See Riot, people loved that Ekko comic. Why can't you do something like that weekly/bi-weekly?

darkdill·May 21, 2015·56 votes·12,139 views

Lore fans would be so much happier seeing something like that every week or every other week.

63 Comments

CubedJusticeMay 22, 201514 votes

I would guess that comic took more than two weeks to make, though, so a bi-weekly comic probably wouldn't be as large/detailed/thought through as Ekko's was.

RiotRiotJaredanMay 22, 201520 votes

Indeed it did take longer, and we want every comic we consider making to be as high quality as Chronobreak.

Chromatic EagleMay 22, 20159 votes

Why not a monthly comic? Bi-monthly if need be? Obviously champion releases should be high quality, but some world-building is tolerable with lower colors and pictures.

RiotRiotJaredanMay 22, 201512 votes

{quoted}

Lore fans would be so much happier seeing something like that every week or every other week.

I would too. Though I'm also a lore fan. So, yeah!

It's precisely because Riot is learning its way with producing certain types of media that we aren't rushing things out the door. We want to increase our ability to operate at a higher cadence while still maintaining quality. We're getting there.

SiggóMay 22, 20159 votes

A leeeeetle bit more transparency would be nice, though. Less "surprise!!", more teasers.

RiotRiotJaredanMay 22, 201513 votes

Fair enough. We'll try to tease a bit more when we can.

Puri Puri TaricMay 22, 20153 votes

teric comic go.

ItemsGuyMay 22, 20155 votes

{quoted}

I would too. Though I'm also a lore fan. So, yeah!

It's precisely because Riot is learning its way with producing certain types of media that we aren't rushing things out the door. We want to increase our ability to operate at a higher cadence while still maintaining quality. We're getting there.

You know, Dawngate, which wasn't a multi-billion dollar game, was able to crank out this sort of content at a breakneck pace.

My advice? Hire Nicholas Kole.

ItemsGuyMay 22, 20153 votes

{quoted}

I would too. Though I'm also a lore fan. So, yeah!

It's precisely because Riot is learning its way with producing certain types of media that we aren't rushing things out the door. We want to increase our ability to operate at a higher cadence while still maintaining quality. We're getting there.

(That's why you have multiple teams working on comics. That's kind of how every sort of weekly/bi-weekly thing works! The average cartoon episode takes roughly 8 months to a year to make, but you'd be surprised how often new episodes air.)

BhargoMay 23, 20152 votes

at this point higher cadence is just about anything, not exactly setting a high goal

21198243_DELMay 22, 201511 votes

Because making comics weekly wouldn't give them any money

RiotRiotJaredanMay 22, 201529 votes

You would be amazed at how many times I speak about money when it comes to the deciding factor in making creative decisions. By that I mean I can't remember ever doing that.

My role is one that supports Narrative in particular, and then the teams that we work within. I have never been in a room talking about whether to make something from a story standpoint, including format or cadence, based on how much money it will make Riot.

Ever.

It's one of the many things I love about my extremely privileged position in working at Riot. You might not believe me, as if you would have told me that before I joined I might not have believed it either. Right or wrong, we make what we think players will love. Not what will sell the most.

It's who we are. Seriously.

SolaxoMay 22, 20159 votes

{quoted}

You would be amazed at how many times I speak about money when it comes to the deciding factor in making creative decisions. By that I mean I can't remember ever doing that.

My role is one that supports Narrative in particular, and then the teams that we work within. I have never been in a room talking about whether to make something from a story standpoint, including format or cadence, based on how much money it will make Riot.

Ever.

It's one of the many things I love about my extremely privileged position in working at Riot. You might not believe me, as if you would have told me that before I joined I might not have believed it either. Right or wrong, we make what we think players will love. Not what will sell the most.

It's who we are. Seriously.

Champion descriptions with more than just 2 paragraphs would be nice tho :b

RiotRiotJaredanMay 22, 201523 votes

Yes they would. I'm looking forward to being able to show them to you.

TrumpetMay 22, 20152 votes

First of all, thanks for posting on the boards it is nice to hear from you!

I really liked the Ekko Comic, but I am fearful that all lore we are going to receive is just going to be with champion releases. I would really like to hear more about how the said champions interact outside of the rift (since SR isn't cannon). It would be really amazing if we could get something like dawngate had in their lore, it really made the world and game come alive so that it wasn't just about the "on-rift" actions.

Once again thanks for posting and I look forward to the long lore.

RetillinMay 22, 201517 votes

{quoted}

Yes they would. I'm looking forward to being able to show them to you.

But... that's the new "soonTM". We heard things such as this all the time and see very little follow up...

SeductiveGrandpaMay 22, 20157 votes

Have some faith, I mean, they can't just keep dodging the topic forever. .....or...can they?

PhifeMay 22, 20157 votes

They removed dodge runes.

