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Between Two Turrets - Chat with Morello! [COMPLETE]

RiotA Small Man··21 votes·111,665 views

http://i.imgur.com/ST2zjFW.jpg

Welcome to the latest installment of Between Two Turrets, a new Q&A series from the NA Community team in which we'll connect you with various Rioters to chat about League, life, and anything in between. You can expect an installment every couple weeks or so, with Rioters from all over jumping in to spend some time with you on the boards.

This week, we've got game designer Morello!

EDIT - Heading back to work for now guys, thanks for hanging out! I'll try to check back over the next couple days in case anyone has more questions. Good chatting with you all!

Hey everyone!

My name's Ryan Scott, and I work as part of the design team at Riot. Previously, I served as League's Lead Champion Designer for a couple years, then as a member of the design leadership team more broadly. These days, I'm working on an R&D project, which is part of why I've not been able to answer LoL questions as much or engage in the topical issues. Still, I wanted to use this chance to get back out talking with folks and come up for air a bit (I missed you guys <3).

I know there will be a lot of questions about what exactly "R&D" means at Riot. While you're of course free to ask anything, I've obviously gotta be a bit stingy with the details. I can potentially field very broad philosophy or "why" questions, but "what" and "how" (and especially "when!") are things I won't really be able to address.

As for non-Riot stuff, I play a ton of games in a lot of genres - video and physical. I've been spending a lot of time lately in CS:GO Ranked (SO close to AK!), a bunch of board games with the likes of Meddler, FeralPony, Reinboom, VitzKreig and Ezreal, and catching up on some Rogue-likes and other random smaller titles during the summer release lull. I have two Corgis, Professor Phineas T. Wigglebutts, and Ruby Evangelyne McNubbins. I'll try to get some pics in because Corgis > Morello. I'm also into UFC, go to Disneyland with my wife far too often, and like to drown myself in Mexican food and waterparks.

I do like the "anything" in the ask me anything theory, so feel free to ask personal or non-LoL-related stuff if interested. I'm pretty forthcoming and don't mind sharing things about my personal or professional life, or just discuss the nerf patches with old NMST :)

It's been awhile, community. I'm excited to chat for a bit - let's have at it!

440 Comments

Billlbert30 votes

in soviet runeterra, Irelia nerfs item 3165

RiotMorello18 votes

{quoted}

in soviet runeterra, Irelia nerfs item 3165

Communist!

StellarPrime6 votes

Hey Morello! You were one of the Rioters who had a hand in designing Zyra Zyra. I (along with many others I'm sure) am famished xD. Is there anything...? Anything at all in the works for Zyra? A lore update? A new skin? Or even updated visuals? New VFX on her spells at the very least would be awesome.

I realize a lot of work got put into her and she's probably the most difficult champion to make skins for also, but her visual style isn't quite in harmony/accordance with the current Summoner's Rift. You might not have an idea for all of those things since I don't believe you're on the narrative team per se.. but If you know, PLEASE tell us if there's something!

RiotMorello6 votes

I don't know about anything in the works for LoL these days since I work on R&D now. Meddler likely knows that these days.

Crawfcey6 votes

I feel as though Riot has become scared to talk about things that they're working on, and then justifying that by calling it a "surprise". This was due to mishaps like Ao Shin, I imagine. I believe this to be an incorrect approach. Road-bumps aren't unique to game development or Riot Games. I strongly believe that as long as Riot is vocal about these bumps, and is so in a timely manner, they would not receive nearly as much backlash as they did for previous projects. For example:

  1. Riot teases development of champion Ao Shin
  2. Riot discovers problems with kit development 3) Riot silently moves on to another project, only to later disclose that it didn't work out
  3. Riot tells the community what isn't working, and what their plans are to move forward

We are a community of gamers. We know that sometimes, in development, things don't always work out. But as long as you are timely (cough replays, new client cough) vocal about development issues, I bet you we'll surprise you.

Thoughts?

