Borderlands artist: Diversity is ‘just good design’

Designing a diverse cast of characters for your video game doesn’t have to be something you specifically aim for – it’s "just good design".

That’s according to Gearbox concept artist Amanda Christensen, who took part in a panel about the design decisions behind the popular Borderlands series at PAX South, according to GameSpot.

The Borderlands games have a varied collection of characters – both playable and NPCs – prompting one member of the audience to ask Christensen if Gearbox purposefully designs its games to be as inclusive as possible.

"I don’t think it’s just about representing a wide range of people. It’s just good design," she said.

"We want to create worlds that feel real and authentic, and that means having people of all different body types, gender, sexuality, ethnicity.

"It’s way more fun to design people in a huge spectrum than the same generic bro and hot chick over and over again."

Character design has been a hot topic of discussion over the past year, with Ubisoft courting controversy when it revealed it decided against designing a playable female protagonist for Assassin’s Creed Unity. 

Meanwhile, Blizzard said it was purposefully aiming for diversity with the cast of its new action game Overwatch. 

Gearbox is currently hiring for people to work on the next Borderlands game.