From MOBA to Action-Platformer – How Convergence: A League of Legends Adapted Zaun’s Champions
My name is Eric Angelillo, I’m the Creative Director and Co-Art Director for Convergence: A League of Legends Story. I also co-founded Double Stallion games 10 years ago with a mission to create vibrant & transcendent experiences with players all around the world. I love making bold action games with vibrant stylized visuals inspired by the very best of animation and comics.
Convergence: A League of Legends Story, is our new, story-driven, single-player 2D action platformer featuring dynamic combat and unique exploration, and it gave us an incredible opportunity to use our strengths as a studio adapt a myriad of Zaun and Piltover Champions from the original League of Legends MOBA. With Ekko as our lead, it was difficult to narrow down the list of other Champs we wanted to include in the cast, but we settled on Warwick, Camille and of course, Jinx the Loose Cannon!
For Ekko, development really started with one key drawing I made of him grinding on a rail. I knew that a game about Ekko had to double down on not only his time rewind abilities and boy genius aspects, but also on his punk-inspired fashion sense. The concept in question had a strong graffiti aesthetic and pushed Ekko into a neon soaked post-punk skater vibe. This became the basis for which we built the whole game’s art direction.
We opted to stick close to Ekko’s classic design from League, but adapted his design shape language to include a lot of triangles and sharp angles. Astute observers will even notice that his silhouette is based on an hourglass shape. His shoes were slightly modified to allow for strong arches allowing him to grind. Mechanics-wise, we adapted Ekko’s entire kit of abilities and then some!
Building a single-player game free of PVP balancing allowed us to really leverage Ekko’s ability to rewind time, so this naturally became our core mechanic. But players will be thrilled to see his MOBA abilities – the Timewinder, Parallel Convergence, Phase Dive and Chronobreak – are also integral parts of the game. In addition to faithfully adapting these moves, we also expanded on them by making them useful outside of combat as well. The Timewinder can be used to power electrical sockets, Parallel Convergence can time-freeze collapsing platforms and Phase Dive can be used to teleport through walls!
A story about Zaun wouldn’t be the same without a visit to the Sump… and a visit to the Sump wouldn’t be complete without its resident Uncaged Wrath; Warwick. Warwick was one of the first Champions we explored through concept art as his biomechanical wolf profile is just so fun to draw. His sheer sprite size and complexity made him one of the most intensive characters to animate in the game, but we knew it would be worth the extra effort.
Moveset-wise; our animators referenced the look of his abilities like Jaws of the Beast and Primal Howl. We even adapted his leaping Ultimate; Infinite Duress, but instead of slashes, we had him grab Ekko and throw him against a wall! Of course, Ekko can just rewind it every time… provided he has enough Rewind Charges in his Zero Drive left.
Camille the Steel Shadow is an integral part of Convergence. She represents Piltover in the game, and acts as an unlikely ally to Ekko as they are both seeking to take down the malicious Chembaron family known as the Poingdestres. Although Camille eventually becomes an ally, things initially start on the wrong foot between her and Ekko… Fans will be thrilled to know they will have to face Camille in hand-to-hand combat.
Part of why we chose to adapt Camille is that her moveset from League of Legends had so much potential in a side-scrolling game. Camille’s signature hookshots are used in League to quickly move laterally, however, in an action-platformer like Convergence, we were able to use the hookshots to allow Camille to have incredible aerial abilities. As a result, her battle encounter requires Ekko to really dodge deftly, as Camille dominates the arena with both horizontal and vertical high mobility.
In addition to the speed and agility afforded by her hookshots, League players will notice we also adapted Camille’s Precision Protocol roundhouse kick. And of course, who could forget Camille’s Ultimate attack; The Hextech Ultimatum. While we had to adapt the Ultimatum’s barriers to function vertically, the essence of capturing her opponents in a Hextech matrix remains the same. For Camille’s art, we really pushed her key features; deadly, tall, bladed legs and refined Piltovan elegance. As previously mentioned, we used triangular shapes as a motif for our character designs, and this is especially evident with Camille’s sharp figure.
Jinx’s role in Convergence is unique in that she essentially plays a distraction role in Ekko’s quest to save Zaun. As an agent of chaos, she doesn’t help nor directly impede Ekko, but her manic hijinks force Ekko to have to stop her before he can continue on his adventure. Jinx has so many fans in the real world, so we felt that even within Runeterra, she would probably have a lot of fans as well. In Convergence, Ekko discovers there’s a new chempunk gang in town; the Inx. The Inx are like an unofficial fanclub for Jinx, only as Ekko finds out, Jinx isn’t too happy about the idea of a bunch of chempunks ripping off her style… As an agent of good, Ekko is forced to step in to stop Jinx from wreaking havoc on the Inx and in so doing blowing up Zaun and Piltover!
