Lutzburg's Champion Concepts Mega Thread

RiotRiot Lutzburg··55 votes·26,105 views

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/zaczvfs_zpsac376cbb.png

MAJOR UPDATE After years of contributing on these forums, my hard work finally paid off and I'm now a Champion Designer on the League team! Since our players are a curious bunch, many of you have already stumbled upon my fan work already. Please note that while I'm able to reference my old creations in my day-to-day work, few if any of these ideas will ever actually be implemented into the game. If nothing else, I encourage you to view this body of work as a testament to the power of hard work and dedication. If there's something you want out of life, go and get it!


Introduction Hello, my name is Lutzburg! I'm a professional game designer and enjoy designing champions in my free time. Over the last three years or so, I have come up with over 70 unique concepts in varying degrees of polish and completeness. As a professional in the game industry, I kept these designs private given the very slim chance that they might actually see some real world use someday. However, enough time has passed since I first created them and they've just been gathering dust on a 200+ page Google Doc. I think it's finally time I shared these ideas with the League of Legends community in the hopes that the community can both find inspiration in my work and also help me improve and continue honing my craft. Thanks for reading!

New Releases Ronin, the Shadow Soldier Rabadon, the Death Mage Melicent, Conduit of the Swarm

Lutz's Top Picks Seeing a + next to a Champion on the list below indicates that it is one of my personal favorite concepts.

Champion Index

Note: Some of the concepts you may read can be over three years old. The game has changed a lot in that amount of time, so some concepts may no longer be as relevant or novel as they once were, and some concepts have since been explored by official champions introduced into the game.

Marksmen Alcarus, Shard of the Void Otto, the Hextech Merchant Leo, the Star of Piltover Rafa, Guardian of the Flame + A.I.S.E., the Steam Soldier Penrose, the Pride of Bilgewater + Axel and Pinwheel, the Bandle City Bandits

Supports Demura, Reflection of Demacia Oliver, the Imaginative Youth Navia, the Unheeded Prophet Lydia, the Ethereal Seamstress Sprocket, the Conniving Contraptionist Mitsukai, Emissary from the Clouds + Havel, the War Hero Agatha, the Encroacher + Escher, the Architect Yura, Winter's Herald + Fritz, the Hextech Medic Ophelia, Daughter of the Monolith +

Mages Varian, the Frostfire Golem + Richter, the Crystalline Miner Pastel, the Wandering Artist Annabelle, the Forsaken Bride Percy, the Devious Opportunist Dahlia, the Withering Maiden Verica, Revenant from the Stars + Letha, the Remorseful Conduit Imena, the Dreamwalker Damek, the Earthcaller Sharra, the Shadow Priestess Galahad, the Storm Knight Magnus, the Observer Ariem, the Shadow's Spirit Verrix, Master of Glass Cornelius, the Gold Miner Moira, the Stargazer Rabadon, the Death Mage +

Fighters Kuro, Guardian of the Shrines "Doubletime", Demacia's Courier + Flint, the Bombardier Ze'ki, the Sly Frolov, Commander of the Skies Ronin, the Shadow Soldier

Bruisers Atlas, the Thundering Templar + Nicholai, the Curator of Energy Thalius, the Arcane Blacksmith Doran, the Master Forger + Constantine, the Spectral Rider + Locke, Death's Command Ambrose, the Harvester

Tanks Dredgeback, the Legend of Bilgewater + Oberis, the Decrepit Knight Rothar, Emissary of the Trolls Barnaby, the Hextech Driller Gemini, the War-Torn Descendent + Solomon, the Resplendent Arbitrator Klaus, the Jovial Chameleon Melicent, Conduit of the Swarm

Assassins Cathartes, Scavenger of the Rift Penumbra, the Noxian Spymaster Echo, the Maven of Silence Kajarhi, Father of the Blades Cabar, the Dimensional Phantom

{quoted}

After over three years of designing, iterating and balancing, and having spent the last three months formatting, researching and publishing, I have AT LONG LAST completed all of my existing champion concepts. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who upvoted, downvoted, praised me and criticized me throughout this process. I owe a lot to each of you.