CrownsyMay 22, 201511 votes

Jaredan, I appreciate that you engage us, but you realize that after a full year, that excuse is starting to wear a little thin right? Every time someone makes a post on the very scant lore that has been rolled out for the year since you blew up the spine of the games lore is met with

"We are working on that. I look forward to being able to show it/them/ect to you"

I work in a career where we have clients. Do you realize how fast we would be called out if we responded to every client request for further information on their matter with "We are Working on that, I look forward to showing you that." for a freaking year?

You say other places in this thread that your boss "never brings up money" If that's true, have him authorize 2-3 full time Lore writers

Even Ekko's comic, as good as it is, does nothing to connect him to any greater world. It just says "this guy is a good kid"

Ok, fine, but what are his deeper motivations? why does he fight?

TheTyeGuyMay 22, 20155 votes

Not in the vein of Riot Hate that I see way too much of, just a mildly concerned/interested question here.

How long does it take to make one of these bios for champions? It has been a very long time, and I'm wondering if most of it was just trying to decide what exactly to do about champions, or if maybe some procrastination was involved. I only ask because I myself would love to be apart of the narrative team of League of Legends, (In fact it's sort of a dream job of mine) and it doesn't seem like it would take too long to decide what to do about certain champion's stories.

GhostOfShrimpmasMay 22, 20154 votes

{quoted}

Yes they would. I'm looking forward to being able to show them to you.

After nine months, I've stopped looking forward to that.

BhargoMay 23, 20151 votes

"Seriously guys, we have so much super awesome stuff, you'll get to see it Soon™, just trust us, ignore the years of empty promises and zero results, those don't count, because the stuff we have now is gonna knock your socks of! Come on, would we mislead you?"

BrothaMay 22, 20151 votes

{quoted}

It's who we are. Seriously.

Being a regular on the Gameplay and Balance forum/board, I've had my view of Riot evolve more and more in favor of seeing Riot as a selfish company like every other. When I see post like this from Riot employees my faith is rekindled a bit.

I'm reminded that in other games you rarely hear ANYTHING from ANYONE, outside of forum mods. Many companies take months, sometimes years to release new content which they do not even bother asking the playerbase how they feel about the changes. Riot on the otherhand does ask the playerbase what we like and tries to incorporate it into the game (so many Champions with jokes based off the playerbase). I think if more of us had reminders of how much Riot actually cares about their product vs competitors we may be a bit more forgiving regarding issues of Lore/Balance/Updates considering we get quite a fair amount of each (less so for the former, but still more than some).

OrangesilkMay 22, 20155 votes

But people really get the impression that narrative is some sort of money-grab advertising thing when the only time they come across some sort of lore EVER is to hype up a champion release, I think the only instance of lore we've got in the last year that's not directly hyping up a new champion release is that Amumu video.

So people end up thinking "Huh, the narrative team is only ever there to sell us a new champion, the reason we're not getting periodical wordlbuilding is because it doesn't represent sales".

I'm not saying new champions shouldn't get chunky lore events/videos/comics, I love that stuff and it'd be sad if you released a champion with a Rammus-like lore (Who knows what this thing is?, I have no idea, neither how he interacts with the world, nope) but there's a huge roster that needs a bit of worldbuilding of its own, specially now that most of them have been left in the air by the retcon thing.

The most important thing, the one thing where we're lacking the most, the thing that people are really hungry for is:

-Develop the relationships and interactions between the existing champions and the role they actively play in the world.

Seth LightheartMay 22, 20152 votes

You may never need to talk about money in your position, it isn't your job and would be silly if you had to..... But you know it is a factor. You know any project you propose has to be signed off by someone who does the math and calculates 'is it worth it'. I'm not saying Riot is greedy, but they are a business so please don't act otherwise.

Creating a continual comic would be expensive with little payout. The fans would love it but Riot's accounting department wouldn't.

XulsigaeMay 22, 20151 votes

Many projects companies do don't have a direct profit, but do have an indirect one. LCS for example is wonderful advertising for Riot, even though they lose money on it at first. They make money in the long term. Publishing a comic may not make money itself, but the attention and excitement would generate good will and profits from lore fans through them staying around to play and purchase.

Seth LightheartMay 23, 20151 votes

I will say it again. The Project is proposed to someone who signs it off who is paid to ask, "Is it worth it?"

So yes, attention and excitement can generate revenue. People who get excited for a champion tend to buy them and their skin, making Riot cash.... But I believe you missed the point.

EVERYTHING boils down to 'will it make money?' Acting like Riot is making this product for children's laughter and rainbows is to the least a half lie.

Virgin RayMay 23, 20151 votes

You are the exact opposite of ROBLOX, that's a good thing.

AbyssionKnightMay 22, 20151 votes

To be fair, the LCS doesn't really make Riot money either. Maybe it will one day, but it's a money sink at the moment.

They still run and maintain the whole thing though.

MatezoideMay 22, 20157 votes

It is a shame you have to go out of your way to see it.

Just wait a week and just about everyone that decides to play Ekko wont ever see thus comic because they would have to search the News section.

Chromatic EagleMay 22, 20153 votes

So much this. Riot needs to update their website to include a story section. Look at WoW's website.

