Hey IronStylus.

Aww..

Well, I'll say this. I'm extremely grateful to be a part of this team. It's evolved so much since it was first "created", by which I mean a few of the 3D artists slowly replaced old content on the side. It's so strange that that little passion project turned into one of the pillars that make up our content teams. I'm astounded and humbled.

Honestly, I think we struggled for a while. I know that I certainly did. There were hurdles we faced as a team and hurdles we faced personally. I went through a lot of growth during the first year I was on the team. It was tough for a while. In terms of my own personal issues, I wasn't taking feedback the way I should have been, I wasn't as transparent as I should have been and I was, at least I feel, being exclusionary in some ways. I think I've turned some things around but I feel like I still have a lot of progress to make. But hey, that's growing up.

I want this team to really be taking multiple disciplines inside Riot into account when we make content and I want vast cooperation between really smart people to make really cool stuff. I want to foster good relationships, project positivity and ease pipeline kinks. There's still stuff I'm critically looking at. What I'm thankful for is that this team has let me, in a safe way, fail and not collapse. I've been able to learn from a craft perspective and an inter-personal perspective. I've been able to make stuff, but I've also been able to help others make stuff. That's a great feeling. Giving other people ownership and autonomy to make decisions and follow their heart.

This happened with Tristana. For a while I was the only concept artist on the team. Now we have one internal artist (lonewingy) who's my partner in crime. She's amazing. Tristana was one of the first things she worked on when she was transitioning onto the team. She designed Tristana in about 2 days. It was like a punch in the heart it was so good. Normally, if she wasn't part of the team, I'd either have to do the work myself or find someone outside of the team to get to dedicate time to it. But with lonewingy working with me, she was there to fully embrace Trist while I focused on other stuff. It was fantastic to still be part of the process but to have someone else to lean on, to get feedback from and to passionately take hold of that project.

I'm grateful that she's a fundamental part of the team, because we sometimes have opposite interests of stuff we like to work on. It works out well, and seeing her hit a home run with Tristana is an amazing feeling. I honestly had VERY little to do with Tristana's base aside from fleshing out her weapon a bit. Sure, I was giving feedback and keeping track of some stuff, but this was mostly lonewingy's show. Now that we're at the end of Tristana's journey through the pipeline, despite not having a huge part in her actual concept production, I still feel like I've helped or help enable someone. I want to spread that feeling to others. I want our team to feel empowered to execute. I think we're there pretty much, I think it's been a learning process. Team members, stakeholders, producers, external/partner teams all play a part in this symphony. I'm elated to be witnessing ChampUP grow up. I am full of pride and satisfaction, and I think the team shares those thoughts.

That said, it's never about an individual, it's about the team and it's collective pride, pride mixed with being humble. I never want us to seem as though we think we're some sort of hot shots, I just want us to act in the player's best interests and do our homework when we want to achieve that. We have to be on top of our processes, pipelines, frameworks and communication to carry this out. It takes a special group of people to gel in a way we have, though I wouldn't say that that's exclusive to our team at all. Riot is FILLED with teams that have amazing internal dynamics. It's fascinating really. I want us to continue to foster the culture that's uniquely ChampUP and keep taking on more. I think everyone at Riot wants that for their teams. We want to feel at home with peers that trust, respect and collaborate. When you find that niche here the feeling is one of being at home. I'm sure there's countless people like me who've found that home inside Riot. Most everyone I know has a dynamic in their team or discipline that makes it special and allows things to work uniquely for them.

My hope is to keep our dynamic as unique as other teams, but as agile enough to integrate seamlessly with other teams that we can either serve or collaborate with. At Riot it's about people, not about a person. That doesn't mean the removal of autonomy, that means the product, the game, the content is much bigger than the sum of its parts. It's a choreographed dance, it's a musical number, its a crafted piece of art. It all has to come together properly, in sync. If people are just single individuals bumping into one another then nothing is going to get done. But if we understand that we each affect each other in many different ways, we can have a positively charged atmosphere which creates excitement and energy instead of chaos.

This team is so fun, so solid, and so pro. Sorry, that little bit of pride is going to leak out of me. I feel like I've found that little home and I couldn't be happier being immediately surrounded by those who I am allowed the honor to work with.

The thanks goes to them. The credit goes to the team :)