RiotMorello4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Alpha Fetus,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=ac8IwuH1,comment-id=0078,timestamp=2015-07-29T21:26:49.510+0000)

I feel as though Riot has become scared to talk about things that they're working on, and then justifying that by calling it a "surprise". This was due to mishaps like Ao Shin, I imagine. I believe this to be an incorrect approach. Road-bumps aren't unique to game development or Riot Games. I strongly believe that as long as Riot is vocal about these bumps, and is so in a timely manner, they would not receive nearly as much backlash as they did for previous projects. For example:

  1. Riot teases development of champion Ao Shin
  2. Riot discovers problems with kit development
  3. Riot silently moves on to another project, only to later disclose that it didn't work out
  4. Riot tells the community what isn't working, and what their plans are to move forward

We are a community of gamers. We know that sometimes, in development, things don't always work out. But as long as you are timely (cough replays, new client cough) vocal about development issues, I bet you we'll surprise you.

Thoughts?

I agree we're too measured and careful. We should be clear and create a pattern of transparency - then these things are easier to discuss and players can generally expect that 'things change' - which is true in development. If we all talked in this way, then the backlash would be smaller as I think the community would work to contextualize it for people who were disappointed, too.

So yeah, I think we need to do better here. I'm hoping things like this will help a bit.

someotherone3 votes

I think it could even be helpful if Riot sometimes made a short dev blog describing the changes they run into when creating content - that way aspiring game designers could see the challenges and problem solving process that comes along with the job, as well as letting the community know that things change.

MrRado5 votes

Since RTS spawned MOBAs, what about the opposite? Since LoL exists separate of the actual League universe, why not a RTS for Runeterra? Has that ever been considered?

I can see purchasing a champion also netting you a set of scenarios to play through for their intro/history/lore, in addition to RTS styled multiplayer/PvP.

RiotMorello6 votes

{quoted}

Since RTS spawned MOBAs, what about the opposite? Since LoL exists separate of the actual League universe, why not a RTS for Runeterra? Has that ever been considered?

I can see purchasing a champion also netting you a set of scenarios to play through for their intro/history/lore, in addition to RTS styled multiplayer/PvP.

RTS are tricky; I've really personally liked Relic's approach with the Company of Heroes series, as it's a breath of fresh air that really shakes up the traditional model a lot. For RTS to even return, we'll need to see a lot of innovation.

Thryale4 votes

After watching the Honest Game Trailers about LoL, I got to thinking, does riot actually plan on making any other games?

If riot were to make additional games, would you prefer they expand LoL's universe, or would you want to see some more unique IP's added to riot's portfolio? What genre's would you like to see riot work on in the future?

RiotMorello15 votes

I hope so. That's what I'm supposed to be working on every day right now :)

Apologies for being vague (need to be), but I can provide some color on what we're interested in:

  • Genres we like to call "gamer's games" overall - stuff you can really sink your teeth into.
  • For IP, I think doing only one or the other would be short-sighted. We're working a lot to bolster League's IP, so there's opportunities there to make that come to life in different ways. Likewise, if that's ALL we did, it might be too limiting for some concepts. Whatever it is should fit the game in question.
AMYS GRAVE4 votes

As a Rioter who posts on the boards frequently, what are your thoughts on Rioter interaction with the community feedback and/or in general.

RiotMorello17 votes

{quoted}

As a Rioter who posts on the boards frequently, what are your thoughts on Rioter interaction with the community feedback and/or in general.

Frankly? Personally? I think we're too careful.

This is all well-intended (wanting to do the right thing in the right way), but in my mind, overthinking it can lead to unintended results. I'd rather have a quick scrap and hug it out afterwards than avoid the scrap. This is the way I think we avoid "big company entity" and "big playerbase" and gets us into "people and humans". Without that, it's hard to build trust or good relationships.

RiotMorello11 votes

{quoted}

Frankly? Personally? I think we're too careful.

This is all well-intended (wanting to do the right thing in the right way), but in my mind, overthinking it can lead to unintended results. I'd rather have a quick scrap and hug it out afterwards than avoid the scrap. This is the way I think we avoid "big company entity" and "big playerbase" and gets us into "people and humans". Without that, it's hard to build trusts or good relationships.

One thing I'll add is that I can say this at all without fear of reprisal is an example of Riot's beating heart and soul, though. That's the ever-present optimism for this that I have.

AMYS GRAVE3 votes

What do you think an individual player/Rioter could do to improve this?

