FROM ORIGIN TO HERO: CREATING ECHO SOUNDS

 Fighter. Blue. Light music. Most of us will be surprised or take a closer look when we see such a list ... but not Overwatch sound designer Jeff Garnett: for him, these points describe more than 750 lines and sounds created for Echo , the new hero of the game.

“At first, we just picked keywords and phrases that would serve as a reference point for me,” explained Jeff, explaining how the work on voice acting for Echo began. - I was told that she should be associated with a fighter; She is an adaptive robot, the latest technology in the Overwatch world. Looking at her model, I did not notice the abundance of servos. "

The servos mentioned are electronic-mechanical motor systems that are often found in vehicles and assembly robots. They do not fit into the stylish and ultra-modern design of Echo.

“Her limbs seem to float,” Garnett continued, “which means she won't have the kind of bzz-bzz-bzz in her movements that are typical of servos. Echo had flashed in cutscenes before and was supposed to appear in the Overwatch 2 announcement video, which was cool and unusual as the two teams had to join forces to decide how Echo would sound in The Starting Point , the development team and the team behind creation of videos ”.

When the teams realized what Echo should be in a short film, they had to solve the following problem: figure out how to turn this elusive image into sound effects in the game. How to create "floating steps" by which you can understand about the approach of Echo? How will Bastion's superpower replica sound in another robot's speech? These questions were tricky to answer, but Garnett was not going to back down.

“I started off by putting together a huge and weird library of sounds,” he said. “Echo doesn’t have any mechanical components, she’s an energy machine. Therefore, I studied the sounds of synthesizers and other existing objects, which were saturated with energy and seemed to me blue . This is how bell ringing, tuning forks and other soothing sounds got into my collection. Gradually, I leaned more towards synthesizers and the like and tried to find unobtrusive sounds that I thought would appear in the game all the time. I think I associated Echo with light music. Its sounds should be calm, taking the mind far into the clouds. "

Since there are already more than 30 heroes in the game, some of whom, like Echo, hover or fly above their ground comrades, the team needed to make its sounds unique and easily recognizable.

“From a design point of view, the task was very difficult, as the sounds of the enemy hero are always very different from the sounds you hear when playing as the character yourself,” commented Garnett. - This is largely due to the fact that their own sounds should not interfere with the gameplay, and therefore many of them become more muffled, which is especially noticeable in the case of floating characters like Zenyatta and Sigma. The sound helps to understand that this or that hero is close (I always cite McCree as an example, who is easy to recognize by the rattling of spurs), but what should he be for a flying character? Since Echo is very fast and agile, we needed a sound that immediately draws attention to her. I settled on higher and more piercing notes that are easy to pick up. In Echo's case, these sounds replace the sound of footsteps and signify her physical presence,

Having defined the basic elements of Echo's sound library, Jeff thought about how to implement its scoring. Echo is an adaptive robot capable of copying the looks and skills of other heroes, which meant that her lines could be more varied than anyone else in Overwatch. Scott Lawlor, the sound engineer for Overwatch, even suggested that Echo copy not only looks and abilities, but also lines. The team liked the idea, but it meant that Ginny Bolett, the voice actress for Echo, was faced with a colossal task, because she had to almost double the number of lines in Overwatch.

“This meant that the actress would have to pronounce phrases in different languages,” explained Garnett, “as well as imitate the voices of other characters, male and female, their pitch and timbre. A new question was raised: how many lines of other characters will we duplicate? In the end, we settled on the lines that sound when using superpowers and normal abilities. If Echo is copying Roadhog, she can use his grappling hook and say "Come on!" But for superpowers' cues, her voice is mixed with the voice of the copied hero. We thought it would be great and also informative in terms of gameplay. If Echo itself exclaims "Rain of Vengeance!", It sounds rather strange. "

A robot voice echoing Farrah's famous superpower line would have had a very different effect than the Overwatch team wanted. “However, in combination with the voice of Farrah herself, it becomes clear that this Echo is copying her, using that very superpower and bringing retribution ,” explains Garnett.

THEMED AWARDS HONORING ECHO, THE NEW HERO OF OVERWATCH!

 Meet Echo, the new hero of Overwatch! From today until April 20, you can earn unique Echo-style rewards for watching Twitch streams.

WATCHING REWARDS : Receive special Echo-themed cosmetic items for watching Twitch streams

FLASH OPS: ECHO SHOWDOWN : Compete for a share of the $ 50,000 prize pool

Echoes of the Past : Learn the story of Echo and its creator Mina Liao

VIEWING AWARDS

You can earn Echo-style rewards for watching Twitch streams in the Overwatch category . To get six Echo graffiti, watch any streamers on Twitch until April 20 while they're playing Overwatch!

NOTE: To be able to receive Twitch Drops , you must first link your Blizzard account to your Twitch account. Go to the Twitch connections page to sign in and link your account.

FLY TO VICTORY IN FLASH OPS: ECHO SHOWDOWN

 Tune the beam, prepare sticky bombs and glide straight into Echo Showdown matches! To celebrate the release of the new DPS hero Echo, and so everyone can brag about their game as an adaptive robot, we've organized an open tournament!

Details

Registration will open on April 14 and last until April 17. Matches will take place on April 18 and 19 (PDT) using the Battlefy tournament service, just like the Overwatch Open Division.

Day 1 (April 18) will kick off at 12:00 UTC for Europe and 11:00 UTC for North America.

The second day (April 19) will start at 11:00 UTC for Europe and 23:00 UTC for North America.

Echo must ALWAYS be present in all participating teams. We want to see some truly masterful triple shots!

Overwatch League and Contenders players are eligible to participate in the tournament, but there can be no more than two per team at any given time.

Prizes

We launched our own duplicate matrix and copied the prize pool of $ 25,000 in each region.

