Pixar consulted on Gears of War: Judgment

Epic Games sought the help of Toy Story and Finding Nemo animation studio Pixar for its upcoming shooter Gears of War: Judgment, Epic production director Rod Fergusson told the GameStop-owned Game Informer magazine recently. Epic attended a one-day workshop led by a story director from Pixar in an effort to learn the secrets of telling a strong story.

According to Fergusson, the workshop focused on nailing down character traits, specifically what they fear and what they love. He specifically called out Woody from the Toy Story series, saying Pixar made clear this character had a fear of abandonment, and so every movie was hinged upon that trepidation.

Regarding Gears of War: Judgment, Fergusson said the purpose of attending the workshop with Pixar was to get to the root of the following questions: What are the characters' motivations? How should these be reinforced? And how should Epic and co-developer People Can Fly go about incorporating these motivations into their storytelling?

"We've been trying to improve on storytelling since we started," Fergusson said. "And this seemed like a natural way of getting a little bit of insight into how what we consider to be the best in the industry."

Gears of War: Judgment is the first entry in the franchise set outside the core trilogy, which wrapped up last year in Gears of War 3. It stars series soldier Damon Baird, and takes players back before the events of the original Gears of War games to the immediate aftermath of Emergence Day.

Pixar's newest film, Brave, hit theaters on Friday. According to Metacritic data, it is the second-worst-reviewed Pixar film to date, only topping last summer's Cars 2. The animated movie represents several firsts for Pixar. It is the first film from the company with a female in the lead role and the only period movie from the firm.