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I'm RiotMEMEMEMEMEME AMA about Champion/VGU Development!

RiotRiot MEMEMEMEME·12/20/2017, 12:17:36 AM·1 votes·23,859 views

Heya All!

There is a ton that goes into making a New Champ or VGU, some of it has been covered in AskRiot, or Dev blogs, but if there is something you have been itching to understand about the process I'll do my best to provide insight! Little history on MEMEMEMEME life at Riot for context:

  • I have been doing QA & Production work on reworks and new champs for almost 3 years.
  • Worked directly on Juggernauts Update, Marksmen Update, Mages Update, Assassins Update, Warwick VGU, and Urgot VGU.
  • Worked on some smaller projects like the Urfwick recall, and Cassio's tail update.
  • Bard is the best champion
  • RiotJag started a vendetta against me in internal playtests
  • Spend far too much of my free time reading about game dev -_-
  • Been playing League since Jarven Launched

Will be checking this thread inbetween League games :) I won't be able to answer questions about stuff in dev.

EDIT! Going to call it for the night, there are a few questions on here I will get back to tomorrow. Thank you all.

141 Comments

RiotRiot Zhanos12/20/2017, 1:33:42 AM9 votes

Hey MEMEMEMEMEME big fan,

What was your most difficult project to tackle so far and how would you say it turned out in the end?

Which Champion would you like to have a full VGU the most right now?

Who is your favorite QA peer, and why is it me?

Cheers Bard

Malicious Metal12/20/2017, 12:32:05 AM8 votes

Well, seeing that even after the Juggernaut update Morde's still on the VGU list. Waiting patiently with his little bug list that's nearly double the amount of champions currently available...

How would the Champ UP team go about working out a proper direction for Mordekaiser's rework? Would everything about his current kit be wiped and them be built from the ground up or are there some aspects about the ol' Metal Man you guys over there at Riot would definitely consider core to him as a champion?

Also, on a scale from one to 11, how Metal would Pentakill Mordekaiser be? https://78.media.tumblr.com/5bc45dc956d4e904831651793638af85/tumblr_ou7bm1Cai91w9kfmno6_540.gif

Illâoi Evê Siôn12/20/2017, 12:27:58 AM6 votes

Have there ever been cases where two people on a team really bumped heads over a certain topic? Like fighting over the champion's appearance or the particulars of a specific spell or something?

If so, how was it resolved?

Kelg12/20/2017, 12:28:55 AM5 votes

Will we see Mordekaiser 's VGU soon? His bugs are becoming sentient...

[sg-janna]

Monotachi12/20/2017, 1:03:45 AM4 votes

On the topic of Akali, although her update was considered smaller scope than the Big-4 (Kat, Talon, Rengar, Leblanc) - why did her assassin update changes altered her playstyle drastically? Nowadays, she is mainly played top lane more as an AP fighter that builds tanky rather than mid lane where she was more of a traditional assassin. I guess, alot of mains are still bitter about how the changes played out especially around her shroud. Akali isn't any more fun to play against because her shroud lasts long.

In regards to Akali, what was the thought process of allowing her stealth to be made much more reliable in-expense for the rest of her kit? I feel like it would of been best use of dev time and minimal disruption, if her kit stayed the same pre-6.22, but made shroud weaker to compensate for the removal of pinks. That way, she still retains her old playstyle while having a somewhat more reliable shroud but nowhere near what it is right now.

PS: Is Akali anywhere near getting a VGU within the next year or two?

Akali Best Waifu12/20/2017, 1:15:16 AM4 votes

Hi Riot MEMEMEMEME!

My question is about Akalis VGU. Apparently shes been really high on the VGU list for some years now and its something ive personally been dieing to see happen as model and kit wise she hasnt aged well at all with the game and weve been promised it for some time now. I feel like shes been taken away from her core identity of a hypercarry mid lane assassin and slowly been placed into this niche toplane fighter role which while its alright its not at all why alot of us mains fell in love with the champion. Obviously i dont expect any details of when its coming or anything of the sort but im curious as to what your personal thoughts are on her in terms of needing a VGU.

Secondly a while back someone posed a question about her to Daniel Z. Klein about what he would do to rework her if he was to do it and his response was that he would first start from scratch and come up with the idea first of what gives her power and where does she draw it from. Is that something to team goes through for all reworks/vgus when it comes to lore, abilities, etc etc to flesh out designs?

Floupi12/20/2017, 4:00:04 PM3 votes

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Rester12/20/2017, 12:49:20 AM3 votes

So non-VGU/Development related question: Why MEMEMEMEME and where did that name idea come from?

