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We think a lot about which theme works for which champion For example, we knew we wanted to bring Blood Moon back this year We started with the theme, and then discussed which champions would work well in that universe There’s usually more than we can make, so we keep them on a list for the next time we visit the theme
There are also times where we want to make a skin for a champion, but not necessarily as part of a bigger set We strayed away from this a bit last year, focusing mostly on bigger themes What we realized is that this was leaving certain champs unexplored because they just weren’t fitting into any of the thematics That was a miss
This year, you will see some champions being released independently of a bigger thematic drop Dreadnova Gangplank, Festival Queen Anivia, and God Fist Lee Sin are some examples from this year, and there are more to comeThe confirmation of Viktor’s VGU marks a significant milestone in Riot’s ongoing efforts to update and improve older champions By aligning Viktor’s in-game persona with his Arcane counterpart, Riot aims to provide a richer, more immersive experience for players
But when you are trying to deliver an alternate fantasy, changing the model and texture alone can be very limiting Unless the fantasy works perfectly on a champion’s base animations, VFX, audio, etc, it ends up falling flat Sometimes we could nail it (and we’ll continue to look for these opportunities) but, more often than not, we started seeing decreasing player satisfaction in these choices
Feedback pointed at players wanting a higher quality experience for their champion Model/texture swaps were considered low quality; it felt like we weren’t taking people who love those champs seriously, and that felt badSome themes and champs are a natural fit, but obviously not every theme can work on every champion We all play champions for a reason
Something about them resonates with us, whether it’s their abilities, complexity, personality, etc We always want the skins you are playing to honor and enhance the best parts of playing that champion When we get it right (Star Guardian Lux), you respond in a really positive way When we get it less-right (Void Bringer Illaoi), you let us know that as well
Sometimes it’s hard to get the team to agree on whether or not a champion fits a theme We have a skin in development right now (to be released later this year) that has the team divided Some people feel it’s a slam dunk Some feel it’s not the most obvious fit, but a risk worth taking
Others feel adamant that it’s a bad fit At the end of the day, you will either decide to pick it up because you love it, or you won’t because you don’t If we never take these kind of risks, we’ll never know You will let us know if we got it right or wrong
We’ll learn something from it, good or bad, and make decisions for the future Big Theme Sets Last year we started investing more in delivering skins in theme sets (several champions all getting skins in the same theme at one time; we call these “thematics” internally) There is a certain magic that happens across the skins teams when they are all working on delivering a thematic together PROJECT: and Star Guardian are just two examples of where we’ve seen this happen
Instead of being heads down on your one champion skin, you see the team feeding off the energy that comes with creating a bigger experience for you We’re really excited about expanding on these in the futureWe tried to use our low-scope skins (750s) as a solution for this By only touching model and textures, we could create more skins in a year
Lower scope meant higher quantity, so we could get to more of these champions But when you are trying to deliver an alternate fantasy, changing the model and texture alone can be very limiting Unless the fantasy works perfectly on a champion’s base animations, VFX, audio, etc, it ends up falling flat
Sometimes we could nail it (and we’ll continue to look for these opportunities) but, more often than not, we started seeing decreasing player satisfaction in these choices Feedback pointed at players wanting a higher quality experience for their champion Model/texture swaps were considered low quality; it felt like we weren’t taking people who love those champs seriously, and that felt badWe wanted to revisit the Pulsefire universe and thought Caitlyn fit perfectly into the theme
With that, we had an opportunity to answer a long time player ask and update PFE But we knew we wouldn’t be able to bring it up to the standards of DJ Sona or Elementalist Lux, without starting from scratch The amount of resources we dedicate to an ultimate skin would put a significant dent in the number of new skins we’d be able to make, so we looked to make improvements where we could to update the look and feel of the skin Pulsefire Ezreal Pre- and Post-UpdateUsually, we are able to make these calls before we put a skin on PBE
That’s really the best possible outcome If we cancel, you haven’t had a chance to get excited about something we’re not fully confident we would release, so there’s no real player pain caused But sometimes skins like the Sewn Chaos line make it to PBE before we’ve made a call And in that case, what we heard from a lot of you confirmed a lot of what we were already thinking
Sometimes we could nail it (and we’ll continue to look for these opportunities) but, more often than not, we started seeing decreasing player satisfaction in these choices. Feedback pointed at players wanting a higher quality experience for their champion. Model/texture swaps were considered low quality; it felt like we weren’t taking people who love those champs seriously, and that felt bad.We wanted to revisit the Pulsefire universe and thought Caitlyn fit perfectly into the theme. With that, we had an opportunity to answer a long time player ask and update PFE. But we knew we wouldn’t be able to bring it up to the standards of DJ Sona or Elementalist Lux, without starting from scratch. The amount of resources we dedicate to an ultimate skin would put a significant dent in the number of new skins we’d be able to make, so we looked to make improvements where we could to update the look and feel of the skin. Pulsefire Ezreal Pre- and Post-UpdateUsually, we are able to make these calls before we put a skin on PBE. That’s really the best possible outcome. If we cancel, you haven’t had a chance to get excited about something we’re not fully confident we would release, so there’s no real player pain caused. But sometimes skins like the Sewn Chaos line make it to PBE before we’ve made a call. And in that case, what we heard from a lot of you confirmed a lot of what we were already thinking. I know that some of you were excited about them, but those skins just weren’t good enough. It hurt to pull them, but they didn’t meet our standards of quality, so I stand behind that decision.