Over the next week or two, I hope to do one final pass on every concept by adding a "resource" section and moving my mega thread link to the top of the page, as well. I'll also be spending a lot of time responding to specific feedback that I haven't had time to get to yet, most notably the infamous Echo concept.

After that I might relax for a bit, do some reviews of my own and see what happens. That said, I don't intend to stop designing champion concepts any time soon. I still have a lot more ideas and now that I'm all caught up, adding them one at a time should be a breeze. ;)

Thank you again to everyone who has supported me through this project!

Good night for now,

-Lutzburg

323 Comments

ArbiterOfTruth4 votes

These seem really cool and pretty good, some complex, but they would still be interesting to play as/with/against. I was wondering if you could work on a concept I had come up with a long time ago. The concept I had started with was Lady Justice, a blind woman with a set of scales and a sword. Here is the link: http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=4707958&highlight=blind+maiden I would really appreciate it if you could actually flesh it out and make something brilliant. At least take a look at it and tell me what you think of it, please.

RiotRiot Lutzburg3 votes

{quoted}

These seem really cool and pretty good, some complex, but they would still be interesting to play as/with/against. I was wondering if you could work on a concept I had come up with a long time ago. The concept I had started with was Lady Justice, a blind woman with a set of scales and a sword. Here is the link: http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=4707958&highlight=blind+maiden I would really appreciate it if you could actually flesh it out and make something brilliant. At least take a look at it and tell me what you think of it, please.

Thanks so much for your feedback! I have a HUGE backlog (50 champions or so) that are all designed but need to be formatted and added to my Mega Thread, so creating new champion concepts might not be the best idea for me right now, haha. That said, your theme sounds really interesting so I'd like to dive into it and see what I can do with it. :)

RiotRiot Lutzburg4 votes

{quoted}

Thanks so much for your feedback! I huge a HUGE backlog (50 champions or so) that are all designed but need to be formatted and added to my Mega Thread, so creating new champion concepts might not be the best idea for me right now, haha. That said, your theme sounds really interesting so I'd like to dive into it and see what I can do with it. :)

Okay I checked out your page and I'm definitely intrigued. My main concern is this:

By using a reward mechanism that shifts between two ends of a spectrum can lead to some very unfun gameplay. For instance, what if the Maiden is nearly full of her "guilty" resource and suddenly an ally needs to be healed? She either has to give up her progress towards being guilty or straight up refuse to heal her ally. This is an interesting idea for a single player game, but I don't think it will work for League, specifically.

What if, instead, all of her abilities kept their full power during normal circumstances, and she had two "progress bars" representing Innocence and Guilt, as you designed. However, these bars start in the center of her resource bar and ONLY move outwards; when she casts a spell of innocence, that side of the bar fills towards the far left side, and casting a guilty spell pushes the guilt bar towards the right. This can take between 3-12 spell casts of each type, depending on how powerful or Ult-like you want the rewards to be for filling each bar.

In my head, it makes sense for this to be on the level of Karma's Mantra, at a roughly 20-40 second dynamic cooldown through basic spell rotations. Filling a bar all the way would then augment the next cast of a spell that fit the guilt or innocence category, respectively. I think this is what you were going for in the original design, yes? Then she can stance dance between her two forms rather frequently (every 2-4 seconds) and raise one of her two scales up accordingly as part of a visual cue that she is in a particular stance. The scales could even have a white and black flame burning in each one, and her spells could be inspired by this holy and dark energy. Perhaps she even gets a sort of "yin yang" super ability if she manages to max out both ends of her resource bar within a short time of each other.

As far as basic abilities, let's think about words that could be thematically descriptive of her character- judgement, fairness, justice, blindness, truth, pursuit of knowledge, conviction, protection of the innocent, unwavering....

Using those words and then mapping game mechanics on top of them, I am envisioning abilities like...

