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Zenyatta (Overwatch)
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Zenyatta (Overwatch)
Tekhartha Zenyatta is a character who appears in the 2016 video game Overwatch, a Blizzard Entertainment–developed first-person hero shooter, and the resulting franchise. An omnic monk in Nepal, he is part of a group that seeks peaceful co-existence with humans, as the robotic omnics believe they have a soul much like humans. Over the course of the game's story, he forms ties with several characters; he has a brotherly bond with fellow omnic Ramattra despite the latter's stance against humanity.
Zenyatta was well received upon debut, praised for his cool and relaxed personality. At the same time, Blizzard has been criticized for how little the character has been meaningfully utilized in the game's story. His relationship with Ramattra has become a topic of interest amongst fans, with some praising the writing while others have engaged in shipping the two together in a yaoi relationship. Meanwhile, academic approaches to the character have both analyzed how players approach his game as a supportive character that can also deal damage, but also in regards to the cultural themes represented in his character and in-game cosmetics.
Designed by Arnold Tsang, Zenyatta began as a concept of a cyber monk created by artist Scott Mercer. While early drafts portrayed him as physically powerful, they felt this made him too similar to existing characters. As a result, they revised the design, shifting away from a martial artists to an "enlightened sage". To further set him apart from other characters, they gave him the ability to levitate. Early designs would have also had Zenyatta having multiple physical arms, though the final version instead gave him only two physical arms. The idea was still retained to some extent, with multiple holographic arms appearing when a player activated his ultimate ability.
Zenyatta was the second Support-class character implemented for the game, following Mercy. Realizing they had a lot of fast moving characters in the game who often went into areas close-range healers would not want to directly follow, they designed him around the concept of "giving [players] a gift and having them travel on their way" and able to heal remotely with his orbs attaching to targets. These orbs were originally the physical ones that surrounded his body, however this led to some complications as the development team considered how he would be able to "reload" them like a traditional weapon. They chose instead that the orbs themselves would fire bursts of energy, with different coloration depending on the offensive and defensive nature of them.
After designing Zenyatta, a member of the development team proposed the idea of other characters that looked similar to him. Arnold Tsang drew up subsequent designs based off Zenyatta's, and the team developed the concept to be a synthetic race of robots called "Omnics" in Overwatch's universe.
Zenyatta stands approximately 5 ft 8 in (172 cm) tall and is a thin, humanoid, silver-colored robot with gold highlights. Pistons are visible on his arms, torso, hands and feet. His head is oval-shaped with a gold lower jaw. Above his eyes is a grid of nine blue lights. His outfit consists of yellow pants torn midway down the lower leg, a beige back skirt with a black pattern, a gold sash, and a red dhoti atop these that dangles down his front. A red ribbon cable connects from his back to his right upper hip, while tassel beads are tied to his sash and dangle behind him. Zenyatta does not walk, instead hovering above the ground as he moves with his legs bent under his body.
Like other Overwatch characters, Zenyatta received skins, which are unlockable cosmetic items to change his in-game appearance. When designing them, due to the complex nature of his orbs they avoided changing their designs dramatically, and instead chose to retexture them in ways that reflected the nature of each skin. His shoulders also proved troublesome for the design team, as due to Zenyatta's range of motion they had to account for his animations which limited what textures and fabrics they could use. Notable skins of note include his "Ra" and "Djinnyatta" skins, which reference the Egyptian God Ra and Middle Eastern djinns respectively; they felt the enlightened mythological figures reflected his sage-like qualities.
In Overwatch 2, a scarf was added to his design, and he was given new pants and shoes. His orbs also saw a slight redesign. Despite these changes, many of his design elements remained the same from the original game.
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Zenyatta (Overwatch)
Tekhartha Zenyatta is a character who appears in the 2016 video game Overwatch, a Blizzard Entertainment–developed first-person hero shooter, and the resulting franchise. An omnic monk in Nepal, he is part of a group that seeks peaceful co-existence with humans, as the robotic omnics believe they have a soul much like humans. Over the course of the game's story, he forms ties with several characters; he has a brotherly bond with fellow omnic Ramattra despite the latter's stance against humanity.
Zenyatta was well received upon debut, praised for his cool and relaxed personality. At the same time, Blizzard has been criticized for how little the character has been meaningfully utilized in the game's story. His relationship with Ramattra has become a topic of interest amongst fans, with some praising the writing while others have engaged in shipping the two together in a yaoi relationship. Meanwhile, academic approaches to the character have both analyzed how players approach his game as a supportive character that can also deal damage, but also in regards to the cultural themes represented in his character and in-game cosmetics.
Designed by Arnold Tsang, Zenyatta began as a concept of a cyber monk created by artist Scott Mercer. While early drafts portrayed him as physically powerful, they felt this made him too similar to existing characters. As a result, they revised the design, shifting away from a martial artists to an "enlightened sage". To further set him apart from other characters, they gave him the ability to levitate. Early designs would have also had Zenyatta having multiple physical arms, though the final version instead gave him only two physical arms. The idea was still retained to some extent, with multiple holographic arms appearing when a player activated his ultimate ability.
Zenyatta was the second Support-class character implemented for the game, following Mercy. Realizing they had a lot of fast moving characters in the game who often went into areas close-range healers would not want to directly follow, they designed him around the concept of "giving [players] a gift and having them travel on their way" and able to heal remotely with his orbs attaching to targets. These orbs were originally the physical ones that surrounded his body, however this led to some complications as the development team considered how he would be able to "reload" them like a traditional weapon. They chose instead that the orbs themselves would fire bursts of energy, with different coloration depending on the offensive and defensive nature of them.
After designing Zenyatta, a member of the development team proposed the idea of other characters that looked similar to him. Arnold Tsang drew up subsequent designs based off Zenyatta's, and the team developed the concept to be a synthetic race of robots called "Omnics" in Overwatch's universe.
Zenyatta stands approximately 5 ft 8 in (172 cm) tall and is a thin, humanoid, silver-colored robot with gold highlights. Pistons are visible on his arms, torso, hands and feet. His head is oval-shaped with a gold lower jaw. Above his eyes is a grid of nine blue lights. His outfit consists of yellow pants torn midway down the lower leg, a beige back skirt with a black pattern, a gold sash, and a red dhoti atop these that dangles down his front. A red ribbon cable connects from his back to his right upper hip, while tassel beads are tied to his sash and dangle behind him. Zenyatta does not walk, instead hovering above the ground as he moves with his legs bent under his body.
Like other Overwatch characters, Zenyatta received skins, which are unlockable cosmetic items to change his in-game appearance. When designing them, due to the complex nature of his orbs they avoided changing their designs dramatically, and instead chose to retexture them in ways that reflected the nature of each skin. His shoulders also proved troublesome for the design team, as due to Zenyatta's range of motion they had to account for his animations which limited what textures and fabrics they could use. Notable skins of note include his "Ra" and "Djinnyatta" skins, which reference the Egyptian God Ra and Middle Eastern djinns respectively; they felt the enlightened mythological figures reflected his sage-like qualities.
In Overwatch 2, a scarf was added to his design, and he was given new pants and shoes. His orbs also saw a slight redesign. Despite these changes, many of his design elements remained the same from the original game.