Why did karen traviss not write the story for gowj ?

[LONEWOLF6004]

So , does anyone know why karen traviss didn't write the story for gowj she wrote the story for gow3 and five other novels for the gow expanded universe ?

[Louix BlenkTron]

i believe at the comic con presentation they said she had only signed on for the 3 games, hence the new writers. fingers crossed they are on par with her quality

[Parasidian]

She's just done with the gears of war series so Epic got new writers.

[TeeJay0221]

I like her writing style. I'm on anvil gate now. Good stuff

[SKORGE]

I think she can write one hell of a novel and I think she did great with the characters, but in terms of Gears 3 and the writing, I'd say it was too crowded and it attempted to stray too far from what made Gears Gears. A lot of characters made an appearance, yet too little was done with them and it felt more like quick cameos than anything. Yet, established secondary characters never made an appearance. What happened to Chaps? Franklin? What happened to the Gears traditions?

[LONEWOLF6004]

Does anyone know if epic has any plans to continue the gears of war novels? I myself hope they do. Any suggestions on new authors?

1. Troy denning
2. Aaron allston
3. Karen traviss ( to continue )

[Jonesybites]

I am going to have to agree with SKORGE. The fact that she does not have a hand in writing GoWJ may be an improvement. No offense to her as a writer, but writing for a videogame involves a different concept than writing a novel.

[Croswynd]

I'd personally add Eric Nylund to that list, because I enjoyed his Halo novels.

[Theronmaster]

I'm excited to see how the new writers do.

[mortablunt]

I get the impression that Epic wasn't too wow'd with her GOW3 performance. I wasn't really. Her style works great for novels, but it just comes across as grating in games. I agree with Jonesybites here; Eric Nylund would be a great choice.

[SKORGE]

Does anyone know if epic has any plans to continue the gears of war novels? I myself hope they do. Any suggestions on new authors?

1. Troy denning
2. Aaron allston
3. Karen traviss ( to continue )

Stephine Meyer.

[Sgt. Grub k1ller]

Genius, SKORGE.

No, wait, J.K. Rowling!

[SKORGE]

Well done, good sir. We've put forth more talented writers that can take Gears to new heights!

We do so much for these Forums...

[SH Widowmaker]

I'd personally add Eric Nylund to that list, because I enjoyed his Halo novels.

Wanted to say this but I know mentioning other games on this forum doesn't always get a great response. He did an amazing job with those novels, been a fan of Halo since the beginning but what he did with those novels (especially fall of reach) was AMAZING! The other authors of the Halo novels weren't great. If Nylund got involved on a GoW project I'd lose my mind lol

[rebelboy]

Wanted to say this but I know mentioning other games on this forum doesn't always get a great response. He did an amazing job with those novels, been a fan of Halo since the beginning but what he did with those novels (especially fall of reach) was AMAZING! The other authors of the Halo novels weren't great. If Nylund got involved on a GoW project I'd lose my mind lol

Didn't he also write Gears 1 too?

[Sgt. Grub k1ller]

Didn't he also write Gears 1 too?

Nah, Gears 1 and 2 shared the same writer, Ortega.

[NFI]

Nah, Gears 1 and 2 shared the same writer, Ortega.

Ortega didn't write the first game. All gears games had a different writer. Susan O' Conner was the lead writer for Gears of War 1. Eric Nylund began the project, and served as a consultant but they brought her on board when the scope of the game changed in development. She took what Eric started and reshaped it.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/scree...-09-08/401195/

Ortega as we know he was on 2. Karen did 3.

I get the impression that Epic wasn't too wow'd with her GOW3 performance. I wasn't really. Her style works great for novels, but it just comes across as grating in games. I agree with Jonesybites here; Eric Nylund would be a great choice.

Eric was on Gears 1 and worked as a writing consultant for lead writer Susan O Conner, who took his original script and turned it into what we saw in Gears 1. As for Karen and all the writers, Epic works w them and has to approve of everything. They wrote the story for Gears 3 with her, it's just as much theirs.

I think Karen did a heck of a job tying up loose ends that were a by product of different writer.

If Nylund got involved on a GoW project I'd lose my mind lol

He was on Gears 1.

Didn't he also write Gears 1 too?

He was involved yes.