  • A passive component that increases the Maiden's tenacity
  • A targeted ability that "judges" the actions of the marked target for a few seconds, followed by an effect based on their actions
  • Something that deals true damage. I mean come on, you could even call the ability "Truth Seeker" or something like that. This stuff writes itself.
  • A heal of shield that increases in power based on how weak or close to death the target is
  • A "path of light" style ability that shows the pathing of enemy champions over the last few seconds (similar to Rek'sai's tremors passive, but rather than showing where they are, it shows a path that they recently took; perfect for tracking down stragglers trying to flee through the jungle)

What do you think? Is that enough to get your creative juices flowing?

ArbiterOfTruth4 votes

Thanks for the feedback and I understand fully well that you have a lot to do with your own champ concepts. I like what you suggested for the resource bar and augmenting an ability. For the "Judgement" I can see that working easily when used on an enemy, if the enemy attacks they get dealt some of it back (along the lines of retribution), maybe for ally cast it increases the amount of damage they deal (conviction). I'll definitely have to brainstorm on this and see what I can come up with.

RiotRiot Lutzburg3 votes

Ophelia, Daughter of the Monolith, has been added to the roster!

RiotRiot Lutzburg3 votes

Today I'm hoping to add the following champs-

  • Constantine, the Spectral Rider
  • Flint, the Bombardier
  • Richter, the Crystalline Miner
  • Lydia, the Ethereal Seamstress

Four might be a bit of a stretch goal but hey, that's my plan!

Electro5223 votes

Hello Lutzberg! I just tried out your random champ generator, and while it took me a few tries to find something that works, it eventually gave me a mixed damage void assassin with a targeted ability that deals a slow and percent health damage.

Thus, I came up with Roh'zix, or Kha'zix's brother. Whereas Kha enjoys diving head first into the fight, and killing anyone he sees, Roh lures his enemies in and waits for the most opportune time to attack.

So far, I only have two abilities for him, his passive (which lays out a healing pick up that enemies can actually use), and his E (which is basically Yasuo's E, but slows, deals percent health damage, and increases the amount of damage his auto attacks deal to the target).

What do you think?

RiotRiot Lutzburg3 votes

[{quoted}](name=PG Electro522,realm=NA,application-id=A8FQeEA8,discussion-id=uuQxluoH,comment-id=000b,timestamp=2015-01-03T21:50:05.636+0000)

Hello Lutzberg! I just tried out your random champ generator, and while it took me a few tries to find something that works, it eventually gave me a mixed damage void assassin with a targeted ability that deals a slow and percent health damage.

Thus, I came up with Roh'zix, or Kha'zix's brother. Whereas Kha enjoys diving head first into the fight, and killing anyone he sees, Roh lures his enemies in and waits for the most opportune time to attack.

So far, I only have two abilities for him, his passive (which lays out a healing pick up that enemies can actually use), and his E (which is basically Yasuo's E, but slows, deals percent health damage, and increases the amount of damage his auto attacks deal to the target).

What do you think?

Electro, thanks so much for using my generator! That really means a lot to me. From my point of view, half of the fun is getting dealt a really weird and seemingly broken set of rules. It forces you to work inside of a box, then break out of it in really creative ways. That is how Yura's Ultimate came about, and I think it's one of the most fun and unique abilities I've created so far.

Roh'zix sounds really neat so far! I love the concept of a hunter that isn't as outright strong as his prey, so he has to outsmart them instead. I can't help but think of an angler fish or venus fly trap, with the health relic sitting tantalizingly close to bait in opponents to go for it. That's wickedly smart! I would love to see the finished kit, and highly encourage you to continue to pursue the concept of Roh'zix, the Deceiver. ;)

Electro5223 votes

{quoted}

Electro, thanks so much for using my generator! That really means a lot to me. From my point of view, half of the fun is getting dealt a really weird and seemingly broken set of rules. It forces you to work inside of a box, then break out of it in really creative ways. That is how Yura's Ultimate came about, and I think it's one of the most fun and unique abilities I've created so far.

