Borderlands 2 Interview
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IGN: And Handsome Jack specifically, can you talk about how that character was created and where the idea came from?
Anthony Burch: When Paul Hellquist the creative director and myself were bubbling over the story, the games that we always really loved were the games with the really, really strong antagonist. Games like System Shock 2, Portal, BioShock. We thought that having a really strong antagonist who was constantly needling you much in the same way that General Knoxx in the Secret Army of General Knoxx DLC was helped bring the whole story together and give it this one focal point. You want to kill this guy and that's your thread through the plot. We went from there and thought what would be a fun sort of villain to have chiding you throughout your missions, who would fit on Pandora and who you could hate but also would be entertaining enough that you'd actually want to hear what they're going to say.
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IGN: Okay, and does every character class have a different motivation for wanting to take him down?
Anthony Burch: Yes and no. Again, we're not forcing the motivation of your character onto you. You're not going to have to stop and listen to Salvador be like "oh it's such a bummer that Handsome Jack did mean things to me a long time ago" because we don't want to trounce on whatever the player wants to do. If the player just wants to kill Handsome Jack because they think he's a bad guy we don't want to have to come in and say "no, actually it's because you had a daughter before the game started and Handsome Jack killed them and that's why you hate him." Then you sort of get that weird dissonance between your character and yourself.
