@IronStylus: Some thoughts regarding the Piltover Aesthetic.

Slovakattack·Feb 28, 2014·6 votes·2,421 views

First off: This is my first time here. Pretty cool website. :3

I love the look and feel that you guys have finally decided on for the Piltover aesthetic. (I've dubbed it: Tomorrowland-punk, based off the popular Disney attraction that features a similar aesthetic.) That being said, I'd like to throw a few thoughts your way.

Blitzcrank is one of the few remaining champions that defy this look, and i'm preeeeety sure he's up for a VU at some point. When he gets a VU eventually, make sure to keep the feeling that he wasn't ever designed for combat! (This is currently shown in his awkward duck waddling movement animation, and just as awkward outline in general. He looks like he was made for heavy lifting, not combat, and that is as it should be.

Thought number two: Have you guys considered making a champion that is entirely a creation of Viktor's? The juxtaposition of the younger, more hopeful Viktor's philosophy in creating Blitzcrank with his current design philosophy ("Function over form") would be incredible to see in a new champion, Blitzcrank's "brother." (or sister.) I am aware that the battle-cast aesthetic is somewhat representative of this, but I feel that the requirement to hold to another champion's outline does limit it in some respects.

Thought three: Caitlyn's hat is both iconic and... well, kinda stupid. Have you thought about making it a 'gadget hat', with a scope attached? When she does her ult, she could even have a visor of some sort drop down. This would allow her to have a sort of hovering 'virtual scope' in place of what she has now. Transfering the 'gadgetry utility' from her gun to her hat and uniform would allow you to clean up the gun's look and shape and keep it in line with the "Tomorrowland-punk" feel. She could have things like an "auto-reloader" robot arm attached to her side that takes ammo clips from her waist and reloads her weapons for her, or stabilizers in her leggings that come down when she uses her ult.

11 Comments

RiotIronStylusMar 1, 20146 votes

I like that term. Pretty cool!

I think the idea of Blitz not looking like he's meant for combat is pretty key. There's an aspect that makes him sorta feel industrial in a way, not like he's some murder bot. He's somewhere between Commander Data and the Iron Giant, I think we can hit that home a bit better.

Not really, at least not yet. There's some other holes in those stories with Viktor that we'd like to see filled first. I think there's more characters to add to that chunk of story before we insert a straight addition of a Viktor-bot, or whatever. That said, I think maybe we could add in some things that he's helped create, or people he's helped facilitate. There's some ideas I have there. Maybe somewhere down the line there could be room for.. basically Blitzcrank's nemesis.. or something.. which would be pretty cool. But I think we have some robot saturation with Battlecast stuff at the moment.

While I think Cait needs an update, I really am not terribly fond of making her too gadgety. Some stuff on her that helps her reload, cool. Maybe some utility there and in the gun, but honestly, I think we need to move away from the "contraptiony" Piltover stuff, and really dig into that sleeker hextech look. Whatever it might be. I also think Heimer is covering gadget-stuff coming out of people's heads for now :P

HellioningMar 1, 20141 votes

But I like the gadgety, weird looking Piltover. I think Jayce increased the general tech level too much; it just looks modern now, and that's weird in a world that's still running around with swords.

GarentheonMar 1, 20142 votes

Gadgety is fine, but doesn't it seem that out of all the Piltover characters, Caitlyn would be the one not so into the tech world. Yes her gun can look more like its from Piltover but thats about it in my opinion. Caitlyn doesn't seem like the type to be into the tech side of things. More like an old school cop, chase em, bag em and tag em, type of sheriff. Thats just me

RiotIronStylusMar 3, 20143 votes

I'm pretty in line with this thinking. I don't think Cait's defining feature is gadgetry. I see her as more straight up badass proper cop.

SlovakattackMar 3, 20141 votes

I totally hear that. She's all business, aye? There really needs to be a buddy cop movie starring Caitlyn and Vi :P

That being said, although she'd move away from gadgetry, I could still see her have say... a visor or something drop down when she ults.