Roh'zix sounds really neat so far! I love the concept of a hunter that isn't as outright strong as his prey, so he has to outsmart them instead. I can't help but think of an angler fish or venus fly trap, with the health relic sitting tantalizingly close to bait in opponents to go for it. That's wickedly smart! I would love to see the finished kit, and highly encourage you to continue to pursue the concept of Roh'zix, the Deceiver. ;)

Whereas The Deciever would be a fitting title, LeBlanc already holds that title. I was thinking more along the lines of The Void Reaper. Since he is Kha's brother, there is certain similarities, but obvious differences between the two.

RiotRiot Lutzburg3 votes

Hmmm... "Reaper" is such an overdone term to describe slashy monster things, in my opinion. Plus it sounds more brute-force'y than I had imagined Roh' to be based on your description. Up to you, of course!

Electro5222 votes

{quoted}

Hmmm... "Reaper" is such an overdone term to describe slashy monster things, in my opinion. Plus it sounds more brute-force'y than I had imagined Roh' to be based on your description. Up to you, of course!

Well Lutz, here it is! Roh'zix: Seeker of the Void. You made a very solid point about Reaper being used to mcuh. It took some thinking, but I think Seeker gives a sense of mystery to him.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/19PrEx8a-champion-concept-rohzix-seeker-of-the-void

RiotRiot Lutzburg3 votes

Constantine and Flint have been added to the roster! I'm changing gears slightly and focusing on Klaus next, as it was a request of some other forum-goers earlier today.

Flintfall2 votes

Mind if I ask a few questions? You seem like a really cool dude:

  • What games/projects have you worked as a professional game design?

  • Your favorite champion concept that you have made?

  • Your favorite champion concept that isn't yours?

I like to get to know the other champion concepters around boards :)

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

{quoted}

Mind if I ask a few questions? You seem like a really cool dude:

  • What games/projects have you worked as a professional game design?

  • Your favorite champion concept that you have made?

  • Your favorite champion concept that isn't yours?

I like to get to know the other champion concepters around boards :)

Hey, thanks so much for showing interest! I'm happy to answer any questions you're curious about.

1- I have been a professional game designer for 7 years now (since I was 20 years old) and got my start at a studio called Simutronics Corporation. They're best known for developing the Hero Engine, which is being used by Bioware's SW:TOR, and their text-based MMO's DragonRealms and GemStone. While I was there, I designed a comedy MMO RPG called Fantasy University, a tower defense gamed called Tiny Heroes, an endless runner called One Epic Knight, and several other projects that never saw a release. After that I moved out to CA at a studio called Cie Games (now a part of Glu Mobile), where I worked on an online drag racing game called Racing Rivals (which has over 20 million players and has been the #1 racing game on the mobile market for the last 11 months).

2- That's the age old "which is your favorite child?" kind of questions! I can only narrow it down to my top 3- Atlas, Verica and Rafa (who I haven't released yet). Ironically of all the Champion roles, I am most pleased with my Marksmen as a group across the board. I say it's ironic because Marksman is my least played and least favorite role in League. I have to imagine the reason why they're my favorites is because I tried to make each one of them different and unique from any of the ADCs in League today.

3- I love champion kits that flow and synergize with themselves. You look at five moves and go, "Wow, that works with this and using that springboards you into being able to use that!" Those are my favorite. The best examples of this, in my opinion, are Leona, Morgana, Olaf, Galio, Blitzcrank, Lux, Orianna, Rek'Sai, Riven, Skarner and Urgot. I went ahead and bolded the ones I frequently play.

Hoffmisc2 votes

You really have made a lot of champions O.O

It's cool that you're putting them all here on the forums, i'm a little scared to.

So far I've posted 2 on the forums but I haven't really gotten any feedback on them...

I just checked and I have 14 unfinished champion concepts on my Google drive, I should really get around to finishing those...

ladention2 votes

Hi! If I made a champion and thought you could fine tune them before I post it, could I send it to you somehow? If yes, I will give you credit for helping me when I post it.

