A good one, this. It's about building a franchise. Not just a game, a whole universe, with all the stories and action figures and lunchbox tie-ins that come with it. Sounds interesting. Read on!

3:56pm - Straight into it. A story needs to be compelling. People have to want to be in the world, or it's going nowhere. It also needs to be open and deep, or theres nowhere to explore in the game/games. It needs to be as epic as its trying to be: it needs to have a big soundtrack, good design, etc. And finally, it needs an anchor: you need a hook to get you into the game, and you hand onto it and it's your ticket into the world.

4:03pm - Why does the Warthog kick so much ass? Because we know what a jeep does, and this does MORE. But a Ghost...we don't know them, so it falls flat. Never thought of it like that way, but that checks out in my books. Same for the story as a whole: it's easier to base a fantasy on a realistic foundation than something completely fantastic, because then you've got a reference point.

4:07pm - What are the Locust based on? The monster under your bed. It's a universal, primal fear that's easy to relate to than some fantasy creature or alien. What's Marcus based on? The "bad-ass anti-hero". No. You don't say.

4:10pm - Still on the grounding in reality thing, all the weaons are based on Vietnam-era kit. Makes it easier to understand: "here's an assault rifle, you know what they do...but this one's got a chainsaw

4:12pm - Ooohh, this is good. He's defending Gears, saying it's not a cliche. "Everything becomes a cliche when you're exposed to everything", he says. The "mainstream" don't think its cliched at all, it's army guys in a tight spot.

4:15pm - Talking about how they marketed Gears. Each screenshot HAD TO BE from the game engine, and each had to tell a story: emphasis on "no bullshots". Gives MS a big pat on the back for the quality of marketing Gears received. Gears needed an "overall visual identity": everything needed to feel, look and be instantly recognizable as coming from Gears.

4:20pm - Onto the visual themes. "Destroyed Beauty". Based heavily on wartime France, at least in appearance. The Locust couldn't just be bad guys, they had to be horrific. Come in, kick your dog, steal a box full of ballpoints.

4:22pm - More on visual identity. The Raiders of the Lost Ark poster was a big influence - it's iconic, it tells you everything you need to know, it's unique. All the Gears advertising aimed for the same thing: the poster/cover needed Marcus in it, needed images of destroyed civilization, needed images of your comrades. Oh, also needed the chainsaw. Man, a lot of thought's gone into a poster that shows a dude with a gun.

4:31pm - The Gears universe was built from the ground up to be the basis of a franchise - by setting basic story-telling themes and a strong brand, they could easily do more than just games.

4:38pm - Good question from the audience: "who drove the creative process at Epic?" Rod says Cliffy and the art director played the biggest part, along with help from Rod and some others. "Lightning really struck with this one".

4:40pm - And we're done! Great talk, I dig art design in games, so this was super-interesting. Luke Plunkett

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