“We want people to have the freedom to have new ideas and to take things differently,” Fergusson said. It’s an idea called 'negative space,' a concept former Coalition Studio Head Rod Fergusson touched on in an interview with IGN about the Gears of War movie.

'So it's fine to have local area maps, but as far as I'm concerned, we will not ever have a globe with continents on it.' While this may seem counterproductive to creating the most detailed world possible, it actually helps ensure that there’s always room for the creative teams ideas. 'The art team is often asking us for a map of the world like a globe, like, 'can we just put a map in this office?' I'm constantly saying no, because we have worked really hard to continue what they did in the original trilogy, which is, not commit to a map of the world,' Mah said. And at that point, it became clear that if we could build a kind of support character that wasn't just a medic, but in fact allows you to unlock the potential of the other units and make all your other units better, that felt perfect for a leader.' Building New Stories in Negative SpaceHave you noticed there's no official world map of Sera? To the dismay of artists and designers at The Coalition, Mah's team have made sure a complete map of Gear of War's world, Sera, won't exist – ever – even when one might make sense in a game or comic. And that kind of left us with just only certain things that the class could really do. 'It became obvious that we were going to make a sniper with our signature Longshot, we were going to make a heavy with our Mulcher, we were going to make a frontline character with our Gnasher Shotgun. Play 'So many of our characters are defined by the weapon that they carry,' Bielman said. Gabe is a Lancer-wielding member of the support class, which is an uncommon character class for a protagonist. Still, Gabe is a leader, and one way The Coalition goes about further defining that key trait is through gameplay. He's combat-ready, but not eager for combat. Even in the short time I spent with Gears Tactics, it was clear that this Gear is unlike other Gears protagonists. All the while, though, he's still got that Lancer with a chainsaw on the end, so he could definitely kick ass.' His identity isn't just defined as being “Kait's father”, though. But it all started with our desire to make Gabe a different kind of Gears hero, for a different kind of game, with a different kind of story, for a different kind of player. 'Some of Kait's dialogue was still being written for Gears 5, so we were able to add those notes. 'We spent some time talking with all the different stakeholders about that decision, and ultimately it just kind of really came together really nicely,' Bielman said. They needed to be a strategist, and as they began figuring out the story for Gears Tactics, they knew it had to be someone who was 'disenfranchised from the COG – to a certain degree.' Gears Tactics is set 12 years prior to the original Gears of War, which put it in the perfect timeframe to star Gabe. And while the Delta squad are an amazing set of characters, there wasn't one that we thought fit the bill for what we were trying to do.' Bielman explained they wanted to craft a character that made sense specifically for a turn-based tactics game. 'We could have set it with Marcus and the Delta team, but we felt like we wanted our hero to be unique and have a different take on the world.

'We could have done this with Kait and her timeline, but we didn't feel like that was right, given there was so much to tell of her story in Gears 5. We’ll still fill the boots of a Diaz, but this time it’s Kait’s father, Gabe. Shifting Gears Again for TacticsWe're getting another new protagonist with Gears Tactics, the upcoming turn-based strategy game developed by Splash Damage and The Coalition. That's when they made Kait Diaz the lead in Gears 5 as the story focused more on her family and the origin of the Locust. After Gears 4, Mah said that the story shifted in such a way where it didn't make sense to play its sequel from J.D.'s perspective. Fenix didn't get long in the spotlight, though. 'If we didn't have any of the Gears trappings around them, would they be people that you would want to spend time with, and be interested in their point of view? But then we worked to connect them to our world.' J.D. 'I think our guiding principle was, we wanted these characters to be interesting and believable in their own way.' Mah said. Mah said she loved that Marcus, Cole, and Baird - among others - were still involved in the story, but hoped to see new characters stand on their own regardless of the connection they have to the series. Play Then came the task of creating a trio suitable to carry on the legacy of Marcus and Delta squad.

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