Select your region to register and view the full requirements and rules, as well as information about the prizes:

 

Watch, learn and get rewards

All viewers of Overwatch Twitch.tv broadcasts during the Flash Ops: Echo Showdown tournament (April 14-20) will receive six themed graffiti (two for two, four and six hours of watching) that will decorate the battlefield in the best possible way in the short seconds between landing and a new takeoff. Stream your own matches to help other players get new graffiti!

IMPORTANT: You must first link your Blizzard account to your Twitch account in order to receive the rewards. Go to the Twitch connections page to sign in and link your account.

CHANGES TO THE ROTATION OF HEROES AND BATTLEGROUNDS

 Players have left a lot of helpful feedback on the battleground rotation introduced at the end of last year and the hero rotation introduced in early March. This feedback helped us understand what you like and what seems to be inconsistent or unclear, and based on this feedback, changes have been made to both systems that will take effect from next week.

Unified rotation of heroes

Since adding hero rotation to competitive play, we've received a lot of helpful feedback from players who helped us realize that the system did a good job and did indeed change the metagame on a weekly basis. However, we also learned that some aspects of the system are incomprehensible to the players: you asked why certain heroes or roles change every week, and why the number of available heroes is not the same. The fact that the rosters were different in the same week in competitive play and the Overwatch League also confused players who were following league matches.

To fix this, starting April 13, we're introducing a single rotation of heroes, which will ensure that the Overwatch League and competitive play will be as close to each other as possible, and the game experience will logically complement the audience. How will it work?

To determine the rotation of heroes for the week, we analyze the statistics of heroes that have appeared in high-level competitive play over the previous two weeks. Heroes whose presence on the battlefield has exceeded a certain threshold are more likely to be removed from the rotation: the more often they appear on the battlefield, the more chances that we will not see them next week. Thus, one tank, two attacking heroes and one support hero will be randomly removed from the rotation. For two weeks in a row, the same heroes will not be deleted.

On Sunday, at the conclusion of the Overwatch League matches, we will be announcing the hero roster for next week, valid for both competitive play and the Overwatch League. The rotation takes effect on Monday morning.

This process will take place every week until the end of the Overwatch League regular season; During the weeks when there are no Overwatch League matches, the same data will be used to determine the rotation, and you will see the current roster of heroes on Monday morning.

Canceling the rotation of battlegrounds

Since we introduced Battlegrounds to competitive play, there have been a lot of feedback from the community about the system that we have reviewed and reviewed. We originally added battleground lists for two purposes.

In the short term, we wanted to reduce the number of matches at Paris and Lunar Colony Horizon. Many commented that these battlegrounds are worth improving, and we would like to improve them with future updates. We're currently reviewing Paris and want to change the layout of the battlefield to make it more fun to play.

Overall, we wanted the competitive seasons to be a little more different from each other, so that each one has its own charm.

However, many asked us to rotate the battlegrounds more often than once every two months at the beginning of the competitive season: someone suggested changing the list once a month, someone once every two weeks or even once a week. But, if the rotation is carried out more often, the competitive seasons will not have the "charm" that we talked about; in addition, players may not notice the absence or appearance of any battlefields at all if we shorten the time interval.

To make competitive play more accessible, we will be canceling battleground rotation starting April 14th. Instead, competitive play will feature all battlegrounds except Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony. We will add them to the general list after some refinement.

We always listen to community feedback and are ready to make changes to make Overwatch more fun. Please don't forget to share your impressions with us! These changes are coming to the game very soon, and we can't wait to know what you think of them.

See you soon on the battlefields!

GOING BACK IN TIME: AN OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE ARCHIVES.

 This year, your favorite missions from the Archives event have become even more dangerous: in Rialto, Kings Row and Havana, you will have to show all your tactical prowess! Forgotten the plots of past events? Let us remind you now!

Next there will be SPOILERS for the tasks "Retribution", "Mutiny" and "Presentiment of the Storm"!

"Retribution"

Eight years ago, the Talon terrorist organization attacked the Overwatch base in Rome. The complex was badly damaged, and many agents were killed. Officially, Overwatch could not retaliate, so Gabriel Reyes, head of Blackwatch's secret unit, decided to personally carry out retaliation. He assembled a strike force, including former Dead Man gang member Jesse McCree, cyber ninja Genji Shimada and geneticist Moira O'Doran, and set off on the trail of the Talon. Target: Antonio Bartalotti, influential businessman and high-ranking member of the Talon. Residence: Venice, Italy.

The squad infiltrated the Bartalotti estate and successfully captured the target, but instead of the planned arrest of the Talon agent, Reyes unexpectedly killed him. This set off a chain reaction of clashes throughout the Rialto, and Blackwatch agents were at the very center of the action. The entire world became aware of the existence of the unit and the dubious operations that it undertook for Overwatch. Trust in Overwatch began to melt, and the niche that formed after Bartalotti's death was occupied by others. 

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"Mutiny"

A year after the Venice incident, a group of Omnik separatists, Zero Sector, captured King's Row and took hostage a Shambhala monk Tekharta Mondatta, the mayor of London, and a hundred other citizens. In response, Overwatch dispatched a strike force to the scene, which included Angel, Reinhardt, and Torbjorn; this mission was also the first for Tracer Cadet, who was previously a test pilot. Together they suppressed the Sector Zero insurgency and pulled the hostages from the bowels of the power plant on King's Row, and then all the details about the incident were hidden in the archives of Overwatch.

"Presentiment of the Storm"

Realizing that it wouldn’t be easy to grab the Doomfist, Overwatch came up with a new plan: to follow the money trail. Thunderclouds loomed overhead as four Overwatch agents - Tracer, Genji, Winston and Angel - led by Captain Sojorn, pursued Maximilien, Talon's cunning omnic financier. After a long and intense chase through the streets of Havana, in the process of which the agents had to deal with a lot of fighters of the "Talon", they still managed to grab Maximilien.

