'New stories to clarify relationships of heroes will increase', interview to overwatch director

During the period of Blizzard's game event " BlizzCon 2018 " held on November 2nd and 3rd, 2018, we interviewed Mr. Jeffrey Kaplan of overwatch development manager, and the new character Ash & B. OB and its development privacy story, the structure of the new viewer "Overwatch World Cup Viewer", abundance to the overwatch league new season, and so on.

Overwatch
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Jeffrey Kaplan of the overwatch game director who answered the interview.

Q:
I tried playing the new character ' Ash ' and thought it was a very attractive character. What is the reason why you tried to add a standing character called Sniper this time?

Jeffrey:
First of all, discussions were held in the development team, receiving feedback from the community, "Weapon-based character" was required in the community. I felt that the hero who mainly uses weapons such as doom fist and Soldier of abilities base is now wanted by everyone in the community.

Among the added heroes, Doom Fist and Moira are heroes who fight with a combination of abilities rather than weapons. Especially the dome fist seems to be a type hero like that which is remarkable there, saying "Gateway" if it says, but hit scan (immediate landing) and projector as well as Farra or McLeie I was asked to be a hero who is fighting on a weapon basis.

Among the heros that exist right now, McLeie is a hero who is mainly a middle distance, the Sniper 's Widow Maker is a hero who is good at long distances if it is rather. Since Ash is a hero like it, I think that it will be in a very nice place.

Q:
Is that a hit scan system so there is another usability with Hanzo?

Jeffrey:
Unlike heroes so far, Ash is a form in which a character that already existed in the short animation transitioned to a playable character that can actually be used in the game. Originally, she decided to use a lever action rifle, and thinking about how to make use of that weapon, it seems that that hit scan is more suitable than the projectile style as well. So, rather than to distinguish it from Hanzo in terms of its game play, she is a hit scan from the viewpoint of her character character.

Q:
I was seeing McLeie with animation. What is the relationship between Ash and McCrea? It seems like a fight broke, but since the pictures are stuck on the bike ... Is there a relationship between men and women?

Jeffrey:
There is not much to talk about now, but in the future the relationship between the two will become clear. And I already think that "Ash 39 years old" among the Japanese users is becoming a story though (laugh) Ash is older than McLeie and she is also a leader and founder of Dead Gang is. So McLey was pretty young when Ash and McCrea met for the first time. Whether or not there were two romantic emotions at the present moment is whether it is "not" or "I can not say". Obviously there were Izakoza among the two people, so I think that we should clarify that kind of places in the future as well.

Q:
Is it a comic?

Jeffrey:
The only thing we can say for sure is that the relationship between the two people becomes more apparent through the multiplication of the heroes in the game. As an overwatch team, I am very much looking forward to telling stories of such heroes through various media such as comics and animation, and I feel that it is very interesting. I hope that you can expect such things from now on.

Q:
The trailer "REUNION" released this time was as long as it was a story. What is the message included in this?

Short animation "REUNION" | Overwatch - YouTube


Jeffrey:
First of all, the first thing is that everyone in the development team is a love letter to " macaroni and western " that I saw from early childhood. One work that tributed it and while heroes of the Western play called McCrea, I wanted to make such a piece that respected macaroni and western very much. Since ancient times, the name of the organization "Dead Rock Gang" has been out since the beginning of overwatch release, but as I had never been talked about in detail so far, I wish for everyone to watch that back story with this short animation I wanted to tell you a little.

Also, there was Winston's "RECALL" in the game cinematic.

Overwatch: short animation "RECALL" - YouTube


Overwatch had already disbanded, but he issues a message to the former agents "Do you want to re-former" while the world needs a hero? Mei also received it and she had a sad past, but I also decided to "go back to overwatch", but in that McCrea received that message as well. In his case, he himself did not return to overwatch as it was, but there was a female hero named echo that appeared at the end, "It is best to release the echo and return it to the overwatch" That was McCrea's idea. That's why McCrell says it's going to be somewhere, saying, "I have a pet for dogs." As McCrea I wanted to tell everyone that releasing Echo was in the form of an answer to "RECALL" to Winston.

Q:
Echo is a different person from Athena?

Jeffrey:
Yes. Echo and Athena are both heroes of AI with Winston, but echo was released in the concept art drawn by lead artist Arnold Tsang around 2014. At that time there was Athena's logo on the echo's chest. And in another version, there was a logo of Vishkar (NOTE: Vishkar Corporation) with symmetra, but it was simply forgotten by Arnold just putting a logo on makeup. However, fans remembered that. And it was misunderstood that "This is Athena" at a stroke, but it is a different person.