RiotMorello9 votes

{quoted}

What do you think an individual player/Rioter could do to improve this?

Good question.

For players, I think asking for clarity and trying to contain rage is more inviting to the conversation, which makes people feel safer to post overall. The reason I tend to be so cavalier with it is the experience with the community and feeling "safe" to post. It's earnestly hard to be motivated to get yelled at a lot :)

For Rioters, I think boldness and an understanding that the world won't end if you say something a bit off-color is important. I've send some incredibly stupid shit in my time, and I haven't been smote by a meteor. :)

Crawfcey3 votes

{quoted}

I've send some incredibly stupid shit

{quoted}

send

RiotMorello8 votes

Haha

shadowwzrd4 votes

Why did you guys stop with the patch previews that were done before by you and phreak?

I always enjoyed those since they were simple yet got straight to the point these new patch rundowns feel like they talk a bit to much non related things towards the patch.

Lastly do you think people should wait before upgrading to the newest windows 10 so that any bug/errors are fixed that can occur with league?

RiotMorello5 votes

{quoted}

Why did you guys stop with the patch previews that were done before by you and phreak?

I always enjoyed those since they were simple yet got straight to the point these new patch rundowns feel like they talk a bit to much non related things towards the patch.

Lastly do you think people should wait before upgrading to the newest windows 10 so that any bug/errors are fixed that can occur with league?

I don't know. I loved those. They were quick to make too, so we could always do them :)

Unsure on Win10

Solideus3 votes

How much do you think the game will have changed in, say, three years?

RiotMorello11 votes

It's hard to say from afar, but there's always the line to toe of "evolution" vs "this isn't League anymore."

Personally, I think the game does a good job in being really deep on optimization and mastery, but I've always wanted to see more variety too. Maybe that's naive at this point, but more possible ways to play would be one of the things I think would benefit LoL lots.

Solideus3 votes

Sooo, is this R&D-project something that might or will affect the game League of Legends directly?

RiotMorello7 votes

Not the one I'm working on, though it's possible that we'd use an R&D process to solve some of the meatier or more isolated problems if we really need to reinvent the wheel on something.

Overall, R&D is a space where we want to have a lot of opportunity to go big or go home. "Fail fast" is a term we use to make sure we're chasing things that are actually resonant and that actually matter, so I suppose that could be applied to a lot of things where a big discovery phase is needed.

Toaster363 votes

What are your thoughts on games as tools for interactive story telling, especially on the extreme end of the spectrum? Think Dear Esther, Gone Home, or any visual novel.

RiotMorello8 votes

{quoted}

What are your thoughts on games as tools for interactive story telling, especially on the extreme end of the spectrum? Think Dear Esther, Gone Home, or any visual novel.

I tend to be a bit less interested in the ones that are straight-narrative driven, but like ones that incorporate gameplay and emotional resonance to really make you feel something.

This War of Mine is a good example for me, if a bit short. The decision on Geth/Quarian in ME3 was also a nail-biter for me. That stuff really stays with me and shows that games as a medium have a LOT more they can do than what we've done.

Rico Jungle Only2 votes

Hey Morello. My question focuses on two fighter champs that are of hot topics, Panth Pantheon & AatroxAatrox .

Starting with Panth: He starts off good in the laning phase, yes, but falls off heavily after if he cannot outburst enemies as he has no mobility moves, or a reliable escape. This is in addition to the changing meta and item changes, all of which do not favor Panth at the moment...

Q: I there any chance Panth's W can become a skill shot so he can jump over walls and have some way of mobility as a currently immobile fighter/assassin?

I've talked to Zenon Stoic about it, and he wishes to at least fix the symmetry of Panth's W stunning interactions on champs. It would also allow Panth, (who builds usually very squishy), some fallback pattern, over being CC'd and instal-dying in the start of a team fight.

Q: Is there a possibility of bringing back a fighter item that has early armor pen, but has fighter capabilities?

Onto Aatrox: Maybe its only me, but the only build path he has right now is Bork + Tank to do decently. I remember when he was released you guys called him a Auto reliant melee fighter, but upon his release, he was a EXCELLENT caster. He had more choice in build path over just going pure tank, and if you landed you skills right, he had kill potential and felt really good before the nerf.

