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"We’re already making improvements to existing maps, characters, visual effects, and weapons.”Ī look at concept art for Viper, one of Valorant's most recognizable characers. “We apply that same methodology to Valorant. We spent three years on League of Legends going back and elevating things,” he says.
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“When League of Legends was released 10 years ago, it wasn't 100 percent right.
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While the game was in the works for four years before Francke joined the project, he says the team completely rebooted the visuals roughly two years before the game shipped in 2020 to create a “concrete foundation” to build on.Īt launch, the art team knew they “didn’t have to get it to 100 percent right” because Valorant was a live-service title, meaning ongoing updates were always part of the plan. Even then, some especially wild ideas had to be toned down, like Raze being a strong guy named Clay with a robotic arm, or Sage being named Thorn because her body was covered in thorns.Ī tight development timeframe also necessitated a simpler approach to Valorant’s art design. While early iterations of Valorant had a more realistic look, Francke wanted the art to complement but not overshadow the gameplay, prompting the shift to a simpler and more vibrant style. That also helps the characters have that thematic cohesion and you know what a character does when you see it.” “You flourish it with interesting elements, signage, graffiti, materials, architectural styles, and themes. “You want to make an interesting, immersive world that people enjoy coming back to,” he explains. That desire for inclusivity, along with the logistics of the gameplay - Valorant characters routinely perform unnatural jumping and crouching animations - led Riot Games to a more stylized aesthetic. "We increase the size of hands to make the weapons a more apparent graphic as well." Riot Games We're trying to come up with those art styles that might not be the savviest graphics-wise, but at the end of the day, are fair to everyone.” “ Valorant has to run in the favelas in Brazil. “We're not trying to make the most beautiful game ever, we're trying to make an accessible game that everybody can play,” he tells Inverse. "Valorant has to run in the favelas in Brazil.” Only as internet speeds and cellular service became able to support a streaming first-person shooter video game, and only as online payments became trusted enough to evolve into micro-transactions, could the question of technologically accessible art arise. The decisions about Valorant sum up a question that really could only be posed over the last several years. Moby Francke, art director for Riot Games, tells Inverse that Valorant's instantly recognizable yet unfussy art style negotiates a careful balance between realism and cel-shaded animation, which Francke describes as “illustrative visual design.”Įnsuring that lighting, character models, weapons, and skills were clear no matter what hardware Valorant was being played on is critical, Francke told me in a recent interview. It's part of a strategy to emulate the success of Riot’s phenomenally popular League of Legends. These choices comprise an aesthetic that's come to define a flourishing genre of online games intended for a global audience who all experience this utterly modern art form different canvases, from high-powered gaming PCs with gigabit speeds, to mobile phones in rural areas. The art style of Valorant, the incredibly popular multiplayer shooter, is defined by clean lines, tidy gradients, and pleasing angles.