Valorant Team Producer John Goscicki previewed how it fashioned a new character in Riot Games' 5v5 character-based tactical First-person Shooting game in an interview.
Unveiling their process, when asked how long it takes them to design a new agent in Valorant, Goscicki uttered that it took them ten to 14 months to mobilize a new hero fully.
It started with a question as to what something is not currently present in the game; apart from that, considering the "opportunity spaces" was another point to ponder their Valorant team eyes in decision-making.
Goscicki said they wanted to have sprinting in the game, portraying that the sprinting mechanics was the core component they were looking into.
The game designer for Valorant Ryan Cousart also supposed that the mobility design space has always been limited, mainly because it breaks one of the main rules, and that's consistency.
Consequently, Cousart added that with the sprinting ability of Neon, having the possibility of being overpowered, they ensured to create her in a place where predictability is not opted out of the equation.
With all that, the character formed through these concepts suggested a duelist-type of hero based on its core mechanics.
Moreover, further creating the essence of Neon immediately through a glance, he educed that they tried getting ideas from Olympic runners, running gear, and athleisure -finding the one thing that will abruptly evoke the character's character and essence.
Following this was an approximate two-month work to test whether it works or otherwise fully; the team used a proxy model in this pre-production stage, checking everything up to the smallest detail.
Then on, the official crafting began lasting, according to the team, about three to four months, scrutinizing every single curve, color, sound, movement, and the overall appearance and putting it all in the canvass.
Cousart dished out that the animators had the idea of Neon's abilities - throwing her hands down and then flipping them back up, which ultimately became and transformed into Neon's Fast Lane, the one building the electric walls.
The final deed to be done was to check the usability; In this stage, everything planned for the character was perused and put to the test if it was displaying the exact thing it was planned to display.
Neon's skillsets
As the Valorant producers' team described, Neon banks its abilities on sprinting. Thus, her skillsets are all anchored on speed.
Looking into Viper's passive ability per se, Neon, likewise, has her own passive - electricity- which increases over time.
Her first ability, Fast Lane, uses 390 credits that create two walls of electricity, energy lines in Valorant's terms, that acts as crowd control, blocking and damaging enemies getting in touch with them - a rushing ability apt for Neon's duelist type.
Relay Bolt, her second ability, uses 200 credits that act like Sova's shock dart except different - it only bounces once and puts effect to the receiving end with its concussive blast.
The third and the trademark, High Gear, is a free ability letting Neon sprint, increasing speed and slide - a perfect ability to dodge or outplay aggressors.
Now, her ultimate, Overdrive, uses seven ultimate points combining her trademark ability with a light beam, the laser simply put, a weapon that entails high movement accuracy - a total Jett-shenanigan at her own identity.
With all that being said, Neon's abilities are perfect for rushing, diving, and angle-checking game schemes-a real fleet-footed Valorant.
Written by: Jhon Paul Salazar