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 League of Legends: 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 am passionate about creating action-packed games, with stylized and vibrant visuals that are inspired by comics and animation.

League of Legends: 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. We had a hard time narrowing down our list of Champions, with Ekko being the lead. But we finally settled on Warwick the Loose Cannon, Camille the scavenger, and Jinx.

Ekko’s development began with a key illustration I did of him grinding along a rail. It was clear that I wanted to emphasize not just Ekko’s time-rewinding abilities, nor his genius boy qualities, but his style as well. It was an idea with a strong graffiti aesthetic that pushed Ekko to a neon-soaked, post-punk 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. You’ll notice, too, that the silhouette of his character is an hourglass. The shoes have been modified slightly to give him strong arches that allow 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. While we faithfully recreated these moves, they were also enhanced to make them usable outside of the combat arena. Timewinder and Parallel Convergence are both useful for powering sockets. Phase Dive is also a great way to time freeze collapsing surfaces.

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 is one of the Champions that we first explored in concept art because his biomechanical profile wolf was just too fun to draw. It was a challenge to create his complex sprite because of its size.

Our animators adapted the moves of Jaws of the Beast, and Primal Howl. Even his Infinite duress leaping Ultimate was adapted, except instead of using slashes we made him grab Ekko, and throw him into a wall. Of course, Ekko can just rewind it every time… provided he has enough Rewind Charges in his Zero Drive left.

Camille Steel Shadow, a character from the film Camille: The Steel Shadow. Convergence. In the game she represents Piltover and is an unlikely ally of Ekko, as both are trying to defeat the evil Chembaron clan known as 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.

We chose to adapt Camille because her League of Legends moveset had such potential for a side-scrolling title. Camille’s signature hookshots are used in League to quickly move laterally, however, in an action-platformer like ConvergenceWe were able, using the hookshots, to give Camille incredible aerial skills. Ekko has to be very deft in her fight encounter, because Camille is able move both vertically and horizontally.

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 is a real life celebrity, and we thought that she’d be popular in Runeterra as well. We felt that she would have a lot of fans in Runeterra as well. 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!

All the bosses are in ConvergenceWe spent a great deal of time thinking about how to make them unique. Part of this was by focusing on melee attacks or ranged bullet attacks. Jinx was a natural fit for the second group. Her weapons are also all from League; Zappers and Chompers as well as Fishbones, Pow Pow, Pow Pow, Pow Pow, Pow Pow, Pow Pow, Pow Pow, Pow Poow! Also, we’ve added some extra surprises such as 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. You may find references to Champions that are not from Zaun. We’re incredibly proud of Convergence and can’t wait for players to experience it firsthand.

Convergence: A League Of Legends StoryOn May 23, 2023, the Convergence Jinx emote for League of Legends will be made available to 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

The past is the key to the future

Ekko is a young, inventor who has a time-rewinding device. He will guide you through the expansive city of Zaun. 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. You can rewind to correct your mistakes or outwit each enemy. Will it be enough to save Zaun’s future?

CONTROL TIME
Activate Ekko’s Zero Drive to turn back time. You can then use the knowledge you have gained about the future in order to adjust your strategy to the challenges that lie ahead and gain the upper hand on your adversaries. Precision timing and positioning are rewarded in fluid, dynamic combat.

DISCOVER ZAUN
You can run, jump, and slide through the streets in Zaun. Find out about the Undercity’s hidden sides, meet champions and fight enemies.

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.

Enjoy every second of 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

The past is the key to the future

Ekko is a young, inventor who has a time-rewinding device. He will guide you through the expansive city of Zaun. 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. You can rewind to correct your mistakes or outwit each enemy. Will it be enough to save Zaun’s future?

CONTROL TIME
Activate Ekko’s Zero Drive to turn back time. You can then use the knowledge you have gained about the future in order to adjust your strategy to the challenges that lie ahead and gain the upper hand on your adversaries. Precision timing and positioning are rewarded in fluid, dynamic combat.

DISCOVER ZAUN
You can run, jump, and slide through the streets in Zaun. Find out about the Undercity’s hidden sides, meet champions and fight enemies.

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.

Take advantage of every opportunity in CONVERGENCE – A League of Legends Story.