She doesn't have to have a 'gadget master' look and feel to still take advantage of the technology that piltover has to offer.

Keiran13Mar 3, 20142 votes

Her kit includes custom-designed projectiles, bear traps, net guns, and a nifty hat-scope on her ult... She's as much about gadgetry as Jinx is, but on the opposite end of the order/mayhem spectrum. Her lore feels admittedly older and a bit out of touch with current Piltover lore, but it also includes the gadgetry aspect. She's got a sort of cross of Sherlock Holmes/Batman investigative science going on throughout.

Just personally, I feel like she should maintain, or even increase the feel of how integral gadgetry is to her investigation and apprehension of Piltover's most notorious figures.

That said, she's not Vi or Jinx (or Jayce) in the sense that she designs her own equipment. She takes advantage of hextech for use in her investigations, rather than actively developing it.

The Caitlyn lore could use a minor revamp, and if necessary (though I'll miss it) the Willy Wonka hat can go, but she has to be a straight-up bad-ass proper cop... from Piltover! She's still gotta use gadgetry to get the job done!

I don't know how much you guys are looking into changing, while still trying to keep the feel. It's hard to reduce the whimsical aspects of a character that literally has cupcake snap traps, but how do you remove the cupcakes when they're so iconic now? And if you can't keep her from being at least somewhat whimsical, how do you make her be taken seriously?

Honestly when I first came to League, I read everything I could find all at once, and after a bit I came to the conclusion that League wasn't this super-serious gritty world, that there was room for whimsy and one-off stories. The past couple years have seen a lot of things reworked to better fit into some sort of more cohesive fantasy world, and I see that as a laudable goal, but I do not envy you guys the task of making it work without losing that sense of lighthearted fun that comes at the beginning of world creation.

daft inquisitorMar 1, 20142 votes

I think it looks post-modern, actually. Giant electric hammer/gun? That's crazy. You don't see that kind of stuff in the real world. Even Vi's giant fists are a variant of something large and clunky we just barely have in the real world (military-grade skeletal suits). I think Piltover has a little bit of a Cyberpunk feel to it, just a very low-level Cyberpunk, whereas the Cyberpunk we know is more high-tech.

I mean, when you think Cyberpunk, you think replacement limbs and amplifications and built-in circuitry... I see Piltover as a very early version of Cyberpunk, where they're working on the whole "human amplification" thing, but everything is still external and low-tech overall.

EDIT: I think Pulsefire Ezreal really is the epitome of this feel, he exemplifies what i'm trying to say. He's augmented, but on a very basic level. Hextech/Pulsetech is on its way to that overall. They just have a long road ahead of them.

ModCaptainMårvelousMar 1, 20145 votes

Well if you want to be technical...

1.) Blitzcrank is actually created in Zaun and, as such, is a creation of them. While the two have similar art styles, I'd definitely say Blitz fits more to the Zaunite look than Piltoverian

2.) Again, Blitzcrank is actually a creation of Viktor , just not 100%. I think he worked on a team but sort of stole credit for it.

3.) Caitlyn 's hat is only silly looking because of how large it is. Tone it down to a non-comical size and hey, she's looking prim and proper.

Still, you make some good points and I'll try to get Ironstylus to see this.

Sneak DogMar 1, 20143 votes

Blitzcrank was designed as a zaunite steam automaton capable of reclaiming waste relying on his own judgement to eliminate the need for human supervision by Viktor himself, before the credit of this creation was stolen from him by professor Stanwick! (Heck, later Stanwick used what he learned to revive Urgot too)

I would say making him look entirely zaunite wouldn't fit his personality, but I'd love to see him a zaunite robot with piltoverian improvements. Heck, make Urgots legs also look mildly similar to Blitzcranks legs. I like the lore relations tying all these champions together, if only Jayce was the one doing the aforementioned improvements, then the lore between Jayce and Viktor also makes a lot more sense.

This also makes the inevitable showdown between Blitzcrank and the then released post-depression-Viktor-robot more epic and a tragedy for Viktor, regardless of the outcome.