This should be simple enough. I flush them out. You finish them.
Our newest initiator, Tejo–the well-dressed man of action–has officially joined our Agent roster.
Hailing from Colombia, Tejo will undoubtedly shake up the gameplay with his unique kit that flushes out enemies using a top-down approach. Tejo will require you to think proactively and strategically–analyzing the situation mid-round and using his abilities to help clear the way for your team. Based on the enemy’s playstyle, where are they likely to be? Can you use their location to your advantage and get them in a vulnerable position?
“We had a gameplay opportunity where we wanted to have an Initiator who thought of the map a little differently – more top-down instead of taking angles one by one. We wanted to try adding a couple of abilities with outputs like flushing that was really exciting for creating these windows of power,” noted by Ryan “Rycou” Cousart, Game Designer for Tejo.
Initiators need to do things precisely. We’ve all been there–looking up Agent guides on YouTube, heading to a custom to test out a lineup, ghosting through the walls to see if it landed correctly. Tejo offers Initiator players something different by being able to accurately place utility using the map in more precisely targeted areas, instead of relying on the perfect-pixel lineups that some utility with bigger footprints may rely on. This allows you to be more precise with what you want to do but with the trade-off of having a smaller area of impact.
But in order to effectively use his precise utility, Tejo needs some info—and like other Initiators, he’s good at gathering that info himself. “Since Tejo can provide information about where the enemies are, it allows him to be a lot more consistent with the value he can bring,” stated John “Riot MEMEMEMEME” Goscicki, Agent Team Lead. “Tejo is one of the few Initiators without a flash so he’ll be more effective with another Initiator like Breach or KAY/O where you can create these really fast, explosive takes.”
Stealth Drone
“Drones typically give a lot of baseline value of information gathering, but we wanted to give this drone a little spin where the information is secondary, and the effect of suppressing an enemy is why you take this drone over others,” Cousart noted.
Whether your team is attacking and attempting to take a site or defending and playing retake, having a drone can be extremely impactful. Especially on maps where there are a lot of corners to clear, it allows your team to take space safely or be prepared to fight for that space. Since drones are great pieces of utility, the enemy team is often prepared to shoot down whatever you’re using to take space. Tejo’s Stealth Drone is unique in that it’s invisible at long range, giving you more time to grab information about where the enemy team could be.
Guided Salvo
When we asked the devs, “Why rockets?”, Cousart smiled and said, “Because rockets are sweet.”
In addition to rockets being sweet, they made sense thematically for what the devs were trying to accomplish.
“When you start putting things like a map targeter or world placements on Agents, you force people to think about the game more proactively and more strategically. We wanted something to lead your team in and show you the effect of telling your team, ‘hey something is going to happen.’ We could’ve used anything but we landed on rockets for these reasons,” Cousart added.
Tejo’s abilities, which revolve around flushing out enemies, consist of 3 outputs: information gathering, damage, and concuss effects. “There’s a lot to consider and be careful about when deciding the output of an ability. Damage as an output is a lot more permanent than a concuss or a flash. It’s worthwhile to explore though and I think we’ve landed in a pretty good spot but that’s one we’ll need to keep a really sharp eye,” stated Ryan “Rycou” Cousart.
Special Delivery
“With how naturally ‘guns down’ the other abilities are, Tejo really needed something that was just simple to understand and simple to cast but still captured that feeling of being explosive but directed. I wanted Special Delivery to be a quick, like, ‘Let’s fight’ button”, stated Cousart.
Unlike the other abilities where Tejo needs time to set up the play, Special Delivery allows him to initiate a fight quickly in the moment. Whether or not an enemy is there for the concuss, using the ability there will give them the confidence they need to take that space. One thing is for certain–even if players can use the ability quickly, we won’t be surprised when players are making fancy lineups to get that perfect angle to land on that perfect circle.
Armageddon
“The rockets are really only valuable if you’re following up on the pressure that’s created. But the sweet spot is when you fire your rockets and you force people to move and then while they’re moving, you’re able to capitalize on them having to reposition. Another Agent Tejo would be great with are those who can go in very fast like Neon who can capitalize on the distance he casts his abilities from,” Goscicki noted.
Tejo’s ult, Armageddon, is something enemies will need to be aware of round-to-round. Watch that scoreboard and check how many ult points he’s away from being able to use it since it can heavily impact the flow of a round. The wave of explosions will force enemies to move in a direction of Tejo’s choosing or at least have players moving further back to play retake since the site will be difficult to hold. This will give his team the perfect opportunity to follow up and take control of the space he just created.
The Look, the Attitude, the Skill
So how did Tejo’s gameplay and abilities tie into his character design? The idea of this Agent being an Initiator who can lead a team with strong game sense goes along with the perception of someone that is experienced–experienced in the battlefield and experienced in life.
“The phrase we used a lot was just ‘man of action.’ We’ve all seen the movies, read the books where you just see the dude in the button-up, in the blazer just coming and destroying everyone,” noted Goscicki. “He’s the rugged professional–his shirt is unbuttoned and he’s ready for action. He’s not like Chamber where every detail about his attire matters where it needed to reinforce the idea of landing the perfect shot. Tejo is going to run in there through all the explosions and everything’s got to be loose, wavy, and comfortable.”
Adding onto Tejo’s style, he has fashionable sunglasses that are actually a digital screen that he uses for his abilities. When he uses his Stealth Drone, he sees from the eyes of the drone with his high tech sunglasses. When he pulls out his abilities, he sees through an alternate reality digital readout where he could see all the terrain in front of him at different elevation levels. This is how Tejo can place his abilities at a higher accuracy.
Speaks with Ingrained Confidence
Narrative Writer Ryan “Pwam” Clements stated “When searching for the voice actor who would play one of our agents, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the character in order to find the right voice. So the first step is ensuring that we have the pillars of his personality. These become the razors by which we assess an auditioning actor; not only for their dramatic ability, but can their performance channel those persona pillars in a believable way?”
Prior to casting Tejo’s voice actor, Clements put together a casting sheet with the following notes: “Tejo speaks with ingrained confidence developed from decades of difficult, dangerous assignments. It’s the kind of confidence that saturates every word, leaving no room for questioning. He is professional; he describes things as they are, matter-of-fact, precise, and measured. An equally intense man, Tejo looks people in the eyes when he speaks and when he listens, his voice unfaltering.”
Everything about Tejo from his abilities to his appearance and more are elements of a strong leader. If you play Tejo, your teammates will rely on you to create opportunities for them to take space. Everyone can play Tejo but those with strategic game sense who can step up to being a leader will make him really shine on the battlefield.
As Tejo would say, “We can stand around all day talking about killing them… or we just do it.,” so let’s hop into a game.
