Gears of War Creator Discusses Firefly: The Game

Fanghawk

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Gears of War Creator Discusses Firefly: The Game

Cliff Bleszinski muses on what he'd do in a (fully hypothetical) Firefly videogame.

If Joss Whedon's fanbase were to evolve into a full-blown religion, its top commandment would be "Thou shalt love Firefly, for it is good". Even ten years after the promising sci-fi show was cancelled, fans continue to get excited over <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118497-Firefly-Reboot-Rumors-Soar-Like-a-Leaf>the slightest possibility of a series resurrection. While a return of Firefly to television becomes more and more unlikely each passing year, continuing the story in other media has much better prospects. We've already got the Serenity movie and some fairly successful <a href=http://www.darkhorse.com/Search/serenity>Dark Horse comic books, but Cliff Bleszinski thinks that a Firefly videogame would be an excellent logical step for the franchise.

"Think about it," Bleszinski wrote to Kotaku. "The universe is ready to go. On one side you have the Alliance, on the other you have former Browncoats running smuggling operations, and both are terrified of the Reavers. With space combat, you could do first-person gunfights 'sci-fi Wild West' style on the ground with crazy escapes back to your shuttle, and everything in between."

It's easy to imagine Bleszinski producing Gears of War or Unreal in the Firefly universe, but he actually believes that the core of the series was about emotion, not just action. "The crew of Firefly feels like a family," Bleszinski continues, "the final shots of some episodes showing them eating dinner together at a very retro table are there for a reason. One thing Joss has always been amazing at is portraying the motley crew that comes together as a family to overcome challenges."

With that in mind, he thinks the actual game mechanics would need to adapt Firefly's western/sci-fi approach to action, as well as incorporating dialogue options similar to the Bioware's Mass Effect series. Of course, attempting to imagine the possibilities beyond that would reduce even the most hardened of developers into frothing fanboys, and Bleszinski is no exception. "[The] ship may be somewhat similar to the Normandy in Mass Effect, as well as some of the dialogue trees. Consider Kinect voice interactions with the crew to further push immersion, along with awesome Wing Commander-style dogfights and you can just SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY."

Bleszinski is only considering the Firefly game as a hypothetical situation, since to him, the logistics of partnering Epic Games with a licensed franchise lowers the game's chances to "darned near zero". Despite those concerns, Bleszinski went on to say that "the only external properties I would ever consider adapting to game form are Joss properties."

Let's be honest: If Joss Whedon decided that Firefly would become a videogame, developers would get in line immediately just for the opportunity to discuss it. Even Minecraft's Marcus "Notch" Persson would be there, if <a href=https://twitter.com/notch/status/224423400733540352>his Twitter feed can be believed. So whether we see the Serenity flying through the latest Unreal Engine, or any engine, depends entirely upon the word of Whedon.

His will be done.

Sources: <a href=http://kotaku.com/5926462/heres-how-the-creator-of-gears-of-war-would-make-a-firefly-video-game>Kotaku, <a href=https://twitter.com/jbook/status/224407793946464257>Twitter

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GiglameshSoulEater

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Were they even any proper dogfights in Firefly? Maybe in Serenity, but I never saw that. The ship Serenity I don't think even has any weapons, for what I remember.

Firefly never seemed to be about just shooting you way though (though there was some of that). I'm just concerned it wouldn't fit well to games.
 

DwRedux

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It seems to me, that Cliffy-B has got the spirit of the show down. That game just landed on the top of my "oh-boy-if-only-this-ever-happened-"-list
 

CJ1145

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I think all us Whedon fanboys would've gotten the exact same message as this if he'd just squeed for forty minutes straight. That's pretty much what he did, already.

That said, it sounds like he knows what he's doing with this game. If anyone could do it... well, actually I'd probably want Joss to write the game, too, but Cliffy B might do all right.
 

8bitlove2a03

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If Cliff Bleszinski is ever allowed to put one grubby finger on the Firefly franchise, I will personally gut him.
 

Fasckira

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GiglameshSoulEater said:
Were they even any proper dogfights in Firefly? Maybe in Serenity, but I never saw that. The ship Serenity I don't think even has any weapons, for what I remember.

