ivy+calico
New member
Baseball Themed Hero.
*Note After writing: I guess this idea seems pretty obvious, because after thinking of this idea rather quickly and jotting down these notes, I looked into the forums and some similar ideas came up, but I hope my idea is a differentiated a bit from other designs/concepts.
Basic idea: Thinking of New York and the aesthetic of the game, the big sport of the time period was baseball. The classic design of the jerseys, the scandals of fixed games and playing dirty, and sports curses all would fit well in Deadlock with some fine tuning.
The biggest issue for me is differentiating the character from TF2’s Scout. Any lean, fast-running, batting themed character would draw clear comparisons and memes. Plus, Billy is already a character who is about running around with a baseball bat.
My other initial impulse was pitching, so the character would be a pitcher who relies on throwing specialty spirit pitches that apply different effects. Before Babe Ruth was the sultan of swat, he was a star pitcher!
Character Design: Going back to Billy, I love how his design takes a broad concept like Punk and mixes it with the occult themes of Deadlock into something of its own. I think this would do really well here, taking the classic pinstripe baseball jerseys and adding the more occult themes. Maybe an in-universe team like the “Cursed Apple Ankhs” or “The Sigils” so that that imagery can be applied to the jersey design.
With a lot of the older baseball teams using heavily colored stockings or hats, these could also be used with darker tones to provide a contrast to a lighter grey colored uniform and provide a more macabre look.
The biggest way to differentiate the character from Scout would be making them a woman. Although the barnstorming phenomenon had dwindled away by the time periods Deadlock is going for, baseball teams including all-women teams travelled the country from the very earliest days of the sport. The character would be a nod to the history of women in baseball just as the Pro Women’s League hopefully launches this year.
If the character is a guy, the design should have elements that directly contrast from Scout, be it a more heavyset frame, having them be an older seasoned player, or additional ‘armor’ like a pitcher’s helmet.
There’s a lot of names that could one could go for in either option. For a woman, something simple like Tes (after the Red Sox song Tessie) or even Ruth would work. Ace, Lou (like Lou Gehrig), etc. would be options for a guy.
I don’t have a concrete image of the character in my head, and could be from any background.
Main Gun: With pitching in mind, it would be too distracting (if not just look downright weird) for the character to throw every projectile. The main gun would be a retro-futuristic pitching machine strapped to their glove hand that lobs larger “baseball” projectiles. I always thought those machines kind of look like a gun anyway.
Baseball has a ton of objectively cool sounding terms, so it could be named something like “Closer”,“9th Inning”,“Short-Stop” or just “Batting Practice”.
It would be slower with a low ammo capacity.
I’m not so knowledgeable about mechanics, in video games or in sports, but pitching velocity is a large aspect of the position especially in the modern game. A slower pitch thrown like a knuckleball is more erratic than the fastball, and pitching machines can be set to lob baseballs from different speeds and angles (I think).
It might be interesting to play off this idea mechanically – starting out a lower velocity, the balls have more tracking but deal less damage. Buying into bullet velocity builds damage, but decreases tracking and rate of fire making accurate shooting more important.
Though this might be unfeasible or potentially busted, it could be a unique concept to experiment with and add versatility to the character. I always like characters that can viably build in very different ways or lean into an offbeat mechanic.
Abilities: With the character shooting from their catching hand, each throwing ability would have them grabbing a ball concealed in the glove and lobbing it with their throwing arm. Or they could just summon a phantom ball in their hand and toss it, if that idea would look too janky in practice.
Pitching is largely about control – controlling the rhythm of inning, and throwing a batter off their groove with unexpected pitches. In this regard I envision the character playing behind the fight, throwing special moves to set up combos or protect their allies, then sliding in at the right moment with a power play.
Brushback: A brushback in real life forces the batter to move off the plate. This ability would be a spiritually charged pitch, which launches opponents back on contact. It would deal spirit damage but the main aspect is the utility. I can see this being timed right to interrupt an opponent diving in for a kill, or sending one backwards into the path on an ally’s attacks.
Batting Cage: This is the AOE skill. I picture it erecting a decently sized spirit cage, maybe applying slow and enemies who are within the perimeter take additional spirit damage. This can provide a buffer to allow the character to escape, or can be set up behind a crowd and combo’ed with Brushback with the proper timing.
3rd Skill (?) Easy Out: Okay I really just modelled this after Lady Geist’s Malice. I’m a little unsure of this 3rd skill and the Ult. This might be a similar stacking style attack but require more precision as it is thematically a straight fastball. It would probably do less spirit damage than Brushback, but apply debuffs up to a 3rd “strike”, that would deal an explosion with spirit damage but clear the debuffs.
