Feature: 'Gearing Up for Next-Gen: Cliff Bleszinski Chats About The Epic Future'

In today's main Gamasutra feature, Brandon Sheffield sat down at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show to informally interview Epic Games' Gears Of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski, getting a sense of his perspective on game design, how and when to use narrative, and how to merge the mainstream and the hardcore. In this extract from the interview, Bleszinski is discussing the gameplay choices in key Xbox 360 title Gears Of War, explaining: "No, we're not making Knights Of The Old Republic or anything here. Who these characters are is largely pre-defined, as far as Marcus being an anti-hero, and Dom being his buddy. Part of it is just my own game design philosophy because, for me, whenever I play those games, I always go evil. And I have a feeling that if they made those games, if you could only choose the dark path, and you only thought you could choose the light path, nobody would notice, because it seems to me that everyone who goes for the Force chokes. You can't shoot Dom [in Gears Of War] either. The fundamental problem with making an interactive narrative is like – how would you make Lethal Weapon 2, the buddy cop movie - if in the first scene Danny Glover turns to Mel Gibson and shoots him in the head? Never underestimate the ability of the user to undermine the narrative you're trying to tell. You have to allow for every single scenario. You're empowering the user's ability to make the game look stupid, essentially." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including comments on writing, camera choices, and key influences on Bleszinski's shepherding of the Gears Of War franchise (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).