Rito Jericho2 votes

Hello, Lutzburg. I don't mean to be a hassle or anything, but it would me A LOT to me if you would take a look at my champion concept and maybe help me make a few adjustments. I PERSONALLY feel that I have things set rather well, but any feedback that you could give me, and any improvements that you could help me with would just be incredible. I'll leave a link bellow. The only other thing I ask of you is that you post your feedback on my champ's page, so that hopefully more people will see him and also provide feedback.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/2U62LeBA-champion-idea-gaius-the-rouge-general

BTW, though I have yet to see all your concepts, I'm quite fond of all the ones that I DID look at. Even the ones that I couldn't think of any kind of response to leave them.

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

{quoted}

Hello, Lutzburg. I don't mean to be a hassle or anything, but it would me A LOT to me if you would take a look at my champion concept and maybe help me make a few adjustments. I PERSONALLY feel that I have things set rather well, but any feedback that you could give me, and any improvements that you could help me with would just be incredible. I'll leave a link bellow. The only other thing I ask of you is that you post your feedback on my champ's page, so that hopefully more people will see him and also provide feedback.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/2U62LeBA-champion-idea-gaius-the-rouge-general

BTW, though I have yet to see all your concepts, I'm quite fond of all the ones that I DID look at. Even the ones that I couldn't think of any kind of response to leave them.

I wrote you a lot of notes- take a look!

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

I'm considering uploading one or two more concepts tonight, but I think it might be best if I let the 30 I've already uploaded settle into the forums for a day or two... I already feel like I'm flooding the place and suppressing the rest of the forum's activity.

Elphrihaim2 votes

Don't bump/post them all at the same time. :/

Do one... and wait. Then do another.

Seeing a literal wall of concepts by the same person makes me, personally, not want to click on any of them.

Electro5222 votes

You must not like scrolling either. He does have a release schedule which he posted on here when he made the thread.

Just scroll down a bit, you'll see it.

Elphrihaim2 votes

[{quoted}](name=PG Electro522,realm=NA,application-id=A8FQeEA8,discussion-id=uuQxluoH,comment-id=00130000,timestamp=2015-01-05T05:20:24.917+0000)

Just scroll down a bit, you'll see it.

Interpret more please.

Please.

I said "post/bump" for a reason. I saw it. I read it.

There's still a huge wall of them, which means they're not being sufficiently spaced out.

Electro5222 votes

Ah, I'm sorry I misunderstood.

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

{quoted}

Don't bump/post them all at the same time. :/

Do one... and wait. Then do another.

Seeing a literal wall of concepts by the same person makes me, personally, not want to click on any of them.

That's a fair point and something I had already alluded to being worried about. It's just difficult to manage because when I visit these forums and check my posts, many of them have gotten new replies since the last time I checked. I want to answer each of them as I can, so waiting artificially for the sake of spreading out my posts seems kind of silly.

This issue is compounded by the fact that answering threads with responses means I'm not bumping older posts, which subsequently means the older threads will continue to fall into obscurity and get lost in the shuffle. Kind of a weird problem to have, I guess.

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

Jazz, Electro, I will take a look at your threads when I get home from work tonight. Looking forward to it. :)

Player Nine TFT2 votes

This is all completely amazing. My wallet is .. is ... oh god, it's opening!

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

Alright guys, when I get home tonight I am getting straight to work on uploading the remainder of my concepts! Tonight I hope to publish the following concepts-

Rothar, a troll with ties to Trundle and a suppression ultimate that works like a targeted Lee Sin kick (Oh yeah, I'm going there.)

Rafa, a tribal marksman who uses powerful gauntlets to control flames, and who has the ability to set brushes on fire

Magnus, an experimental mage/support champion whose entire kit revolves around psychological experiments

Doran, the infamous and legendary blacksmith who created many of the League's most powerful weapons. Doran has special access to upgradeable Dorans items, which help inform his play style and build on a game-to-game basis

Kloip882 votes

Hey, two things:

  1. I just found this page and oh my goodness these are all pretty amazing. I love how in depth all your concepts are are and I'm very hopeful riot looks at some of these. I especially like Klaus.

