THIS WEEK ON KAIROS

[p][/p][p]Hey Vault Hunters! Welcome to “This Week on Kairos” - a weekly post where we share everything happening across the world of Borderlands 4, from developer updates to community highlights and beyond.[/p][p]Every Friday, we’ll be here with the latest news, fan creations, dev spotlights, helpful resources, and anything else we think you’ll want to see. Whether you're looking to catch up, dive deeper, or just see what your fellow players are up to, this is the place.[/p][p][/p][h3]Our Latest Update Notes:[/h3][p]We’ve rolled out several updates since launch, with more coming soon. Here’s what you may have missed:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]A guide on how to submit a ticket can be found here: [/p][p]https://steamcommunity.com/app/1285190/discussions/2/673972930559959886/[/p][p][/p][p]When you submit a ticket, please remember to attach your DxDiag or MSinfo file. If you need assistance with doing that, here’s a walkthrough:[/p][p]https://support.borderlands.com/hc/en-us/articles/44564441894291-PC-How-do-I-attach-a-DxDiag-and-MSinfo-file[/p][p][/p][p](Note: This section is going to be structured the same each week, so although it looks the same, rest assured it’s being updated weekly!)[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Community Spotlight[/h3][p]We love celebrating players and their big wins. Here are a couple community members who unlocked IRL achievements:[/p][p]Our friend Wallzer raised money today for men’s mental health on a marathon Borderlands 4 stream! We love that Vault Hunters are supporting other Vault Hunters. While his stream is done, the event is not over! You can check out The Pre-Season event happening across Twitch, now through November 10th![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Steam Community Screenshots[/h3][p]As you take screenshots and drop them in Steam, we’ll round up a few of our favorites for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy the beauty of chaos - er, I mean, Kairos![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]Behind the Team: Caleb Kennedy, Borderlands 4 Lead Level Artist[/h3][p]Every week, we’re spotlighting one of the minds behind the mayhem. You’ll get to learn about folks from both Gearbox and 2K, and how each person who touches the game both influences and is influenced by Borderlands 4. This week, we're talking with Caleb Kennedy, Gearbox’s Lead Level Artist:[/p][p][/p][p]When you’re building a space, what story do you want it to tell before anyone even plays it?[/p][p]Caleb: To create a space that’s believable and compelling, you need to give it a history. To do that, I like to give myself some questions to answer. Is this space inhabited? If so, by whom? How recently was it built? What was it built for? How is it maintained, supplied, and defended? Etcetera. Some of those answers are already there in the narrative, some of them can be inferred from world fiction, and some of them you just have to come up with yourself. [/p][p]In the world of Kairos, there are all sorts of interactions happening that provide great material to build those environmental stories on. The geography and landscape have been shaped by both cataclysmic events and deliberate terraforming, while the different factions that inhabit Kairos are in active conflict. That gave me and other artists a lot of fun opportunities to build up rich histories for spaces, which in turn provided a solid foundation to build on.[/p][p][/p][p]How do you balance guiding the player’s path while still making the world feel alive and free?[/p][p]Caleb: Guiding a player is one of the most important tasks when you’re making a large, seamless world. In a more linear game, you have the luxury of being able to precisely control a player’s path. On Kairos, a player has a huge array of options when it comes to exploring, so we had to come up with a variety of tools to guide them toward objectives. Some options are straightforward, like roads, and those actually present an opportunity to enhance the liveliness of the world. By adding patrolling enemies and events along thoroughfares, we’re able to ensure the player encounters cool stuff while also creating a sense of a dynamic, populated world. [/p][p]We also like to pull the player off the beaten path and into the wilderness, though. In those cases, we take full advantage of landmarks to pull the player through space. When someone sees something big and cool, they want to check it out, and if our natural topography frames those landmarks and subtly funnels the player toward them, even better. Always keeping landmarks and reveals in mind when you’re constructing a world makes for good flow while ultimately still leaving the power and choice in the player’s hands.[/p][p][/p][p]How has your relationship to space changed since you started making worlds for others to explore?[/p][p]Caleb: It’s hard to overstate how much creating virtual worlds has impacted the way I interact with the world around me on a daily basis. No matter where I go, there’s always a game developer voice in the back of my head analyzing the same things I’d analyze in a map I was working on or critiquing. How are points of interest framed? When I move through a given space, am I having to actively think about my route, or is the flow natural enough that I can proceed forward without too much effort? Is the design language consistent, or jumbled? Is vertical space being utilized in any interesting ways? [/p][p]In always thinking about these and other layout fundamentals, I’ve come to realize how important the same principles that go into building good game worlds are to creating real-world spaces. I’m especially interested in destination attractions like theme parks, zoos, museums, and even haunted houses that are very overtly aiming to create an exciting and compelling experience. And I’ve developed a great admiration for professions like architecture and city planning, where the people doing the work have to deal with the constraints of real physics and space that we’re often able to cheat around in our virtual world.[/p][p]
[/p][h3]Community Creative Corner[/h3][p]Our community members aren’t just gamers—many of you are also artists. Whether it’s cosplay, digital art, or some yet-to-be-invented medium, we’re your biggest fans. Check out this week’s hand-picked fan creations:[/p][p]kingsleighs[/p][p][/p][p]rism1223[/p][p][/p][p]rottenzone[/p][p]

[/p][p]That’s it for this week—with more updates, more chaos, and maybe a few surprises coming next Friday. Until then: keep your ECHOnet tuned and your loot luck high.[/p][p]Happy Hunting,
The Borderlands Team[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p]


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