I'm currently writing a script for a voice over for Yorick's skin and it'd be awesome if someone on skins team could fill me in on any lore or tidbits about Arclight and Yorick's part in the universe. I read on the PBE board that he was a king that lost his wife which is a good story thread but if there's any more information it would help a ton! Maybe Kindlejack or someone who worked on the skin could help?
RiotRiot DrPh813 votesHey Nintendo625! +1 to Kindlejack's info about Vel'Koz and his hefty contribution to the Arclight thematic lore. The way we try to approach skins nowadays is to fully flesh out what X champ's story is within a given thematic, with the intent to let that then inform design throughout the entirety of the skin from Concept all the way through to VFX and SFX. Ideally we treat the story as sort of a creative North Star. So we started there.
In this thematic, Yorick is essentially a king of a great and prosperous land, and when darkness descends upon his kingdom he is tested by the divine light of VelKoz's gaze. Passing the trial, he gains power and dominion over light, becoming a paladin of the Arclight Order to protect the mortal realm from the dark threat. In doing this, however, he also loses his mortality. Yorick outlives his beloved queen, his children, grandchildren, his kingdom and it's people. In taking on the light he ends up still losing the very thing he vowed to protect with it's powers. The last remaining humanity left in him uses the light to create constructs, monuments to his fallen queen. For flavor, I imagined that the collective vision of the Arclight would skew time, pulling you back out of your linear mortal view of it and replacing it with a harsh birds eye view of everything before and after. The overall idea is that while we were going for a 180 degree turn for the aesthetic of the skin, the story would still be tragic and dramatic.
I appreciate you reading this far, would love to read whatever you come up with. I used to create stories around existing skin thematics and new ideas for skins for hours as a player, and literally never tire of seeing and reading player created content. GG amigo!
Solideus2 votesHave you figured something out about where Justicar skins fit in the thematic? Are they in the same world, or a different setting from Arclight?
Also related, would you ever decide to rename old skins to align them with modern, more fleshed out skins, for example renaming Justicar > Arclight?
RiotKindlejack2 votesI've talked a bit about Justicar on the boards in the past. Players here have pointed out some really cool differences that could potentially identify the themes in the future:
I had an idea years ago to revisit Justicar and really figure it out, but now I'm on champion so we'll see if skins ever take a crack at it :)
When it comes to renaming old skins we've discussed it in the past and for now at least decided to leave the old names alone. While it might add some value for cohesion and theming it feels like it would just be disruptive and unnecessary for the majority of players. This might change in the future though - we renamed one of the Ryze skins when he was reworked for example.
Nefas1 votesAre players supposed to "get" this? Because none of that comes through in game or in client and to me makes Arclight one of the most boring and generic skin themes available - just toss in some golden light particles and done.
Chromatic Eagle3 votesSometimes a splash art tells a story.
RiotRiot DrPh86 votesWell, we use the story internally to have something cohesive to lean on throughout the production of the skin. If you think about the way the majority of players experience a new skin, it's actually not as soon as it hits PBE all over the boards, Reddit, surrender@20 etc. A lot of the story, as Chromatic Eagle rightly pointed out below, is told through the splash as the first point of story context, within the client. With Yorick we had a lot of real estate to tell some of the story within the game engine with all of his spells, minions and maiden as well. If that's not resonating for you, to be honest, that sucks to hear. I mean with such a large player base there's literally no way to please everyone, especially under the pressure of the "6 year wait" for a new Yorick skin. We knew that going in, but please know that this was anything but a "kill the memes" attempt. We all view Yorick as an incredibly underrated champion, both from gameplay and creative perspectives, and my team was absolutely foaming at the mouth to work on him. We have ton of ideas for more skins for him, as we all had a blast working on him and plan on revisiting him on a regular skin cadence. Thanks for the feedback, check out the splash when it arrives!
Nefas3 votesI've read the comment from the skin's product owner on the PBE, who said that 6 year wait didn't matter to the team. I don't have any reason to think that this skin was anything other than a "kill the memes" attempt given Riot's track record on skins for underserved champs. It's only ever excuses.
Doing a "180 degree" skin is cliche and boring - not interesting or creative. Doing it with Arclight, a generic gold light-based skin line is even worse. To be honest as well - that Riot thought Arclight Yorick was the best new skin that could be made for him sucks to hear and see as a Yorick player.
Chromatic Eagle2 votesI'm not saying that every skin line needs the same hype as the Star Guardian page, or a cinematic like Project, but a comic or webpage going a little more in depth can be appreciated. Think Pentakill.
RiotRiot DrPh82 votesOh dude, I used to work in comics. I'd have us do comics for every skin release if I could. Part of delivering high quality content every two weeks to you guys is that we have to budget our time and resources appropriately. To date, comics and microsites for every skin/patch isn't the norm, but who knows where we could go in the future. We used to do champion updates and leave the existing Splash Art in the client, but now we redo them as part of that package!