Q: Is there any way you could bring more of the "caster" (where you can trade well with his abilities) side to Aatrox back?

Q: Will/may the current issues lead to a small rework in the future for him?

Q: Is the "Drain Tank Fantasy" still a think you can support, specifically in Aatrox's Case..?

Thank you for your time. :D

RiotMorello9 votes

I can't talk in the detail necessary for this these days of what's possible (since I'm not working on LoL these days), but I can answer the more philosophical question of Drain Tank.

I still believe Drain Tank can work, but I think it can't be auto-attack based. AAs are sort of an automatic DPS meter you can fill when in your attack range, and have a lot of their own tuning.

Someone like Fiddlesticks might be a better model, if you made it so more champs could interact with his W and disrupt it. Then you get some back-and-forth between how he uses the skill, if you can disrupt it and costs/benefits to that. An AA-based drain tank will just stat check you and be a spreadsheet problem - something I think neither myself nor the LoL team is particularly find of since it removes a lot of the interesting decisions around it.

Merxamers2 votes

  1. What kind of LoL champions do you gravitate towards (ie. what are your favorite archetypes)?

  2. Do you play Magic the Gathering at all, and if so, what's your favorite kind of deck to run?

DJ Sona Buvelle2 votes

  1. What is your favorite car?

  2. Favorite Food?

  3. Opinions on how far Riot has gone with designing champions?

RiotMorello7 votes

[{quoted}](name=DJ Sona Buvelle,realm=EUW,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=ac8IwuH1,comment-id=000e,timestamp=2015-07-29T20:09:57.967+0000)

  1. What is your favorite car?

  2. Favorite Food?

  3. Opinions on how far Riot has gone with designing champions?

Modern Car: I really do like the Tesla. If Back to the Future were made today, the DeLorean would have definitely been a Tesla. Classic: '68 Chevy Nova. Dunno why, but I've always found that to be one of the most iconic and awesome classic cars.

  1. Anything Mexican overall, though I have a soft spot for awesome enchiladas.

  2. Getting better (Tahm Kench I particularly like), but I think we can go further with abilities that can be very powerful or fail spectacularly, like Bard's ult.

Game Over ZI2 votes

Hey, 3 questions.

  1. Have you though of any ideas that would be cool to implement in future champs.

  2. I've seen a lot more cases of heavy creep block (saw some people complete locked in, unable to move. surrounded by 3 minions), and wondering who might know why that might be

  3. Any favorite classic video games? (whatever you define as classic)

RiotMorello3 votes

  1. A lot - there's always more ideas than appropriate vehicles for them! Lissandra's E was one we'd wanted to do since I'd started and didn't find the right fit until then.

  2. Meddler can answer best on champion design trends, and whether they're on purpose or by circumstance.

  3. For me, that's the late 80s/early 90s era, since I'm old. :P I'm replaying FFVI right now, I just did a spin through Super Metroid again, and one of my favorite games of all-time is Final Fantasy Tactics.

Game Over ZI1 votes

has there ever been an idea of a champ that could copy an enemy/ally ability?

RiotMorello2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Game Over ZI,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=ac8IwuH1,comment-id=001d00000000,timestamp=2015-07-29T20:27:23.248+0000)

has there ever been an idea of a champ that could copy an enemy/ally ability?

We've tried this before, but one major challenge that we have is no animations are "shared" other than some basic attacks (and even those have different timings). Imagine if you stole Garen's Spin to Win and we tried to make LeBlanc do that with no animation, or had to make exponential animations to support that. We'd have to stop making all other content. :)

Linna Excel6 votes

It might be possible using a "ghost" model of the champ that has the animation and rigging attached. Something like Mordekaiser's ult but centered on the caster. All you'd need is a call to the model (already in that game), its animations/effects (already in that game), and a procedural shader of some kind.

RiotMorello5 votes

Yeah - if you can do a full transform it could work, so doppleganging (?) isn't off the table, but stealing a specific ability and using it yourself is very difficult.

AMYS GRAVE2 votes

What is your opinion on the new HUD?

RiotMorello7 votes

{quoted}

What is your opinion on the new HUD?

