Dev Blog Ep. 01: Sniper Mech Explorations
By Tore Blystad, Creative Director
Hi everyone,
This is the start of a series of Developer blogs to document the development process of Nyan Heroes, a 3rd person PVP shooter developed on Unreal 5 for the Solana Blockchain.
Disclaimer — We want to add that developing a game is really complex and everything we discuss in these leaks are works in progress and may never end up in the game, even if we at the time of writing may be convinced it is the best idea ever 😊
So, we have started ideation on our next mech… the Sniper!
The sniper class is intended to be fast and fragile, better suited for long distance fighting rather than close quarters cat fights.
For all our classes, we aim to create mechs that feels more like “characters” and less like “Mechs”. Every class should have a visual appeal outside of their utility, and the movement, sound design and characterization should amplify these personalities.
Our awesome concept artist Moritz started out with this simple pitch and came back with a spread of great ideas. As you can see, they are all really different and all look like they have their own stories to tell.
Day 1–3 different variants, each with their own unique direction.
Sir Mittens looks like a true Aristo-cat, sporting a fancy stash and a monocle, and his stance is stately and refined. An invisibility cloak is hinted at, something that would be great for an assassin, as well as a little droney scout.
Mr. Tree has built-in Tree camo, and a more classic mech design. I’m not sure if he could pretend to be a tree though, unless he has a custom idle animation - lol.
The little one is a very different take — he almost looks like something from a galaxy far far away. Him being able to jump around like a flea sounds hilarious, and his dome is replaced with a fully covered head.
Moritz posted this in our Mech slack group, and after much deliberation between the team, we decided to move forward with a further exploration of Sir Mittens but with less “Sir”, which led us to Day 2:
Day 2 — More Sniper explorations with the elegance of Sir Mittens but more tech
Another addition our lead designer asked for was “more cat”, which I guess cued the tails and the little cat ears on the design on the left. The invisibility cloak got some more exploration, and the giant shoulder pads got some different designs.
One really important balancing act between the different classes is to have really unique silhouettes, which is why we gravitated towards the long, slender legs with the big shoulder pads.
Currently the selection is #3, the cloaked sniper with a “night owl” drone.
Also Day 2 — more Mittens!
And since Moritz couldn’t help himself, he still did some adorable explorations of Sir Mittens, including a magician-inspired “Magic Mittens” — I can’t wait to see an idle animation of him pulling a rabbit out of that hat!
We are continuing to narrow down the next step, but as you may understand from this glimpse into our creative process, one of the biggest challenges we have is an abundance of great ideas that need to be narrowed down to a working answer 😊 — but afterwards, get inspired again by these awesome designs for cosmetics, rewards, or accessories.
Hope you enjoyed this brief blog! Next time we will look at another new mech we have been exploring!
Until next time,
Tore
About Nyan Heroes
Nyan Heroes is a free-to-play hero shooter that combines fast-paced, competitive gameplay with a real-world impact. Developed by a remote team of seasoned game developers and powered by Unreal Engine 5 and blockchain technology, Nyan Heroes pays homage to cats and offers a AAA multiplayer experience with epic mech character classes, thrilling cat-like movements, and unique gameplay abilities.
Learn More: nyanheroes.com
