Parsing Raw Data: Creation of Bishop

July 12, 2016

Now that you’ve gotten a GIF-heavy dose of Bishop’s weapons and abilities, we’re sharing a bit of the development process behind our interpretation of the traditional gunslinger character, updated and revamped for Raw Data‘s immersive world and VR gameplay.

With Bishop, we wanted to create a classic gun-wielding hero that embodied all of our favorite trigger-happy action movies, but with a thematic twist that suited Raw Data‘s futuristic Asian fusion culture and setting. That’s where Hong Kong action cinema came in–its characteristic stylized shootouts were a perfect fit–and, when merged with our favorite flicks from the action sci-fi genre, we had Bishop, SyndiK8’s elite Gun Cleric.

In personality, Bishop possesses an almost religious mystique, clearly motivated by righteous ideals and ready to take down anything that violates his moral code or stands in the way of human purity. Even early on, we started exploring a simple, neutral design for Bishop’s costume featuring white as the predominant color and minimizing the look of tech and armor.

Because of his strict training and beliefs, Bishop needed to look sophisticated, centered, and confident, even in the face of grave danger. With this as motivation, we eventually arrived at his final outfit. The clean lines of the tailored Nehru jacket (complete with mandarin collar) and subtle textures hinting at advanced armor further reflect the precision and zeal of a martial artist.

Similarly, Bishop’s Crusader 10mm pistol is deceptively simple in appearance, looking like a classic heavy one-hander. The exposed bullets in the clip is our one touch that hints at the true punch this pistol packs.

In our opinion, nothing says “futuristic gunslinger” than martial arts combined with firearms: the classic “Gun Fu” style. We wanted Bishop’s special abilities to encourage players to embody this type of “bullet ballet” physical motion (read more in our complete Bishop hero feature):

• Timewarp gives players precious extra moments to blow back enemies in slow motion, while enjoying the sparks and muzzle flashes and bullet trails in all their glory for a touch of cinematic flair.
• Charged Shot delivers deadly piercing power for only a second of buildup. Holding your fire is doubly effective when you fire off simultaneous Charged Shots from dual pistols, and the destruction dealt by the upcoming Fusion Charged Shot special ability will prove that patience pays off.
• Finally, with Bulletstorm, you can mow down everything in a hail of bullets, many times provoking players to spin around and switch up aiming in multiple directions, feeling like a true badass akimbo master.

And here he is, in the final render you will see in-game (plus a bonus action shot, because why not?). Well, if you play as Bishop you’ll mostly just see his hands and guns, but you’ll get to enjoy Bishop’s character model in action if you’re teamed up with him. Effective and efficient, Bishop is always a solid choice for any SyndiK8 mission, so choose him and let your guns guide the way.