Staff – February 27, 2019 at 12:49 PM
If you want to get serious about playing games competitively, you’re going to have to get serious about stats. For a game like League of Legends, sizing up your opponents by checking their win-rates and K/D/A ratios for various champions can be a significant boon once a match kicks off. The only problem is that it can be a hassle to have to Alt+Tab and navigate to a third-party website to look up this information, especially when you’ve already got a game queued up.
LoLwiz's developer, MobaBeast, answer to that problem. The app functions as an overlay, displaying stats for every summoner on-screen — all without the player having to leave the client. The app is distributed by Overwolf, a platform that hosts a multitude of other overlays and extensions that are designed to help players enjoy their games to the fullest extent. These are the kinds of apps that can give you the competitive advantage that might mean the difference between losing and winning, between amateur and pro.
Like many of the developers hosted on the Overwolf platform, MobaBeast co-founders Florence Espinoza and Thomas Hansen were determined to solve a unique problem. “LoLwiz lets players make use of the loading time so that instead of just sitting there during the loading screen you're actually using that time to gather valuable information about both your team and your opponents, ultimately giving you a competitive edge,” Espinoza said.
When MobaBeast started working on LoLwiz, they decided to partner with both Overwolf and esports organization Cloud9 to bring it to fruition. Overwolf’s goal as a platform is to bring value to every gamer for every game, and their Appstore hosts a number of applications that provide helpful features like game capture, gameplay analysis, and in-game browsers as overlays. These apps are designed for games like Hearthstone, PUBG, Fortnite, and, of course, League of Legends. For anyone who’s serious about pro gaming or streaming, these apps function as handy, unobtrusive upgrades to gaming experiences, useful buffs during your journey to becoming a better gamer.
Today, with over 1,600,000 downloads and counting, LoLwiz is one of Overwolf’s most popular apps and among League of Legends’ most successful 3rd party apps. It’s free to download, and once you do, there’s no further setup required for jumping into a game and making use of the app’s overlay. The ease of use is remarkable; if you’re a League of Legends player, there’s nothing stopping you from simply downloading the app and firing up a game to see it in action.
When activated, LoLwiz proves indispensable. The overlay gives you access to detailed player profiles for every summoner in your match (including both your teammates and opponents). This includes K/D/A ratios, win-rates, how many games the summoner has played using their current champion, and a bevy of other relevant stats. Build guides recommend items to purchase and optimal spell orders, while counter tips help you prepare for lane matchups.
In addition, LoLwiz also now offers ban suggestions and a new feature called “Champ Select” that provides users guidance on which champion to choose in response to their opponents’ lineup. In short, using LoLwiz feels like having access to your very own esports coach or analyst; every step of the way, the app responds to your performance and actively roots for your success.
Overwolf’s applications feel robust and comprehensive because the platform invests a lot of time, energy, and resources in supporting its developers. One key benefit for MobaBeast, for instance, has been assistance in monetization strategy via Overwolf’s ad network. “While LoLwiz is completely free, our efforts are supported by our integration with the Overwolf ad network,” Hansen said. “That has been a core component of our growth strategy and overall success.” Overwolf has also continued to assist them with user experience and user interface feedback.
Uri Marchand, Overwolf’s CEO and co-founder, believes that players of all stripes can find something useful at Overwolf’s Appstore. “Our vision is to have an app for every player,” Marchand said. “It doesn't matter if you're a new player or you're a pro. We will have a product for you.”
In addition, he encourages any interested developers to check out their documentation and send them an app proposal. “I think every entrepreneur or developer that is interested in creating anything gaming- or esports-related would find our tools and technology of huge value,” Marchand said. He encourages all creators with passion and ambition to consider working with Overwolf to get their project off of the ground.
If you’re interested in upping your League of Legends game with LoLwiz, you can check out their app here. On the other hand, if you’re an aspiring developer and are interested in one day hosting an app on Overwolf’s platform, you can check out their documentation and more info about their application process here.