LostFr0st12/20/2017, 12:35:26 AM2 votes

If a champion was in dire need of a rework due to identity issues, but the playerbase was hostile and split on what their identity should be, would Riot delay the VGU even if they found a great direction for the Champion's kit?

tldr: how much/does playerbase sensitivity affect the champ VGU selection process?

Archlord Aatrox12/20/2017, 1:04:31 AM2 votes

In your honest and most professional opinion, which VGU do you think was the most impactful/influential in the history of League of Legends so far? Who was the most influential in terms of kit ideation and thematic exploration, champion role, or had the most impact on the meta? For example, I think Sion was the most well done VGU in terms of artistic design and spell kit, as Riot really pushed the envelope back then on the VGU process. Like, he went from a pizza-feet zombie with a Arnold Schwarzenegger-accent to a reanimated juggernaut with a thirst for destruction. In my honest opinion, he set the bar for future VGU's to come.

Also, any candidates you want to see receive a VGU in the near future? Praying Pantheon and Nunu get a makeover soon.

Ephriell12/20/2017, 4:28:23 AM2 votes

Think Veigar is gonna get a Visual update anytime soon? His kit is fine since it just got updated mid 2016, but the models for his base and skins (excluding final boss and omega squad) are super out-dated. Same could be said for panth and maybe even gragas(his are a little better though)

Rolling Girl12/20/2017, 1:02:41 AM1 votes

As we all know, there's no aspect of a champion, no matter how niche, that at least one person is attached to. Although I definitely see why reworks for Yorick and Urgot, for example, were so needed, and their newer iterations have gone on to be some of my most played champions (Urgot is actually my number one played Champ this year!), I'd be lying if I said there weren't parts of their old designs I didn't still miss. (RIP Urgot monocle) How do you guys choose what parts of a champion's identity are worth keeping and what parts just don't work any more?

Garentheon12/20/2017, 3:02:55 AM1 votes

Couple things:

  • Am I wrong to be thinking that the next Champion Roadmap will announce 2 new VGUs in production? Because, moving on to another VGU you would likely have the guys who did Swain and the guys who did Zoe (heard their next project is a VGU)

  • I know it requires a lot more animation work but why don't you, when you VGU a champ, give a recall to all their skins that are 975 and above? Champ doesn't feel complete to me when they're left still not completely up to the game/skin standard you guys set. I feel it is in the same fashion as when you made the great decision to update all of the champ's splash arts with every VGU.

  • Suggestion: For Pantheon's VGU (Whom I eagerly await everyday) You have his helmet completely cover, like Saber of Red in Fate: Apocrypha, and have a toggle for it to disassemble. I think the helmet style and that little function would be completely unique to Pantheon and the toggle off can give the players a little taste of Atreus.

Link below showing an example of what I mean

Hope it works

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/typemoon/images/2/21/CBAActivation.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20171218041254

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/typemoon/images/3/3a/Secret_of_Pedigree_Apocrypha.gif/revision/latest?cb=20170710110219

Thank you for making this thread. I got so excited. VGUs are 10000% my favorite thing about this game (and this game has a lot to love)

Baron Von Bangin12/20/2017, 3:18:26 AM1 votes

Why is it when you guys give champions a VGU you often decide to leave out their most iconic lines? Who is that for? It seems to me like the cost to payoff ratio should be pretty large given the size of scripts now. Like, the cost of putting some of the most favorite lines of a champion (e.g. "I takes a lot of effort to move like this in heels." "Do you feel a chill?" "You only need to click one... FOOL!") would be small and the payoff would be extremely fan pleasing.

Why leave these lines out?

Linna Excel12/20/2017, 4:14:53 AM1 votes

RiotMEMEMEMEMEME, I've been feeling for awhile now that riot's champion reworks have been suffering because riot isn't making enough new champs and is forcing ideas that really belong on a completely new champ and shoving them into reworks. Any thoughts about this?

pend far too much of my free time reading about game dev -_-

Any favorite sources on this subject?

Better Jungler12/20/2017, 12:46:04 AM1 votes

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Flemman12/20/2017, 12:38:08 AM1 votes

As you have work on the juggernaut update, what are your thought about skarner shrine? What where the goal with them and did they achieve it?

If you VGU him one day, would you like to keep them in it's gameplay while making them less restrictive (making him able to move them for exemple for more decision making as the skarner player) or would you just scrap them and give him a new passive