May 9th was a dark day for the 2XKO official Discord. Conversations about possible characters began innocuously, as they have in years without news to discuss. But this time, the debate turned into controversy over the complexities of how Fiddlesticks, a lanky, horror-inspired scarecrow, would pull off that transformation. League of Legends is full of champions who find themselves in a tricky position to spawn a fighting game’s move set.
I call this the “Fiddlesticks problem.” How do you take a weirdo – someone who has no direct connection to the genre – and bring them into the genre in an exciting way. The balance between keeping a character true to the source material and keeping the game fun is a dangerous tightrope.
This is something the 2XKO team will definitely have to address with characters like Ahri, whose moveset was overhauled between public releases. Designer Alex Jaffe talked to me about this balance at Evo 2023, and I asked similar questions again when I returned to Evo this time.
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Because like Fiddlestick’s presence in the wilds of Demacia, this subject is a curse that people like my interviewee Shaun Rivera are destined to talk about as long as 2XKO is supported. Whenever a new character is added to the game, someone asks “How did you get the Alliance set?” [champ] Then Sean or someone else would smile, nod, and provide insight into the design process, and that was their destiny, forever. I feel less guilty about combing through his thoughts, how to solve the Fiddlesticks problem?
“League champions are popular for a lot of reasons,” Rivera said, sitting at a table near the 2XKO booth. “Sometimes it’s the mechanics of the championship, sometimes it’s the theme. For us, it was like, what would make a disgusting fighting game character? I really believe we could create a disgusting fighting game character for any league champion – and this is it. My confidence is in our team.
“Let me ask you this. Let me counter you. When you see Fiddlesticks, that character is a horror character. Scary, creepy, threatening. And the skin is delightful as well. We absolutely There’s a weird character to offer, a lot of weird horror aspects! It’s a combination of both, and it’s our job to elevate the title from there.
A follow-up question that probably hasn’t been asked a million times yet is how players will demonstrate their character loyalty! Earlier this year, we discussed the future of the game with League of Legends game director Liu Pu, who noted the importance of allowing players to express their love for their chosen heroes. 2XKO is the same IP and created by the same company. Does it also emphasize player expression?
“Whenever we decide which hero to put into the game, we consider a lot of things. The most important thing is, which segment of our player base is an underserved audience that we can really do a good job of serving. I mean Yes, we want you to find a protagonist in our game that you can fall in love with. People fall in love through their themes – that means the way they act, who they are, the race they represent, What they wear, their attitude…even their taunts can increase the chances of people going, that’s what I’ve been waiting for!
“After that, we want to do a lot of different things and let people represent their favorite characters in our games. You’ll see more about that in the future, maybe in Alpha Labs, but we definitely think we have A character you’re excited to play is cool, but show off the character.
So maybe there’s hope that even the most ridiculous and outlandish mainstays can succeed. If you’re like anyone who’s been hanging out on the 2XKO Reddit or Discord for the past three years, then even the slimmest hope is enough to sustain you forever. hold onto.