I concepted Pentakill Kayle, and the creative rush of seeing that whole thing come together with the album, the player created art, the microsite, the insane cinematic... it was incredible. I'd love to be able to do that level of content more!
EROTIC RAID BOSS2 votesI like the comics that you've been doing that focus on the canon lore of the game, I'm afraid if you guys focus on skins that just means less lore and comics that tells the story of runeterra. Sure would be cool if you guys could get some big name artist for a one shot comic though like frank quitely or something 😯
Jeddy0171 votesUm, excuse me?
with such a large player base
We're still talking about Yorick right?
RiotRiot DrPh82 votesHah, shots fired. Sorry to confuse, I was speaking in a broader sense of our collective players. It's unfortunate that Yorick isn't played more man, he's really fun and borderline broken in the right situations. Who knows, we see champions rise and fall in popularity all the time, Yorick's time will come. Also I work in skins, as a concept artist, so no... that isn't me trying to elude to a buff or change to gameplay (lol). I just mean that at some point players are going to put together how rewarding and fun he is to play (split push, like, all lanes GG) and it'll be crazytown.
Jeddy0173 voteshow rewarding and fun he is to play (split push, like, all lanes GG) and it'll be crazytown.
Level 6 Mastery Yorick player here, I can confirm he is definitely rewarding & fun to play.
TerraRising1 votes[{quoted}](name=Riot DrPh8,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XtqcvhtY,comment-id=00030001000100020000,timestamp=2017-09-18T05:47:43.061+0000) It's unfortunate that Yorick isn't played more man, he's really fun and borderline broken in the right situations. Who knows, we see champions rise and fall in popularity all the time, Yorick's time will come.
Not if the rework team intentionally made him not viable in upper ranks and competitive (this comes directly from members of the rework team, btw). If there's no viability in Riot's best commercial for the game, professional play, there's little chance anyone is going to pick up this champ.
TerraRising4 votesI'm trying to be nice and remember that I'm speaking to a person, but can you see/ understand why some of us think that Arclight Yorick is just a "kill the memes," minimalistic effort from the company?
Sion got a legendary skin after his rework.
Taric got the Pool Party skin 10 weeks after his rework.
Fiora got a PROJECT skin after hers.
Poppy got a Star Guardian skin after hers.
All of them high quality skins with loads of fanfare and promotion
But, after six years of pain and suffering for this fan (including hate from Rioters in person at conventions ans at Riot HQ), Yorick gets this skin. Something that looks average at best (A testament to the increase in quality) and really needs a new VO to make sense. It's also hidden behind 4 other skins this patch, including Master Yi's 20th.
Also, no one on the team was around when Yorick was launched, and no one on the team plays with Yorick, as far as I can tell. Carlos also admitted on the PBE that there was no thought given to the six year wait.
So, from my perspective, this was just a "take it of the checklist" effort from the team who can, and has, done better for other neglected champs (Blood Moon not withstanding).
I know it's probably going to come off as way too mean, but that's how I really feel about this.
Thanks for reading.
Nefas1 votesThat's very well said and a great rundown of the issues many of us have with the skin
JooshBox1 votes[{quoted}](name=Riot DrPh8,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XtqcvhtY,comment-id=000300010001,timestamp=2017-09-16T17:52:15.879+0000)
Well, we use the story internally to have something cohesive to lean on throughout the production of the skin. If you think about the way the majority of players experience a new skin, it's actually not as soon as it hits PBE all over the boards, Reddit, surrender@20 etc. A lot of the story, as Chromatic Eagle rightly pointed out below, is told through the splash as the first point of story context, within the client. With Yorick we had a lot of real estate to tell some of the story within the game engine with all of his spells, minions and maiden as well. If that's not resonating for you, to be honest, that sucks to hear. I mean with such a large player base there's literally no way to please everyone, especially under the pressure of the "6 year wait" for a new Yorick skin. We knew that going in, but please know that this was anything but a "kill the memes" attempt. We all view Yorick as an incredibly underrated champion, both from gameplay and creative perspectives, and my team was absolutely foaming at the mouth to work on him. We have ton of ideas for more skins for him, as we all had a blast working on him and plan on revisiting him on a regular skin cadence. Thanks for the feedback, check out the splash when it arrives!