I generally like the way it gets in the way less, but I'm still having to get used to where the info is. I'd have to see when my eyes settle in to it.

Muted Summoner2 votes

If you could Pick 5 Champions that you feel are out of date (in need of a rework/tweek) who would those 5 champions be and if possible maybe a very short Why.

RiotMorello16 votes

{quoted}

If you could Pick 5 Champions that you feel are out of date (in need of a rework/tweek) who would those 5 champions be and if possible maybe a very short Why.

I'll pick 3 :)

  1. Poppy: Poppy's kit is abusable, has poor gameplay interaction and has low output on anything useful other than "don't die, kill things."

  2. Yorick: Similarly, Yorick's impact on a game is damaging in a bad way, and he fails to accurately meet the Necromancer fantasy in a way I think we could bring to life (heh)

  3. Irelia: Sorry to say, but true. She's the poster child for "outstat u" and I think League could do better at providing gameplay along with power whenever possible.

The Bro Father2 votes

I'm thinking I am too late for this but here's hoping. The story around and in the characters and world of LoL is awesome and super fun to read.....when its there. i remember y'all used to do the like Runeterra Newspaper but then that stopped suddenly. With the Frejlord and now Bilgewater story game modes can we expect to see more or more frequent story content come out. I'd love to see a Noxus vs Demacia game mode.

RiotMorello4 votes

{quoted}

I'm thinking I am too late for this but here's hoping. The story around and in the characters and world of LoL is awesome and super fun to read.....when its there. i remember y'all used to do the like Runeterra Newspaper but then that stopped suddenly. With the Frejlord and now Bilgewater story game modes can we expect to see more or more frequent story content come out. I'd love to see a Noxus vs Demacia game mode.

Unsure on plans, but one thing I think we should take ownership for is that we wanted to (rightly) overhaul and improve lore/IP. The issue is that we took what we were doing away before we had anything new to show, which is something I think we're too quick to do at Riot.

The new events are awesome though, so that helps a bit :)

Awkbak BR1 votes

What is the future of Game design and what is Riot Games' role in that? What milestone have you accomplished while at riot game?Irelia

RiotMorello4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Awkbak BR,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=ac8IwuH1,comment-id=0063,timestamp=2015-07-29T21:04:24.542+0000)

What is the future of Game design and what is Riot Games' role in that? What milestone have you accomplished while at riot game?Irelia

Good question.

Game Design wise, we've never done an awesome job of laying out a cohesive vision for the game and I think that's a necessary but big challenge for us. I think that'll be the next mountain to climb. We're a culture born out of reactive firefighting, and need to learn to burn the candle at both ends.

Myself, I think the biggest milestone I'm personally happy with is 2012's champion roster. While we didn't solve everything, I think we did a lot to make champions feel thematically and gameplay-wise more different when compared to the 2011 roster, where there was a big trend of normalization. I'm also happy from helping grow the team from something small into something bigger, but that's internal to Riot :)

Praetor Don1 votes

Do you still have your nerfbat lying around somewhere? Perhaps hung over your hearth?

Do they even have hearths in California?

RiotMorello6 votes

[{quoted}](name=Praetor Don,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=ac8IwuH1,comment-id=0065,timestamp=2015-07-29T21:07:40.830+0000)

Do you still have your nerfbat lying around somewhere? Perhaps hung over your hearth?

Do they even have hearths in California?

The hearths are those things that remind is we don't get winters, but I'll need the bat again someday.

The Lich King doesn't just toss aside FrostMourne!

Decrit4 votes

Morello is Bolvar confirmed

Robin SparkIes1 votes

Shouldn't the game be balanced for what the vast majority of players experience and play; not a select few

RiotMorello10 votes

{quoted}

Shouldn't the game be balanced for what the vast majority of players experience and play; not a select few

No - interestingly, tight balance does not apply to suboptimal play. To explain:

Master Yi is god at Bronze. Why? Is it because he's overpowered? It's because the knowledge you need to beat Master Yi is something that is not consistently applied at lower levels of play, so the counter to that is "play better." Players can overcome, improve and conquer a legitimate challenge.

For the high-end, where players wring every ounce of power out of a champion, is where balance tuning actually effects game outcomes and variety.

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