Boards›Dev Corner

New Skin Descriptions in Skin Collection Tab

Riot Stellari·1/9/2018, 11:57:34 PM·1 votes·15,494 views

Hey all, I posted this to the PBE forums but it'd probably be smart to post this announcement here too.

We’re really excited to announce that starting in patch 8.2 we’ll be rolling out Skin Descriptions for the Skins Collection Tab.

When we set out to make a new skin, we think a lot about how it fits into the skin’s alt-universe, what the champion’s background might be, and who the champion is in this universe. These conversations and character building inform everything about a skin, from the VFX, SFX, the recall, and of course the splash.

Sometimes we’ve shown you these stories through animations, comics, or short stories, etc… but a lot of times that background story remains head-canon and never leaves our brains...which is a shame. We want to start showing you more skin related ‘lore’ and background information, and adding descriptions to skins is one step in doing that.

We DO try to surface these background snippets in the splash or in-game elements and sometimes we succeed (Omega Squad skins). A lot of ya’ll picked up on the backstory of how Omega Squad Teemo lost his mentors and became the battle hardened Yordle psycho we know.

But sometimes we fail, like with the Immortal Journey skins. Did you know that Eternal Sword Master Yi was in love with an ascended being who guarded the Sacred Sword (cough Janna not Shen)? No? Well, if you did it was probably because you followed me on Twitter or saw my responses here. We didn’t do a very good job of telling that background story, unfortunately.

We hope with this small addition to the Skin Collection tab we’re able to give players who love skins a little bit more into the world they live in. In the future, we’ll also be adding the ability to sort by Skin Universe (did you know Project and Program share the same universe?)

As we have close to 1,000 skins in the game, categorizing and ordering them is going to be an ongoing process. Sometimes we have to go deep into the past: what was the backstory with Dark Candy Fiddlesticks? Did one exist? So this will take some time. But with each patch we’ll be adding a few more until we’re all caught up. With this initial batch, we focused on our biggest thematic sets, but you’ll be seeing a lot more shortly.

Do you have thoughts or feedback on the Skins Collection Tab? Let Riot Jedahs (Skin Collection Tab producer) and me (Skins producer) know! :)

18 Comments

ModWulf Helhammer1/9/2018, 11:59:28 PM8 votes

I, for one, look forward to whether Heartseeker Quinn was actually sending that letter to Heartseeker Lucian.

waiting for WoW1/10/2018, 12:04:05 AM3 votes

Sounds good I'm still confused as to what Eternum Cassiopeia is supposed to be exactly

DontTouchMyBall1/10/2018, 2:19:19 AM3 votes

Wow, how come this threah isnt blowing with replies!

I truly totallly LOVE this annoouncement! [sg-lux] I knew this wasa thing, I just didn't think this woulnd't be coming so soon, I'm happy!

Cant wait to drown myself in many themes, universes as well as explore a little bit of history since I'm fairly a recent player that only joined at the end of Season 6.

This year I look to expand my skin collecyion, with BladeCraft and SweetHeat Orianna, Reaper Soraka, Dragon Zyra and quite possibly a Jhin skin I just havent dedided which. I can't wait to get those! Speaking of which, Orianna hasn't a legendary skin yet, I bet that one day she will, and Riot design team won't fail to impress me. Thank you so much for the efforts and hard work, trully, all of this is really appreciate it!! tytyty [slayer-pantheon-rainbows]

Warlord Scrap1/10/2018, 12:20:45 AM2 votes

i look forward to it but are the short storys going to be on the champion skins tab too or is it exclusive to the skins collection tabs. I still am confused but the skins collection sometimes.
Also are the shorts going to be available to everyone or just owners of said skins.

Geneman1/10/2018, 12:39:20 AM2 votes

How detailed will they be? Will they cover most of their part of lore in the client? Like as you said with Eternal sword yi? Another example would be Jhin skins, we know nearly nothing about Blood Moon, but a lot about Project Jhin, so compared to those how much info will there be available in the client? And what about e-sports skins?

Sona Ping1/10/2018, 2:53:09 AM1 votes

First thought was: Eww. I would much rather have an area in the tab for ward skins.

I would much rather have an area in that tab so that there is an are in client for viewing the skins that have been left out of inclusion in the Skins Collection tab so far: ward skins. I would prefer the feature over it because it would be useful and enjoyable addition while a writing that says that while Caitlyn and Vi are law enforcement officers of Piltover, the skins Officer Caitlyn and Vi are law enforcement officers of (made up place name) would not add to the game experience. I don't see that being different from others like with learning that Arctic Warfare Caitlyn is actually a soldier of (made up place name) or that Safari Caitlyn is a hunter and/or explorer of (made up place name) who hunts/explores the land of (made up place name).

What I am getting at it is that the skins provide alternative art and aesthetic that can be appreciated as such by those enjoy that and anyone of those people can approach however they wish (Yeah, for the in-universe skins like Pre-void Kassadin it's not as applicable. You all should really do more of those.) Adding story bits restricts that capability, even if they aren't really actual stories. Exposition is information, information that doesn't mean anything to the audience without the story, which exposition is not. Progression, character development, stakes, time with a character and watching their actions and reactions is what gives something to people. Writing "Takeo fell in love with Rinko at first sight." doesn't mean anything because that's just information. It's the opening narration for a movie that ends at 1:40, a summary off of IMDB. Safari Caitlyn, Bad Santa Veigar, and Definitely Not Udyr are fun skins because they were made to be fun skins, a text section to explain them is not going to add to them and make them more fun.

The reverse, taking away from them, not so much. Anybody who likes the aesthetic of the skin can appreciate it and enjoy the art of it and approach it from anyway they please. However, adding this is going to make some people who liked the skin before dislike it. It's unavoidable. Like with Zoe, for example. "Don't meet your heroes" and all that. There's going to be details that will ruin it for people, for any number of skins for any number of people.

So that's why I dislike the idea. It'll take something that worked, that people liked, and cause some people to dislike what they enjoyed.

Aeszarck1/10/2018, 3:02:39 AM1 votes

Sounds great! Thanks for doing this! I just hope that the backstories don't make me dislike any of my current skins. I think it's unlikely, but with some skins it's nice just to be able to come up with my own ideas about their backgrounds.

LightningShado1/11/2018, 5:04:45 AM1 votes

I really would like a show. For the PROJECT Universe. Please. I would watch the crap out of that show.

DanceofaThousand1/11/2018, 5:38:31 PM1 votes

So if anyone can answer, is there any relationship between Lunar Goddess Diana and Lunar Empress Lux ? Like is Diana Lux's mother or something? Is she the one who gave Nasus and Warwick to Lux?

Thanks

Solomon Oppa1/31/2018, 3:05:22 PM1 votes

Do you think there should be an Icon for people with a certain amount of skins? I have purchased skins throughout the years, and lone behold I was surprised when this feature was available. I've always wanted to see how many skins I have, and I've always wanted a way for people to recognize that. I wish there could be some form of that recognition. I have a total of 744 skins (1/31). Please Riot if you can take my suggestion, and maybe do something?

DeadUnborn1/10/2018, 12:48:18 AM1 votes

(cough Janna not Shen)

too soon