The concept evolved to become the best-selling Xbox series

Feb 21, 2014 01:16 GMT  ·  By

Cliff Bleszinski, the former Epic Games leading developer, says that he initially envisioned the very popular Gears of War series as a version of Band of Brothers, the highly rated HBO mini-series that took place on an alien planet and included monsters.

He tells Gamasutra that, “It didn't wind up what I'd hoped; I'd pitched it as ‘Band of Brothers with monsters’ - you know Band of Brothers is well-done and emotional, telling the story of the Greatest Generation and what they did in the war. Yet somehow we landed on ‘Predator’, the characters being all ‘buff and manly’, I'd never planned on that.”

Gears of War was one of the most important titles launched on the Xbox home console from Microsoft and Epic Games created a franchise that focused on complex action set pieces, over the top weapons and stories that had little emotional impact.

The franchise has been acquired by Microsoft and it’s safe to say that a new title is currently in development for the Xbox One, even if there is no official information on its potential mechanics or story.

An announcement might be made during the big press conference at E3 2014.

Cliff Bleszinski is currently working on his own and apparently has a new title in development, but he is not willing to offer any details about it, apart from a few images.

He says that one of the titles that he is currently enjoying is Rust and that the game has a lot to teach modern developers, including the importance of streaming and addictive mechanics.

The developer adds, “There are two lessons people have not learned from Minecraft: Get the game out there and build it. Some kid will put out a video. Players will teach each other. You don't need the ‘press A to jump’.”