Nicholas Garcia
Game/Level Developer
Personalized design exercise
Overwatch may very well be one of my favorite shooters of all time. The game lit a fire in my belly to hunker down and craft some designs that I could see in the game some day! On this page, you'll find new concept heroes and maps that I envision going into the game. I've even spent some time designing some features that I would be happy to see in Overwatch 2!
HEROES
Tachiko
(click the link below to read the entire document)
STATISTICS
CLASS
DIFFICULTY
​
HEALTH
ARMOR
SHIELD
TOTAL
TANK
**
​
400
200
0
600
Tachiko is a spider tank initially built for the Blackwatch Task Force. During the fall of Overwatch, Tachiko was temporarily hacked and corrupted by the members of Talon. During a raid on a secret bunker, Tachiko was recovered by the UN, though severely damaged in the process. Torbjorn spent well over 7 months rebuilding Tachiko to her former glory, however, there still seems to be a few remnants of the hack stored with Tachikos personality protocols.
Tachiko - Spider tank that originally was given a happy, childlike personality as a means of breaking the stigma of arachnids. When Talon hacked its system, she was then reprogrammed into a killing machine. With her rescue from the U.N., she has had a full memory wipe and been reprogrammed to her original personality protocols... however now suffers minor signs of split personality disorder.
WEAPONS & ABILITIES
M60 machine gun
(PRIMARY)
​
Incredibly high rate firing dual machine gun. If fired for too long, the guns will overheat, causing the gun to become disabled.
KDA Cannon
(SECONDARY)
​
Modified anti-air cannon used for close-long range combat. Shells explode on contact or after traveling 18-22 meters.
TYPE
DAMAGE
RATE OF FIRE
AMMO
MAX FIRE TIME
BURNOUT PENALTY
HITSCAN
3-15
30 BULLET P/S
INFINITE
5 SECONDS
3 SECONDS
TYPE
DAMAGE
RATE OF FIRE
AMMO
RELOAD
SLOW MOVING PROJECTILE
20-50
2 SHELLS P/S
6
1.5 SECONDS
Mega Jump
​
Can jump extraordinarily high. Used to move from one wall or ceiling to another.
Particle Web
​
Used to bind an enemy to a wall or ceiling. Must be manually set in the location. Targets are immobilized temporarily.
SPLASH DAMAGE
COOLDOWN
15-30
10 SECONDS
20
8 SECONDS
DAMAGE
COOLDOWN
Wall Climb
(Passive)
​
Tachiko can climb on most surfaces, including both walls and ceilings.
Spiderlings
(Ultimate)
​
Hundreds of miniaturized spider mines are deployed. These mines track to an enemy's position and self destruct. These mines can be destroyed by enemy players.
TYPE
HEALTH
DAMAGE
AMMO
KAMIKAZE MINE
10
30
75
Athena
(click the link below to read the entire document)
STATISTICS
DEFENSE
**
​
150
100
0
250
CLASS
DIFFICULTY
​
HEALTH
ARMOR
SHIELD
TOTAL
With the attack on Gibraltar, Winston decided that a few upgrades were needed to the Overwatch outpost. As a means of speeding up production, ATHENA was installed into a state of the art robotics drone. After the installations were finished, ATHENA and Winston agreed that leaving her inside the drone would be much more efficient in the case of an emergency threat. ATHENA is now the guardian of the Gibraltar outpost, allowing Winston to attend to other much needed activities.. like eating peanut butter.
Athena - Originally birthed as Gibraltars A.I. security system, she is now a bipedal Omnic that helps protect the Overwatch outpost.
WEAPONS & ABILITIES
Burst Rifle
(PRIMARY)
​
Athena shoots a high powered three shot burst rifle. Each bullet does extensive damage, but has a high recoil.
Bombshell
(SECONDARY)
​
Arcing Splash projectile. A large explosive shell with splash damage.
TYPE
DAMAGE
RATE OF FIRE
COOL DOWN
AMMO
RELOAD TIME
3 SHOT BURST
15-35
3 ROUNDS PER 0.5 SECOND
0.5 SECONDS
30
1 SECOND
DAMAGE
PROJECTILE SPEED
AREA OF EFFECT
AMMO
RELOAD
75 DAMAGE
20 M P/S
2.5 M
1
2 SECONDS
Scout Drone (Owl)
​
A miniaturized drone scout can be launched from Athena. The drone auto hovers at 20 m above initial spawn. Reveals enemy movements that are within eyesight. Can recall.
Combat Drone (Falcon)
​
A miniaturized combat drone spawns from Athena, then follows close behind.This drone is meant to act as cover fire for when enemies try to flank Athena. It auto targets enemies.