G:
Please tell us about Omnik's "Bob (Bob)". I think that the reaction of the fans at the opening ceremony of BlizzCon 2018 was incredibly good. Personally I thought the contrast like mechanical Bob against Western Ash was very interesting, but please tell me the background that this character was born.

Jeffrey:
First of all, when creating overwatch worldview among the development team, there is also a premise that overwatch is a future story. For example, in Ash, it is already a western character close to a stereotype, but it is still fun to create a place with a unique future sense of omnich in it. I feel that it is very interesting to create such contrasting two people in one world. Omnik is one of the most important elements, and in the world of overwatch, while the conflict of 'human beings VS omnic' is intensifying again, in drawing either of those conflicts, now it is possible I am trying to add omnic characters to stories or to the world right now.

Q:
Bob was very good in terms of performance and honestly thought "I wish Bob could be a playable character." Ash and Bob, did you hesitate as to which character to playable character?

Jeffrey:
As it is a pretty good idea, maybe in the future, Bob may appear as a playable character in PvE in the future. In making animation of "REUNION", Ash was the most impressive character at first, and two designers had designed ashe which hero actually becomes in the game, " Bob is summoned with Ultimate "exactly the same idea came out of them. With that in mind, Bob thought that Ash would call it as the Ultimate so far, and Bob remains at Ultimate. However, I heard that it is a fun work to create new heroes for designers. For example, various characters also appeared in "REUNION", but as always, it means "What kind of hero would they be if they were to actually appear in the game?" Then, Bob to playable character, such as a story is always in the development team.

Q:
Regarding Bob, please tell me if he has any character settings or back story, in addition to "being a butler who is Ash's butler and raising parents".

Jeffrey:
Michael Chu talked in an interview on the first day of BlizzCon2018, but BOB is not actually a name but "Big Omnic Butler", or "decorating omnic dead". It's one back story that Ash is calling "Bob" by taking that initial letter, is not yet well-known. And I think that you will understand by looking at the origin story, but Ash was born in a very wealthy family, but parents have been left alone for a long time. No parents open a birthday party on birthday. But Bob was around. Even when the police take care of my parents Bob is not picking up but my parents are picking up. For Ash, Bob is a supporting entity, but there are of course a master-slave relationship. That's why Ash is instructed to Bob in a command tone, not ordering but ordering.

Q:
It seems like being drawn to Ash, so it's interesting, (laugh)

Jeffrey:
It is an interesting way of catching. Since Bob never speaks, perhaps it may be something I think of him like "I do not want to do this ... really ...", but basically Bob is as per the instructions of Ash It moves faithfully. For example, if Ash thought that "Become a firefighter" or "become an astronaut," Bob would definitely be near her and would also be a firefighter or astronaut as well (laugh)

Q:
In many overwatches with attractive characters, various multiplications are added for every patch, and the relationships of the characters are visible, but the origin story is a story of the past. I think that I would like to see the way they make new stories soon.

Jeffrey:
Of course I'm planning various things I want to tell. And also regarding the future, I believe that we should tell the same kind of stories of future heroes. Even in short animation "REUNION" released this time, as McRae corresponding to Winston's "RECALL", and new hero named echo which has not been told so far have appeared, gradually responded to Winston's call rather than the past As for the stories of the later heroes, it is just now beginning to increase, so please expect in the future.

Q:
Let me tell you a bit, will it be published just before Blizzcon 2018 and tell us about " Overwatch World Cup Viewer (OWCV) ". It is fun to actually use it, but what kind of concept was it developed? Will it be possible to use it in the same way in "overwatch league" of e sports from now on?

Jeffrey:
OWCV includes functions for e-sports. Although it is one function in appearance, in fact it contains two functions. Until now, we were able to make custom games and put spectators in, but in that case, only a limited number of viewers, up to 4 people with matchmaking and spectator, were allowed. This time it is "Mass Spectate", which is one big point that we were able to provide functions that allow more people to watch at the same time as technology got higher. I can not make a statement about the league yet, but of course there is one possibility. Especially overseas, Twitter and other streamers have a large number of viewers, but through the viewer of such in-game, at the same time also like to have a lot of people see the match in the game as well I think that it is good.

