Overwatch

Overwatch

Info

This article is about the game. For the titular organization, see Overwatch (group).
Overwatch
Origins Edition.jpg

Developer
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment is a video games development company based in Irvine, California. It is behind the development of Overwatch. Notable Members edit | edit source] Main article: :Category: Staff Jeff Chamberlain (VFX supervisor) Michael Chu overwatch
Team 4 Team 4 is the Blizzard Entertainment team in charge of developing Overwatch. Overview edit | edit source] As of September 2, 2016, there are roughly 100 developers in Team 4, with five disciplines: Audio, Art, overwatch
Publisher
Blizzard Entertainment
Release date
May 24, 2016
Platforms
Xbox One, Playstation 4, Windows

Overwatch This article is about the in-game organization. For the article about the game, see Overwatch. "Conflict. As the world teetered on the brink of anarchy, a new hope arose. An elite international taskforce charged with overwatch is a multiplayer team-based first-person shooter developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment is a video games development company based in Irvine, California. It is behind the development of Overwatch. Notable Members edit | edit source] Main article: :Category: Staff Jeff Chamberlain (VFX supervisor) Michael Chu overwatch . It was released on May 24, 2016, for Windows, Xbox One, and Playstation 4.

The game is available for both physical and digital purchase. There are two special editions, Origins Edition and Collector`s Edition.

As of April 2017, the game has over 30 million registered players.

Videos

Story

The world could always use more heroes.

Overwatch takes place on a near-future Earth, some time in the mid 2070s. Some thirty years before, robots Omnics Omnics are artificially intelligent robots produced by omniums. 1] Contents 1 Background 1.1 History 2 Known Omnics 2.1 Types 3 References Background edit | edit source] Omnics are produced by omniums, automated robotics factories overwatch turned against humanity in what became known as the Omnic Crisis For the graphic novel of the same name, see Overwatch: The Omnic Crisis Omnic Crisis Type Global human-omnic conflict Location Global Outcome Human victory The Omnic Crisis was a rebellion by the omnics against their overwatch . This eventually led to the formation of an elite strike team, who finally brought an end to the war. This team was the beginning of Overwatch This article is about the in-game organization. For the article about the game, see Overwatch. "Conflict. As the world teetered on the brink of anarchy, a new hope arose. An elite international taskforce charged with overwatch , an international task force which tried to maintain global stability for two decades, until corruption tore it apart. Though Overwatch was disbanded, new crises are looming, and the world still needs heroes.

Overwatch`s story is revealed through supplementary material, such as cinematic shorts, comics, and news articles. Interactions between characters and certain details on maps also help flesh out the setting and its inhabitants. Eventually, Overwatch`s lore is planned to be on par with Diablo Diablo Developer Blizzard Entertainment This article is a stub. You can help Overwatch Wiki by expanding it. Diablo is an action role-playing hack and slash dungeon crawler series. In January 2017, Overwatch celebrated the Diablo 20th overwatch , StarCraft StarCraft is a real-time strategy series that continues to be popular in South Korea. Global competitions are held featuring its multiplayer gameplay, allowing skillful players to become celebrities of sorts. 1] Trivia edit | edit overwatch , and Warcraft Warcraft is a series of Real Time Strategy and MMORPG games placed in a high fantasy universe, made by Blizzard Entertainment. Allusions to Warcraft in Overwatch edit | edit source] Tracer s Blink ability is a overwatch .

Gameplay

During development, the developers experimented with team sizes, trying large teams like 8v8 and 12v12, as well as small teams like 3v3 and 4v4. Both had problems: Either 6v6 was decided to be the sweet spot, in order to make every player feel important, but not to the extent that blame could be easily assigned.

There were concerns that players not being able to see their own hero would run counter to Overwatch`s theme as a character-based game. A large amount of time was spent with the voice actors to cultivate the characters` personalities to offset this.

When designing the game`s maps, the editors of Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty were looked at, to get a sense of map design, and how it could be applied.

Beta

Main article: Overwatch beta The Overwatch beta was the beta test phase of Overwatch, beginning on October 27, 2015. 1] The beta closed on May 9th. 2] Following the in-house alpha test, the beta test was the phase in overwatch

During development, Overwatch had a closed beta, which began on October 27, 2015.

Two weeks before its release, an open beta was held from May 5 to 9.

Development

The Project Titan logo

Overwatch started development in Summer 2013, as development on Titan was winding down. Titan, a next-generation MMO that Team 4 Team 4 is the Blizzard Entertainment team in charge of developing Overwatch. Overview edit | edit source] As of September 2, 2016, there are roughly 100 developers in Team 4, with five disciplines: Audio, Art, overwatch was in charge of, was publicly cancelled in September 2014, with work having begun in 2007 with the intent of developing a successor to World of Warcraft. Team 4`s confidence was shaken, and many members of the team were transferred, leaving only a core group to brainstorm what Blizzard`s next game would be. Specifically, at the time of its cancelation, 140 people were working on Titan. After it was shut down, 80 were permanantly assigned to other projects at Blizzard, and 20 more were temporarily relocated to other teams for anywhere from six months to two years. The remaining staff were given six weeks to come up with a new direction for the project. The six weeks were divided into one block of four weeks, the other a block of two weeks. The first four weeks were pitching ideas for an MMO in one of the pre-existing Blizzard universes, the next two were on developing a new IP MMO. It was in the latter phase that the concept of Overwatch emerged, effectively as a side-project during the brainstorm session.

While some character concepts from Titan found their way into Overwatch, Overwatch was built from scratch. The team looked to Hearthstone Hearthstone Developer Blizzard Entertainment Platforms PC and Tablet 1] 2] Hearthstone is a digital collectible card game within the world of Overwatch. Contents 1 Locations In-Game 2 Trivia 3 References 4 External Links Locations In-Game overwatch for inspiration on making a smaller, self-contained game.