[John Matrix]

A return to the Gears 1 writers might prove interesting, then.

[TheRealBigBoss]

I really liked the story in Gears 1, it served the game, and gameplay, well. I also liked the fact that the story wasn't told only in cut scenes, but through the dialog of characters in game, and through the environments themselves. Where people live, and how they live, tells you a lot about them. I like the fact that it didn't have to explain every tiny detail, how it left much of it open to interpretation by the players imagination. Gears 1 gave you enough information to fire your imagination, the characters were clearly defined through their dialog and the environments perfectly set the atmosphere. I think it's way deeper than people give it credit for, but because it's not long cut scenes and OTT video set pieces, nobody notices. Fact is, the story is integrated into the game in a very cool and non obtrusive way. I got an Xbox just so I could play Gears after trying it out on a friends Xbox, I think that says something.

So basically, if the original writers ever were to somehow return to the series, I'd be very interested.

[Dutchmaster Guru]

I get the impression that Epic wasn't too wow'd with her GOW3 performance. I wasn't really. Her style works great for novels, but it just comes across as grating in games. I agree with Jonesybites here; Eric Nylund would be a great choice.

I agree entirely with this. She was really good for the books but gears 3 story was by far the worst. I'm very happy judgement seems to be going back to gears 1 roots. Off topic really hope they nerf the retro and take out ink stun and you have as close to a perfect gears game as we can realistically expect

[Sgt. Grub k1ller]

Am I the only one who doesn't think Gears 1 had super-awesome writing? I admit, it was an absolutely amazing game, but only in the fact that it set up this great universe that I care deeply for. Looking at just the game, not what it represented, not what others have implied out of it, but the game itself, the writing was not all that great.

[NFI]

Am I the only one who doesn't think Gears 1 had super-awesome writing? I admit, it was an absolutely amazing game, but only in the fact that it set up this great universe that I care deeply for. Looking at just the game, not what it represented, not what others have implied out of it, but the game itself, the writing was not all that great.

Gears 1 was both shallow and cliche in my opinion. None of the characters had depth. The story was poorly fleshed out.

[SKORGE]

Am I the only one who doesn't think Gears 1 had super-awesome writing? I admit, it was an absolutely amazing game, but only in the fact that it set up this great universe that I care deeply for. Looking at just the game, not what it represented, not what others have implied out of it, but the game itself, the writing was not all that great.

No, you're not.

Gears 1 was basic and lacked any in-game narrative. You actually never find out why Marcus was imprisoned, why Hoffman hates him and WTF is going on. Unless you dug around like a nerdy-little-nerd. Like me.

[TheRealBigBoss]

Yes, Gears 1 had a very spartan story, but hell, that was half the point. It was dealing with taciturn guys in a grim universe, not some touchy feely care and share nonsense. It was about large men killing scary monsters with big freaking guns and chainsaws... cool.

And yes, it posed more questions than it answered. But wasn't that the fun part? The mystery of it all? The chance for your imagination to fill in the blanks? To take the clues on offer and personalize this game universe and make it your own? Isn't that part of the reason Gears 1 was so successful?

Look, if you want a story, go read a book or watch a movie (I'd suggest Twilight based on some of the posts I've seen in this thread. ). If you wanna be a gamer, and kill things with big guns, then play Gears. Your choice.

[Sgt. Grub k1ller]

Yes, Gears 1 had a very spartan story, but hell, that was half the point. It was dealing with taciturn guys in a grim universe, not some touchy feely care and share nonsense. It was about large men killing scary monsters with big freaking guns and chainsaws... cool.

And yes, it posed more questions than it answered. But wasn't that the fun part? The mystery of it all? The chance for your imagination to fill in the blanks? To take the clues on offer and personalize this game universe and make it your own? Isn't that part of the reason Gears 1 was so successful?

Look, if you want a story, go read a book or watch a movie (I'd suggest Twilight based on some of the posts I've seen in this thread. ). If you wanna be a gamer, and kill things with big guns, then play Gears. Your choice.

But Boss, I want my cake, AND I want to eat it too!

[NFI]

Look, if you want a story, go read a book or watch a movie (I'd suggest Twilight based on some of the posts I've seen in this thread. ). If you wanna be a gamer, and kill things with big guns, then play Gears. Your choice.