In an attempt to save his skin of iron, Maximilien made a deal with the agents: he agreed to "bring" them together with the Death Fist, telling about his upcoming trips. ... ... provided that they do not tell anyone where they got the information from.

Deathfist, meanwhile, offered Talon's support to another omnic whose identity is still unknown. ... ...

ECHOES ECHO: THE STORY OF THE 32ND HERO

 You've seen her before: the sleek, shiny omnic was already featured in the early illustrations of Overwatch heroes. You've heard something about its creator , Mina Liao, whose knowledge was very useful to Jack Morrison, Gabriel Reyes and Ana Amari during the Rise of the Machines. Now she will finally appear in the game: Echo joins the ranks of Overwatch as the 32nd hero.

“Echo is different from other characters in that players have known about her for a long time,” commented Jeff Kaplan, Director of Overwatch. It can be seen that he is very attached to the new hero: he talks about her, as if about his own child taking the first steps in adulthood. “Players have already seen Echo in early Overwatch art. She also appeared in the short film Meeting of Old Friends , where McCree freed her from the hands of the Gang of the Dead. "

During the existence of the game, we came across Echo several times, but overwatch fans do not know much about Dr. Ming Liao. “Overwatch was founded by several people: among them, of course, were Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes, - explained Jeff. “In creating the organization, they brought in Dr. Mina Liao, a leading expert in artificial intelligence and robotics. She previously worked for the Omnica Corporation, the corporation that originally created Omnica. Morrison wanted someone in the organization who had an excellent understanding of robots and the knowledge to help Overwatch intelligently deal with the Rise of the Machines. ”

Dr. Liao joined Overwatch to help new comrades understand who the Omniks are, how they work, and how the Rebellion can be ended. When the Omniks and humans reconciled, Dr. Liao continued her passionate exploration of the mysteries of robotics. What else can she find out? How can you improve omniks? Echo was supposed to answer these questions - the most ambitious of all the projects of the doctor, which will become her parting gift to the world, although Mina herself did not know about it.

“Liao went to Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes and said, 'I can create an adaptive robot. If we need a pilot for a strike force, such a robot can be one; a doctor will be needed - the robot will learn to provide medical care. Whoever you need for the task, this robot will be able to adjust and complete any task. It will be extremely useful for Overwatch. ""

Although Morrison did not really want to develop this idea, he still gave Liao permission on the condition that she kept everything under control. “However, Mina went a little further and created a robot that learns on its own ... by observing the world,” Jeff continued. “While she was working on Project Echo, the robot gradually adopted her voice, and therefore Echo's voice is also the voice of Dr. Mina Liao. The more Echo developed, the more she studied the characters she often saw: she watched them and learned to do what they can, just like them. "

Liao managed to create artificial intelligence - adaptive and flexible, capable of adjusting its behavior, realigning on the fly (literally) and learning by observation. All these features made Echo a first-class helper - but also a possible hindrance: her self-awareness developed, and the omnic began to think about her purpose.

Few knew about Echo's true capabilities, but Blackwatch agent Jesse McCree, tasked with protecting Liao and her work, befriended the doctor and often kept her company when she worked on Echo. After Liao died in an attack on the lab, Overwatch froze all of her work and quarantined Echo, unwilling to continue the project without its founder. A few years later, they decided to move Echo to a guarded government base, but this was not destined to come true: the train on which she was transported was captured by the Gang of the Dead, but Echo was bravely rescued by her old comrade McCree. After that, the omnic traveled to Paris to help the newly convened Overwatch forces repel the Null Sector attack - this we saw in the starting point video... She is now a full member of the re-formed Overwatch.

“Mina Liao's legacy continues to live on in Echo,” Jeff said. "She has adopted many of Mina's traits and is constantly adjusting to the agents around her."

After leaving the laboratory, Echo can explore the world on his own for the first time. As Liao's living legacy, she has partnered with Overwatch and continues to learn. As her self-awareness grows, she begins to reflect on what awaits her in the future - while her allies wonder whether she will remain only an echo of Liao or develop her own personality.

METAMORPHOSIS OF THE METAGAME: SCOTT MERCER TALKS ABOUT THE ROTATION OF HEROES

 Overwatch should feel like a new game every week.

This is what Lead Designer Scott Mercer dreams of giving fans - and his dream will come true in Competitive Season 21. With the introduction of Hero Rotation, the Overwatch Dev team will be removing one Tank, one Medic, and two DPS Heroes from the competitive playlist each week. This decision is intended to speed up the metagame change and encourage players to use more diverse lineups in matches.

I wonder what motivated the introduction of the new mechanics? Mercer agreed to share how the rotation of heroes will change the usual game in the 21st season.

How did the idea of ​​hero rotation come about?

Scott Mercer : “Players periodically note that the metagame doesn't change often enough. In general, the metagame is most pronounced at a high level of play, say, in the rank of “Master” or “Elite”. The stronger the players, the better they see why it is necessary to take the most winning heroes.

Even after the introduction of the mandatory 2-2-2 lineup, purposefully changing the metagame was not easy. To this end, we began to more radically change the balance of the heroes, but there is a chance that this will not be enough. The hero rotation is another step towards the ever-changing metagame that the community wants to see so much.

What will the hero rotation bring to the players?

Every week, players will have a new game in a sense. There will be more variety. We are primarily concerned with the feeling that the game is changing too slowly. Hero rotations and more drastic balance changes should bring a sense of constant evolution to Overwatch.

Many players prefer it when the game develops all the time. It's boring for them to constantly play with the same line-up, for the same heroes. As soon as the metagame seems too stable to them, they begin to lose interest in the game. We hope that the rotation of the heroes will make Overwatch more fun for both players and viewers.

How long can expelled heroes remain unavailable?

