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over 1 year
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VALORANT
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| 12s | For Gekko, we wanted to create something a little more lighthearted |
|---|---|
| 14s | on the thematic side, but also find ways to make these mini objectives |
| 18s | and change how you think of the game. |
| 21s | For players that might not have tried the Initiator role |
| 23s | or are a little bit intimidated by some of the other agents we offer, |
| 26s | we wanted to create an agent that was a little more approachable |
| 28s | and had some really clear call to actions. |
| 31s | You see a lot of this on Killjoy where a lot of the utility you place |
| 34s | you know what it's going to do and it gives you the cues. |
| 37s | With things being localized, things happening kind of around you, |
| 40s | It makes a lot easier compared to some of our flashes |
| 42s | that tends to happen over there. |
| 45s | For all of our agents, we start with a paper kit. |
| 48s | A lot of brainstorming and again, |
| 49s | a lot of collaboration with the rest of the team. |
| 51s | Kind of get some ideas on paper and start to see it in game. |
| 54s | We start with an agent hook and kind of like a, |
| 56s | what does this round to round look like? |
| 59s | One of the cool things we've always wanted to try was making these mini-objectives |
| 63s | that you can engage with round to round. |
| 66s | So it started off as like these little robots that you kind of threw. |
| 69s | In my head you're this inventor and you have these little gadgets that broke into scrap |
| 74s | and you'd go forward and grab them and just kind of rebuild them. |
| 77s | I think what we got instead was these little creatures that |
| 80s | almost like, beg for you to to pick them up and try again. |
| 84s | We wanted to create a character |
| 86s | that you cared about their abilities in some way. |
| 91s | How do we make you as a player, like fall in love with this thing |
| 94s | you're throwing out that's going to shoot energy at someone else? |
| 97s | The whole reason we got to these little creatures that you see |
| 101s | Gekko has as his companions, |
| 102s | his friends, was the idea that you needed to go and pick them back up. |
| 108s | Every one of your companions should give you this feeling of like, |
| 111s | oh, I can move forward. |
| 112s | I have the information to take new ground to clear a corner. |
| 116s | With the reclaim model, you get to do something |
| 118s | that feels very fun and very fluid. |
| 120s | If your team works together, you can grab the orbit and do it again. |
| 123s | So, like this infinite loop of fun. |
| 131s | After the paper kit, we start |
| 133s | to see what the signature looks like, or maybe even an ultimate. |
| 135s | We start to see kind of what the hook is. |
| 137s | And once we're locking the hook, we start to see a lot of narrative and art, |
| 141s | and we start to ask ourselves, how can we actually share the story |
| 144s | of what we want to do? |
| 145s | How can we make players feel what we want the agent to feel like. |
| 155s | As we were looking to bring Gekko to life, |
| 158s | we narrowed in on L.A. pretty quickly. |
| 160s | This is kind of the stomping ground of Gekko. |
| 165s | We always try to place our characters |
| 166s | in a very specific location because the risk of not doing so |
| 170s | is to end up creating a character that is one size fits all. |
| 175s | As we were researching Gekko, |
| 177s | we tried to come out here, take a look around, talk to people |
| 180s | and make sure that we knew exactly where they came from, |
| 183s | what was in their backyard, what their day to day looked like. |
| 186s | We worked directly with our voice talent, who's actually from Boyle Heights |
| 190s | and helping them be an authentic part of shaping the character. |
| 195s | East L.A. has such a tight knit community. |
| 197s | Everybody is coming from a different walk of life. |
| 199s | It's very oriented around the family. |
| 202s | And so I hope that players get to experience that when they see |
| 205s | Gekko and see the companionship that he shares with all of his creatures. |
| 209s | They're not just friends. |
| 210s | That's a found family. |
| 213s | As we're exploring this idea of like, |
| 216s | what does it mean to grow up in a globally connected world? |
| 219s | As a first generation person in between two cultures, |
| 224s | we wanted to visit that perspective from the current generation. |
| 228s | Right now, that is happening more than ever across the planet. |
| 232s | Gekko really is at that intersection when he goes home. |
| 235s | He is steeped in the Mexican heritage of his immigrant parents. |
| 240s | When he goes out into the world beyond the immediate community, |
| 244s | he's stepping into the multicultural, modern city of L.A. |
| 251s | As our agents fight to literally save the world. |
| 255s | That is quite a heavy burden to bear. |
| 258s | And you see that seriousness come through in a lot of our more militarized agents. |
| 262s | And we kind of realize that it really would be nice to diversify |
| 266s | that range with someone with a little bit of that younger charm. |
| 270s | A lot of the look of Gekko was inspired by like the L.A. fashion scene. |
| 275s | What he wears is so different than the puffy yellow jacket of Killjoy, |
| 280s | or the stylized jacket of Yoru or Phoenix. |
| 288s | We see comments online |
| 289s | of a player seeing themselves represented in one of our agents. |
| 293s | And it really just fuels us to do the work. |
| 299s | Being able to do that for as many people and as many cultures |
| 303s | has been a big thing for us in creating like a united global community. |
| 307s | I hope that players kind of have a lot of fun with the kit. |
| 310s | I think we've had a lot of fun making it |
| 311s | and actually pretty proud that we were able to get an agent |
| 314s | that really pushes some of the boundaries of how you think about the game. |
| 319s | He is a modern, young, aspirational, confident guy. |
| 324s | He shows up for his team. |
| 325s | Every aspect of who Gekko is lines up around our thinking of what VALORANT is. |
| 331s | And it's so nice when those two things come together. |