Game Projects

Overwatch Hero Design
"One who has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet."
Independent Project
Illustration: Christina Chang
Links: Design Document
Description
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An attempt to design a hero for Overwatch.
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Wrote backstory, designed abilities, and analyzed its synergy with the existing roster and strategies.
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Recruited an artist to do some character portrait art.
I love Overwatch. I am fascinated by how took the role-playing shooting genre to the next level with so many different heroes and abilities to choose from; I'm also amazed by how they did so well in telling background stories of the roster with so little effort. In a role-playing competitive game, stories are clearly not the most important, but yet I find myself deeply invested into the universe.
As a game designer and a fan, I often think about the current state of Overwatch, and how to improve the experience and bring more fun to the players. So in January 2019, I've started a little project called "Notice me Papa Jeff". I gathered a few of my friends, who are also game designers, and started brainstorming ideas on a new hero. We had a few meetings, and came up with a list of abilities that we'd like to mix-n-match.
Unfortunately, as we all attend the Entertainment Technology Center, our schedules were swiftly populated by project meetings, assignments and work deadlines, and so we had to put this project aside from our queues; nevertheless, I really liked what we were doing, and especially what I was doing: designing for a game that I love.
So I kept working on it as a side-project on my own, using all the spare time that I have; and now, as the basic have been established, I feel like it is a good time to open it up to the public and receive some feedback.
So here it is! Ranyatta, or, at least for now.
From the name you could tell that the character is a derivative from Zenyatta. He is a support class, like his twin, but does not focus on healing or individual assists; he is focused on toppling teamfights and reversing the odds at clutch situations. Ranyatta is a hero that requires extensive knowledge and observations to play with, but is very rewarding for the whole team once his abilities are executed correctly.
So here you go! Let me know what you think.