Hey man if you need ideas for a Yorick skin, I pitched this to Katey in another thread but Pool Party Yorick, or just an aquatic theme in general. Think about it Sandcastle Cage, Giant Toy Shovel, Coral reef as his back piece, and the piece de resistance: A MERMAID MAIDEN, MERMAIDEN!!! My only complaint is that the pool party skins have already had so many contributions. I'm not sure if the theme would still work as Atlantean/Deep Sea. Maybe you could call it Beach Bro Yorick. As an aside I like the skin you guys did a great job and I'll definitely buy it day 1. I'm wondering if there is anywhere I can read about the alternate universe skin lines. I know the new Star Guardians is the first time the lore team went full out on a skin line. I think it'd be awesome to read about the thought process the skins teams go through when coming up with new designs or revisiting older ones. I'd love to read a dev blog about the Arclight/Elderwood/Project skin lines and why certain champions are chosen over others. What the champions connections are in those universes etc. I quoted you but this goes Riot Kindlejack and the whole team.
RiotRiot DrPh83 votesHahaha yeah dude.... I want Pool Party 'Ricky like you wouldn't believe! Someone posted a doooooope concept of it on reddit where it was clearly drawn in mspaint or something, but the CONTENT of what was there was perfect. Mermaid-en (bless me Phreak) has to happen if we get to do that skin, damn I love that idea!
As far as the stories we put into our skins, we haven't really published a lot of that stuff. A post about interesting internal lore tidbits might be a interesting. I know when I arrived I basically sat with Kindlejack and just asked him all about everything I've ever wanted to know about skins, where certain ones came from, and what the internal lore is, etc. My guess is you'll probably be seeing an increasing amount of that kind of stuff shared out over time, as we've put a lot of effort into these alternate universes. We're all absolute geeks who nerd out over these elseworld representations of the champs we love and are super hyped that we're able to funnel that kind of love and craft into the content we put out, so it'd be really cool to share some of that stuff in a broader way. Until then, hit up Kindlejack-the-all-knowing. Or ping me and I can poke his desk with a banana ;)
JooshBox1 votesGlad to hear if Pool Party 
becomes a thing so will the Mermaiden.
Nefas1 votesSince the splash is out:
It's a well-done splash as a piece of artwork. I still am not a fan of the skin itself for the numerous previously mentioned reasons.
But since you were talking about splash arts telling a story, i still don't get any of the background story you are describing by looking at the splash. I look at the splash and see basically what I would call Paladin Yorick. The art is good from a technical perspective but the subject matter remains a generic and cliche theme.
tendo6251 votes[{quoted}](name=Riot DrPh8,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XtqcvhtY,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2017-09-16T07:56:56.088+0000)
Hey Nintendo625! +1 to Kindlejack's info about Vel'Koz and his hefty contribution to the Arclight thematic lore. The way we try to approach skins nowadays is to fully flesh out what X champ's story is within a given thematic, with the intent to let that then inform design throughout the entirety of the skin from Concept all the way through to VFX and SFX. Ideally we treat the story as sort of a creative North Star. So we started there.
In this thematic, Yorick is essentially a king of a great and prosperous land, and when darkness descends upon his kingdom he is tested by the divine light of VelKoz's gaze. Passing the trial, he gains power and dominion over light, becoming a paladin of the Arclight Order to protect the mortal realm from the dark threat. In doing this, however, he also loses his mortality. Yorick outlives his beloved queen, his children, grandchildren, his kingdom and it's people. In taking on the light he ends up still losing the very thing he vowed to protect with it's powers. The last remaining humanity left in him uses the light to create constructs, monuments to his fallen queen. For flavor, I imagined that the collective vision of the Arclight would skew time, pulling you back out of your linear mortal view of it and replacing it with a harsh birds eye view of everything before and after. The overall idea is that while we were going for a 180 degree turn for the aesthetic of the skin, the story would still be tragic and dramatic.
I appreciate you reading this far, would love to read whatever you come up with. I used to create stories around existing skin thematics and new ideas for skins for hours as a player, and literally never tire of seeing and reading player created content. GG amigo!
I work with Tricolorstar on youtube. I could post the link once everything is done if you'd like :)
RiotRiot DrPh83 votesGIMME.
RiotKindlejack9 votesArclight Vel'koz probably introduced the most lore; where he is the god that bestows the power of arclight upon mortals in times of darkness. His splash depicts him manifesting before a church to 'test' warriors hoping to become his chosen archangels. Those found worthy will become arclight, and spend eternity doing his bidding in the mortal realm. Those not worthy, well, disintegration and oblivion await. Varus and Vayne were found worthy and granted righteous power and immortality.
Rioit DrPh8 would know the full story for Yorick as he worked on his concept with Aleks Nikonov, but I know that a King made arclight would eventually have to watch his queen, his family and even his kingdom fade to nothing as the ages wheel. I wonder what Vel'koz would make of his fixated worship of his lost love, is it divine or blasphemy?
Xenos von Faneli4 votesArclight Vel'koz probably introduced the most lore; where he is the god that bestows the power of arclight upon mortals in times of darkness. His splash depicts him manifesting before a church to 'test' warriors hoping to become his chosen archangels. Those found worthy will become arclight, and spend eternity doing his bidding in the mortal realm. Those not worthy, well, disintegration and oblivion await. Varus and Vayne were found worthy and granted righteous power and immortality.