From the beginning, Team 4 worked closely with the cinematic department on character design. The Temple of Anubis This article is a stub. You can help Overwatch Wiki by expanding it. Temple of Anubis Type Assault Location Egypt, Giza Plateau Terrain Temple Temple of Anubis is an Assault map in Overwatch. Contents 1 Official overwatch was the game`s first milestone, in the phase of development Jeff Kaplan Jeff Kaplan Jeff Kaplan is the game director of Overwatch. 1] Story edit | edit source] Prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment, Kaplan played and modded a number of FPS games, including Quake, Doom, Half-Life, and overwatch has called "finding the fun." The initial goal was to have one complete map, complete with level design and environmental art. Pharah Pharah "I will protect the innocent." Real Name Fareeha Amari Age 32 Nationality Egyptian Occupation Security Chief Base Giza, Egypt Affiliation Egyptian Army (formerly)Helix Security International Relations Ana Amari (mother) Voice Jen Cohn (English) Ethel overwatch , Widowmaker Widowmaker "One shot, one kill." Real Name Amélie Lacroix Age 33 Nationality French Occupation Assassin Base Annecy, France Affiliation Talon Relations Gérard Lacroix (husband, deceased) Voice Chloe Hollings (English and French) Francesca Perilli (Italian)Shizuka Itô overwatch , Tracer Tracer "Cheers, love! The cavalry s here!" Real Name Lena Oxton Age 26 Nationality English Occupation AdventurerPilot (Formerly)Overwatch Agent (Formerly) Base London, England Affiliation Overwatch (formerly) Relations Emily (girlfriend) Voice Cara Theobold 1] 2] (English) Dorothee overwatch , and Reaper were the first heroes play-tested. This was in March, 2014.

A map editor may be released in the future. However, as of September 2016, there are no plans to do so, as the game is built on a new engine for Blizzard.

As of April 2017, Blizzard is open to porting the game to the Nintendo Switch. However, two hurdles exist, namely the Switch`s weaker specs, and that Blizzard already has to balance and develop three versions of the game. A Mac release hasn`t been ruled out, but as of May 2017, there are no plans to port the game to it.

Conception

When work on Overwatch began, it was decided that the game had to take place in a new setting, and one would be inviting for players. Chris Metzen had specifically sought to create a superhero universe for years prior to the game. There was a desire to set the game on Earth, as up to this point, Blizzard`s primary universes had been in fantasy and sci-fi settings far removed from the modern day/setting. The developers looked at how other games were treating Earth for inspiration. One sub-genre that was avoided was post-apocalypse⃢₀ₔaccording to Jeff Kaplan, "there wasn`t a lot of breathing space" in the genre in order to "make a statement." Similarly, realistic settings were avoided, as the developers wanted to move away from FPS settings of the past decade, which were predominantly modern military or near future. The decision was made to go back to the "world worth fighting for" concept that had been present in Titan, which would have also taken place on Earth and expressed this theme. When designing the game, Blizzard wanted the world presented to be as fantastical as possible while still being relatable to modern-day Earth. They wanted the setting of Overwatch to be a mix of the "dark and gritty," while also being "a world of color and sound and light." It was intended to be a setting that players would want to keep coming back to and be invested in,

Worldbuilding

Although it was known that Overwatch would focus on multiplayer, it was also decided to embark in worldbuilding. The first reason was that this would follow in the footsteps of the Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft settings, all of which had detailed universes. The second reason was to not impose limits on the nature of the universe. By engaging in worldbuilding, there would be material for other projects to draw off (the game`s animated shorts are a result of this). Likewise, if a separate Overwatch game was made, the developers could draw off pre-existing material.

It was decided that the setting shouldn`t be binary, as, among other reasons, Warcraft had been defined by the Alliance-Horde dichotomy. Effort was made to distinguish it from Warcraft, which has a more ominous atmosphere (in the words of the developers, "oppressiveness causes fatigue").

Events such as the Omnic Crisis were made up as the lore was developed rather than being pre-planned. It was decided to have the game`s setting post-both the Omnic Crisis and the golden age that followed, in order to leave it open ended, and allow creation of new heroes that weren`t part of Overwatch, but were inspired by it. Unlike the Warcraft and StarCraft universes, the team wanted the world building to be done in a minimalistic way, kept at the same level as the characters, rather than world building being done for its own sake.

Aesthetics

Inspiration was taken from World of Warcraft in regards to the game`s color variation. A number of zones in WoW rely on color (among other things) to convey mood, and are thus distinguishable. Overwatch follows this philosophy.

The cast was designed to reflect the "real" earth, where people aren`t all one race, athletes aren`t always lean and youthful, and people aren`t just stereotypes based on their ethnicity.

The team aimed for the game`s art style to remain "Blizzardy", approachable with exaggerated proportions and an emphasis on color, while still pushing its visuals forward.

Progression Systems

Overwatch went through two progression systems while in development before settling on the current system. It was decided that the progression system should not be a focus of the game.

The first system featured a talent system that let players customize their heroes mechanically, where leveling up a hero would unlock new abilities for them. However, with Overwatch`s need for fast reaction speeds and the ability to switch heroes mid-match, having so many iterations of a single hero was deemed too confusing. Additionally, a player`s power increasing as more time was invested seemed like a poor fit with the competitive nature of the game.

The second system was more in line with the current system, rewarding players with cosmetics. Each hero had a level, and the more a player leveled up, the more cosmetic options would be unlocked for that hero. The unintended result of this system was that players were discouraged from switching between heroes because they wanted to level up, which negatively affected team composition.

Trivia

External Links

  • Official site