Not really. The biggest knock against Gears 1 story was the fact it's shallow. Gamers shouldn't have to read a book for that. Most gamers want the opposite of this statement of yours, otherwise novels wouldn't sell, and discussion boards would be silent and ppl wouldn't demand sequels or campaign DLC to learn more. They want a reason to blow up this stuff. The question is always, "why shoud we care".

Which is precisely why gaming isn't taken seriously in the story telling medium, and won't be until the stories are told better. The vast majority of gamers play games for single player, not mp. If you want a series to thrive you need a good story with characters players care about. Gears 1 had a flat, cliche campaign. We wanted to know more about the universe, and delta, and we wanted it in game.

In other words, most gamers want to do more than "shoot stuff with big guns". They want a world they can lose themselves in.

[Sgt. Grub k1ller]

The vast majority of gamers play games for single player, not mp.

The very sad fact is that this isn't true. Story nowadays is a tacked on tutorial for multiplayer in 80% of shooters out now. Now, I personally buy games for story, not multiplayer, but I, and you, are of a minority there.

[NFI]

The very sad fact is that this isn't true. Story nowadays is a tacked on tutorial for multiplayer in 80% of shooters out now. Now, I personally buy games for story, not multiplayer, but I, and you, are of a minority there.

It is very much true. Just look at a games total sales vs the amount of players who play multiplayer for any game, primarily big blockbuster titles. Halo 3 sold 10 million copies but only 2 or 3 million UUs played it, where are the other 8 million? Gears 3 sold 6 million, but about 330,000 UUs play, and this was the most active Gears to date with the largest active player base. You still have over 5 million people not logging on. COD sold over 10 mill but puts 1 or 2 million UUs online in its entirety, where is the remaining population? The majority are in campaign, with some in zombie, horde or beast who then trade the game in after they complete the story or simply set it aside. Notice the best selling game series of all time, are mostly SP? Why do game novels become NY Time best sellers? Ppl want the story and sp experience. It's a statistical fact most gamers don't buy games for MP and Joe Graf acknowledged this very fact himself. I think he has a solid feel for it given his time in the industry and his access to counters and various statistics within the medium.

MP is only played by a fraction of the people that buy the game. Most care about the SP more than MP.

Otherwise games that sell 10 or 12 million copies would be putting a whole lot more concurrent, and total, UUs online, from a statistical standpoint, just from the US buyers alone. The number of online gamers vs total sales clearly illustrates this. The fact is most gamers are casual gamers, and dont have an interest in the competitive aspect of things, which is why this happens. The game Demigod only had 23 percent of its buyers even try the game online, let alone continue to play it. And as you can see, this occurs in Gears also.

Story and SP remains the primary draw of the biggest games franchises and is what draws in most players. Its most certainly the case for Gears as Joe plainly stated.

[TheRealBigBoss]

But Boss, I want my cake, AND I want to eat it too!

You can't always get what you want. No, you can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, well you might just find, you get what you need.

[N1ssassa]

i believe at the comic con presentation they said she had only signed on for the 3 games, hence the new writers. fingers crossed they are on par with her quality

She didn't write Gears 2, and I'm not sure if she wrote one or not. Don't make things up and lead people astray.

[N1ssassa]

The vast majority of gamers play games for single player, not mp. If you want a series to thrive you need a good story with characters players care about. Gears 1 had a flat, cliche campaign. We wanted to know more about the universe, and delta, and we wanted it in game.

If this were true, Call of Duty wouldn't post a new best selling game of all time record every year. Most of the people I know, don't even play the campaign. The reason you don't see as many people actively playing games with good multiplayer is because they buy the game, play the multiplayer for a while, then get bored and move on to the next new thing out there. People play games for graphics and good gameplay quality. The reason game novels become best sellers is there are still ENOUGH of us who care to fuel them, not because the majority of people who play said games are rushing out to grab the novel. Don't you think if this was the case they'd have released a CoD novel by now? To reply to whoever was saying Gears 1's story was shallow, I disagree completely. The environments set the mood for the gameplay and what was going on during the narrative at the time perfectly. The characters' dialogue was great. I think the true mastery of that writing was how BRILLIANTLY they set it up for Gears 2, but you wouldn't notice any of those things if you hadn't played it. Dom's tattoo, for instance, and how he asks the stranded if they have any new information. There are many many small statements and events throughout the game that set the stage for the second game. You also have to consider, the first game is only about two or three days in the lives of one little special squad completing one mission. How much do you expect to learn in that period? You basically live in Marcus' shoes for 72 hours. People need to quit being so anally critical of everything anyone does wrong. Gears is brilliant, their writing was and is total genius, their controls are near perfection, and it all balanced perfectly together. If we disagreed that much, we wouldn't be in these forums.