We do not plan to remove one hero from the game for a long time, so each of them will be excluded for no more than two weeks in a row. In addition, we are not going to remove from the game characters whose balance has just been significantly changed, because the players should have time to figure out how this affected the game.

Will the rotation of heroes in the Overwatch League be organized any differently?

In a regular multiplayer game, the development team selects heroes, but in a league, things will be a little different. Analysts will be guided by the statistics of the last two weeks of matches, and only those heroes who have been on the battlefield for more than 10% of the playing time can be excluded.

Let's say in the fifth week, one of the tanks that were used in more than 10% of the cases in the third and fourth weeks will be randomly excluded. Likewise, one Medic and two DPS will be eliminated.

It turns out that only the most popular heroes will be excluded. I doubt that someone like Torbjorn will ever be among the excluded - but who knows!

Why did you choose the rotation of heroes, and not the ability to prohibit the selection of certain characters to the enemy team?

In our opinion, this option is not very suitable for Overwatch. I would not want the players to look at the portraits of the heroes for five minutes before the start of the match and listen to arguments about which of them is needed and who is not. Nevertheless, we discussed this mechanic in order to understand what exactly it gives, and then asked ourselves: what are we striving for?

So, this mechanic gives additional dynamics to the game and helps to solve the issue of an established metagame - and this is exactly what we needed. During the discussion, an idea arose (initially, it seems, it was proposed by Jeff Kaplan) to temporarily withdraw individual characters from the game.

How to choose which heroes to exclude while maintaining the balance of the game at different ranks?

This is really a daunting task. If we compare low ranks with high and professional play, then there are a lot of differences. We will act according to the situation. Sometimes our choice will hardly affect the higher echelons, and sometimes vice versa. Hero rotation is not the only way to influence the metagame, but only one of the tools. We are ready to adapt to the circumstances.

Of course, there is a lot of uncertainty about the game balance. A promising concept and its implementation are completely different things. But we have room to maneuver: for example, if we need to exclude a little more or a little less heroes, we can move away from the "one tank, two DPS and one medic" format. The frequency of rotation is also not fixed once and for all. We're going to be looking for the right tactics with the community.

How exactly will players know that certain heroes are out of play for a week?

We will report this directly in the game. So if, say, you really like to play for An

JEFF KAPLAN & MICHAEL HEIBERG TALK ABOUT THE LAB, 3-2-1 MODE AND ICE CREAM ECONOMY

 Jeff Kaplan and Michael Heiberg discuss the popularity of different ice cream flavors.

“I've always believed everyone loves chocolate,” says Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan.

Heiberg, the game's lead designer, shakes his head. "Statistics show that white vanilla is more popular."

“Okay, so vanilla is the most popular flavor statistically,” agrees Kaplan. "People lean towards certain ice cream flavors as much as they do certain roles in Overwatch."

They are trying to explain how they came to the decision to test the 3-2-1 roster (one tank, three DPS, two medics) in the new Laboratory mode. This is a major change, and the team is not sure of its success, but this is the beauty of the "Laboratory": it allows players on all platforms to try out the most daring ideas of the developers without leaving the main client of the game. 

Kaplan and Khyberg talked in detail about the appearance of the "Laboratory", as well as how the mode "3-2-1" will affect the game.

How did you come up with the idea to create the "Laboratory"?

Kaplan: When we make balance changes, they go to the PTR (test game world). While testing on the PTR is underway, we are simultaneously undergoing certification for consoles from Sony, Microsoft, and more recently from Nintendo. On average, certification takes a week - and does not include testing or deploying an application, so the process can be lengthy. It takes a lot more time to change McCree's weapon damage by one than many players think.

Then, from a balance point of view, we need some time to look at the effect of these changes before moving on to the next step. As a result, we started making balance changes every two months.

Ask any Overwatch designer, "Which ten features are you missing the most?" Among them will certainly be "the ability to instantly make changes and respond faster when you need to change the balance."

When did it become possible to create such a function?

Kaplan: Two engineers on our team were particularly active in promoting the idea of ​​the "Laboratory". One of them is Derek Mulder, a highly experienced gameplay engineer; the other is Phil Oruig, our brilliant network engineer. Derek had this idea: what if you create an accessible version of the PTR right in the game.  

This idea captivated us, because this way the players would not need to download a separate client, and besides, they would be able to receive all the rewards as usual - account levels, containers. And console players could take part too.

This solution turned out to be the easiest for us . In general, this does not happen - for someone to have an idea, and everyone said: "Yes, we definitely have to do this!" But that is exactly how it turned out with the "Laboratory".

Your first experimental mode is 3-2-1, in which teams will have one tank, two DPS, and two medics. How did this idea come about?

Heiberg: When we released the 2-2-2 role limit, there were a lot more DPS in queues than tanks and medics. As a result, the waiting time increased, and then we thought: what if we change the composition of the team so that it more closely matches the ratio of preferred heroes among all players? If this idea works, players will wait less and play more. So we decided to give it a try.

How did the internal tests go? Have you made any interesting observations?

Heiberg: When there are more DPS than tanks on the team, the lethality of the game changes. Tank players and players trying to defend them experience a very different level of stress.

Kaplan: With three DPS, there are lineups that we couldn't even imagine in the current game. Earlier we saw teams with two flankers like Genji and Tracer, supported by aggressive tanks. There were squads with two snipers - Widow and Hanzo - and a more defensive style of play. And now you can have two snipers and also a flanker - it is played in a completely different way. More chaos, more dynamics.

Opinions among the development team were overwhelmingly divided. Someone did not like it extremely, someone was intrigued. Most expressed cautious optimism, saying something like: "Yes, indeed, it can turn out interesting." But ardent opponents of this squad argued: "Everything has changed a lot, the tanks are under too much stress, the game is too lethal."

