Udyr is starting to get old on League of Legends. It is therefore not without surprise that the community had voted for it to pass under the scalpel of the overhaul, overhaul which was somewhat postponed because of the health situation. Well, good news, work is well under way, and the all-new Spirit Guardian should be arriving in Summoner’s Rift soon. Ryan “Reav3” Mireles shared the studio’s progress at the start of Season 12.
Objectives of the overhaul
Three axes were respected during this rework:
- Preserve Udyr’s “stance change” identity and his melee / basic attack champion side.
- Update Udyr’s visuals to match current League standards while retaining his shaman-warrior appearance.
- Regarding his story, that his in-game portrait correspond better to what he represents in the universe of LoL and thus link him more to the Freljord.
A champion difficult to model
While Udyr is old, his model is no less complicated. The reason is rather obvious. Her basic body was pretty straightforward, but her four postures presented a big hurdle. Not only was four needed, but each needed to amplify the idea of the animal spirit associated with it.
The goalie’s final look is almost complete, but the work around his postures remains a big challenge. You have to keep the gameplay clear.
“Clarity of gameplay is essential in League, and I knew Udyr would be difficult, because I had to see his four postures as independent, but still connected. It felt like it was still Udyr though. we wanted them to be clear. But I also wanted to animate his postures as if they were four different champions, with entirely different characteristics. That way, it would be easy to know what posture he was in. ” to enlightened Jason ” OOYOO »Namgung, character graphic designer.
The goal was to transcribe the veneration of the wild animals of Udyr in his animations and therefore, in each posture.
Updating skins
The team initially decided to take a look at one of their most recent skins, Dragon Oracle.
“It’s a splendid skin on a great theme, so there are a lot of things to keep, and a few to adjust to suit your new character. And the dragon themes and colors will be easy to translate into what it is. new Udyr represents.
We wanted to explore very different directions. Considering the amount of skins, we have a good understanding of what the dragons are all about. So we focused on a few different areas. We decided early on to stay on the mystical dragon side, without touching the dragon slayer dragon division. He channels the dragon spirits to manipulate a fraction of their power. But suddenly, what proportion of dragon would there be in his appearance? How does the animal spirit that he channels affect his physique? (This question will be asked again every time for Udyr!) “
It was decided that he would remain more human than draconic, to show that he remains in control of his power. Dragon elements remained (a few scales and horns), but his arms and shoulders were left free, to show his postures and animations.
Each skin therefore promises to be reworked from A to Z to match the champion’s new identity – and we can’t wait to see the result on his ultimate skin.
“In view of all this, we still have some way to go before we deliver this new Udyr to you. We want the character and his skins to be perfect before we release him back into the wild, and we’ll keep you posted in our next Plans. action of champions as soon as we see it a little clearer. “
In short, there is still work to be done on the champion and we must be patient before rediscovering him during the year.
We take (almost the same) and start over. Like last year, the League of Legends community will be able to vote on which champion most deserves to receive a full update.