[N1ssassa]

And idk about you guys, but I shed a tear and had to take a few minutes to deal with Maria's death, and I straight up cried like a little girl when Dom died in Gears 3. Say what you will, but I can't name any other video game that has EVER provoked that kind of emotion.

[darkelf]

that's a long story.......

[Milky Pirate]

Yes, Gears 1 had a very spartan story, but hell, that was half the point. It was dealing with taciturn guys in a grim universe, not some touchy feely care and share nonsense. It was about large men killing scary monsters with big freaking guns and chainsaws... cool.

And yes, it posed more questions than it answered. But wasn't that the fun part? The mystery of it all? The chance for your imagination to fill in the blanks? To take the clues on offer and personalize this game universe and make it your own? Isn't that part of the reason Gears 1 was so successful?

I completely agree with this. Understatement can be used powerfully and the vibe of Gears 1 was too closely follow the actions of one squad over the course of a few days, dealing with the then and the now. I didn't want them to be walking along and suddenly break in to a load of exposition about their pasts etc. For me once they tried to shoehorn big emotional scenes in to the game a lot of it felt more contrived, Dom smashing car windows in frustration for Maria etc. I think the emotional aspect of the game is implied by the fact that they completely have their backs to the walls and the fact that most of the population is dead, they should have played on the hopelessness more throughout, the fact that they've pretty much already lost whatever happens.

[Drone *]

that's a long story.......

Nice pun

[BMCM4716]

hopefully the new writers are just as good

[Joveus]

So , does anyone know why karen traviss didn't write the story for gowj she wrote the story for gow3 and five other novels for the gow expanded universe ?

Because of this. Which brings about a deep philosophical question - In her position, what would you have wrote?

Gears of War...?

... or Batman?

[malasiah]

Karen Traviss did a brillant job of writing the novels and fleshing out the Gears universe and its characters while adding a few new ones along the way. However where she went wrong with Gears 3 is she forgot her audience.

I would love to think that all die hard fans of Gears have read the books or at least the graphic novels yet realistically I might as well hope that tomorrow I will win Lotto and never have to work again, another words it just aint so. A large proportion of the Gears playing community have never read any of her books or for that matter any of the companion material to the game. So to make Gears 3 so reliant on other material is a huge mistake, Of course to be fair to Karen I also wonder how much of her original script ended up on the cutting room floor.

The other thing to consider for all of us who have played every single Gears game is to ponder how far Gears has come from its original vision. I mean Gears 1 was 2 parts survival horror and one part 3rd person action cover based shooter. Gears 2 was bigger and more bad ass most definitly but very skimpy on survival horror, though for me personally EPIC really did place a lot more emphasis on a more engaging narrative which I thought Joshua Ortega did a pretty descent job on. Then you have Gears 3 an intense balls to the wall 3rd person cover based shooter with flashier graphics and a summer setting which was also a first for the series, now for some this spelt disaster as it meant bright vibrant colours and all the dispair sombreness had been sapped out of the story. Where as I thought the dusty post apocalyptic feel that Gears 3 had just added to the drama that was unfolding around you.

Any way my assumption here from what I can gather from interviews etc with key players from EPIC is that they kind of want to return to Gears roots with more survival horror elements and more up close and personal action sequences. Which if this is the case then this is not how Karen Traviss writes so some fresh meat to breathe new life into this franchise touch wood hopefully might be a good thing.

[LambentHammerburst]

Because of this. Which brings about a deep philosophical question - In her position, what would you have wrote?

Gears of War...?

... or Batman?

Batman.
Batman will ALWAYS have a larger following and be more popular. He's everywhere. Games, movies, television, comics ect.
As much as I love Gears - from a profit and career choice -- Batman is the better choice.