oogi
New member
This is part of a series of posts and they are the result of thought exercises with some of my colleagues studying game design which have got us very excited. I hope they get you excited as well.
First, I’m going to argue for why Seven not only stands to benefit from a kit change, but needs it as a matter of polish. Secondly, I’m going to outline a small and feasible, single-button change to entirely refocus and rejuvenate Seven.
The design shift has given us some very focused, polished feeling, and fun heroes with strong gameplay identities. But some have been left behind, leaving us with a disconnect between newer heroes and legacy heroes who, at best: feel like they have underwhelming kits and at worst: feel like their kits are random and have nothing to do with their character.
It’s a constant elephant in the room when some heroes feel entirely overwhelming to fight or like their kits are stacked high when playing and others feel like they do one minor thing and after that, they just have a gun. It’s the most constant place that we felt a lack of polish.
We started by trying to identify the design principles behind the heroes we felt are fun and polished. In our opinion, it’s that a hero:
Applying these soft principles we've outlined to heroes which we feel are odd or awkward was a great tool for brainstorming. Here's the result...
Seven's core is in the "Merciless." Seven, in universe, is a scary guy. He doesn't feel scary in play. Seven feels docile. More often, I see Sevens using their kits as "get away from me" abilities. Static Charge giving him more distance and planting Lightning Ball in doorways to help escapes. Not very merciless.
Then there’s that he only has lightning abilities. It makes Seven feel limited. He’s a lightning wizard in gameplay, not an all around master of the occult. He’s a stun support, not a terrifying sorcerer.
We can plug in our presumed design principles from earlier to try to figure out what a focused seven looks like:
The idea is to replace his most underwhelming ability, Static Charge with a telekinetic grab. At close range, Seven can stand still and hold a single player in place. Doing so immobilizes himself as well and continuously drains his own health. This grab doesn't stun or disarm players, it only turns off their movement. Seven can keep the player still indefinitely, so long as he has the health to spare.
This would make Seven pretty scary to run into. Lightning Ball does a lot of damage if you stand in it. If you find yourself alone and where Seven wants you, he can catch you in a sadistic war of attrition where your only way out is to damage him back and hope you can outlive him enough to get him to disengage. Playing a game with your enemies' lives is pretty merciless.
Does that sound fun? Does that sound cooler than Static Charge? Will a telekinetic grab better support the rest of his kit? I think so, and this idea has me excited enough to hope that you'll think so as well.
First, I’m going to argue for why Seven not only stands to benefit from a kit change, but needs it as a matter of polish. Secondly, I’m going to outline a small and feasible, single-button change to entirely refocus and rejuvenate Seven.
Getting us on the same page...
There has been a noticeable paradigm shift in the way that heroes are designed: From freeform bases with open-ended abilities to itemize a build around to heroes with specific "goals" and a kit designed to support achieving that goal.The design shift has given us some very focused, polished feeling, and fun heroes with strong gameplay identities. But some have been left behind, leaving us with a disconnect between newer heroes and legacy heroes who, at best: feel like they have underwhelming kits and at worst: feel like their kits are random and have nothing to do with their character.
It’s a constant elephant in the room when some heroes feel entirely overwhelming to fight or like their kits are stacked high when playing and others feel like they do one minor thing and after that, they just have a gun. It’s the most constant place that we felt a lack of polish.
We started by trying to identify the design principles behind the heroes we felt are fun and polished. In our opinion, it’s that a hero:
I especially see it with Mina, where her players will take on an extremely characteristic playstyle. Mina's kit influences players to take on her identity in a fashion, which I feel is the hallmark of a successful design. Similarly, I feel that it's a sign of having an unsuccessful design that players behave in a way counter to a hero's identity.
Applying these soft principles we've outlined to heroes which we feel are odd or awkward was a great tool for brainstorming. Here's the result...
On Seven...
High Voltage | Merciless | Area DenialSeven's core is in the "Merciless." Seven, in universe, is a scary guy. He doesn't feel scary in play. Seven feels docile. More often, I see Sevens using their kits as "get away from me" abilities. Static Charge giving him more distance and planting Lightning Ball in doorways to help escapes. Not very merciless.
Then there’s that he only has lightning abilities. It makes Seven feel limited. He’s a lightning wizard in gameplay, not an all around master of the occult. He’s a stun support, not a terrifying sorcerer.
We can plug in our presumed design principles from earlier to try to figure out what a focused seven looks like:
Seven cultivates his power over a match. Spending matches sequestered away feeding his spirit power does feel quite in character.
What we've found is that to reinforce his position, Seven needs a home-field advantage in isolated scenarios.
The idea is to replace his most underwhelming ability, Static Charge with a telekinetic grab. At close range, Seven can stand still and hold a single player in place. Doing so immobilizes himself as well and continuously drains his own health. This grab doesn't stun or disarm players, it only turns off their movement. Seven can keep the player still indefinitely, so long as he has the health to spare.
This would make Seven pretty scary to run into. Lightning Ball does a lot of damage if you stand in it. If you find yourself alone and where Seven wants you, he can catch you in a sadistic war of attrition where your only way out is to damage him back and hope you can outlive him enough to get him to disengage. Playing a game with your enemies' lives is pretty merciless.
Does that sound fun? Does that sound cooler than Static Charge? Will a telekinetic grab better support the rest of his kit? I think so, and this idea has me excited enough to hope that you'll think so as well.
