About The Project
Once upon a time 9 or so years ago, I was posed with a simple question from a friend who played League of Legends with me: why doesn't Maokai feel like a treant? I sat down to think about it, and the result was a project that spanned 4 years, with the goal of making changes and adjustments throughout the roster to bring each character's kit in alignment with their thematic identity.
While representing a wide variety of gameplay fantasies through MOBA-style kits was the initial goal, I ended up broadening my criteria over time: each character should have a distinct strategic niche, as well as defined strengths and weaknesses, all tied together into a coherent ability kit by their established theme. So, Maokai, the garden-variety tank who lives to initiate and disrupt like most others in his role? Ehhhh, not quite. Maokai, the Twisted Treant, who forgoes mobility in order to become a veritable forest, daring foes to cross him? That's more like it!
4 years and 108 redesigns later, I just about had the whole MOBA kit design thing figured out - or so I thought. Since 2020 is the year of hindsight, I've decided to go back and approach this project with fresh eyes, applying my years of game design experience and modern perspective to both the older kits I had redesigned and the newer kits I hadn't. The result? League of Legends ReDux, a redesign of a redesign project. If you decide to give these (re)redesigns a look, I hope you find something that excites you!