic. That’s what narrative does. It’s not just about guns and gun violence, it’s about creating characters who live in a world where they deal and struggle even in kind of a fictional, science fictional kind of way.

We speak with Varnell about his work during this installment of Game Mode.

For more, visit https://the1a.org.