Tesla EffectMay 22, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Chromatic Eagle,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=tOAW1X15,comment-id=00060000,timestamp=2015-05-22T12:40:33.708+0000)

So much this. Riot needs to update their website to include a story section. Look at WoW's website.

Ekkos comic page is a probable example of the future integration of lore with the site. Cause it has links to Ekko related pages.

DrCyanideMay 22, 20156 votes

S-sssearch? The n-n-news section?

You don't "Search" the news section. It's the event horizon of madness. You jump to a page, see an extremely vague timestamp "about X months ago", and choose to go further into its depths or go back towards the surface. No matter which you choose, you'll always be second guessing the decision.

You know the article is there, but you can't find it.

RiotRiotJaredanMay 30, 20152 votes

I agree, and I'm not alone here at Riot on this issue. We're looking at ways to do better on this.

For CarthageMay 22, 20154 votes

"Loved" is strong.

It was okay. Too anime-ish for my tastes in that it's more focused on exaggerated feelings rather than any kind of actual coherency, so it feels too unreal and disconnected to have any kind of relationship with the characters. They don't feel human or humane.

Now if the story quality could not be... quite that, the visuals are all right, the flow of the panel-by-panel comic style is very nice, and the plot itself is okay. Work on the finer details and I would absolutely get behind this. Thumbs up, clap clap, kudos and what-not.

ShaftyMegeeMay 21, 20153 votes

That sounds like a good idea :)

viybezMay 22, 20152 votes

I agree-- riot has so much potential for a fantastic lore but never takes it out of what seems to be pure laziness. This would be at least an improvement.

LarasoMay 22, 20152 votes

"If you give a mouse a cookie..."

darkdillMay 22, 20157 votes

Shut up and pour me my chocolate milk.

RasCaelestisMay 22, 20155 votes

At this point it's not even hit the cookie stage yet...

Most lore fans feel like we've been given a chocolate chip and told that cookies are in the oven. When we ask when they'll be ready, the baker (Riot) says "It's a myyyyyyyyyssssssterryyyyyyyyy!" or "We want to give you cookies, trust us, but the oven broke and we need to fix it." We ask what exactly is wrong with the oven and we get "Putting the cookies in makes them come out improperly or not in the right format." or "It's a myyyyyyyyyssssssterryyyyyyyyy!"

KrigjerMay 22, 20152 votes

A weekly comic like that would be incredibly expensive, not to mention have to be planned weeks in advance to give the artists time to work.

At one point I followed a web comic that did ONE page a week, with a line artist and a colorist. Eventually they dropped their workload to every two weeks. Then once a month. And finally they dropped the comic altogether because it became too much for them to handle.

As an artist myself, I don't want to take on the workload of a ten-page comic each week or even every other week.

Duke AnaxMay 22, 20151 votes

Most of those webcomic are free time projects. On the other hand there are professional web comics that do five full high quality pages a week, with two or three people.

Sure the whole 11 page comic takes more than two weeks to make, but it goes through several stages, that individually are a lot shorter. And when you have different people handling the different stages, the next comic enter stage one as soon as the former gets to stage two.

There is usually: concept, writing, line art, inking, colouring, shading, lettering.

With the right setup and routine a small team could pour out a weekly comic like chronobreak.

It wouldn't even be that expensive, maybe 10.000 $ per issue or let it even be 20.000$ if they sell them really well. Heck if need be they could start selling the issues for as little as 50 RP each and make a huge profit.

Loken StoneheartMay 23, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Duke Anax,realm=EUW,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=tOAW1X15,comment-id=000e0000,timestamp=2015-05-22T11:19:31.758+0000)

Most of those webcomic are free time projects. On the other hand there are professional web comics that do five full high quality pages a week, with two or three people.

Sure the whole 11 page comic takes more than two weeks to make, but it goes through several stages, that individually are a lot shorter. And when you have different people handling the different stages, the next comic enter stage one as soon as the former gets to stage two.

There is usually: concept, writing, line art, inking, colouring, shading, lettering.

With the right setup and routine a small team could pour out a weekly comic like chronobreak.

It wouldn't even be that expensive, maybe 10.000 $ per issue or let it even be 20.000$ if they sell them really well. Heck if need be they could start selling the issues for as little as 50 RP each and make a huge profit.

If they start selling lore after removing it from the game, I don't think people are going to be very happy. In fact, I guarantee it will enrage the playerbase.

Silents429May 22, 20151 votes

Because either way we are getting a group of people bitching over it. The comic they just made already has a big upvoted fest of complaints.

darkdillMay 22, 20153 votes

Why are you thinking that Riot's trying to please everybody? That's the number one way to make something fail.

Silents429May 22, 20152 votes

Who said anything about pleasing everybody? You were careful to phrase Lore fans

Which from what I witnessed are the ones pissed at the lore team right now, who are the same people on the complaint thread for the comic right now being unhappy towards it.

ThryaleMay 22, 20151 votes

screw comics! I wanna see a feature length movie directed by riot itself (they can have outside help for producing it, but riot needs to be in full charge of the story)