Mavericks is the 1000-player battle royale MMO fusion game that got shown off by developer Automaton at E3 last month. They’ve just released the fourth episode of their ‘Making Mavericks‘ video series, with this one focusing on the character designs of the game.
Automaton has put an awful lot of work into really nailing distinct aesthetics for each of the factions in their upcoming battle royale game, Mavericks. There are four in total: The Circle of Lazarus, who praise technological relics and hack and augment their bodies in an attempt to ascend to the next life, the Institute of Technological Resistance, who use technology of their own design to infiltrate The Capital, the Last Special Forces, a rag-tag conglomerate of former rebel resistance fighters and die-hard veterans, and the Syndicate, a rich and elaborate stronghold who seek to main and extort the inhabitants of the world of Mavericks.
In the video, we’re run through the different stages of what it takes to design a character, beginning with the ideation process. “We usually have a goal,” says Yogi Patel, Character Artist at Automaton. “We established a narrative behind these characters … if we take the ITR (Institute of Technological Resistance) for example. We knew that they were gonna have an engineering-type background, these are the kind of people that would be looking to try and find any kind of resources they can.”
Next comes the concept artists for the design stage. What’s most important is sewing the narrative of these factions into their character design, to make them distinct and ensure that they feel right. “This comes through in their designs,” says Connor Sheehan, concept artist. “All their items, all their colour schemes that are attached to their faction, you’ll be able to recognise that’s that faction.”
The whole video is incredibly comprehensive, and it looks like Mavericks is scratching up to be a lot more lore-heavy an experience than many had initially expected. It should be interesting to see how Automaton manages to meld battle royale and MMO, especially with 1000 players, without sacrificing this story to the wayside.
