Time for designer challenge numero uno! Reds invited as well.
Hello Summoners players.
This thread is inspired by all the anger, hatred, satire, sarcasm, [INSERT_TARGETED_NEGATIVE_EMOTION] at the balance of this game. Heck, I've seen people mention how they could balance this game better than the current cast of the Live team and the game designers. Let's put that to the test.
Now I know a lot of us have experimented with champion concepts and even item concepts. The design space for this is a free, almost unrestrained medium of creativity. That's both a blessing and a curse. Now you're not dumb enough to understand why unrestrained creativity is a blessing, but some of you may wonder why it could be a curse. That's because this design space often doesn't account for the following:
- Powerspikes. (Triforce Irelia)
- The ability of the designed object to shift a Meta. (Cinderhulk Tank Meta)
- Abuse cases. (Runeglaive/SotEL Ezreal)
- Appropriate strengths and weaknesses (Vel'Koz)
- Counterplay (Skillshots)
- Overall power budget (Release BoRK)
Author note: If I've missed an important addition to this list, please let me know. I'm writing this while sleepy.
Of course there are other things that can go wrong in the design phase, however the above are generally the most influential towards the health of League of Legends. Basically, if you ignore this list, your designed item, champion or spell won't make it past initial testing. Being capable of designing within this list of restrictions is the truly challenging part.
Ironically enough, there is a designer we've come to love very VERY much, who tells this list to go suck a donger. His design space is as unrestricted as coding allows and for whatever reason, Riot seems to be OK with it. I mean, they had to completely redefine how projectiles work just for Face Wall. Whether it's through his dashing good looks, or his Charlie Sheen-ish charm, CertainlyT gets to have his design cake and eat it too.
#The challenge After having read his monthly quota of 2 boards threads, Morello has noticed that the playerbase is quite discontent with the CertainlyT's designs. In order to not have to sacrifice his great talent, Morello has hired you guys to provide the proper gating to CertainlyT's new item concept.
##The Need statement The game must remain fun and healthy at all times. This season can not afford another Juggernaut fiasco.
##The resource Alma's Prophecy UNIQUE passive: Visible enemy Champions withing [RADIUS] units have their next click location revealed. UNIQUE active: For the next [PRIME_TIME] seconds, your next ability has [RANGE_INCREASE] % increased active effect range. Cooldown: [COOLDOWN] seconds.
##Client specifications
- You shall operate within the above restrictions as best as you can.
- You shall identify the weakest, most underrepresented archetype/subclass (examples: Melee Assassin, Ranged poke Caster, etc) of champions that can use this item to become viable.
- You shall fill in EVERY value represented within square brackets.
- You shall define the item build, recipe and associated costs per tier.
- The item shall be slightly more gold efficient per tier.
- The final combine cost shall not exceed 1000 Gold.
- The item shall not have high value triple scaling (Example: AD x AS x Crit chance | AP x CDR x %Pen).
Author note: Some of you may have noticed that some the specifications aren't properly quantified or are left vague (define slightly, define weakest, etc.). You'll have to work with this IRL if your client doesn't understand the fundamentals of systems engineering.
You're probably wondering why you should start this challenge, why you should go through the effort and what the rewards are for it. The rewards are: Eternal fame, a plate of cookies, valuable design insight, possible insight into how Reds tackle these problems (if they're brave enough to try), fun with stretching your mind and personal fulfillment. I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys can come up with. Enjoy!