HEALTH
RECHARGE
50
15 SECONDS
HEALTH
DAMAGE
PROJECTILE SPEED
RATE OF FIRE
AMMO
RECHARGE
75
14
40 M P/S
5 ROUNDS P/S
UNLIMITED
30 SECONDS
Sidekick
(Ultimate)
​
All friendly players within 10 M of Athena when Ultimate is activated will receive a miniaturized drone. This drone will track and follow the players movement for 10 seconds, providing a minor boost in health regeneration and damage output. Sidekick cannot be destroyed.
HEALTH RESTORATION
DAMAGE BOOST %
20 HEALTH P/S
10% DAMAGE INCREASE
MAPS
W.I.P
Overwatch 2
With the success of Blizzards Overwatch, it's only a matter of time until a sequel in the works. Below are some ideas that would make for an engaging PvE experience. This is simply a personal design exercise as a means of perfecting my craft. I'm a huge fan of the existing OW game, investing over 500 hours into both PC and PS4 versions of the game. I've participated in every competitive season since Season 2 with a Career High rank of "3443".
​
PLEASE NOTE: THIS CONCEPT IS TO BE BUILT ON TOP OF THE EXISTING PvP ARENA. THIS IS NOT A CRITIQUE OR MEANT AS DISRESPECT TO THE CURRENT GAME. I CHERISH AND RESPECT WHAT THE OVERWATCH DEV TEAM HAS ESTABLISHED WITH THE ORIGINAL RELEASE. THIS IS SIMPLY A CONCEPT OF HOW A PERMANENT TEAM CAMPAIGN COULD EXIST ALONG SIDE THE PvP EXPERIENCE.
Story Driven Team Campaign
One request that I've heard echoing in the forums from fans regarding the current game of Overwatch is the desire to learn more about the world that our heroes live in. There are online comics and animated shorts that give a brief glimpse into the said world, but to some fans, that isn't enough. When approaching Narrative driven games, traditionally, single player campaigns are the most reliable way to go. The problem with this format fitting with Overwatch is that there are so many characters within the world, that not every character would not be given their due screen time in a single player experience. Additionally, Overwatch is designed heavily on ones ability to work on a team.
With such a large library of heroes and abilities, how does one develop designs that could carry over to all other characters in the game while keeping the the level experience consistent, addicting, and memorable? How can you build a campaign that will motivate players to replay through the story more than once?
I will address all these questions and provide examples on how a Narrative driven, Team Based campaign would fit perfectly for the Overwatch Franchise.
Inspiration for Design
Growing up, I always found myself drawn all genres of games. I would spend hours playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Golden Eye, Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, etc. I developed an understanding of the of the genres fairly quickly, yet never grasped why some of the best qualities from some games were never mixed to create an amazing hybrid. I later realized as a professional designer how difficult and costly this would be.
My passion for games never faltered though, and I began to brainstorm how some games might be able to mix well with others. In college, I played Left 4 Dead 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 with my school mates. I remember thinking to myself, "I'd love to be able to use the same teamwork necessary for survival in Team Fortess 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, but geared a bit more towards logical thinking like Portal." I began to observe why these three games were addictive, but still couldn't find the answer.
​
I then rediscovered The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. I found the perfect mix of puzzle solving and combat with equally engaging boss fights. But what I wanted was for each member to feel unique, and bring their individual assets to the team to help the team progress.
​
When Overwatch debuted, I finally saw the game that could see this vision realized. Overwatch has 25 heroes and counting, and with each hero having a specific roll to combat equally threatening opponents, I started to realize that if Overwatch were built with a similar structure of design as the four swords has, it would be a game unlike any other seen in the industry.
GAME DESIGN
CHAPTER 2 - The Fallen Kingdom
Overview
Overwatch Uprising is one of my favorite events that launched during Year One. To me, this was the dev teams way of experimenting with how the game would be received as a PvE. I've decided to build off the foundation that this event laid out. During the event, the players available for use were Tracer, Torbjorn, Reinhardt and Mercy. On top of their preexisting abilities, I've overlaid some additional mechanics to compliment the PvE experience.
Please click the button below to read the GDD in greater detal.
HEROES
Tracer
STATISTICS
CLASS
DIFFICULTY
​
HEALTH
ARMOR
SHIELD
TOTAL
OFFENSE
**
​
150
0
0
150
Pulse Pistols
(PRIMARY)
​
Tracer rapid-fires both of her pistols
TYPE
DAMAGE
FALLOFF RANGE
RATE OF FIRE
AMMO
AMMO USAGE
RELOAD TIME
PvE
RAPID FIRE HITSCAN
3-12 PER SHOT/1.5-6 PER BULLET
11-30 M
20 SHOTS PER SECOND
40
2 ROUNDS PER SHOT
1.25 SECOND
DAMAGES BREAKABLE OBJECTS
Blink
(ABILITY)
​
Tracer zips horizontally through space in the direction she’s moving, and reappears several yards away. She stores up to three charges of the blink ability and generates more every few seconds.
