over 1 year ago - VALORANT - Direct link

Transcript (by Youtube)


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.