  2. I hate to be "that guy" but seeing as you're a professional at this, I wanted to know if you could give your opinion on my champion: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/0Ko7JVmA-abraxas-the-steel-specter-champion-concept

Once again sorry for the bother

rollz32 votes

Great job with all of your champ ideas, I would love to see them be added (completely or spiritually) especially the supports and tanks. Keep up the good work man!

SpiceIsRight2 votes

Lutz you're such a benevolent addition to the league community props to you for being such an awesome person :) If you're willing to let me know what you think of my two champions I'd be eternally grateful. Zyx & Mavrik. Let me know what I can do in return!

Sydelle2 votes

Dude, Lutz, please. Just find an investor and create a League! Like an actual game. Yeah.

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

Hey guys! Here is a little teaser preview of my latest Champion concept:

Melicent, Conduit of the Swarm

Imagine this...

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/ripley_by_ertacaltinoz-d36uex2_zps5dqyikx4.jpg

...hooked up to this:

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/tumblr_ng9o1lWOUk1remlbjo1_1280_zps29yyxsq5.png

Melicent is an entomologist (a fancy word for a bug scientist) who travels around Runeterra in a massive mechapede, collecting samples and performing strange experiments on her insect specimens.

I am finalizing her kit now, which will allow me to move on to various design philosophies, lore and general polish of the concept. She's likely still a week or more out, but I'm confident enough in the direction now that I thought a preview wouldn't hurt anything.

Let me know what you think!

The Great Divide2 votes

Well even if none of these make it as champions, the collection is very impressive work, and I always enjoy reading through each champion's lore and ability kit. Just for fun, I also wondered: if you could change an existing champion's kit (you just think it could be developed better), which champion and what changes?

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

What's a harmless bump for old time's sake? :)

Caytheles2 votes

What about a champion with an ult that Pins the enemies soul in place, the enemy can still move, but the farther away they get from their soul, after 10 seconds the range will determine how much dmg they get. (For all of those jerks who like to teleport out of trouble) This would make the enemy try to stay in a small area of a fight in order to not get completely bursted out. yknow?

DesolationKaizer2 votes

You sound pretty cool man. I'm actually looking to become a professional game designer myself..though I'm kinda torn between that or programming. I'll probably take a look at a bunch of your concepts later.

RiotRiot Lutzburg1 votes

{quoted}

You sound pretty cool man. I'm actually looking to become a professional game designer myself..though I'm kinda torn between that or programming. I'll probably take a look at a bunch of your concepts later.

Computer programming is 100% the way to go if you're even remotely interested in it. Programming gives you a better shot at becoming a game designer than purely studying to become a game designer, as counter intuitive as that sounds. Plus, programming is a hard skill (as opposed to game design, which is a soft skill), and that hard skill can be utilized in dozens of other fields, if you need it to.

DesolationKaizer2 votes

{quoted}

Computer programming is 100% the way to go if you're even remotely interested in it. Programming gives you a better shot at becoming a game designer than purely studying to become a game designer, as counter intuitive as that sounds. Plus, programming is a hard skill (as opposed to game design, which is a soft skill), and that hard skill can be utilized in dozens of other fields, if you need it to.

I'm actually working on my bachelor's in computer science, so I think I'm on the right path. Gonna try and get really proficient at programming.

RiotRiot Lutzburg1 votes

Personal Design Philosophies and Approach

I believe I am a relatively well-rounded designer, though I have a stronger interest and emphasis on mechanics and flow of gameplay. I'm interested in lore, back story, dialogue, etc., but in the interest of time and effort required, few of my champions go deeply down that route. Instead, I have focused most of my effort on creating cohesive and fun kits that flow, have good counterplay opportunities and synergize both with itself and the rest of a team.

I also hold the belief that it's nearly impossible to predict how things such as damage, scaling, range, etc. (the hard numbers) will play out in the real game when the champion can't actually be tested. As such, my concepts are on the light side of the hard numbers and instead provide good frames of reference or baselines to get a rough estimate on the ability in question. For example, I'll often use adages like "similar in size to Anivia's Ultimate" in order to create a visual approximation for my readers.