Recall
(Ability)
​
Tracer bounds backward in time, returning her health, ammo and position on the map to precisely where they were a few seconds before.
MAXIMUM RANGE
AMMO
COOLDOWN
​
​
PvE
7.5 M
3 CHARGES
3 SECONDS PER CHARGE
9 SECONDS FOR ALL CHARGES
BLINK STEPS EMBEDDED IN WALLS ALLOW TRACER TO MAKE VERTICAL MOVEMENTS.
[PLEASE SEE DIAGRAM FOR DETAILS]
HEALING
DURATION
COOLDOWN
PvE
CHANGED TO THE VALUE 3 SECONDS EARLIER (UNLESS LOWER THAN VALUE BEFORE ACTIVATING)
1.25 SECONDS REWINDING
REWINDS 3 SECONDS BACK
12 SECONDS
N/A
Pulse Bomb
(Ultimate)
​
Tracer lobs a large bomb that adheres to any surface or unfortunate opponent it lands on. After a brief delay, the bomb explodes, dealing high damage to all enemies within its blast radius.
TYPE
​
​
DAMAGE
​
AREA OF EFFECT
CASTING TIME
HEADSHOT
CHARGE REQUIRED
PVE
ARCING PROJECTILE
(INITIAL CAST)
AREA-OF-EFFECT (ABILITY)
400 EXPLOSION DAMAGE
5 IMPACT DAMAGE
3 M RADIUS
1 SECOND FUSE AFTER STICK
X
1125 POINTS
DAMAGES BREAKABLE OBJECTS AND BREAKS WALLS/PILLARS
Current Progress
Blink Step [NEW PvE Mechanic]
The Blink step mechanic acts as Stepping Stones to elevated areas. These "stepping stones", when properly used, can allow Tracer to use her Blink ability to move vertically through the play space.
​
Blink Step can only be activated when a stepping stone is available to the player. If a stepping stone isn't within range of 7.5 M (Blink distance), the Blink Step will not activate. If a stepping stone is within Blinking range, a targeting icon will appear similarly to Zenyattas Discord/Healing orb.
​
If the player is able to successfully land multiple Blink steps simultaneously, the players Blink counter will replenish to 3/3. If the player is unable to Blink step properly, then Blinks will be spent as normal.
 1ATracer is outside the 7.5 M distance. |
|---|
 1BBeing inside the 7.5 M range will activate the icon. |
 2AIn this image, we can see which Blink step is valid based on the where Tracer is standing. |
 3AThis is the starting location of Tracer. Please continue on next page. |
 3BAs Tracer travels on Blink Steps, her Total Blink Count decreases by 1. |
 3CTracer has successfully traveled on two Blink Steps, decreasing her Total Blink Count by 2. |
 3DTracer has successfully made it to the final Blink step. Her Blink bank has been completely restored. |
 3ETracer has failed to land the final Blink step. Her Blink meter is completely depleted. |
LEVEL DESIGN
CHAPTER 2 - The Fallen Kingdom
INTRODUCTION
(click the link below to read the entire document)
High Res Cutscene: Shows Tracer, Mercy, Torbjorn and Reinhardt on a dropship inbound to King's Landing. They are informed of the Anti-air guns within the city, so that they’ll have to make their way from the outer rim of London to King’s Row. They’re informed to eliminate enemy omnics and to recapture the city. As the ship approaches the drop point, Morrison and Amari (On a video screen) wishes them luck on their mission and that they’ll keep in communication over comms. The ship starts taking heavy fire, causing the ship to take emergency landing protocols. One of the engines fails and the camera cuts to black.
In game cinematic: Tracer regains consciousness to Mercy reviving her. Tracer tries to walk but is unable to until Mercy heals her wounds. The ship is engulfed in flames. The team communicates to each other using their ear pieces. Reinhardt is blocked off on the other side of the ship, while Torbjorn is trapped inside the Cargo bay. Torbjorn says the fire extinguishing system is damaged and needs to be repaired, but the main control module is located inside the hull of the ship.
Game play begins:
Objective: Defend the crash site from enemy null sectors. Player is informed that the omnics are trying to get a hold of the data on the ship to get a better understanding of OW.
TUTORIALS:
Note: This will be a very simple combative scenario, allowing the players to test the composition of the team and their abilities. This will also act as the introductive tutorial for the player regarding their specific hero. For this reason, the heroes will be divided, allowing for unique tutorial/design for each player.
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You can read the rest of the LDD for the tutorial using the button below.
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Download
3D block-out
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Download
3DS Max 2016
