JOSHUA ORTEGA ON GEARS OF WAR 2

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

Humanity may be on the brink of extinction but Marcus Fenix and the soldiers of Delta Squad are back to ensure that there is still hope for mankind on the Planet Serra.

Felix and co. are characters in the Gears of War game first developed by Epic Games as a tactical third-person shooter video game and published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360 in November 2006. To date, the Xbox version of the game has sold over 4.5 million copies.

Lead designer Cliff Bleszinski announced during the 2008 Game Developers Conference in February this year that a sequel was in the works and is currently scheduled for released in November.

With the drumbeats of war growing louder, we sat down with Joshua Ortega, the Seattle-based scriptwriter for Gears of War 2 who has previously worked on a wide variety of Xbox 360 titles such as Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and Viva Piñata. Other than having written such comic books as Necromancer, Star Trek: The Manga and Spider-Man Unlimited, his “Shadows & Light” story in 2005’s Star Wars Tales #23 from Dark Horse served as a prequel to the bestselling Knights of the Old Republic video games for the Xbox.

Newsarama: Hi, Joshua. To start with, how did you get involved with Epic Games' Gears of War 2 game in the first place? Was this something you chased down, or something that came to you? Did your pal Eric Nylund, who was crucial in the development of the story for the first Gears of War and is also employed as a writer for Microsoft Game Studios, have anything to do with it?

Joshua Ortega: It was a bit everything, actually. Part serendipity, part timing, and Eric definitely played a major role in it as well. Actually, you can trace my involvement on the game back to a really fun lunch with Eric, Cliff Bleszinski, Chris Taylor (Owner of Gas Powered Games), William Harms (of Impaler and Supreme Commander fame), and John Sutherland (who has worked on Jade Empire and other games for MGS). Eric had introduced Cliff and I earlier in the day, and we really hit it off at lunch…from ideas to humor, there were a ton of things that just clicked instantly.

Fast forward to a few months later, Cliff and I had kept in touch, and Eric tells me that there’s an opening for the scriptwriter on Gears 2. I was originally scheduled to work on another project, but when that opportunity came up, it definitely intrigued me. I checked in with Cliff, he asked me to send him a ton of work samples to share with the Epic team, they all liked my work, and voila… within a few weeks I had signed on to script the game.

NRAMA: For our readers who aren't video game enthusiasts, briefly give us an overview of Gears of War 2. What's the high concept?

JO: High concept of Gears of War 2 is humanity on the brink of extinction, fighting a war against a vicious enemy from the underground that will not rest until humanity is destroyed. In the past, humanity fought against itself, warring over a precious energy source known as imulsion, but now they’re forced to unite against a more powerful common enemy. The game is set on the planet Sera, but as you can imagine, there a lot of earthly parallels.

NRAMA: What challenges are there working on a property like this with an ever growing following outside comics?

JO: I don’t really see the growing interest in my work in comics as any sort of challenge in regards to writing for Gears… In fact, I think it’s an advantage, if anything. You’ll find that there is a ton of crossover between the comics and video game worlds, so writing for the two media is actually quite complimentary. I’ve often said that most people in comics would like to work in video games, and most people in video games would like to work on a comic. If you can do both, more power to you.

NRAMA: So, how much time do you spend doing game research? How many times have you played the first game?

JO: It really depends on the game. When I wrote the Knights of the Old Republic prequel for Dark Horse Comics and LucasBooks, I think I did about 80 hours on that game. 80 hours playing and typing notes, then a bunch of other hours reading all of the old Tales of the Jedi collections so I could properly bridge the gap between the comics and the game. I’m big on research, and I think readers really appreciate a writer who puts in the time to study the universe they’re writing about… I know I personally appreciate it as a reader.

Gears of War is not as big of a game, length-wise, as KOTOR, so I didn’t need to spend as many hours researching the game, nor were there a bunch of comics or novels that I had to delve into. That was part of the fun of the project for me, that there was still a ton of stuff to explore and create in the world of Gears. That said, I have played the game multiple times just because it’s so damn fun… the replayability is amazing, especially when you throw in multiplayer. That cover system, man… that is one sweet gameplay mechanic!

NRAMA: What are the key differences in terms of the dynamics and styles between writing a video game compared to scribing a comic book like Spider-Man, Star Wars, Star Trek, Necromancer and penning a novel like ((FREQUENCIES))?

JO: It’s much more collaborative, and as Cliff warned me early on, you often have to write to the technology. For instance, in a comic or a movie, if you had a major character in a script that you wanted to keep, you would never cut that character… one way or another you could make it work. In a game—luckily not in Gears—you could have a major character whose model wasn’t going to be finished in time for release, so you might have to cut them from the scripts simply because there’s no way to create them in time. In a movie, a character may need to be recast—who knows, maybe the actor needed to take a trip to the Betty Ford or something—then you’d just recast them. In a game, you have to create them, and there may or may not be time to do that.