I think it's very important to discuss design goals, philosophies and intended gameplay patterns whenever possible. This is why each of my champions are prefaced with a "General Design Philosophy" as well as brief design goals following each ability. These are important because they provide the context of WHY after the WHAT has been explained.

In addition, I always include a "Risk Analysis" section so that I can approach each concept from a business perspective. Would this champion be well received by the community? Does it push the envelope artistically, mechanically or thematically? If so, does it push too much? Are there technical limitations or overtly difficult implementation procedures that increase the difficulty of adding this character to the roster? I try to take all of these questions into account whenever I design a concept, because no matter how cool it is, it still has to be developed.

Finally, when it comes to naming champions, I always try to use interesting words that somehow relate to the core theme, personality or kit of that champion. Riot does an excellent job of this and it's actually one of the common weaknesses I see in many fan-submitted concepts. For example, "Brand" is a great name for a scorching fire mage and "Kog'maw" is pure perfection for an alien puppy dog who literally has bio-organic cogs in its mouth. If a champion's name has letters in the double digits, or more than one apostrophe, or can theoretically be pronounced in more than three ways, it's probably not a good name.

nikoinfulleffect4 votes

{quoted}

Personal Design Philosophies and Approach

I believe I am a relatively well-rounded designer, though I have a stronger interest and emphasis on mechanics and flow of gameplay. I'm interested in lore, back story, dialogue, etc., but in the interest of time and effort required, few of my champions go deeply down that route. Instead, I have focused most of my effort on creating cohesive and fun kits that flow, have good counterplay opportunities and synergize both with itself and the rest of a team.

I also hold the belief that it's nearly impossible to predict how things such as damage, scaling, range, etc. (the hard numbers) will play out in the real game when the champion can't actually be tested. As such, my concepts are on the light side of the hard numbers and instead provide good frames of reference or baselines to get a rough estimate on the ability in question. For example, I'll often use adages like "similar in size to Anivia's Ultimate" in order to create a visual approximation for my readers.

I think it's very important to discuss design goals, philosophies and intended gameplay patterns whenever possible. This is why each of my champions are prefaced with a "General Design Philosophy" as well as brief design goals following each ability. These are important because they provide the context of WHY after the WHAT has been explained.

In addition, I always include a "Risk Analysis" section so that I can approach each concept from a business perspective. Would this champion be well received by the community? Does it push the envelope artistically, mechanically or thematically? If so, does it push too much? Are there technical limitations or overtly difficult implementation procedures that increase the difficulty of adding this character to the roster? I try to take all of these questions into account whenever I design a concept, because no matter how cool it is, it still has to be developed.

Finally, when it comes to naming champions, I always try to use interesting words that somehow relate to the core theme, personality or kit of that champion. Riot does an excellent job of this and it's actually one of the common weaknesses I see in many fan-submitted concepts. For example, "Brand" is a great name for a scorching fire mage and "Kog'maw" is pure perfection for an alien puppy dog who literally has bio-organic cogs in its mouth. If a champion's name has letters in the double digits, or more than one apostrophe, or can theoretically be pronounced in more than three ways, it's probably not a good name.

Hey man, I've been reading your concepts today and appreciate your design approach. I'm not a designer though, so I don't feel equipped to provide any intelligible, direct feedback. :P However, maybe there's something small I can share with you about how we analyze our champions that might be useful for you.

So, we think a lot about what it's like to play as a champion and establish a clear goal for that. Going further, we also think about what it's like to play with (this was a BIG DEAL during Kalista's development) or against that champion. Articulating those experiences help us understand what a champion contributes to the overall game. It's also useful in feedback sessions so people are aware of the expectations.

Chromatic Eagle4 votes

[{quoted}](name=zero C00L,realm=NA,application-id=A8FQeEA8,discussion-id=uuQxluoH,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2015-03-17T21:25:25.501+0000)

We also think about what it's like to play with (this was a BIG DEAL during Kalista's development) or against that champion. Articulating those experiences help us understand what a champion contributes to the overall game. It's also useful in feedback sessions so people are aware of the expectations.

