Character Barks
Below are some of the character barks I wrote and shipped for Gears 5.
Great barks accomplish three things:
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Clarity—provide clear signals or feedback mapped to a singular game event.
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Economy—concise, tightly written barks enhance clarity and repeatability.
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Character—express the personality; show the unique way this character says it.
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GARY CARMINE—the black sheep of his family, exiled to live amongst the Outsiders. All Carmines have a crazed edge, but I tried to imagine the voice of a character who was particularly damaged.
SWARM SPEAKER—the monstrous Speaker ironically lacked a distinct voice in Gears of War 4. For Gears 5, I was determined to fix that. The Speaker—true to his name—is the most articulate of all his comrades.
FIRST MINISTER JINN—Jinn was one of my favorite characters to write. She fights via a remote command bot, giving her script a unique constraint and comedic slant.
Collectibles
Below are some of the collectibles I designed, wrote and shipped for Gears 5 and Gears: Hivebusters.
Collectibles are an important form of environmental storytelling—they let the player discover the narrative at their own pace, revealing parts of the story that are better shown than told.
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WEILEHAN PRAYER BOWL
​*Translated from Weilehan
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Tender sunbeam upon the pond,
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You sang a stillness into me.
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O daughter, now a fading shimmer,
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My heart is wrung empty.
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Water churns, a maelstrom erupts,
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Tranquil is my pond no more.
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Gasping, plunging, I cannot breathe.
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O daughter, you are gone.
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CORISKU NEWSPAPER
​*Translated to Tyran
UIR THIRD FLEET DECIMATED BY COG SUPERWEAPON
Premier Yori Deschenko to begin peace talks
By NAH TRISHER
Corisku Staff Writer
BONBOURG - The Battle of Bonbourg has come to a stunning conclusion, with the UIR Third Fleet reporting the loss of at least four naval vessels off the coast of Ostri. This is no doubt the clearest signal in decades that the Pendulum Wars may soon be coming to a conclusion, with Premier Yori Deschenko remarking earlier today that peace talks "are soon to be underway."
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When pressed to comment on the nature of the Coalition's new weapons platform, Deschenko said, "I believe it is in the best interests of all UIR citizens that we listen to what the COG has to say at this juncture." The Premier's office indicated that a full statement would be issued soon.
Meanwhile, a seemingly contradictory communique released by Commander Miran Trescu of the UIR Third Fleet proclaimed, simply, "We are not defeated. We are not deterred. The Third Fleet has regrouped, rearmed, and reaffirmed its commitment to our mission and that of our united republics."
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The Premier's office had no comment on Commander Trescu's statement.
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SILVER ERA RELIC
​Lahni here.
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This axe is beautiful. Old. Silver. I wonder how many years this tool has rested here. Whose story was it once part of?
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We've stepped into the world of the spirits in more respects than one. These ruins look to have once been the home of ancient Weilehans.
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We survived the crusades of the Silver Age, endured the blood-soaked expansionism of the Pendulum Wars, and even the entire Locust War. While true that the grubs couldn't reach Weilehi, the Lambent could. And still, the Weilehans stood tall, and lived on.
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When I face my parents next, the burden will be mine to reveal our people's fate. Decimated in a single night by the Swarm.
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But when they ask me what I did about it—and they will—I'll have a worthy answer.
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HAND-CARVED RIFTWORM FLUTE
​Kait here.
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This flute might look unassuming, but anything fashioned from Riftworm bone barters really well. There's even some demand for them in COG settlements. From what I heard, the Locust considered the Riftworm their deity.
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I'm not wholly convinced I'm looking at a piece of godhood, but it's pretty neat.
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SONG LYRICS
Lyrics from "Nassar Embry (That's My Name)," the opening song of Embry: The Musical
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[EMBRY]
​How does a nation realize power?
Spirit waning, light fading at the twelfth hour,
An age of silence loudening, our way of life floundering,
Could it be the end, our time now expiring?
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[POMEROY]
​But then, a glimmer of hope: a new energy,
A promise to make our miseries only a memory.
The myth, the miracle: the fuel they call imulsion,
Now a craze, a mania, a worldwide compulsion.
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[EMBRY]
​Tensions now on the rise, everyone knows the prize,
Hatred in each other's eyes, everywhere an ugly guise.
It must be Armageddon's reprise, 'cause he who hesitates dies.
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[COMPANY]
​Nassar Embry (he knew what's right for us),
Nassar Embry (he rose to fight for us),
[POMEROY]
​His father built ships, and his mother was a soldier,
Long abroad to no applaud, in a war much older.
