Blizzard has released a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the much-loved Overwatch Rise and Shine animated short. Director Jeff Kaplan explains in the thought process behind the creation of Overwatch’s animated short stories, which in this instance focuses on the origins of Mei.
Many players have picked up the game and jumped straight into the action without any thought about the character and their individual backstories. Creating these shorts has given Blizzard the opportunity to provide exposition on the characters and their motivations in the game.
For Rise and Shine, the team wanted to show the story of the ever optimistic, tenacious and ridiculously cute Mei. This gave the team the chance to explore the tragedy that shaped and defined the character of Mei that Overwatch players have come to know.
‘It was extremely important to dig into who is Mei the human being and how does she become the hero that she is,’ Kaplan said. ‘All of that is as important as how much damage does the left click on her gun do’.
The behind-the-scenes video gives a nice insight into how Blizzard is expanding the lore for Overwatch with short and succinct stories.
