Hero Concept - Elin “Justify” Niska

Designing this character allowed me to practice developing narrative through the confines of game mechanics. Everything about Elin’s gameplay — from her barks to her weapon to her character model — is a tool for developing the player’s understanding of the character’s background. Integrating her into a preexisting story was challenging, but it offered valuable experience with working on established IPs.

Description

“TIME TO LAY DOWN THE LAW!”

Elin “Justify” Niska joined Overwatch as one of the few lawyers capable of handling the organization’s never-ending trail of lawsuits. With property damage, assault, and medical claims dragging down her caseload, she eventually took to the battlefield to properly document the trail of destruction left by her fellow agents.

Though known to complain about her legal workload, Elin grew to love the thrill of battle and the drama of the aftermath. Settling into her identity as an adrenaline junkie, she insisted that she needed to be deployed on any and all missions possible in order to effectively build legal defenses for Overwatch, though this was just thinly veiled excuse for her to keep wreaking (controlled) havoc in active combat zones.

When Overwatch disbanded years later, Elin was desperate to bring some action and intrigue back into her life—so long as it didn’t mean actively violating the law herself. She soon found her niche as the willing lawyer for some of the world’s most morally bankrupt villains. Nowadays, she lives vicariously through her clientele, from Deadlock’s gangsters to Talon’s terrorists.

General Info

Name: Elin “Justify” Niska
Age: 45
Sex: Female
Nationality: Norwegian/Saami
Role: Support
Affiliation: Overwatch (formerly), Talon, Deadlock
Occupation: Lawyer

Kit

A table detailing four game abilities: Themis's Gavel, Paper Trail, Legal Defense, and Scales of Justice. Each has icons and descriptions explaining their effects and strategic use in gameplay.

Hero Interactions

A table with two columns, 'Interaction With' and 'Quote.' It lists characters like Soldier, Echo, Doomfist, Mercy, Torbjörn, and Junkrat, with quotes and justifications related to Overwatch.

Barks & Voice Lines - Soldier: 76 & D.Va

D.Va is an excitable pro-gamer and teen mecha pilot. Soldier: 76 is a grizzled old war veteran. These characters couldn’t be more different. Looking at the barks I wrote for them side-by-side offers some insight into the wide range of character voices I’m comfortable writing in.

Soldier: 76

Chatter

Table listing video game trigger phrases and corresponding voice lines, including 'Hero Selected' and 'Enemy Resurrected.'

Callouts

Table listing game triggers and voice lines, including hero change, sniper sighted, enemy approaching, outnumbered, turret sighted, enemy has teleport, enemy teleport sighted, ally damaged, time running out in attack and defense modes.

Eliminations

Table with triggers and corresponding voice lines related to gameplay actions, including discharging, enemy kills, turret and teammate eliminations, and team victories.

Event Voice Lines

A table with trigger phrases and corresponding voice lines, including topics like Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, archives, Summer Games, anniversary, Halloween horror, and Winter Wonderland.
A digital illustration of a woman with glasses and blonde hair styled in a bun, wearing a dark suit with armor details, holding a large wooden hammer. A speech bubble points to the hammer, describing it as 'a massive and bulky library edition.' An additional label indicates the hammer is 'made of solid, dense, and sturdy material.'

Barks

General

A table displaying trigger phrases and quotes from a video game, including situations like hero selection, setup, match start, respawn, health pack pickup, on fire, damage boost, nano-boosted, Discord Orb received, resurrection, and enemy resurrection.

Abilities

Table with three categories: Paper Trail, Legal Defense, and Scales of Justice, each with associated quotes like "Charging the enemy!" and "Balancing the scales!"

D.Va

Chatter

A chart with trigger phrases and voice lines related to a video game, including lines like 'Good luck, have fun!', 'Play to win out there!', and 'Let's get some elims!'

Callouts

A table with two columns labeled 'Trigger' and 'Voice Line'. The table contains various game-related triggers such as Hero Change, Sniper Sighted, Enemy Sighted, Outnumbered, Turret Sighted, Enemy has TP, Enemy TP sighted, Ally Damaged Behind, Time Running Out (Attack), and Time Running Out (Defense). Corresponding voice lines include sound cues and game instructions like 'Deep voice mimicking game announcer', 'Sniper! I hate campers.', 'Bad guys incoming!', and others related to gameplay alerts and tactics.

Eliminations

A table outlining various in-game trigger actions and their voice line responses, related to gameplay events such as final blow, kill streak, multikill, turret elimination, team deathmatch elimination, MVP status, revenge, and team kill.

Event Voice Lines

Table listing triggers and corresponding voice lines, including Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, Archives, Summer Games, Anniversary, Halloween Terror, and Winter Wonderland.

Cosmetic Names - Bastion, Junker Queen, Kiriko, Juno

Narrative design isn’t all about dialogue and plot — it also requires the ability to author supplemental text. Here, I’ve come up with names for hypothetical cosmetics, taking special care to follow preexisting themes established for different characters.

Bastion

Cosmetic names usually reference nature or tech.

Table listing cosmetic types, descriptions, and names, including Junkertown-themed skin, night sky texture, camo pattern, deep blue lake skin, white snow skin, Bastion napping and unboxing sprays, Sunbathing Victory Pose, Malfunction emote, and Rocket Jump highlight intro.

Junker Queen

Epic skins named after radioactive elements. Other skins generally follow [noun] [verb]-er format.

Table listing various in-game cosmetic items, descriptions, and names, including skins, sprays, victory pose, emote, and highlight intro.

Kiriko

Epic Skins use Japanese flower names. Multiple skins based on Japanese fashion + tradition. Anime trope references in a few sprays.

Table listing various skin types, sprays, and expressions, including descriptions and names for each item.

Juno

Epic skins named after planets.

A chart listing different types of cosplay costumes, their descriptions, and character names, including alien-themed skin, scuba-themed skin, moon landing reskin, and various character emotes and poses.