Maybe to emphasize a trade-off, it would apply negative modifiers on the player themselves until they get the third strike, thus turning the skill into a duel much like a real life at-bat. It would making timing that third strike and knowing when to play it all that more important. It could even be a stacking penalty for not hitting the marked player (a ball, or the mechanic could be called ‘balk’).
ULT: Rundown: I don’t really have a clear idea for an ult that both feels truly powerful and blends into the idea of the character. My initial idea was a long fixed slide that hits enemies in its path, like sliding for home plate; but that would probably make more sense for a batting/running character.
So Rundown would be themed like they are tagging runners out. The burst of speed would make it useful for picking off fleeing enemies when timed right, or might need to be used to escape. If it can be done without looking goofy, it could be decent in keeping with a character that has to time all their attacks wisely.
Lore and Character Interaction:
With how superstitious baseball can get, I think the obvious choice is to have their spiritual power be “the gift” that they’ve always had, imbuing their pitches with spirit before they even knew it. They would be a rising star with a knack for the game, revitalizing the local team when they’ve made it to the big leagues.
From here, there are two archetypes I see this character potentially filling in terms of lore – either serious, or somewhat lighthearted.
On the serious side, they could have lost their way and in a moment of weakness, purposely lost at an important moment – bribed by someone like Wraith. Losing the love of their fans, banned from the league, they seek the ritual to wipe the slate clean and right their wrongs. This would give them a fraught backstory with the more villainous characters of the game, and a renewed sense of justice, and would borrow a lot from the Black Sox Scandal.
On a light hearted note, the Cursed Apple team they signed to would have a literal occult curse – an analog to something like the Curse of the Bambino or Curse of the Billy Goat but more overt. Although they have turned the team around into a serious competitor, there’s only one way they can lift the curse and win Cursed Apple a pennant. The character would be more outgoing and optimistic, getting along well with characters like Ivy and Rem.
So if there’s a voice line like “Hey, I bought your rookie card!” the first case would be more wistful like “That’s not worth much now…” and the second would offer a signature after the match.
Conclusion:
I hope the concept isn't too vague, and I wanted it to be more of a basic inspiration rather than a fully fleshed out character. The iconography of baseball, especially of the era that Deadlock is going for, is strong and I think a character around that would feel right at home in the game.
*Note After writing: I guess this idea seems pretty obvious, because after thinking of this idea rather quickly and jotting down these notes, I looked into the forums and some similar ideas came up, but I hope my idea is a differentiated a bit from other designs/concepts.
Basic idea: Thinking of New York and the aesthetic of the game, the big sport of the time period was baseball. The classic design of the jerseys, the scandals of fixed games and playing dirty, and sports curses all would fit well in Deadlock with some fine tuning.
The biggest issue for me is differentiating the character from TF2’s Scout. Any lean, fast-running, batting themed character would draw clear comparisons and memes. Plus, Billy is already a character who is about running around with a baseball bat.
My other initial impulse was pitching, so the character would be a pitcher who relies on throwing specialty spirit pitches that apply different effects. Before Babe Ruth was the sultan of swat, he was a star pitcher!
Character Design: Going back to Billy, I love how his design takes a broad concept like Punk and mixes it with the occult themes of Deadlock into something of its own. I think this would do really well here, taking the classic pinstripe baseball jerseys and adding the more occult themes. Maybe an in-universe team like the “Cursed Apple Ankhs” or “The Sigils” so that that imagery can be applied to the jersey design.
With a lot of the older baseball teams using heavily colored stockings or hats, these could also be used with darker tones to provide a contrast to a lighter grey colored uniform and provide a more macabre look.
The biggest way to differentiate the character from Scout would be making them a woman. Although the barnstorming phenomenon had dwindled away by the time periods Deadlock is going for, baseball teams including all-women teams travelled the country from the very earliest days of the sport. The character would be a nod to the history of women in baseball just as the Pro Women’s League hopefully launches this year.
If the character is a guy, the design should have elements that directly contrast from Scout, be it a more heavyset frame, having them be an older seasoned player, or additional ‘armor’ like a pitcher’s helmet.
There’s a lot of names that could one could go for in either option. For a woman, something simple like Tes (after the Red Sox song Tessie) or even Ruth would work. Ace, Lou (like Lou Gehrig), etc. would be options for a guy.
I don’t have a concrete image of the character in my head, and could be from any background.
Main Gun: With pitching in mind, it would be too distracting (if not just look downright weird) for the character to throw every projectile. The main gun would be a retro-futuristic pitching machine strapped to their glove hand that lobs larger “baseball” projectiles. I always thought those machines kind of look like a gun anyway.