NRAMA: Back to Gears of War 2 now, how do you approach a character like Marcus Fenix? What lies ahead of him, Dominic Santiago and members of the Delta Squad as you dig deeper into the universe of this franchise?

JO: Their world gets more desperate, and both men are put through a lot of drama during the course of this story… especially Dom. We get more into the story of his missing wife Maria, and there’s some pretty heavy stuff that gets brought up during the game. If we do our jobs right, Gears 2 should be a very emotionally resonant game… and of course, you’ll be able to chainsaw people too while you’re getting all teary. [laughs]

NRAMA: Will the nightmarish Locust Horde be the main antagonist in the game sequel? Or will you be introducing new threats apart from them?

JO: The Locust are definitely the main enemy in Gears 2, and you’ll be seeing some new types of Locust that you’ve never seen before, as well as some of the indigenous creatures of Sera…and trust me, not all of them are nice. Some of the creature designs are just amazing, and Chris Perna and the other Epic artists have really knocked themselves out on this one. Fans will not be disappointed.

NRAMA: What's the situation on Sera in the sequel?

JO: It’s a bad time for humanity… essentially, Gears 2 is the last stand of humanity.

NRAMA: Looking down the road, is there any chance of flashback tales? Will the players learn more about the Pendulum Wars, Emergence Day, etc? What about story arcs for other characters like Augustus Cole, Damon Baird, Anya Stroud and Victor Hoffman?

JO: Yes, story aspects not featured in the game will come to light in other media. For example, we’ll be exploring the interlude between Gears 1 and 2 in the Gears comic, which we just announced with DC/WildStorm at NYCC. The Gears prequel novel will delve into the time period before Gears 1.

NRAMA: How well would this game translate into the comic book format? Do you think that something that does well in one media would translate well into another?

JO: Usually, yeah, if you take the right approach, and Gears definitely translates well, no doubt about that.

NRAMA: What are some of the standouts for you in the game, even to the point where, a couple of years down the road, you'll look back and think, "That's the game where we did x,y and z" and that's still cool?

JO: The game has a lot do with legacy, and I hope that we’ve created a game—and a work of art—that will stand the test of time, and still be relevant in 20 or 30 years. If we can do that, I’d say we definitely succeeded.

NRAMA: What happens from now till the release of the game in November?

JO: A ton of cool marketing! Remember the “Mad World” ads from the first Gears? The great campaign for HALO 3 last year? Get ready for that type of cool buzz for Gears 2… and there will be some very cool surprises along the way too, of course.

NRAMA: What's coming up in some of your other comic projects?

JO: Let’s see, biggest thing right now is the release of the slipcased, oversized, hardcover edition of Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer. It features a foreword by Todd McFarlane, and is really a beautiful book that perfectly showcases the artwork of Nat Jones and Jay Fotos. It’s now out in bookstores and comics shops everywhere, and through online retailers like Amazon.

Frank Frazetta’s Swamp Demon will be out next month, and that’ll be a one-shot that’ll take place 500 years before Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer… It’s basically a prequel to FFDD, and features some awesome artwork by Josh Medors.

[Newsarama Note: Josh Medors has been fighting cancer for the past several months. In his time of need, Image Comics and Frazetta Comics have stepped in to organize The Josh Medors Benefit Auction with all proceeds going straight to Medors. Donations are still welcome. If you would like to make a PayPal donation, please do so to jmedors1@insight.rr.com]

Also, my first full-length Red Sonja story (#32) came out last month, and I’m in talks with Dynamite about doing some more stories with the character… cute redhead, who can resist, right? [laughs] And to bring this interview full circle, I’m co-writing this summer’s Battlestar Galactica: The Cylon War with the aforementioned Eric Nylund, and we’re really looking forward to seeing that one in print. We put a lot of hours into it, and I think BSG fans are really going to dig it. Nigel Raynor is doing some great work on the book, some of the best work of his career… very nice stuff.

Another big announcement will be coming up soon, so watch the wires. And of course, readers can always check out www.joshuaortega.com for the latest updates on my work.

[Vince@Aspen]

Sounds very cool Joshua!

[Darkseid_Is]

The only thing I've read from Mr. Ortega is the Star Wars Tales story, but that was great. I'd love to see more Star Wars stuff from him.

[Ravengregory]

Awesome news. Congrats again, Josh. Can't wait for this to come out.

[-Armando523-]

lucky guy


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