Rioit DrPh8 would know the full story for Yorick as he worked on his concept with Aleks Nikonov, but I know that a King made arclight would eventually have to watch his queen, his family and even his kingdom fade to nothing as the ages wheel. I wonder what Vel'koz would make of his fixated worship of his lost love, is it divine or blasphemy?
This would be great and all if his Queen didn't have the voice of a she devil writhing mass off damned souls, totally ruins the fantasy, give Maiden different voice processing, I get why Yorick's voice isn't being changed but come on with the Maiden.
Chromatic Eagle1 votesVoice processing is changing the sound effects of their dialogue. What people want seems to be what SG Ahri got.
Xenos von Faneli1 votes[{quoted}](name=Chromatic Eagle,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XtqcvhtY,comment-id=000200000000,timestamp=2017-09-16T17:01:14.675+0000)
Voice processing is changing the sound effects of their dialogue. What people want seems to be what SG Ahri got.
yes and whereas we'd like that sure I was just stating that at the least maiden's voice needed processing
Solidair31 votesIs there a difference between Arclight and Justicar?
TerraRising3 votesRiot doesn't release their internal lore for the skin themes, if they have any.
They'd rather have you guys do all the hard work for them so they can steal it and not pay anyone.
tendo6251 votesRiot doesn't release their internal lore for the skin themes, if they have any.
They'd rather have you guys do all the hard work for them so they can steal it and not pay anyone.
Yes they do if you're lucky enough to get a reply. Kindlejack has told us about elderwood, blood moon and the project/program lore, probably more in bits and pieces if you can find it.
JooshBox1 votesYes they do if you're lucky enough to get a reply. Kindlejack has told us about elderwood, blood moon and the project/program lore, probably more in bits and pieces if you can find it.
Hey, can you tell me about/link me to posts about those skin lines? Would love to know more about the Elderwood and Project skin lines especially.
tendo6252 votesHey, can you tell me about/link me to posts about those skin lines? Would love to know more about the Elderwood and Project skin lines especially.
Look for Kindlejack's replies.
Chromatic Eagle2 votesThey've hinted and even explained several times, especially with the Star Guardians. They like to let the fans come up with ideas because they don't want to crush anyone's head canon. At least to a point.
xScarfy1 votesI haven't heard of a general lore for the Arclight theme, but we know a bit about each individual skin thanks to their release post: Varus: This alternate look for Varus emanates bright power. Rediscover the Ionian warrior just after he embraces the corruption he once guarded, but before the darkness consumes him. New animations and spell effects shine fresh light on the Arrow of Retribution, and you'll hear an uncorrupted treatment of his voice. Vel'Koz: One eye, piercingly blue, coolly stares from behind Arclight armor. A man cowers before it. All the light in the cavernous hall suddenly rushes toward the unblinking eye, refracting off its cornea and generating enormous, purifying power. The man’s body lifts from the stone beneath his feet. His skin blisters before his body disappears in the blinding light. Vayne: A pair of golden wings speed her through the air as she slings bolts of light from a heavenly crossbow, smiting the fools who question her supremacy. True warriors dream of testing their skills against her divine power. The lucky ones wake up before they do.
I think this is all we got about the Arclight theme. And there is the theory, that Vel'Koz transforms people into the Arclight warriors (so the man in his story gets transformed and not killed). So maybe Yoricks release post will bring some lore for his skin.
tendo6251 votesI haven't heard of a general lore for the Arclight theme, but we know a bit about each individual skin thanks to their release post: Varus: This alternate look for Varus emanates bright power. Rediscover the Ionian warrior just after he embraces the corruption he once guarded, but before the darkness consumes him. New animations and spell effects shine fresh light on the Arrow of Retribution, and you'll hear an uncorrupted treatment of his voice. Vel'Koz: One eye, piercingly blue, coolly stares from behind Arclight armor. A man cowers before it. All the light in the cavernous hall suddenly rushes toward the unblinking eye, refracting off its cornea and generating enormous, purifying power. The man’s body lifts from the stone beneath his feet. His skin blisters before his body disappears in the blinding light. Vayne: A pair of golden wings speed her through the air as she slings bolts of light from a heavenly crossbow, smiting the fools who question her supremacy. True warriors dream of testing their skills against her divine power. The lucky ones wake up before they do.
I think this is all we got about the Arclight theme. And there is the theory, that Vel'Koz transforms people into the Arclight warriors (so the man in his story gets transformed and not killed). So maybe Yoricks release post will bring some lore for his skin.
Unfortunately we want the voice out for release so we might be unable to include anything in the release post :(