Riot Games, developers of League of Legends and Valorant released a new video giving us an update on its upcoming fighting game currently titled Project L. The Dev Diary features Tom Cannon discussing the future of Project L, along with him visiting EVO this weekend, though not clarifying if he will bring new footage with him to EVO.
Cannon also announced that Illaoi is being developed in Project L, where they are in the early phases of conception and designing her moveset, and that Project L will be free to play, ensuring all players from all backgrounds can enjoy the game. Tom left the Dev diary announcing that there will be one more update for Project L before the year ends.
Project L is still in active development and has no release date.
▍Project L Dev Diary
▍Project L Upcoming Fighter – Illaoi
Riot released new Info on Illaoi, the new fighter coming to the game, including her character artwork, design sheet, and a glimpse at her possible moveset and how it could look in-game.
Working on her kit, the development team set out a few goals for her, as explained n their blog post:
Illaoi’s Goals:
- Illaoi fights alongside her god. Nagakabouros is a constant looming threat that Illaoi feels supported by and opponents fear.
- Slow, but always in motion. Illaoi is always moving, and she punishes those who are motionless. This is one of the key beliefs of her god, and we wanted to represent this through her gameplay.
- Overwhelming pressure. Once Illaoi puts the opponent in a position where they get hit or need to block, she is relentless, forcing her opponent to make a move on her terms.
Illaoi’s Guardrails:
- Illaoi is the powerhouse, Nagakabouros has her back. Illaoi’s physical strength is her main source of power and the tentacles from her god are there to assist, not replace. Nagakabouros is not the star of the show.
- Simple and straightforward. Illaoi’s power fantasy comes from heavy semi-short hits, heavy long hits, and simultaneous/staggered hits from tentacles. But not from the complexity of managing the state of many entities.
- Not a puppet master. Illaoi shouldn’t feel like she is ordering around her god. She can control the tentacles from her totem, however any independently spawned tentacles should feel like gifts, not privileges. Illaoi doesn’t get to spam these without earning them.
- Not a zoner. Illaoi doesn’t want to keep away the opponent with tentacle hits, she wants to create openings to allow her to leap in and deal damage herself.
▍About Project L
Project L is Riot Game’s upcoming fighting game project based on the popular MOBA, League of Legends. The game features characters from that series in 1v1 2D Combat, with an assist system allowing you to call characters forward to help cover your approach, defend, or extend combos.
Project L is being developed by Riot Games and Tom Cannon, and features GGPO Rollback Netcode, a system created by Tony Cannon, Tom’s brother, which ensures an experience as close to an offline experience as possible, minimizing lag and creating a smoother fighting game experience.
