Gears of War: The Epic Journey

RESEARCH, PEACHES, AND EXPLOSIVES
A few hours into the road trip, as the smaller towns of northern Georgia fill the rearview mirror, conversation turns to the studio’s first big break. The Master Chief armor they’d created for themselves in 2004 came to the attention of Bungie and Microsoft, who quickly commissioned the production of 50 full-sized suits at over four grand a pop. Suddenly, Sid and company had more work than they could handle. “We dropped everything, and worked day and night to make it happen,” Sid recalls. Since then, NAS has carefully balanced paying gigs with the independent armor projects that the crew proudly wears to Atlanta’s own DragonCon, which Sid affectionately describes as a “sci-fi, horror, Mardi Gras tornado.”

When Sid and his crew go digging for projects, they don’t have to look very far. Everyone at Nightmare Armor Studios shares a love for science-fiction films, comics, novels, and, above all, videogames. Gears of War’s compelling gameplay might’ve sparked their interest, but the game’s brutal realism and visual richness appealed to them artistically — “the closer you took, the more you see,” as Sid puts it. Concept art was studied, screenshots were pinned up, and of course, hundreds of hours of Xbox Live “research breaks” were logged; from there, it fell to the sculptors to re-create the details out of blocks of high-density foam.

But to compose lifelike, wearable armor, something has to die. For NAS, it’s the original sculptures, which are sometimes destroyed as they give birth to a mold (see sidebar). The casts made from that mold — sanded, detailed, and painted — offer the real payoff, because then you can see the armor mounted on someone’s body, and watch an imaginary character start to emerge into the real world. Still, Sid’s got something special planned for the original Gears weapon prototypes: they’re being granted second lives as part of a polished gift for everyone at Epic. All the NAS team has to do is get there to deliver it.

Welcome to the south!

After about four hours of driving, South Carolina greets the crew with an enormous water tower painted like a peach — or, more accurately, a giant asscrack. Thankfully, the state highway also offers a string of fireworks stands, so the crew picks up a few smoke grenades amid garish packaging boasting vaguely naughty selling points like “quad banger” and “maximum burst.” The smoke will make for a more dramatic entrance, but it might be a late one: The big reveal at Epic Games is planned for 2 p.m., the convoy is still nearly four hours away, and Delta Squad needs 45 minutes to get suited up once they arrive. It’s time to put the pedal to the floor.

Tony smokes where no man has smoked before. Dane immortalizes the moment.

GHOST RECON
Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of Gears of War, knows something is up — he just can’t figure out what it is. It’s 1:15 p.m. and the fleet has finally rolled into Raleigh; the team hastily loads the cargo containers into a conference room, which will serve as an ad hoc barracks, but Cliffy recognizes a frazzled editor from OXM, and other Epic employees comment on the number of strangers scurrying through the lobby. Everyone’s suspicious.

Thankfully, Mark Rein managed to keep today’s visit a secret, but he can’t do it for much longer. He keeps poking his head into the conference room, telling everyone to hurry up with amicable impatience. As the layers of padding and armor go on piece by piece, each artist becomes a particular member of Delta Squad, weapons in hand. Caleb dyed his hair blonde to play Baird; Rob’s Carmine helmet is detailed with dripping blood. It’s gruesomely appropriate and gorgeously grungy.

Caleb, Clint, and Sid suit up.

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