When she died, he realized and surmised that you can't unite a world without order.
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[COMPANY]
​Nassar Embry (Nassar Embry),
Hear our ode to you,
You were the Allfather Prime,
the architect of our time!
Whoa, Nassar Embry (Nassar Embry),
We know what you proclaim,
You ignited a people's flame,
One that none could ever tame, oh!
Scripted Dialogue System
Below is a basic scripted dialogue system I created with the help of some online resources. Check out the video to learn more.
NPC Enemy Briefs
Below are some character briefs I created for enemies that may exist in a typical shooter game.
When creating characters like this, I focus on capturing interesting and contrasting personality types—each with a unique relationship dynamic toward the player.
As with so many things in game narrative, the goal is to get the player to feel something toward these characters—do they prod at your ego? Elicit pity? Perhaps they are able to even earn your begrudging respect. In other words: build a relationship with the player.
Patrol Officer
Patrol Officers are the public face of XS Corp security and a common sight around city streets, tasked with enforcing company law.
Officers vary in their integration into XS Corp culture. They have diverse feelings about its CEO's ambitions and are often looked down upon by their more elite colleagues. They will nonetheless fight hard to protect each other, as well as the delicate status quo keeping them gainfully employed.
KEY POINTS FOR VOICE:
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archetype: fledgling, everyman
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core motivation: earn their paycheck and survive—Officers have the least amount of skin in the game
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speech style: an inoffensive, blue-collar professional not far from the average citizen—zero mil-speak, but uses unique corporate verbiage
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player dynamic: Officers are wary of the player and will express fear when pressed—they may veil hesitation behind false bravado
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ally dynamic: Officers are supportive and friendly to each other, but are viewed as weaker and disloyal by other archetypes
Boot
Boots are rank-and-file foot soldiers sourced from the burgeoning industry of soldiers-for-hire as government institutions erode, resources become scarce, and mega corporations seek to consolidate power. They are displaced children of the apocalypse who now carve their very livelihoods from it.
Typical of mercenaries, Boots are opportunistic and loyal only to their paycheck. Unfortunately, that is written by XS Corp, whose expectations for its troops are intense and exacting; Marauders are eager to prove themselves worthy of their station, anxiously viewing the player as a threat to their status.
KEY POINTS FOR VOICE:
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archetype: mercenary, brigand
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core motivation: prove their worth and get paid
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speech style: severe, military, and angsty
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player dynamic: secretly insecure and must defeat you to prove themselves—will reveal fear only when pushed to their limit
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ally dynamic: contemptuous to Officers, ingratiating to others
Bruiser
From protests to mischievous corporate interlopers, when something must be crushed with no quarter given, XS Corp deploys the Bruiser. Selected for their brutality, these ungovernable foes chose the mercenary life to get paid doing what they love: inflicting pain.
Bruisers are among the security chief's contacts from a previous life, often sporting an international criminal warrant or two; they are the rot that makes the other apples bad. In the player they find their latest fixation—someone whom XS Corp will pay handsomely to exact their cruelty upon.
KEY POINTS FOR VOICE:
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archetype: bully, heel
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core motivation: inflict pain on their enemies
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speech style: boisterous, military, vulgar and mean
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player dynamic: arrogantly dismissing her as a threat and eager to hurt her—this enemy never concedes weakness
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ally dynamic: callous and indifferent to all other archetypes—irreverent toward authority
Sentinel
Sentinels are among the security chief's closest inner circle—some even having fought alongside them in previous conflict zones. Their charge is to form the vanguard of XS Corp's security brigades, leading their fellow mercenaries into battle with heavy armor and overwhelming firepower.
Sentinels view themselves as protectors, often with a zeal that veers on domineering. As some of the company's most senior associates, Sentinels wield their authority with little subtlety—with some bitter associates likening them to imperious boy scouts.
KEY POINTS FOR VOICE:
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archetype: alpha, protector
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core motivation: defend their tribe from outsiders
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speech style: type-A, military, exacting
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player dynamic: keenly aware of the unique threat the player poses—you are the greatest threat to their core motive
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ally dynamic: excessively paternalistic to Beat Guards, loyal, the adult in the room—suspicious and untrusting of external security units
Deadeye
Deadeyes are selected for one thing and one thing only: their ability to hit their mark, at extraordinary distance using extraordinary technique and technology. They are the undisputed masters of this singular talent, which has really—really—gone to their head.
Snipers are vain and pretentious—never missing an opportunity to remind others of their extensive accolades and credentials. While their shots always connect, their teamwork is severely lacking. The Deadeye often finds themselves the pariah of the team—their hubris safely contained to the rear echelon.
