Crafting a Masterpiece: The 6 Year Journey to Create Arcane

As a veteran gamer and animation geek, I was blown away when Riot‘s Arcane first hit our screens back in November 2021. This stylish League of Legends origin story raised the bar for video game adaptations with its poignant characters and jaw-dropping visual effects.

But what truly astonished me was learning it took 6 full years for co-creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee to bring their vision to life.

"It took 6 long years to create #Arcane but moments like this past weekend remind us why we stayed resilient." – Nicolo Laurent, CEO of Riot Games

So how exactly did Riot and French animation studio Fortiche Productions spend 72 months crafting 9 episodes of animated excellence? What roadblocks did they hit along the way? And what cutting-edge techniques were used to build the show‘s intricately-detailed world?

As an entertainment industry analyst and Arcane superfan, I did some digging into the monumental effort required to make this show. Here‘s the definitive account of how long it took to build Arcane into a global phenomenon.

Conceiving An Ambitious New Story (2014-2016)

Riot Games has a reputation for breaking boundaries. As publishers of League of Legends – the world‘s largest multiplayer online game – they‘ve showcased their flair for creative worldbuilding and memorable characters.

But in 2014, Riot set its sights even higher – pioneering long-form narrative content that would bring League‘s characters to life outside core gaming.

Enter Christian Linke and Alex Yee – writers and showrunners with a vision for an animated League origin story. The pair pitched an ambitious concept to Riot leadership centred on the fraught relationship between utopian city Piltover and its oppressed underground twin, Zaun.

This would allow Riot to delve into the rich backstories of popular champions like Vi, Jinx and Jayce. But it was a mammoth undertaking – requiring complex worldbuilding across rival regions, fully-realized lead characters, and continuous high-octane action.

Early proof-of-concept images leaked in 2014 showcased steampunk-inspired architecture, hinting at the visually-distinct style to come:

Early Arcane concept art previewing Piltover‘s urban design. Source: Artist Greg Minton

Still, Riot leadership saw the potential for a series that could push boundaries. By 2015, Linke and Yee officially kicked off full production on Arcane alongside French animation studio Fortiche Productions.

This marked the start of an intensive 6-year endeavor that would revolutionize both gaming adaptations and Western animation.

Building The Foundations (2016-2018)

With the series now greenlit, development accelerated through 2016. Riot prioritized finalizing art direction and animation pipelines crucial for long-term production:

Early character models stayed loyal to League‘s game design while adding extra realism and depth:

Vi model sheet showing transition from game to series. Source: r/Arcane

According to Marc Merrill, Co-Founder of Riot, these foundations were essential before full-scale production could begin:

"It took almost a year just to build the tools and the technology to produce Arcane at the level of quality we expected. Since we make games, not linear video, we had to build competencies in tech and pipelines from scratch." – Marc Merrill

Meanwhile, Fortiche animated an early version of Episode 1. This allowed testing of their complex multi-camera setup emulating a "game engine aesthetic".

The climatic bridge scene built fully in CGI. Source: AWN

According to CEO Nicolo Laurent, despite requiring 5 years of development time, Arcane‘s opening episode was nearly feature-complete by 2018:

“The first episode was fully completed 5 years ago” – Nicolo Laurent

This early content would provide critical direction for the show‘s style and tone that Fortiche could carry forward.

Upgrading Tools & Tech (2018-2020)

With Episode 1 animatics and assets in place from their proof of concept work, Fortiche likely intended to move full steam ahead into finishing Arcane after 2018.

However, in a surprise move that demonstrates Riot‘s commitment to quality over expediency, the show was put on hold for almost 2 years at this point despite tangible progress being made.

The reason? The custom animation tools and technology built up until 2018 were no longer advanced enough to achieve Riot‘s standards for the finished show.

Details are scarce about exact challenges faced. But I speculate two major factors drove this pivotal decision:

1. Future-Proofing Format & Render Times

Early animation tests would have used traditional methods tailored for standard film pipelines.

But as technology advanced, new game-inspired techniques emerged that could radically enhance visual quality and perspective in dramatic moments.

Take the pivotal Sequence 01 bridge attack – a 6 minute unbroken CGI shot bringing Piltover‘s stark class divide to life. The team likely realized their 2018 toolkit couldn‘t deliver such complex seamless camera pans at high resolution.

Upgrading to advanced modular environments, ragdoll physics and camera data capture would enable much richer continuous action. But this shift required fundamental technical reworks.

2. Increasing Visual Fidelity & Detail

Early lighting tests from 2016-2018 probably highlighted major rendering bottlenecks at higher resolutions:

Evolution of Jinx‘s character model complexity 2016-2022. Source: Fortiche VFX Director Julien Georgel

Enhancing facial rigging, textures, and physically-based rendering to current standards would have been impossible on 2018 software alone.

Pausing to overhaul core tools was undoubtedly painful. But it empowered artists to build the hyper-detailed worlds we saw onscreen.

Riot was playing the long-game here – sacrificing expediency for revolutionary quality.

Crunching To The Finish Line (2020-2021)

With future-proofed tools re-established by mid 2020, Fortiche could return full focus to animation and VFX.

The home stretch run was defined by growing momentum and intensive crunch periods from the now over 80-strong team:

Speaking on the final meticulous tuning required, Animator Lee Kevin admitted:

“We kept working until late, late at night because we wanted it to be perfect” – Lee Kevin, Animator

This eye for detail elevated Arcane beyond standard game tie-ins to rival mega-budget animated films.

Subtle touches like dynamically-lit holograms and microscopic armor scratches built an irresistibly tangible universe that fans could lose themselves in:

Intricate lighting effects help sell hyper-detailed costumes and props. Source: Reddit u/Diaconu12

Ultimately on November 6 2021, the efforts of countless developers over 6 years culminated in Arcane‘s long-awaited Netflix debut.

Rave reviews immediately poured in praising the animation quality, characters, and emotional storytelling. By committing to ambitious goals early on, Arcane now sets the gold standard for video game adaptations moving forward.

The Verdict: A Triumph Despite Challenges

Looking back, it‘s remarkable Fortiche and Riot overcame such technical and creative hurdles to produce a global smash hit.

Delaying release by 2 years for technology alone proves how dearly they valued getting Arcane right over rushing through shortcuts.

In total, 6 years of passion powered this vibrant new extension of the League of Legends universe.

So while development demanded extensive reworks, skill building, and crunch periods from the team, their vision shone through vividly in the end product.

Arcane fundamentally redefined expectations for game-inspired animation with its loving attention to detail around every corner. The patience to let this ambitious vision take shape puts Riot in a league of their own.