Last time I covered some of the design decisions that went into League of Legends and why I think those decisions were good ones. Today I continue my analysis with the following topics.
Learning Curve:
The first thing I noticed when I played League of Legends was how easy it was to get into the game. I was a new player to the genre, although I had played RTS games as well as games like Diablo 2, so the control scheme was familiar. The game got me right into the action after a short tutorial (which I will talk about next). I was surprised that I was able to just play the game without really having a clue what I was doing or what any of the terminology meant. For instance, there is a list of recommended items for each character which isn't terrible. If a new player just sticks to that list, they won't be at a huge disadvantage, to many of the other players with more experience.
Speaking of experience, League of Legends uses it as a representation of how much a player has played the game. That means that as you play more, they advance your experience level. With that level advancement come additional gameplay mechanics, such as more summoner spells, additional rune slots, and more masteries to pick from. A beginner has little to worry about besides picking his or her character, while the more experienced user can spend the time customizing his masteries and selecting a rune page to match. There is however a side effect of this system, and that is that more experienced players have a noticeable advantage by having these additional features unlocked.
Match Making:
The way League of Legends gets around the experience advantage is by using their matchmaking system. When a new player decides to play a game, the system attempts to match that player with other new players, thereby keeping the overall balance of runes and masteries even between the teams. Even when a new player queues with a more experienced friend, the matchmaking system does its best to find players that will keep the teams balanced. The result is a game that is generally more evenly matched and enjoyable for everyone involved.
Tutorials:
Even before a player begins their first game in League of Legends, the client suggests that the player go through a short tutorial. This tutorial is well designed and teaches the player some of the basics of the game on a simple map with only one lane and scripted events that walk the player through the required steps to win a match. A voice guides the player and provides positive reinforcement that is very welcoming, and encouraging. After the tutorial, the player is offered a choice to play a practice game against some bots. This practice game provides quests and optional advice that teaches the new player a lot of the terminology that is regularly used in the game. The result is a player that is at least partly familiar with the things he or she will hear from other players in normal games.
Map Design:
I'm going to focus on Summoner's Rift, the standard 5v5 map that I spend most of my time on in League of Legends, for this discussion, but I believe the general design applies to all of the maps that Riot has made for their game. In warcraft 3 one of the main resources that players would collect is lumber. This meant that trees were easy to add to the map as obstacles for DotA, and that it was easy to add ways for those trees to be destroyed for gameplay purposes. The main downside of this is that the map ends up with a lot of small features that allow a short cut to happen that aren't readily apparent to the new player. League of Legends takes the approach of making the impassable terrain immediately discernable to even an inexperienced player. There are still some "short cuts" that cater to the players looking for a bit more of depth in game play, but the spell that gives all characters the ability to jump over certain spots in the terrain isn't available until level 12, after the player has time to complete quite a few games.
All most of the hero-based games like League of Legends are role playing games (RPGs), and involve the development of skills and abilities for the hero. League of Legends has an extra level of character progression that extends beyond the progression of an individual battle. The summoner is the term for the persistant character who summons the champions to battle each time, and has the ability to prepare two spells for use in assisting the hero with his or her combat against the enemy. The summoner is the one that gains experience and levels. The summoner is able to unlock new champions and skins permanently. The summoner gathers runes into run pages that heros can use to improve their fighting abilities.
The idea of RPG-like persistant character progression is not unique to League of Legends and has been a good reason why games such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft have a tendency to really draw in their customers to keep playing. In all honesty, it could be seen as a negative feature for a game to use this technique to draw in players for more and more time as they accumulate the various rewards available to them in the game. I think there is still a good amount of enjoyment that a player can get from the sense of accomplishment that these little checkpoints provide.
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