The Gears of War is experiencing a rebirth of sorts on the Xbox One. The intellectual property was sold by Epic Games to Microsoft and given to Black Tusk Studios to begin anew. Fortunately, former Gears Producer Rod Fergusson joined the new team and recently discussed the importance of trying to keep the same feel of the original games with an all new team of developers.
“With Black Tusk, we have to show that we have a legitimate claim to this IP and be able to show we know how to do it right before we do it differently,”Fergusson told Polygon in an interview. “So I think there’s a combination. It’s about finding the right things to change. And there are some things that even though people try to copy us, we don’t think they’ve nailed. I think the cover system, there’s a feel to a Gears of War game that I’ve yet to find in another game where it feels the same. Whether it’s the fluidity, the weight, the heaviness to the characters, the way that it feels like to be in cover, the roadie run character, those sorts of things.
“So there’s things that I think are uniquely Gears that you just have to double down on, and then there’s things we go, ‘Hey, is there a way to be more contemporary with other mechanics that have maybe found their way into the genre that you have to take notice of?’”
@GearsViking I saw it! <3 pic.twitter.com/u2WgIcxEv4
— Reign (@Reign187) June 9, 2014
The team at Black Tusk includes few Gears of War veterans, however, and they spent their time reverse engineering the gameplay before Fergusson arrived. Fergusson has added his knowledge of the design philosophies and pillars of the game to the mix.
Epic Games has been supportive of the effort as well with some personnel visiting Black Tusk to discuss level design and other ins and outs of not only the Gears of War franchise but Unreal Engine 4 as well.
“I think they’re really happy that Gears is back with me,” he said. “I can make sure our baby gets taken care of.
“And then we have the relationship with the engine as well. They want the engine to do well and they want the game to do well.”
A new Gears of War game is still a ways off since Microsoft purchased the franchise earlier this year, and Fergusson joined not long afterward. That’s fine though as 2014 has Sunset Overdrive and Halo: Master Chief Collection as the big Xbox One exclusive shooters. Meanwhile, 2015 has Halo 5: Guardians and Quantum Break . That gives Black Tusk plenty of time to have a new Gears of War by 2016.
Are you interested in a new Gears of War title for the Xbox One? Or does the 2016 just seem too far off to even contemplate? Sound off in the comments below.
[Image via Gears of War (Xbox 360)]