We will experiment and see if we can balance these difficulties. For example, lethality: of course, the number of tanks also affects it, but you can deal with the damage and health of other heroes, change something in these indicators.

Can you tell us about the specific changes you've been thinking about?

Kaplan: The most important question was: what will become of Turbosvin, D.Va and Zarya?

When we first created tanks, we did not have an "offtank" concept. What's more, we expected players to only use one tank - and that's how we played Overwatch in the beginning. If you played Quick Play before the role limitation was introduced, you know that the tank was a luxury there.

But with the introduction of 2-2-2,

TAKE PART IN ASH'S MARDI GRAS CHALLENGE!

 Wear your favorite beads and join the festive orgy until March 9th with unique rewards inspired by the Mardi Gras Festival. Bonne chance! 

Until March 9th, players will be able to earn two badges, seven graffiti, and the epic Ash "Mardi Gras" skin for a total of 10 new rewards.

TIME TO CELEBRATE : How to Unlock New Rewards for Ash

WATCHING REWARDS : Receive special Ash-style cosmetic items for watching Twitch streams

BY A GAN OF DEAD WITH LOVE : More Details on Ash's Products

TIME TO CELEBRATE

Dress up in purple, green and gold and celebrate Mardi Gras with special in-game content! Winning Quick Play, Competitive Play, and Arcade will bring you two badges, graffiti, and a new epic Mardi Gras skin for Ash!

As you play Arcade Mode, you will receive Mardi Gras Challenge rewards from Ash in addition to the regular prizes.

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VIEWING AWARDS

Watch live streams on Twitch both during matches and before or after. Until March 9th, check in on participating streamers as they play Overwatch to get six Mardi Gras Graffiti Challenges from Ash!

NOTE: To be able to receive Twitch Drops , you must first link your Blizzard account to your Twitch account. Go to the Twitch connections page to sign in and link your account.

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Ash's Mardi Gras Challenge rewards will be available from February 25 to March 9 for watching live streams on any channel in the Overwatch category . 

Learn more about Twitch Drops in this video!

During Ash's Mardi Gras Challenge, we'll be inviting you to a different Overwatch content creator every day! Drop by your favorites during the event for even more Mardi Gras items.

WORKSHOP UPDATE WILL OPEN UP EVEN MORE OPTIONS FOR CONTENT CREATORS

 “We removed the potholders,” says gameplay engineer Dan Reid.

"I'm sorry, what? - asks his colleague Zach Metcalfe. "Maybe you wanted to say we rolled up our sleeves?"

“I mean it’s easy to get burned now, but it’s much more comfortable to work,” explains Reed.

They are discussing the latest update to Overwatch's Workshop , an in-game script editor that allows players to create their own game modes. In this update (which is already available on the PTR ), not only will there be new battlegrounds, tools and various improvements, but also a limitation will be removed, which was intended to protect authors from errors that could lead to the termination of the game client. This is the essence of the next update to the "Workshop": more options, fewer restrictions and as a result, as Reed and Metcalfe hope, even cooler creations.

Reed and Metcalfe have a special passion for The Workshop, which derives much from their personal experiences. Reed is a longtime Blizzard employee who has been on the Overwatch team since the beginning. He was one of the first engineers to support the development of Workshop in 2017. He has been playing the piano all his life, but in college he realized that he spends most of his free time making games and switched from studying music theory to programming.

Metcalfe has a slightly different story. In his youth, he played tennis seriously and participated in a number of tournaments in the UK from a prestigious academy. He joined Blizzard in 2018 and soon became involved in supporting The Workshop.

“Tennis requires the perfect balance between agility, physical strength and strategic thinking,” says Metcalfe. - When you start to 'feel the game', it is like hypnosis. I think I was able to transfer that focus and dedication from tennis to my engineering career. "

Like Reed, Metcalfe has a passion for challenging disciplines and is always pleased to hear that players have the same fun learning the nuances of The Workshop. Although not all reviews have been positive. The better the authors mastered the toolbox, the more feedback they received, and Reed and Metcalfe scrutinized them closely. Each new feature in the latest update is based on these feedback.

“We listened to everything that annoys them and thought: this is really annoying. And they fixed everything, ”Reed says.

Custom Game Battlegrounds are a great example of this. Reed and Metcalfe were amazed at how far players were willing to go to find the right environment for their battlefields.

“Many popular modes take place outside of the normal battlefield,” Metcalfe says. "For example, on the rooftops in Havana, because it is an open, flat space suitable for arena-style battles - but usually you can't get there."

To simplify matters, Reed and Metcalfe have teamed up with the Overwatch Battlegrounds team to bring content creators three new Battlegrounds specifically for Custom Game: Room, Island, and Field. "Room" is a closed room 40x40 m. "Island" is of the same size, but is not limited either by walls or ceilings. And the "Field" is a huge empty plain of 900x900 m - in fact, the largest battlefield in Overwatch.

Many content authors were hindered by the lack of such a convenient programming tool as subroutines. Reed and Metcalfe added them in the update. As they explain, subroutines are essentially separate functions that can be executed independently of other parts of the script. Without them, authors were often forced to use risky workarounds that increased the complexity and size of the scripts.

“In the past, you had to either duplicate the same scripts over and over again, or create awkward rules that were triggered under certain conditions,” explains Metcalfe.

For example, sometimes authors created a rule that was executed when a variable changed its value from "false" to "true". After executing the action, the variable changed its value back.

"Doing it like that ... was pretty frustrating," Reed admits.

"Now they have routines," Metcalfe adds, "and players can easily strip out certain sections of the game's logic and activate them as needed."

Working in the "Workshop" without routines is very annoying. The engineers explain that they felt this annoyance too, and that is what inspired them to make all these innovations, including the script diagnostic panel that tells authors how close they are to the maximum script size. This function makes it easier to foresee situations when the script will not be accepted by the "Workshop". The developers hope that such tools will make scripting easier.