We also think about what it's like to play with (this was a BIG DEAL during Kalista's development) or against that champion.

during Kalista's development

against that champion.

I feel like you guys missed a step here.

j3staG1 votes

Also, do Penumbra, the Noxian Spymaster.

I love assassins and I am interested how you tie this into lore because talon is one of my favorites.

RiotRiot Lutzburg3 votes

{quoted}

Also, do Penumbra, the Noxian Spymaster.

I love assassins and I am interested how you tie this into lore because talon is one of my favorites.

Nice, good suggestion! Penumbra is kind of a badass. I toyed with him having a sort of cyanide capsule hidden in his tooth at one point. I really wanted to explore the spy element.

Earthlord Jazz1 votes

Hey you've been gone for a while. Hoping everything's going OK. Can't wait to get the rest of the roster!

RiotRiot Lutzburg2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Earthlord Jazz,realm=NA,application-id=A8FQeEA8,discussion-id=uuQxluoH,comment-id=0039,timestamp=2015-03-02T06:47:46.885+0000)

Hey you've been gone for a while. Hoping everything's going OK. Can't wait to get the rest of the roster!

Hi Jazz! I decided to take a break for a while in order to focus on a lot of other things in my life. Work, side projects, my girlfriend, GDC... lots of stuff!

It's high time I get back to work on THIS project, though, so expect to see a lot more of me again starting tonight!

RiotRiot Lutzburg1 votes

I doubt anyone cares at this point (especially since I haven't been active here in almost two years), but I've been working on a digital card game in my spare time. It's provided the same kind of creative fulfillment that all my old League Champion concepts used to.

Earthlord Jazz2 votes

{quoted}

I doubt anyone cares at this point (especially since I haven't been active here in almost two years), but I've been working on a digital card game in my spare time. It's provided the same kind of creative fulfillment that all my old League Champion concepts used to.

I still come time and again to see if you've posted another piece, though it's getting rarer. I get life gets int he way and you're probably doing the same for other games as well. I always enjoyed reading your champion concepts and hope to still find you on this side of the boards section now and again.

Super cool that you made a card game! Keep up the good work, hope to see another work from you soon! (maybe try posting a concept on a separate thread in addition to this one, this mega thread seems to be buried too deep for many to see)

RiotRiot Lutzburg1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Earthlord Jazz,realm=NA,application-id=A8FQeEA8,discussion-id=uuQxluoH,comment-id=00ca0000,timestamp=2017-03-10T22:42:29.511+0000)

I still come time and again to see if you've posted another piece, though it's getting rarer. I get life gets int he way and you're probably doing the same for other games as well. I always enjoyed reading your champion concepts and hope to still find you on this side of the boards section now and again.

Super cool that you made a card game! Keep up the good work, hope to see another work from you soon! (maybe try posting a concept on a separate thread in addition to this one, this mega thread seems to be buried too deep for many to see)

Hey Jazz! Can't believe you still managed to find this thread. I haven't been around in months! I recently accepted a job at Activision Blizzard so that has been keeping me busy. :)

Have you designed anything new lately that you'd be interested in sharing with me?

Earthlord Jazz2 votes

Congratulations on your new job you totally deserve it! I haven't designed anything as of late, college keeps me busy and I've seemed to have drifted away from concepts and creations. I still enjoy reading them (gets the creative juices going) but I get frustrated mid concept and just let it go. Idon't mind, it's much more intriguing seeing what other people have to offer.

Glad that a game company is keeping you busy, you do good work :)

RiotRiot Lutzburg1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Earthlord Jazz,realm=NA,application-id=A8FQeEA8,discussion-id=uuQxluoH,comment-id=00ca000000000000,timestamp=2017-06-06T01:42:49.243+0000)

Congratulations on your new job you totally deserve it! I haven't designed anything as of late, college keeps me busy and I've seemed to have drifted away from concepts and creations. I still enjoy reading them (gets the creative juices going) but I get frustrated mid concept and just let it go. Idon't mind, it's much more intriguing seeing what other people have to offer.

Glad that a game company is keeping you busy, you do good work :)

Thank you!

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