Baseball has a ton of objectively cool sounding terms, so it could be named something like “Closer”,“9th Inning”,“Short-Stop” or just “Batting Practice”.
It would be slower with a low ammo capacity.
I’m not so knowledgeable about mechanics, in video games or in sports, but pitching velocity is a large aspect of the position especially in the modern game. A slower pitch thrown like a knuckleball is more erratic than the fastball, and pitching machines can be set to lob baseballs from different speeds and angles (I think).
It might be interesting to play off this idea mechanically – starting out a lower velocity, the balls have more tracking but deal less damage. Buying into bullet velocity builds damage, but decreases tracking and rate of fire making accurate shooting more important.
Though this might be unfeasible or potentially busted, it could be a unique concept to experiment with and add versatility to the character. I always like characters that can viably build in very different ways or lean into an offbeat mechanic.
Abilities: With the character shooting from their catching hand, each throwing ability would have them grabbing a ball concealed in the glove and lobbing it with their throwing arm. Or they could just summon a phantom ball in their hand and toss it, if that idea would look too janky in practice.
Pitching is largely about control – controlling the rhythm of inning, and throwing a batter off their groove with unexpected pitches. In this regard I envision the character playing behind the fight, throwing special moves to set up combos or protect their allies, then sliding in at the right moment with a power play.
Brushback: A brushback in real life forces the batter to move off the plate. This ability would be a spiritually charged pitch, which launches opponents back on contact. It would deal spirit damage but the main aspect is the utility. I can see this being timed right to interrupt an opponent diving in for a kill, or sending one backwards into the path on an ally’s attacks.
Batting Cage: This is the AOE skill. I picture it erecting a decently sized spirit cage, maybe applying slow and enemies who are within the perimeter take additional spirit damage. This can provide a buffer to allow the character to escape, or can be set up behind a crowd and combo’ed with Brushback with the proper timing.
3rd Skill (?) Easy Out: Okay I really just modelled this after Lady Geist’s Malice. I’m a little unsure of this 3rd skill and the Ult. This might be a similar stacking style attack but require more precision as it is thematically a straight fastball. It would probably do less spirit damage than Brushback, but apply debuffs up to a 3rd “strike”, that would deal an explosion with spirit damage but clear the debuffs.
Maybe to emphasize a trade-off, it would apply negative modifiers on the player themselves until they get the third strike, thus turning the skill into a duel much like a real life at-bat. It would making timing that third strike and knowing when to play it all that more important. It could even be a stacking penalty for not hitting the marked player (a ball, or the mechanic could be called ‘balk’).
ULT: Rundown: I don’t really have a clear idea for an ult that both feels truly powerful and blends into the idea of the character. My initial idea was a long fixed slide that hits enemies in its path, like sliding for home plate; but that would probably make more sense for a batting/running character.
So Rundown would be themed like they are tagging runners out. The burst of speed would make it useful for picking off fleeing enemies when timed right, or might need to be used to escape. If it can be done without looking goofy, it could be decent in keeping with a character that has to time all their attacks wisely.
Lore and Character Interaction:
With how superstitious baseball can get, I think the obvious choice is to have their spiritual power be “the gift” that they’ve always had, imbuing their pitches with spirit before they even knew it. They would be a rising star with a knack for the game, revitalizing the local team when they’ve made it to the big leagues.
From here, there are two archetypes I see this character potentially filling in terms of lore – either serious, or somewhat lighthearted.
On the serious side, they could have lost their way and in a moment of weakness, purposely lost at an important moment – bribed by someone like Wraith. Losing the love of their fans, banned from the league, they seek the ritual to wipe the slate clean and right their wrongs. This would give them a fraught backstory with the more villainous characters of the game, and a renewed sense of justice, and would borrow a lot from the Black Sox Scandal.
On a light hearted note, the Cursed Apple team they signed to would have a literal occult curse – an analog to something like the Curse of the Bambino or Curse of the Billy Goat but more overt. Although they have turned the team around into a serious competitor, there’s only one way they can lift the curse and win Cursed Apple a pennant. The character would be more outgoing and optimistic, getting along well with characters like Ivy and Rem.
So if there’s a voice line like “Hey, I bought your rookie card!” the first case would be more wistful like “That’s not worth much now…” and the second would offer a signature after the match.
Conclusion:
I hope the concept isn't too vague, and I wanted it to be more of a basic inspiration rather than a fully fleshed out character. The iconography of baseball, especially of the era that Deadlock is going for, is strong and I think a character around that would feel right at home in the game.