With all the bosses in Convergence, we put a lot of thought into making them distinctive, and part of that was focusing each one on either melee or bullet-based ranged attacks. Jinx naturally fell into the latter camp. All of her weapons from League make an appearance; Zapper, Chompers, Fishbones, Pow-pow and of course the Super Mega Death Rocket! We also added a few extra surprises like a full-screen missile shower! For Jinx’s character design, we based it on her Wild Rift design, but then added on our signature cell-shading and sharp lines.
While it wasn’t feasible to include all the Zaun champs, we did include easter eggs for each one of them. Players may even spot references to other Champions from outside Zaun as well. We’re incredibly proud of Convergence and can’t wait for players to experience it firsthand.
Convergence: A League Of Legends Story will be released on May 23, 2023. for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One Game Pass members: Receive the Convergence Jinx emote in League of Legends. If you haven’t already, simply link your Riot Games account to your Game Pass subscription and play League of Legends by 11:59 PM PST on June 2nd to receive it.
CONVERGENCE: A League of Legends Story™ Deluxe Edition
Riot Forge
$39.99
Pre-order the Deluxe Edition of CONVERGENCE: A League of Legends Story™ to receive the Pre-Order Bonus Golden Ekko skin
The Deluxe Edition of CONVERGENCE: A League of Legends Story™ includes:
– Star Guardian Ekko Skin
– Ruined Ekko Skin
– CONVERGENCE Digital Comic and Art Book
Rewind the Past, Control the Future
Traverse the sprawling city of Zaun as Ekko, a young inventor with a device to rewind time. He and his friends must work together to keep their city safe, but as danger looms and secrets come to light, Ekko realizes he can’t trust anyone—not even himself.
Developed by Double Stallion Games, CONVERGENCE: A League Of Legends Story is a story-driven, single-player 2D action platformer featuring dynamic combat and unique exploration opportunities thanks to Ekko’s ability to travel through space and time. Rewind your actions to learn from your mistakes and outsmart each new enemy. Will it be enough to save Zaun’s future?
CONTROL TIME
Activate Ekko’s Zero Drive to turn back time. Then, use your knowledge of the future to adapt your approach to any challenge and get the jump on your enemies. Fluid, dynamic combat rewards precise timing and positioning.
DISCOVER ZAUN
Run, leap, and slide your way through the streets of Zaun. Meet champions, face down enemies, and locate never-before-seen sides of the Undercity.
BATTLE CHAMPIONS
Encounter League of Legends champions like you’ve never seen them before. Unlock new abilities and face rivals in a series of explosive battles to learn who’s with you, and who’s against you.
Seize every moment in CONVERGENCE: A League of Legends Story.
CONVERGENCE: A League of Legends Story™
Riot Forge
$29.99
Pre-order CONVERGENCE: A League of Legends Story™ to receive the Pre-Order Bonus Golden Ekko skin
Rewind the Past, Control the Future
Traverse the sprawling city of Zaun as Ekko, a young inventor with a device to rewind time. He and his friends must work together to keep their city safe, but as danger looms and secrets come to light, Ekko realizes he can’t trust anyone—not even himself.
Developed by Double Stallion Games, CONVERGENCE: A League Of Legends Story is a story-driven, single-player 2D action platformer featuring dynamic combat and unique exploration opportunities thanks to Ekko’s ability to travel through space and time. Rewind your actions to learn from your mistakes and outsmart each new enemy. Will it be enough to save Zaun’s future?
CONTROL TIME
Activate Ekko’s Zero Drive to turn back time. Then, use your knowledge of the future to adapt your approach to any challenge and get the jump on your enemies. Fluid, dynamic combat rewards precise timing and positioning.
DISCOVER ZAUN
Run, leap, and slide your way through the streets of Zaun. Meet champions, face down enemies, and locate never-before-seen sides of the Undercity.
BATTLE CHAMPIONS
Encounter League of Legends champions like you’ve never seen them before. Unlock new abilities and face rivals in a series of explosive battles to learn who’s with you, and who’s against you.
Seize every moment in CONVERGENCE: A League of Legends Story.
