Since VOV-A6 become one of the fan favorites in the
Atomic Heart community, we decided to share some info about its design development.
Right from his appearance in the debut gameplay trailer, VOV-A6 look hasn't changed much. His simple but memorable design was immediately welcomed by the audience.
Narratively, the concept of this robot is that it was created for peaceful tasks and is not adapted for combat situations (at first...), so it should be trustworthy, reliable in operation and have a friendly appearance.
Like many other models in the Facility 3826 lineup, VOV-A6, despite his humanoid form, never looked fully human, creating an Uncanny Valley effect, but for good reason.
His design inspiration came from the Soviet UAZ SGR vehicle, which itself always looked a bit comical, but became classic over the years.
This design decision made the VOV-A6 more fun and friendly, which smoothed out its inhuman appearance, which itself eventually became, sort of, iconic in its own right.
Also, with such a simple character design, you can mold anything out of him.
For example, many people remember VOV-A6 at the Vavilov complex at the beginning of the game, playing the synthesizer.
This scene is important to us in many ways, because it refers to the Soviet band Alliance keyboard player look, in which he appeared on a TV show and became a kind of meme.
Facility 3826 has quite a large line of robot models and many stories behind their creation. Maybe you have a particular design preference - which one would you like to learn more about in the future?
