Overwatch Team Talks The Process Of Bringing Doomfist To Life At SDCC

Overwatch has brought in another character and he’s looking to make waves in the community. Doomfist is one of the biggest things in gaming right now and the Overwatch game designers and writers spoke to a packed panel of at SDCC about the process of creating Doomfist and, essentially, how they bring all their characters to life.

Lead character artist, Renaud Galand Michael Chu (lead writer), Arnold Tsang (assistant art direction) and Geoff Goodman (principal game designer) were all in attendance as they pulled back the curtain on how Doomfist was brought to Overwatch .

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

While Doomfist will be released in Overwatch in late July, Doomfist was actually a character that was in development for some time.

The Doomfist gauntlet, which has been worn by two other people before our current Doomfist, was the first step in the character’s creation. The team wanted the item to be like a relic, which is why it’s gold and fantastical.

Early concept art of the gauntlet made it look magical, which doesn’t really fit in the Overwatch universe. So the team scrapped the early designs and went with a more mechanical look.

The team emphasized the “silhouette” of the heroes and how important it is to stay within that silhouette. So when the first concept art of Doomfist was shelved, the design and character resonated with the team and they knew they would return to creating Doomfist.

So when Tsang finally dusted off the concept art, the team created different variations but kept the silhouette the same albeit with a more imposing look.

The left fist was probably harder than the right to create. They experimented with a lot of different guns and even palm blasts. You can check out the concept art below.

HERO PRODUCTION

Once the concept art and the base of a character’s design is complete, the Overwatch team will create three early prototypes to figure out how a new character will play.

In the case of Doomfistat, the team went back and forth about making him a tank and being able to absorb so much damage. In fact, some early prototypes had Doomfist jump in the air, grab an enemy and use them as a shield, but the character isn’t a wrestler and doesn’t grapple so that was thrown out.

In early testing, Doomfist had a gun in one arm and he would punch with the other. It was a sort of a flat cannon that would explode in the 10-15 meters away. But they wanted to have more punches, combos and a more melee-feel.

Another early test was that Doomfist would throw rocks from the ground that would explode in the air.

But while the team figures out the gameplay of a hero, the 3D modelers will bring the character to life, always using the original silhouette as a guide.

FIGHTING STYLE

The question of whether Doomfist should just be a puncher came up and it was revealed that the first iteration of Doomfist had him just punching like Reinhardt. Melee-only characters in Overwatch are difficult for the team because it limits them to what they can do with him.

Early tests had Doomfist punch the air and a flying fist would come out.

But the team always wanted Doomfists attacks to come from his right hand although his primary attack was from his left first. The team wanted players to feel when he attacked and that’s how they solved Doomfist, by making his attacks very strong and not a typical tank.

The team also didn’t want another Road Hog situation, which is where some of the grappling elements in the early days of Doomfist came about.

HERO ABILITIES

The Left hand doesn’t actually show Doomfist reloading so the team didn’t have to animate it. The thumbs on Doomfist were changed from gold to silver because they felt it was confusing players with the vfx when he shot.

The right click went through a lot of iterations. The trail from this flying fist attack is super important while he’s punching. Similar to Tracer, the team wanted a way for players to know where Doomfist went and the trail of light will be helpful.

Shift ability (uppercut) was originally just an uppercut where Doomfist never jumped in the air and was just an anti-air attack but then they figured he could do some crazy air combos so they made the change

Doomfist’s ground pound ability replaced the rock throw attack that was mentioned earlier

This ability is the linchpin in how Doomfist plays because it can finish a combo for you, it can get close to an opponent and to dish out pain.

Doomfist’s Ultimate attack was originally supposed to be Orisa’s but it didn’t make sense to give those abilities to her. Both characters were worked on at the same time but they kept the ultimate move on Doomfist.

Three skins for Doomfist were released, the first has a lot of blue and is a symbol to the country of Nigeria. Another skin made Doomfist look like Jack from Tekken. And the last is the painted skin based on his Nigerian heritage.

Also, the third skin was called Cheetah for awhile because the design of the skin changed.

STORY

The team wanted to bring a new villain and they also wanted a legacy character where there would be multiple Doomfists throughout history.

Of course the team knew that Doomfist was coming so they created Orisa to go against him, which is where the hint at Doomfist in Overwatch .

Since we knew Doomfist was coming down the pike, we created this hero Orisa to go against him and we may have dropped the hint that Doomfist was coming.

Doomfist will release on all Overwatch on Fri. 29.

So what do you think of the behind the scenes look at Doomfist’s creation? Let us know in the comments section below.