Depth is the goal, said Norman. Adding layers to characters can only help when it comes time to craft stories that are more engaging. Take undead knight Mordekaiser. He can rip a player's soul out of its body and have it kill their friends. That's bad-ass but not terribly deep. "We want to create characters like Don Draper or Tony Soprano," Norman said. To that end, Riot instituted a new process based on TV writers rooms so that different divisions all are in sync. Results can be seen in Zed's death animation—where he draws sigils in the air while dying—which makes it seem like he escapes death. There's depth and mystery in that, when compared to something overtly mechanical like respawning.

Advertisement

Similar revisions have been made to how Riot conceives different parts of League of Legends' world, too. When revisiting the Shadow Isles for a recent update, the team looked to deepen the world's visuals and backstory so as to provide motivations for gameplay and character. The main interest is in building narrative outside the gameplay, Norman explained; narrative that peeks through at key moments of the experience.

For example, character bios have previously been told via what Norman called "Walls of Text." These have been Riot's only narrative tool and they realized that they needed more tools to tell stories. So, changes like voiceovers in the LoL login screen and during limited in-game moments add insight to the universe without taking away from the act of playing.

Advertisement

The popular character skins exist outside of lore and are opportunities for fun and self-expression, Norman said, but they create more love for LoL, too. She used the example of players taking it upon themselves to explain the lore for Battlecast mech skins, saying that these crowd-sourced explications won't become canon, but Riot will encourage these kinds of dynamics.

Advertisement

Internally, anyone in the company can submit ideas for Champions. Inspirations come from visuals, narrative or gameplay ideas. However, when it comes to fictional characters, Norman declared that what you don't want to do is say "he's so cool once you get to know him." That begs a time commitment, she explained. "What you want is have a simple in-game metaphor for what appeals to you about the character."

With the improvements outlined above, future possibilities can include movies, comics and novels, Norman told the audience. "But we could also do something else. Depth isn't tethered to one medium. Being able to go traditional is not a bad thing. The focus isn't a movie. The focus is foundation."

Advertisement

Norman also said that she and other Rioters look to the way that narratives happen in the NFL and in pro wrestling. Where the weeks-long season of pro football is an emergent narrative, what happens in the WWE is authored. Both can change but shifts in one happen suddenly and get built up to in the other. Norman also said that they do note the importance of sports narrative—rivalry, signature tics, etc.—-and are always trying to learn about players on the teams and their relationships to each other.

The most insightful thing about Norman's talk is the recognition that the appeal that's brought League of Legends to its current peak isn't necessarily what's going to help keep it there. You may not see much of the changes that Riot is bringing to League of Legends in the gameplay, but they hope it makes you care much more about the Champions and their world.