Riot challenges its first crossover game with the launch of LOR Mobile



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Legend of Runterra (LOR) entering the official service (Photo source: official game website)
▲ Legend of Runterra (LOR) entering official service (Photo source: official game website)

The Riot Games Card War Game Legend of Runtera (LOR), which entered the public test in January, will begin its official service on May 1. On the 29th, LOR applied the first expansion pack called ‘Surfing Wave’, and in the official service, the mobile version capable of cross-playing with the PC is officially provided. Through this, it is possible to easily get to know the wider world of LOR anytime, anywhere.

On the 27th (Wednesday), before the official LOR service on the 5th, Riot Games held an online press conference for national media. This location once again emphasized the philosophy of “play-first” development that permeated the entire LOR, followed by an explanation of the “surge” expansion pack and the mobile version.

First, the development team expressed their feelings about the public test that has been running for more than 4 months since January 24. During LOR’s open trial period, Riot Games had patched balance adjustments and reward changes multiple times, and showed positive acceptance of user feedback in the process. Richard Yip, LOR’s director of production and design, explained that the most important value in the test was listening to the players.

Andrew Mouth (Photo: Riot Games Online Meeting)
▲ Andrew Mouth Production Manager (Photo Source: Riot Games Online Meeting)
The mobile version of LOR, which made universality a top priority (Photo: Riot Games online meeting)
▲ The mobile version of LOR, which made universality a top priority (Photo: Riot Games online meeting)

Then there was the description of the mobile version released with the official service. “The mobile version of LOR is Riot Games’ first cross-platform challenge (based on individual games). At the same time, I tried to realize the high quality / high quality as a PC while lowering the minimum specification so that many people can enjoy it. For iPhone, if it’s 5S + or higher, it can be handled, and if Android has 2GB or more, it can be handled. “For Android, Galaxy S3 LTE or higher supports 2 GB of RAM.

Finally, on the 29th, a description of the new expansion pack “Surge Wave” was applied. In this expansion pack, a new local Bilgewater, over 120 new cards, and 11 new champions were added. “Adding the championship was based on popular characters and characters deemed timely,” said Dave Guskin, senior manager of game design at LOR. Going forward, Riot Games aims to launch the expansion pack in 4-month units, and plans to expand the width by adding one champion from each region.

“We are proud to look for good experiences for our players when developing games,” said Dave Guskin. Korean players also seem to play with pride in their games. This seems to be shared by our Korean developers and players. ” He greeted Korean users to enjoy the game well.

11 champions were added to the 'Surge' expansion pack (Photo source: Riot Games Online Meeting)
▲ 11 champions added to the ‘Surfing Wave’ expansion pack (Photo source: Riot Games Online Meeting)

The following is an answer to the question I shared with the LOR developers at Riot Games.

Considering a specific environment for mobile devices that is susceptible to external interference, it appears that there should be a systemic complement.

Andrew Mouth: Even if you change the app for a while while playing on the mobile device or answering the phone, the game will continue smoothly. However, the game is played in real time, so don’t talk too much. If you go out for a while, you can access the game again without any problem.

PCs and mobiles differ in their income structure. Even if the player pays the same amount, the profitability on the mobile is inevitably less than that of the PC due to the difference in rates. I would like to hear your opinion on this.

Andrew Mouth: The goal is to ensure that players can play great games on any platform. Riot Games is well aware of the growth of mobile platforms. Therefore, if many people play games on mobile devices, profitability will not be a big problem.

It is designed to be fine if you leave the game for a short time on mobile (Photo source: Google Play Store)
▲ On mobile devices, it is designed to be fine even if you quit the game for a short time (Photo source: Google Play Store)

At the time of the game’s launch, we promised to add an expansion pack every four months, but an expansion pack came out four months after the public test began. I think it would not have been easy to make a schedule due to the situation in Corona 19, but I am curious about its impression. And is the next expansion pack expected in late September?

Dave Guskin: There was a Corona 19 fandemic, but I tried hard to meet the deadline. In the past few months, we’ve completed all the artwork, visuals, and regional uploads. I tried to correct all the bugs found until recently and tried to improve the user experience. We are trying to launch the next expansion pack in a similar cycle around September. Of course, we cannot guarantee what will happen in the future, but our dedicated team is trying to showcase the excellent expansion pack.

What are the common characteristics of the Bilgewater regional card?

Dave Guskin: The Bilgewater Card theme is a pirate. Pirates come up with scans, scavenger hunts, and reward arrangements. To embody these ideas in-game, I thought of looting, fighting opponents, and destroying your strategy. Typical results include attacking the opponent’s Nexus and getting stronger, taking cards from the opponent’s deck, and sea monsters symbolizing the deep sea and adventure.

Initially, he said he would exclude randomness as much as possible, but when he sees new Bilgewater champions, he can see some random elements. Is there any intention?

Andrew Mouth: Bilgewater has a lot of people playing and betting. I thought there must be some randomness to reflect these factors. However, it was adjusted so that the random result was not so great that the player could not respond.

Bilge water area card with random effects (Photo source: official game website)
▲ Bilge water area card with random effects (Photo source: official game website)

The new content is certainly interesting, but new users are likely to feel overwhelmed when the card set expands. Are there measures to reduce barriers to entry?

Andrew Mouth: It is important to give good experiences to existing users, but it is equally important to introduce new players. I made a few tries on this ‘Surfing Wave’ expansion pack. We’ve added a player to help new players learn and understand mechanics, and we’ve increased bonuses by making Bonus XP available for regional uploads. This allowed new players to understand the game and purchase cards. We plan to find other ways for new players in the future.

In battle card games, balance is very important. Do you have a public beta server operation plan?

Dave Guskin: There are no plans to operate the public beta server as of yet. It seems to proceed passing the results after the internal test.

For Hearthstone, there is a ‘wild card’ that can take advantage of all the cards entered so far. LOR plans to introduce these mods?

Dave Guskin: There are not many cards on the market right now, but if the number of cards overwhelmingly increases over a long period of time, you will need to rank. We have not yet been able to reveal a specific plan, but the method will not be the same as Hearthstone’s. I have the idea of ​​having a chapter where all the cards are used at the same time, and a chapter where you can try new content at the same time.

Dave Guskin (Photo: Riot Games Online Meeting)
▲ Senior Game Design Manager Dave Guskin (Photo: Riot Games Online Meeting)



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