Riot gives another in-game look at the new Udyr VGU released later this year

Riot Games gave another in-game look at the upcoming remake of Udyr today, is expected to release later this year. While fans see the champion’s updated kits for the first time last year, the latest post reveals more of the champion’s futuristic look — including some new animations, overhauled cosmetics, and the design philosophy behind the changes to the model and effects of the champion. he.

Udyr is one of the oldest champions in the history of League, released on December 2, 2009. After more than 10 years, the champion’s in-game model is outdated and doesn’t look up to the standards of in-game cosmetics. The community agreed, and Udyr won last year’s poll on which character should get VGU. Spirit Walker had to do it a long time ago and late last year, Riot Games shared a concept art looks refined and remains true to the image of the champion.

The latest blog post gives fans a better idea of ​​what to expect, with input from a range of developers on animations, models, and even animators. enemy.

Riot top producer Ryan “Reav3” Mireles outlined several goals for the character in the future, including staying with the mechanic his unique stance and providing him with tools that can help him achieve the goals he lacks.

Mireles also took a look at Udyr’s visuals and said that Riot’s goal is “to build the image of Udyr, not reinvent them”. According to the developer, in terms of League Lore, Udyr will have stronger ties to the Freljord regions of Runeterra.

In concept art released by Riot last year, Udyr was remodeled and received antlers to match his wild theme. As Riot experimented more with the new interface, the company decided to remove the accessories altogether.

“In one attempt, they look like a pair of wings, and in another, they look like propellers,” says character artist Jason “OOYOO” Namgung. “No matter how much we tried to get them to work, they always looked down on us. While the idea is great, Udyr is the boy for the animal spirits, not the guy for the giraffe. So in the end we decided to take the antlers back and focus on his animal spirit fantasy. “

According to Namgung, Riot is “still early in the production of Udyr and everything is in the process of being perfected”, but the team is “gradually getting closer to the final look and feel” for the champion.

Creating Udyr’s mountain-like body wasn’t the only challenge in the remake. According to Animator Koingyeal “Koing” Jang, tweaking the champion’s animation also comes with its own set of hurdles. Jang wanted to make each of the four stances feel different but still connect with the main themes of Udyr. In particular, his Phoenix Stance aims to incorporate multiple tones—“bird-like, magical, and ice-related,” according to the blog post. The end result is a claw attack and a wing-like ice effect on Udyr’s arm, as a subtle hint to the Freljordian demigod Anivia.

On the other hand, Udyr’s visual effects are a mix of League champion and a fighting game character, visual effects artist Luis “Riot Bloois” Aguas recounts in the blog post.

To tweak Udyr’s Awakened poses, Aguas wanted to bring some inspiration from the fighting genre, giving the new animations a “sense of power”. He designed three effects for Udyr’s Bear Stance: “Idle VFX with bear claw active, pose trigger with active Awaken buff, and his passive Awaken VFX cast,” he said. he said. All of this is meant to signal that the champion has upgraded his auto attacks. After dealing with them, it’s time to introduce how they interact with enemies.

When performing the skill Awakened Bear Stance, the light effect from the automatic attacks will be transferred to other opponents through the chain effect. This is a hint of another Freljordian demigod, Volibear. When the enemy is alone, lightning strikes from above, hinting at another ability of Volibear in the game.

Like other champion VGUs, Udyr’s new skins won’t be limited to the base champion. His cosmetics are also reworked to modern standards, according to concept artist Justin “RiotEarp” Albers.

Alberts confirmed Riot will start improving cosmetics with Udyr’s recent Dragon Oracle cosmetic, which was released in 2019. “It’s a beautiful skin with a great theme, so there’s a lot to be had. had to adjust to his new character,” he said.

Finally, Riot mentioned that it takes a lot of time to improve Udyr cosmetics. Even though there were only five champion cosmetics, the stances alone took longer than the average champions. The developers will finally show another glimpse of the Udyr VGU update later before releasing it this year.

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