My name is Eric Angelillo. He is the creative director and co-artist of Convergence: A League of Legends Story. Ten years ago he also co-founded Double Stallion games with a mission to create vibrant, transcendent experiences for players around the world. I love making bold action games with vivid, stylized visuals inspired by the best animations and comics. We believe that great games are created when art and interactivity perfectly intersect.
From the beginning, Convergence’s goal was to make Zaun not just the dark, polluted metropolis it is usually portrayed, but a vibrant, vibrant city full of color, character, and wonder just waiting to be discovered. was to introduce Seeing Zaun through Echo’s eyes, he aimed to reflect his own perspective on his home, a city of progress and a playground for adventure.
Our unique approach to art direction was informed by framing everything through Echo’s perspective. This is expressed in three core art pillars. Bold, electric and vibrant. Riot Forge provided guidance for portraying technology, fashion, and other elements, but ultimately allowed us to express our own creative vision.
Staying true to Zaun’s technology and architecture was a priority, but we pushed the boundaries with colors, design shapes, lineart, and more. Comic books became an important source of inspiration, incorporating heavy lineart, black ink shadows, and color his halftones. The use of halftones not only provided an exciting challenge, but also helped make the foreground elements truly pop.
Centered around the experience of Echo’s home, Zaun, we sought to explore its diversity by creating a variety of exciting locations such as streets, sewers, factories, carnivals and gardens. A large enclosed garden from League lore, Cultivea provided a refreshing change from the urban setting and became the focal point of the game.
Based on short stories and comics about Zaun and its champions, we took environments like Factory Wood mentioned in Echo’s story and created new locations like train-like chain crawlers. Convergence provided a great opportunity to expand on Zaun’s environments, which had been underexplored in MOBAs.
The city of Zaun is home to so many great champions that throughout the game, we’ve sprinkled Easter eggs referencing the Undercity’s most famous inhabitants. We hope you, our fans, enjoy discovering these hidden gems.
To make Zaun feel like a bustling city, we prioritized having multiple layers of parallax assets in our 2D game. This allowed us to create depth and make the environment feel immersive. In addition, we prioritized making the world feel alive with constant on-screen movement: steam, dripping water, flickering lights, and tiny creatures scurrying about.
Through 2D environmental storytelling, we aimed to keep the city of Zaun fresh and vibrant while staying true to the world of League of Legends. We are extremely proud of Convergence and can’t wait for players to experience it firsthand.
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Convergence: A League Of Legends Story, developed by Double Stallion Games, is a story-driven, single-player 2D action platformer featuring dynamic combat and unique exploration thanks to Ekko’s ability to travel through space and time. It features an opportunity for Rewind and learn from your mistakes to outsmart new enemies. Will it be enough to save Zaun’s future?
Convergence: League of Legends Story will release on May 23, 2023.