"We've been fascinated by everything that players have come up with before," Metcalfe says, "so we're really curious about what's coming with all the new tools and improvements."

This belief in the Workshop community has inspired other changes as well: for example, loops no longer need to be preceded by a Wait action. While this limitation reduced the likelihood of creating an infinite loop that would cause the client to t

THERE ARE SO MANY MASKS AND SO LITTLE TIME! AN OVERVIEW OF THE APPEARANCE OF SOMBRA "FACE CHANGER".

 Actors in bright, elaborately decorated clothes move to the beat of the rumbling music. A beat on a drum, a wave of a fan - and a scarlet face frowns at the audience; a wave of the hand - and a pale mask grins instead, the corners of the mouth curved in an eerie buffoonish grimace.

How do they do these exciting stunts?

This secret is jealously guarded by two hundred masters of Chinese art, Bianlian and Sombra, who received a new face-changer appearance in honor of Lunar New Year 2020.

Bianlian, the art of face shifting, emerged in the 17th century during the Qing Dynasty as a subgenre of Sichuan Opera. Then the art was simple: the actors changed only a few faces per performance. Today, a professional actor can change more than 18 masks in one performance. Sombra has only six masks, so she has a lot to learn from these professionals.

Now Sombra changes faces as easily as he infiltrates any organization. But to translate this idea into a game, it took the team miracles of skill.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR ME?

Sichuan Opera actors can change masks with a nod of their head, a wave of their hand, or the flick of a fan. Sombra does it in a way that suits her high-tech style. Here she is in the red-black-gold mask of the monkey king Sun Wu-kun from Journey to the West. An instant, a glitch in the image - and she is wearing a recognizable purple skull mask, made in the bright style of the Sichuan Opera. “Sombra is playful and elegant, and given her ability to hide and disrupt the system, we thought she would be a perfect fit for face-shifting,” explains Daryl Teng, concept artist of the face. As a hacker who hides his real face, Sombre knows how to change his guise.

Traditional bianlian performances involve changing masks quickly at any time. The team had to decide in which mode Sombra would change them (and a small handy mask sensor on the barrel of the weapon). “We were only going to change the masks during key animations: turning masking on and off, or superpowers,” Gotch explains. "Since it is not visible in most of the game moments, we decided to change [the mask] with that frequency."

In total, Sombra changes six different masks. According to Lead Outsourcing Supervisor John Gotch, this was the hardest thing to do when creating the look. “We had to figure out how to change the masks in the game, it depended on when we wanted to do it,” says Gotch. - When the 3D model was ready, we took the faces that Daryl invented, made 3D models based on 2D illustrations, and then worked with the effects department, introducing them into the game. To ensure that [skin] works with the engine, we only took two masks. First, we wanted to test the technology and make sure that the final result will allow the players to see all the options for the masks. "

The results of a journey to uncharted technological lands? A dynamic, culturally rich idea realized in a futuristic style. Sombra's collection of masks is highlighted by her flamboyant, elaborate clothing that rivals the splendid costumes of the Sichuan Opera, while still fitting in with Overwatch's unique style. “The visual integration needed to take the dramatic style of the opera and refine it in line with the aesthetic of the performance,” Tan explains. The team consults with people who grew up in the respective culture to ensure that the looks match the conceived idea. “As a rule, you don't have to go far - [in Blizzard] there are many different people. With a better understanding of the theme and how it works with the characters, we are working in the Overwatch aesthetic. Then we again ask the opinion of consultants and international partners to make sure

The skins of the past Lunar New Year have been created and implemented in the same way, merging vivid imagery from myths and the world of Overwatch.   

In 2017, the department was inspired by the legend of the monk Xuanzang and his disciples Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and Sun Wu-kun, and created a set of skins reminiscent of these characters in Wu Cheng'en 's novel "Journey to the West . "

In 2018, the four signs of the zodiac - Qinglong, Zhuque, Xuan-wu and Bai-hu - were embodied in Farrah, Angel, Zarya and Genji.

And in 2019, Overwatch reborn the great heroes of Luo Guanzhong's famous novel The Three Kingdoms : Lu Bu, Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and Huang Zhong, showcasing the world with lush beards and ornate armor.

This year, the team decided to move away from the embodiment of novels and myths, choosing a new theme for two legendary Chinese looks: opera. “Chinese opera is very visually intense and full of cultural references. The team decided that it would be interesting to research this topic for the creation of the skins, explains Tan. "Graphically, the theme is very rich, there are many opportunities to create an interesting image, it was interesting to see how we fit this into the concept of the characters."

In addition, for both Gotch and Tan, this is a rather sentimental topic.

Gotch recalls how he and

TAKE TO THE SKIES IN THE ANGEL RETURNS CHALLENGE!

 Until December 2, players can earn a badge, eight sprays, and the legendary Doctor Ziegler Angel Skin for a total of 10 new rewards.

DOCTOR ZIEGLER : How to Unlock New Angel Rewards

WATCHING REWARDS : Receive special Angel-themed cosmetic items for watching Twitch streams

HEROES DO NOT DIE : read the new story "Valkyrie"

DOCTOR ZIEGLER

We've decided to bring the immersive Valkyrie story to Overwatch so that you can now get special content from it in-game. Winning Quick Play, Competitive Play, and Arcade until the end of the promotion will earn you a Badge, two Sprays, and a new Legendary Doctor Ziegler Skin for Angel!

As you play Arcade, you will earn Return of the Angel challenge rewards in addition to the regular prizes .

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VIEWING AWARDS

Watch live streams on Twitch during matches, before or after matches: up until December 2 , we will give you Twitch Drops every time you log into the channels of participating streamers. They will allow you to get six Angel Returns graffiti challenges!

NOTE: To receive Twitch Drops , you must first link your Blizzard account to your Twitch account. Go to the Twitch connections page to sign in and link your account.