KEY POINTS FOR VOICE:
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archetype: outcast, ace
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core motivation: defend their inflated self-image
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speech style: technical, military, arrogant
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player dynamic: perceives themselves as unquestioningly superior to you at all times
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ally dynamic: largely ostracized for their insufferable attitude—believes themselves superior to all other enemy types, but secretly feels threatened by the exo
Exo
Exo units are the elite-of-the-elite, possessing brain and brawn in equal measure. These powerful foes have seen and done it all to the point of boredom. They eagerly seek whatever will truly test their talents and help them attain perfection—and the player has found their attention.
Most Exos have been with XS Corp from the very beginning—they stand by its CEO without question and guard their deepest secrets mightily. They've labored for years to help realize their vision for the world—but like them, they have become decadent, secluded, and self-interested.
KEY POINTS FOR VOICE:
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archetype: exemplar, zealot
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core motivation: to experience the thrill of mastery—seize and attain perfection
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speech style: bored, haughty, articulate and educated—unflappable, laconic, calm and self-assured
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player dynamic: they find the player's competency and power thrilling to match—facing you has intrinsic meaning
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ally dynamic: generally dismissive of their colleagues
Character & Weapon Descriptions
Below are samples of some of the flavor text I shipped on Gears 5.
Like many pieces of game writing, the focus is on expressing the most you can using an economical word count.
Fahz Chutani
First Lieutenant Chutani, whose family originated from the UIR occupied country of Vasgar, serves the New COG without hesitation or conscience. Confident in himself and his choices, he rarely misses an opportunity to remind subordinates that he is the ranking officer.
Skorge
Skorge is the ruthless High Priest of the Locust Horde, commanding the power of the godlike Riftworm to vanquish his enemies. Seeking conquest and glory in the name of Queen, Trinity, and Horde, Skorge is resolved to purge the humans of Sera from its surface.
Leslie Macallister
Under a veneer of swagger and a devil-may-care world view, Mac hides the pain of what he's lost at the hands of the Swarm. This Hivebuster's sole motivation: to make the Swarm feel that same cold pang of loss, one Hive at a time.
Lambent Theron
Once part of the Queen’s most elite battalions, not even the Theron are immune to the Imulsion parasite. These foes now take up arms against both humanity and their former blight-brothers for an unknowable cause.
Breaker Mace
The Breaker is a large, improvised melee weapon crafted by the Swarm. Its teeth are built from near-indestructible Locust shell fragments, allowing for carnage limited only by the strength of who—or what—is swinging it.
Dropshot
The Dropshot launches an aerial drill bit that travels until the trigger is released, causing it to burrow downward and detonate. It’s especially effective at flushing enemies from cover, in either one piece, or several.
Lancer MK III
The Lancer has been the workhorse assault weapon of the Coalition for nearly a century. The rifle’s distinct chainsaw bayonet was introduced shortly after the beginning of the Locust War, purpose-built to puncture the thick hide of Drones.
Gnasher
The Gnasher is a reliable and rugged lever-action shotgun that’s enjoyed a long and storied existence as the go-to weapon for close encounters. In the hands of an experienced Gear, it is frighteningly lethal.
Mission Design
Below is a full mission I designed, outlined in Mural. I prefer visual formats because of their ability to facilitate collaboration with other teammates and disciplines.
This outline is for a hypothetical mission set inside the Gears of War universe. You play as the Locust—the traditional antagonists of the series.
I've also created a full beat chart—mapping the mission's discrete moment-to-moment dialogue needs in Excel.
Some of the things that were a particular focus for me during this exercise:
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Creating a well-paced mission arranging beats into a sawtooth pattern of rising intensity using a "teach, test, master" structure.
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Creating four unique characters with varying wants and needs, each completing their own character arc by the mission's end.
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​The seamless integration of narrative and gameplay—each gameplay beat serves a purpose in both illustrating and developing the story of these characters.
This is a personal project only and not affiliated with The Coalition or Gears of War franchise.
Narrative Outline
Beat Chart
Download here:
Level Writing
Below is a level script I wrote for my portfolio piece The Gorgon Abyss. Please see the 'Mission Design' tab for the Narrative Outline and Beat Chart for this mission.
Some of the things that were a particular focus for me during this exercise:
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Maintaining the player's clarity of goals throughout the mission.
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Supporting comprehension of game elements with signs, feedback & hint beats.
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Reinforcing story comprehension and developing the characters throughout the course of the level.
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Clear, concise, characterful dialogue.