Jeffrey:
As a second feature added in OWCV this time, "Instant Replay" is one of the very big elements. As BlizzCon2018's first day was responded to everyone in the media, I could not see the match of the World Cup at all. By now, for example, I think that I watched what kind of game I was looking at by looking at the official archive, but this time by passing OWCV, I can move the camera by myself with instant replay, fast forward I could skip ahead to where there was a team fight. I have a player I respect very much, but I could see what kind of movement he is doing by seeing the World Cup from his point of view.

Now that OWCV is limited to the World Cup, if all the overwatch players were able to use this function ...... For example, I played a match and was killed by an enemy's Widow. After finishing the game, you can see through the viewer through the viewer through the viewer, through the viewpoint of the enemy through instant replay, for example, it analyzed more finely what the enemy player was doing by playing it a little slowly, It is possible to use it for studying, thinking that I should be able to think about something like "let's do this next." I think that possibility is hidden in instant replay that it will be able to bring such benefits not only to the stage of e sports, but also to all players.

Q:
What is the structure of replay data of OWCV? It is a little surprise that you can see it suddenly without evidence of downloading extra large data.

Jeffrey:
Actually, the viewer does not download the video data, but loads the data of the actual match itself. In other words, it is not playing the recorded movie, it reads as the data of all the players' positions and bullets actually matched and reproduces it on the client side. So it is a form that does not require a large amount of data because it is playing a new "another game" using the same data instead of watching a movie.

Now we have to download and install another client of the viewer itself. There is a problem that arises when trying to reproduce a match by all means, for example, a small element such as a slight balance adjustment differs subtly, so another client is dedicated. From now on, I am planning to improve it and want to incorporate a viewer function with only one overwatch gaming client, and of course I would like to implement it on the console as well. From now on, in order for everyone of engineers to do their best and realize that, I would like to continue further development. The actual viewer itself has been developing for a long time since the overwatch was launched, so development has been ongoing for many years.

Q:
Regarding the overwatch league, eight teams were newly added in October and now it has become a team of 20 teams, but is there any possibility of further increase?

Jeffrey:
There is no plans to increase the number of teams further for season 2 so far. Adding 8 teams at the present moment is itself a bit adventurous measure. For the time being, Season 2 is scheduled to be held in 20 already announced teams.

Q:
Even in China alone, the team has become four. Is there any idea to divide Division, including South Korea, by Asia alone?

Jeffrey:
Basically, there is a policy that policy is always done with one division globally. We do not want to lock players by region, we do not want to create Division in League only for Asia because we want to make players around the world compete against any team. However, as most of the local games are now taking place in Southern California, Asian players have to move for a long time, so it will be serious, so as the league grows in the future, matches within Asia I think that it will continue to increase, but basically it will be a league that will always function as a global league as a league.

Q:
Please tell us about the overwatch league about the impression of the season 1 and the resolution of the next season.

Jeffrey:
I am very proud that I gained great success in the season 1. First of all, I am very proud that twelve teams that Blizzard themselves organized and managed themselves were able to be established from the season 1, and the team also cooperated very well with coaches and support staff staff Thanks to that, I think that I could have achieved a good season 1. And from the viewpoint of watching and listening, of course, I also see streaming live broadcasts, and there are so many people who actually go to the site and support them. The Grand Final was held in Brooklyn, New York, but I thought the season 1 was a huge success as I was able to sold out in just 2 days.

Jeffrey:
As for Season 2, as I mentioned earlier, I am very much looking forward to the addition of eight new teams. Not to mention the staff of Blizzard, as well as the stakeholders of each team also experienced season 1, as we think in the future that the team can succeed and the league itself could lay the foundation for future growth I am thinking that I can aim for the success of the season 1 or more by making the best use of experience in the season 2.

Q:
Finally please tell us the background of the charity efforts " Pink Mercy (Pink Mercy) ". Do you have any other charity plans?

Jeffrey:
Some of the family members of the development team suffered from breast cancer. With that kind of thing, I did with a strong belief that I could change something by enhancing interest in breast cancer through overwatch and doing charity to eradicate it. I decided to implement Pink Mercy with BCRF which is one of the biggest organizations that are involved in the efforts to eradicate breast cancer.

Through Pink Mercy, I got the power of everyone in the overwatch community and gathered donations of 12.7 million dollars (about 1.4 billion yen) , I do not know if the words are correct but I think the charity was a success . Since I was able to realize how much overwatch community can be influenced, I will always think whether it will be possible to do the same measures in another form, possibly in the form of another charity. I would like to do it after considering which is the best form.