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The Angel Returns Twitch Drops will be available from November 12 to December 2 by watching broadcasts on any channel in the Overwatch category .

Learn more about Twitch Drops in this video!

HEROES DO NOT DIE

After the disbandment of Overwatch, Dr. Angela Ziegler decided to flee her past and help those in need. But over time, she realized that her battle was not over yet. In Michael Chu 's story "Valkyrie," Angel finds his wings again and begins to fight for the future.

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Become a Valkyrie with the Return of the Angel challenge - now available in the game! For nine wins and watching live streams of the game, you can add up to 10 exclusive temporary rewards to your collection.

And now, rather into battle - the test will end on December 2!

OVERCLOCKING THE ENGINE: OVERWATCH 2 VISUAL DESIGN DEVELOPMENT ROUNDTABLE REVIEW

 At BlizzCon 2019, we showed players the sequel to Overwatch for the first time. The  Overwatch 2  improved graphics, the game uses more advanced technology, and the story became deeper. It was possible to achieve this and revive the world and heroes only thanks to the foundations laid down by the original game. Senior Art Director Bill Petras, Assistant Art Director Arnold Tsang and CTO John Lafleur talked about their team's work.  

Developing the artistic style of the original game, the development team has several goals: they need to refresh the appearance of the characters, emphasize their history and add more dynamics to the world. But first of all, the developers, of course, think about the gameplay.

Hero development

While working on the updated look for the familiar Overwatch heroes, the artists had to not lose the essence of the original image. In each case, the developers had to look for a new approach, but the goal was always the same: not to distort the character and his story. Arnold Tsang elaborated on how Tracer was being worked on to keep Overwatch's face recognizable, yet fresh.

The artists aimed to preserve the basic design elements of Tracer (color scheme, silhouette and dynamics), while changing and complementing the model and style. The result is a retro look with goggles, a pilot's jacket, and leggings for a more modern and tech look that suits the returning Overwatch agent perfectly.

The game's technology has leaped forward, and with innovations like improved shaders and lighting, Overwatch developers can work out the characters in more detail, including the transfer of delicate facial features and body language. Characters will become better at expressing emotions, which will deepen the story and allow players to empathize even more with their favorite characters. Each new design element (like Bastion's hat or the updated Tracer technique) was created in order to tell the stories of the heroes, tell where they went and what they did in the time interval between games.

Expanding the world

In Overwatch 2, battles will spill over into new territories and cover the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, snow-covered streets of Toronto, magnificent views of Monte Carlo and Gothenburg, where the battleship guild has settled.

Overwatch battlegrounds are often about one topic. The world of Overwatch 2 will become more expansive, and the battlegrounds will be multifaceted and varied. One of these battlegrounds is Rio, and BlizzCon attendees have already been able to play on it. Here is a story mission, during which players will visit the bright streets of the city, and get inside the ominous landing shuttle "Null Sector". Each territory in which the heroes find themselves is unique in its own way and immerses in the history of the world.

To further reveal the world of Overwatch, the designers figured out how to make the most of technology and bring the environment to life: to do this, they applied weather systems, fog changes, improved fabric behavior, added more particles and sequential events. For the first time, players saw the weather change in the Storm Presentiment Archive Event. The team refined this technology for Overwatch 2, and now the old and new battlegrounds will become more atmospheric thanks to fog, rain, wind and ash particles falling from the sky. The video team also helped develop technology that will add sequential events to the game. One example is buildings that explode during missions when players approach them. As a result, the game world becomes more alive.

If you have a Virtual Ticket,  watch the Evolving Design Roundtable footage here ,  featuring other familiar heroes updated for Overwatch 2, as well as new futuristic territories! For more details on the game, take a look  at the Future Plans roundtable review  .

STORY MISSIONS, HERO MISSIONS, ONSLAUGHT AND MORE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE OVERWATCH 2 FUTURE PLANS PANEL

 Visitors to the Future Plans panel from Jeff Kaplan and Aaron Keller at BlizzCon 2019 were the first to know about everything that awaits players in Overwatch 2: new co-op missions, a new Onslaught mode, updates to the original game, new heroes, and even more. from the plot. 

NEW PVP MODE: ONSLAUGHT

In the new mode, players will have to fight for control of the robot, which is initially located in the center of the battlefield. The task of the team is to bring the robot to the enemy base. The battlefields for the Onslaught mode are symmetrical, and the winner is the team that managed to lead the robot farther than the enemy in the allotted time.

Jeff and Aaron have unveiled one new Onslaught battleground: Toronto. Its creators focused on what the birthplace of several Overwatch developers looks like, with snow, red maples, cultural diversity and even a slice of the Toronto subway. This battlefield offers many flanking opportunities. As with everything in Overwatch, you need to play together to win this mode.

In addition to several new Onslaught battlegrounds, Overwatch 2 will introduce new locations for all existing PvP modes.

OVERWATCH STORY MISSIONS AND EVENTS

Since the release of the first game, we've learned a lot about the events that led to the breakup of Overwatch. After the adoption of the act of Petras, due to which our heroes had to disband the organization, new threats arose: "Null Sector", "Claw" and others that we do not yet know about. In the face of multiple crises, Winston launched a general gathering, urging all former Overwatch agents to unite again and fight back against injustice.

In Overwatch 2, heroes will finally answer the call. Co-op missions combine the storyline with the gameplay. Take part in a new chapter in Overwatch history and complete a series of exciting missions for four players. Each story mission has its own set of heroes, depending on the task before them, so players will have a thoughtful storyline. Additionally, videos at the beginning and end of each mission will allow players to dive deeper into the rich world of Overwatch.

