Aussie Guy

Thesis or something:

First off, thanks to u/Expert_Seesaw3316 for inspiring me to make this. As they pointed out, all of Australia`s characters are, to quote, ‘a fucking drug user or Wastelander.’ As an actual Australian, I could relate to this. Australia has a very rich cultural background other than Mad Max. Out of the 3 (4 if you count Hampton) Australian characters, none of them are actually Indigenous. Roadhog is from NZ, which is good, but we need more. Also, 3 of the characters are tanks, and Junkrat is DPS, so I thought ‘What the hell, make them support’. So, this is my concept for an Indigenous Australian character.

Note: In the making of this character, I wanted to not create a character purely off stereotyping (Big German tank, larger-than-life Samoan brawler, etc.) Despite this, I also wanted them to stick to being good at representing their country (so basically not another Sojourn). I myself am not of Indigenous descent and am purely getting my knowledge from what I`ve learned from my community and mates. I would greatly appreciate help if I got something wrong, from both a lore and design standpoint.

Base attack: Boomerang. Yeah, I know, stereotyping. I really wanted the character to not have some kinda sci-fi gun, so I thought a boomerang would be cool. Fires the boomerang, does splash damage, and comes back to you. Same fire rate and AOE as Sigma weapon, just way less damage and Hitscan. Same range as around Soldier.

So, when imagining this character, I had to think about how to incorporate Australian culture into support. My first immediate thought was the Dreamtime, the Indigenous Australian`s religion and mainstake of culture, which tells the story of how all came to be. The things that stand out in the Dreamtime are almost all of the stories revolve around animals. Examples are Tiddalik, Rainbow Serpent, and so much more. I wanted my character to be able to utilize these legends in combat. The original idea was to be able to summon the animals to do combat for him. That was both kind of confusing, and more DPS than Support. Then I thought of a good idea: Marks. Kinda like Zen orbs, you can put them on teammates, and give them buffs. Something I thought would be cool is if you had 3 marks but could only have 2 active at a time. The marks stay on the hero for the entire game unless you put it on someone else. The limit to marks would mean you would have to strategize well, knowing who to and when to put marks on. The marks would appear next to the person`s health, so people know if the enemy team has it or not. A cool idea I had would be the mark would be associated with that animal’s tracks. More on this later though.

Then I had to think of the Marks themselves. First idea: Kurrkati (Goanna). This mark gives you a speed boost. That`s it. A solid extra m/s. Good for avoiding overtime or the beginning of a game. Gonna go absolutely nuts on a Tracer, Genji, or Lucio. It is important to note that marks do not stack with abilities, only stats. This will be important later.

Second Idea: Garkman (Frog). This Mark is specifically referencing possibly the most important frog in Indigenous culture (or maybe the only one, I don`t know), Tiddalik. The story goes is One day this frog is thirsty, so he drinks up all the water. I mean all of it, making him huge and a drought happens. All the animals try to make him open his mouth, but nothing happens. Now, depending on who you ask, either a snake or platypus did some funny stuff, so Tiddalik laughed and vomited out all the water. So, I made Garkman make you Tanky. 20% damage reduction. Basically, a slightly worse Perma Hog heal. As mentioned above, it doesn`t stack, so when Hog does heal with Garkman, his dmg reduction is still 40%, not stacking to 60%. You`d put this on your tank, or maybe your Tracer so they aren`t so damn squishy.

Third Idea: Gula (Koala). Koalas are sleepy and very lazy. And very Iconic. Almost as Iconic as Dropbears, which are also very real animals. I was going to make a Dropbear mark, but it would be way too OP. Anyway, I wanted a Mark that would do at least some healing. So: All healing you get is doubled (Only by your teammates). This puts less stress on your support and also means that whenever Hog takes a breather, he isn`t healing fast enough to outlive a D.va ult.

Now for the Ult ability: Waterhole. Waterhole is also referencing another Dreamtime story: The Rainbow Serpent. The rainbow serpent basically travels around the land making waterholes and hiding in rivers and whatnot. I thought it would be cool if you could summon a massive rainbow serpent to create a huge waterhole. The Waterhole itself lasts for about 10-15 secs, and can`t be destroyed. You can see the water hole because the floor turns into a watery texture and has a 10m radius. While in the waterhole, the enemy team is slowed, and your team gets the effect of one of the three marks automatically (Garkman for tank, Gula for support, and Kurrkati for DPS).

So that’s my character. Please give me feedback. I have no experience in Game development or balancing at all.