First steps for Martian Kind – A Look at Juno’s Development

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Juno has finally landed in Overwatch 2, and players are jumping into battle with her, gliding  through tricky team fights and blasting off to light speed with her unique kit. You’ve watched her hero trailer, checked out her comic, and seen her in action, but let’s take a unique look with concept artist Daryl Tan and lead narrative designer Miranda Moyer to see how Juno’s story came to life.

What was the general idea behind making Juno?

Daryl Tan: The hero team had plans to introduce a Support hero that was fast, agile, and had a hitscan-like weapon, so that is where we explored the idea of a space-themed hero.  Juno was heavily designed through the gameplay kit, which helped inspire the fantasy of what this hero would look like.

Which of Juno’s abilities was the biggest influence on her design?

Daryl Tan: Juno’s Pulsar Torpedoes ability was a big factor in that it had to display information on a cool-looking visor while also showing enemies and allies to lock on to.

Miranda Moyer: The abilities really impacted the creation of her story. We questioned how Juno might have learned to use her technology, and under what conditions. That line of thinking inspired a lot of elements of her backstory, delving into what life was like for a child growing up on Mars.

How did you create the story about a hero from Mars?

Miranda: We wanted to demonstrate the scope of Lijiang’s operations. Unknown to the rest of the world, Lucheng Interstellar secretly funded other projects beyond the Horizon Lunar Colony project. One of those projects was a secret Martian expedition called Project Red Promise, which would be the initial stages/foundations of the first human colony on Mars and was comprised of a small team of scientists. However, when Juno was born in the colony, she became the first human born on Mars—the first Martian. We found the hook of a human who has never lived on Earth to be very compelling. It’s something that caught on in the early stages of Juno’s narrative and helped