Firefly never seemed to be about just shooting you way though (though there was some of that). I'm just concerned it wouldn't fit well to games.
In the film they armed Serenity to sneak through the Reavers but it was an extreme circumstance. The Firefly class ship didnt have weapons by standard - Im pretty sure any armed ship would immediately come under Alliance scrutiny so it wouldn't exactly be ideal for a smuggler.

If you start adding dogfights to the mix its certainly no longer a Firefly themed game. The show itself focussed on a tight knit group trying to get by on the edge of the law, each with their own personal story to tell. Not having massive dogfights in space or blasting your way through every scenario.

Theres also the small point worth mentioning that not every Browncoat decided to become a smuggler. I mean theres not even many former Browncoats at that. A more logical balance would be Alliance and "Everyone Else" (ie, anyone who doesnt directly fall or wish to fall under Alliance control), with the Reavers being the everpresent threat.

I dont think Mr Bleszinski has got the right idea, or at least certainly not the Firefly idea. It does sound more like hes just watched Serenity and not the series or read any of the comics. I wouldn't like to see a Firefly game eitherway, I just dont think theres anyway it could do the series justice.
 

Sis

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It's very clear that the cliffster does have some insight in to the Firefly franchise. But, just because he understands it, doesn't mean it's going to be a good match. I hate to say it, but I'm not going to trust Epic for a long time. They've got GoW: Judgement on the way, and that is going to be their big turnaround, or so they tell us. So, I'll reserve my ... judgement, till after that.

As for a firefly game: OH YES PLEASE.
 

FEichinger

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*drool* Best ... day ... ever!

Not that it will ever happen, or should happen, or should happen with Epic, but ... It would be awesome.
 

ccesarano

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If there is a Firefly game it will probably be handled by Telltale Games, and that's not a bad thing.
 

koroem

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Cliffy B should be smacked for even thinking about touching such a beloved franchise. Nothing good will come of him touching any of this material. Cliffy B needs to go fall down a well with a chainsaw and use it on himself when he realizes no one wants to remove him from said well....
 

Compatriot Block

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koroem said:
Cliffy B should be smacked for even thinking about touching such a beloved franchise. Nothing good will come of him touching any of this material. Cliffy B needs to go fall down a well with a chainsaw and use it on himself when he realizes no one wants to remove him from said well....
Dude, chill out. He makes games, and some people even like them. The whole murder-rage shtick is not helping the gamer image.
 

Beautiful End

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Uhh...no.

There are very few games based on (Insert favorite alternate non-videogame related universe here) that are successful and considered Day 1 purchase. It just wouldn't make sense: "Hey, so I'm gonna buy Half Life 3, Halo 5 and Firefly: The Videogame". Just no.

And it seems they don't really get the core of what the show is about. It's not about Mass Effect meets Star Wars. It's more of a pure RPG with a bit of fights every here and there but...eh, for the sake of the argument, let's say it would be about being sneaky like in AC. Not about killing people silently but about never letting the Alliance figure out your exact location. RPG, sneaky AC-like traveling.

On top of that, you can't have full freedom to accommodate the gameplay to the plot and viceversa. Because the game would be based off a series that's pretty much established already (Albeit the show's not finished), they would have really stick to the original plot. Based on the number of fans of this series, the game would have to be pretty perfect. So either way, the game would disappoint because there is no such thing as perfect.

But hey, I'm all about being pleasantly surprised by games. But I've learned to not get my hopes high about these kind of games. Of course, this is all hypothetical...
 

MercurySteam

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To be honest if any developer could pull it off, Epic is definitely one of em. Right now the closest thing we have to a Firefly videogame is SCII why not let somebody take a crack at it?
 

ScruffyMcBalls

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People, you're forgetting, this is the man who wanted a FATAL FRAME, MULTIPLAYER MODE. This is also the same asshole who claimed his original image of Gears of War was Band of Brothers, and is also the one who based his next game on "Well doy, we can't expand teh universe because if we go too far back, we don't gots de chainsaw guns!".
The man is qualified to do nothing but piss blood until he dies a slow and agonising death.
And before anyone pounces and claims that I'm doing the gaming community's image no good, realise that no number of bile-filled forum posts could ever counter-balance the harm this man has done to the industry. He should be despised not just because he makes shitty games and decisions, but because he's a genuinely repulsive human being.

Fuck me I think I lost my sight for a second there...

Sorry about that, rant's over.
 

F'Angus

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Maybe if all developers came together to work on this they could make the bast game in history.