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Narrative Team/Lore Team

Big Pappa··5 votes·3,242 views

Next fall, I start my first semester of College. I'm going in as an Undeclared Major, with thoughts of going into Mathematics Education, which is something my family, friends, and I have talked about at length. Everyone says I should declare my major and start my life as soon as possible. But I'm kinda scared to do some, because, while being a High School Math Teacher is something I've talked about doing for a long time, I can't get the thought of working on some sort of Lore/Narrative team for a video game company. I don't want to commit to something, but live to regret it for my entire life. The recent announcement of Kindred and all of the lore, the stories, and the mystery behind her has made me really start questioning my choices. I love how in "A Good Death" Lamb seems to be motherly, kind of keeping Wolf in his place while psuedo-protecting Magga. So, I've come here, looking to just have a few questions answered by our lovely Red Overlords.

  1. What made you decide to pursue a career in writing for video games?
  2. What kind of degree (if any) do you have?
  3. Do you have any tips for getting into your business?
  4. Do you ever wish you had done something different instead of getting your job at Riot?
  5. What sort of things have you done at Riot?
  6. What are the teams currently at Riot (If you can even say so)
  7. Anything else you'd like to add!

Thank you so much!summoner 31

8 Comments

RiotWAAARGHbobo1 votes
  1. What made you decide to pursue a career in writing for video games?

I and most writers I know, pursued a career as "writer." I.e. the medium shouldn't really matter. It's about liking characters and liking the process.

  1. What kind of degree (if any) do you have?

I have a BFA in Animation and Film (University of the Arts) and and MFA in screenwriting and directing (USC)

  1. Do you have any tips for getting into your business?

Write. Write. Write. Alot. Write for other people when you can. Write for yourself. Enter contests. Write fiction on forums. Try and get noticed. Eventually, you'll get good. And then eventually you will get noticed.

Your favorite story may not get made (they rarely do) but eventually people will notice your talent.

  1. Do you ever wish you had done something different instead of getting your job at Riot?

Donno, I've done a lot of things before I was at Riot. I was a painter, film editor, a TV editor (reality TV), a storyboard editor (animation), an art director, a "hollywood" assistant, A writer's assistant, a production manager, PA, A low level writer for Tv, a head writer for a TV show, and probably a dozen more jobs.

Part of being a writer is accepting that you will have to get work and sometimes you will have to starve.

  1. What sort of things have you done at Riot?

Comics, Animation, Champions, Skins, Short stories, Promos, Events etc...

  1. What are the teams currently at Riot (If you can even say so)

We are the narrative disciple. Our members are matrixed into a variety of teams. i.e. I'm a narrative person on Champion Team, but I work with other teams when my schedule allows.

  1. Anything else you'd like to add!

It really is all about tenacity. Pay your bills another way until you don't have to. But keep writing, keep pushing yourself.

Best of luck!

Thank you so much!summoner 31

Fasmodey1 votes

{quoted}

I and most writers I know, pursued a career as "writer." I.e. the medium shouldn't really matter. It's about liking characters and liking the process.

I have a BFA in Animation and Film (University of the Arts) and and MFA in screenwriting and directing (USC)

Write. Write. Write. Alot. Write for other people when you can. Write for yourself. Enter contests. Write fiction on forums. Try and get noticed. Eventually, you'll get good. And then eventually you will get noticed.

Your favorite story may not get made (they rarely do) but eventually people will notice your talent.

Donno, I've done a lot of things before I was at Riot. I was a painter, film editor, a TV editor (reality TV), a storyboard editor (animation), an art director, a "hollywood" assistant, A writer's assistant, a production manager, PA, A low level writer for Tv, a head writer for a TV show, and probably a dozen more jobs.

Part of being a writer is accepting that you will have to get work and sometimes you will have to starve.

Comics, Animation, Champions, Skins, Short stories, Promos, Events etc...

We are the narrative disciple. Our members are matrixed into a variety of teams. i.e. I'm a narrative person on Champion Team, but I work with other teams when my schedule allows.

It really is all about tenacity. Pay your bills another way until you don't have to. But keep writing, keep pushing yourself.

Best of luck!

Do Narrative Team's members have favorites that cause them to like their job more? In otherwise I mean is there anyone who doesn't like that champion they are working on? If there is, why do they work on them? If there is no and everyone has favorites, which one is your favorite?

RiotWAAARGHbobo4 votes

Do Narrative Team's members have favorites that cause them to like their job more? In otherwise I mean is there anyone who doesn't like that champion they are working on? If there is, why do they work on them? If there is no and everyone has favorites, which one is your favorite?

Kinda hard to answer this one. In reality I think most players have a major misconception of what we do on champion team. We don't write for champions we didn't help create. The largest part of my job is coming up with the personality and theme for a character-- with the designer (gameplay), artist (visuals) and the rest of the pod. So it would be hard for me not to love Tahm's personality-- it was my job to look at the direction art and gameplay were going (early on) and then find a way to build a personality off that. I wrote a story capturing that personality then he jumped back into pod. The story affects gameplay and art... and changes. I then reacted to that. This cycle goes round and round with everyone on the pod building on top of everyone else's work.

Its a lot of work, a lot of meeting, a lot of research, and a fair bit of writing.

Fasmodey1 votes

{quoted}

Do Narrative Team's members have favorites that cause them to like their job more? In otherwise I mean is there anyone who doesn't like that champion they are working on? If there is, why do they work on them? If there is no and everyone has favorites, which one is your favorite?

Kinda hard to answer this one. In reality I think most players have a major misconception of what we do on champion team. We don't write for champions we didn't help create. The largest part of my job is coming up with the personality and theme for a character-- with the designer (gameplay), artist (visuals) and the rest of the pod. So it would be hard for me not to love Tahm's personality-- it was my job to look at the direction art and gameplay were going (early on) and then find a way to build a personality off that. I wrote a story capturing that personality then he jumped back into pod. The story affects gameplay and art... and changes. I then reacted to that. This cycle goes round and round with everyone on the pod building on top of everyone else's work.

Its a lot of work, a lot of meeting, a lot of research, and a fair bit of writing.

Thank you for the answer!

Decrit1 votes

Probably Fasmodey was asking more about when a writer has to deal with al already existing champion - like Burning Tides.

Let's take for example Yorick. If you have to write something about him, let it be a story or a characterization guideline or anything else but the designed writer/ the avaiable writer just can' t manage to like him, what happens / how you react / how it affects the outcome?

RiotWAAARGHbobo2 votes

Ah. Well, in that case.

Part of a writer's job is finding what you like about a character. We all have our favs, but sometimes your tasked with writing about a champ you don't connect with. The question, and research becomes-- finding out why people connect with this champ, finding something in the champ you can connect with, and finding a dramatic question that you and the fans could connect with.

Decrit1 votes

Basically, if the writer does not connect well with the champion, or connects but only partially, it looks for what is liked by other agents beyond him/her ( by looking at feedback from the fanbase, or by looking at the complaints of those that do not like the character in question ), comprends the whys/the whos/ the hows and uses them to proceed with the work?

Also thanks for your replies and time :)

Big Pappa1 votes

Thank you for replying!! I'm gonna take everything you said to heart!!

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