ITEMS

The development team is also experimenting with items in story missions. Items shown at BlizzCon will be reusable throughout the mission, and will vary in features and rarity, allowing players to adapt to different play styles. The demo featured items such as a healing station (when activated, restores the health of all players in the area of ​​effect) and a corrosive grenade (deals damage and increases damage taken by opponents from other sources).

MISSIONS: LEVELING UP AND STRENGTHENING

In addition to story missions, Overwatch 2 will feature co-op missions. In them, players will answer the call and take part in the general gathering in the role of any hero. In missions, players will have to level up their heroes, battling opponents such as Null Sector, Claw, and possibly those we don't know about yet - all in different parts of the Overwatch world. Each battlefield features different challenges, so dozens of hours of exciting battles await you.

By completing such tasks and raising the level of heroes, players will unlock talents - powerful modifications to the abilities of heroes. So, at BlizzCon, the talent "Chain Reaction" was demonstrated - with it "Impulse Bomb", the Tracer super ability, creates secondary explosions on affected opponents.

With the help of talents, it will be possible to develop every hero in the game. Players will have the opportunity to play the way they want it, and complete tasks with ease.

IMPROVED GRAPHICS

In Overwatch 2, not only new game mechanics are waiting for you, but also a massive visual update. The appearance of the characters will become more detailed and realistic. The new engine will make the faces of the characters more expressive, and the facial expressions - emotional. The interface will become easier to understand without being distracted from what is happening on the screen, and the text will be easier and more convenient to read.

MORE THAN A SEQUEL

Sojorn, who you may remember from the Feeling of the Storm event, will be one of those to join the fight in Overwatch 2. In the future, we will share more details about Sojorn and other heroes in the new game.

Overwatch players will be able to fight side by side with Overwatch 2 players in multiplayer, as well as use heroes from Overwatch 2 and play on new battlegrounds. All trophies obtained in Overwatch will be carried over to the second part, so players will not lose their skins, badges, graffiti, emotes and everything else!

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN OVERWATCH CONCEPT ARTIST

 At first, when asked to talk about his work, concept artist Daryl Tan doesn't even mention art. “I'm a salesperson of ideas,” he says.

The same can be said for Daryl's other colleagues on the Overwatch development team. Their job is to get a lot of people (at Blizzard and beyond) to believe in their ideas.

When players are faced with the work of artists, she must convince them to close their eyes to the impossible. To take you into a fictional world, the artist must come up with believable details and elements for him, and also make sure that they remain so after they are embodied in the game. Today we'll show you how the Overwatch development team, armed with PhotoShop and 2D illustration skills, achieves this.

Characters and weapons

Senior Concept Artist Qiu Fang joined Blizzard in 2016 and was soon tasked with developing the Talon agents who were sent to stop Blackwatch agents during the Retribution mission featured in the Overwatch Archives. Such combat units never become the highlight of the program - this honor always falls to the playable characters. However, they should pair well with Overwatch's vibrant and memorable team of heroes. Despite the fact that players had to deal with these opponents easily and quickly, Qiu wanted to make their design special.

Concept Art - Early Talon Enemy Lineup - Toughs

“My decision to become a character designer was greatly influenced by my childhood experience as a child. Then I often played games tied around one memorable character. So I dreamed of working on the concept of a hero from the beginning, ”said Qiu, who was to design the 31st Overwatch hero, Sigma. He managed to realize his aspirations, creating the first concepts of enemies from "Claw", and he treated them like "mini-heroes".

Concept Art - Early Talon Enemy Lineup - Long Range

During the Idea Phase (a period during which artists experiment and tweak game content in development), Qiu Fang collaborated with the Overwatch devs and writers to learn more about the gameplay and storyline associated with the Talon ". As soon as he learned that some of the Talon agents would have special weapons and abilities, such as knocking opponents down, climbing walls, or grabbing onto ledges with a grappling hook, his imagination was set in motion.

Qiu describes his task at this stage as "finding visual solutions to gameplay problems." He had to make it so that players could distinguish each of the different Talon agents at a glance, while maintaining their overall visual style. One of the agents, nicknamed "the guy with the shield" because of his role in the game, had all the necessary qualities: he had strong armor, a reliable shield, and a beam weapon. He really was a mini-hero.

Early Concept for "Shield Guy"

Although everyone liked the concept very much, the developers could not turn it into a holistic hero - it turned out to be too abstract compared to characters who had a specific role - for example, "sniper" or "fighter". Despite the effectiveness and versatility of this character, his abilities often overlapped with those of other agents from the Claw Squad. The gameplay developers noticed during testing that it was inconvenient to play against a hero with a ray weapon, and his silhouette was difficult to distinguish from other characters. Qiu sketched out several new concepts, trying to stay within the existing gameplay environment.

Concept Art - Variations on Shield GuyHe and his colleagues also looked at other options. In the mission "Retribution", the organization "Claw" sent a rapid response squad against the main characters: won't a huge shield only interfere with them, especially since they already easily take cover? As a result, it was decided to remove the shield, and a more tactical Claw squad was created for the Rialto battlefield.

Concept artists can't just go and come up with a whole new unit: they have to work out every detail. For example, in order to come up with new types of futuristic weapons that are used by both the Null Sector omniks and Overwatch heroes, Daryl has to study many images of real modern weapons, tracing the development of technology. "When small arms designers want to show that they are reliable and easy to use, they redesign the weapon to make it look more aesthetically pleasing." Therefore, it is logical to assume that with the development of new technologies, weapons in the world of the future Overwatch will follow the same principles as in real life: for example, more automated, 

Concept Art - Sniper Ana's Rifle

Transformation of familiar heroes

The sense of realism and naturalness should also be maintained when changing the appearance of the heroes already familiar to the players.

With new looks, the artists try to emphasize easily recognizable ideas - Qiu starts with simple and familiar objects, and then adds elements of the futuristic Overwatch style, such as hinges and LED lighting. "As a result, larger and more recognizable shapes are closer to the ch