I’ve been heads down, busy, and quiet this year largely due to my partner getting breast cancer in the midst of a pandemic. She’s brave and smart and wants to help others through cancer and medical trauma. Support her/learn more here:
It’s surreal. 8 years ago I started working with
@RiotAugust
on a new champion, code names “punk genius” and now
#Ekko
is on a Netflix show.
Fun fact: he was inspired by my irl little brother, who’s a badass.
Cheers to the arcane squad for getting this made. Miss ya!
#kindred
are hands down my most cherished champion I worked on.
Leaving riot was tough, letting go of kindred was tougher. I almost considered getting a tattoo of them.
Work like this adds to their mythos.
7-ish years ago, I was lucky enough to join the narrative team at riot. I worked hard, learned a lot, wrote lots that I’m proud of.
Now, it’s time for whatever is next.
Thank you, players, your passion for Our champs made it all worth it.
Never one...
@Official_Raichu
Each writer approaches character sexuality differently. Most of mine were coded to avoid internal scrutiny. My headcanon: Ekko is bi (experimental punk teen), kindred is they/them and non binary, asol is omnisexual, Ivern is asexual, Xayah and rakan are kink and poly friendly
Neeko’s one of my favorite champions I’ve had the honor of writing. Neeko accepts everyone with a pure heart into her tribe. Neeko always wants to do the right thing. Neeko is strongest tomato!
Players of
@Leagueoflegends
who are your favorite champs, story wise, and why. Bonus points if you include fan art that captures the spirit of your favorite (crediting the artist of course). Best articulated answer gets some RP on me. There is no win criteria. You gotta move me
@RiotAugust
challenged me to make something to live up to Vi and Jinx. It was my first day. We made Ekko.
He listened to my off-the-wall ideas and even implemented them in early builds.
I survived cancer. Ten years after my first all-clear, my wife discovered her lump.
We’re cancer kids and I love her with all my heart.
We’ve been through so much, and seeing her laid so low is heart wrenching.
I had a story 99% ready to go for a former employer with a fist for a logo and a name synonymous with “angry mob”.
It featured a fiery ram deity whose name rhymes with “corn”.
A story’s no good if it’s never read.
So… gonna do an edit and release it as a new story.
There are no such things as dream companies or creative Utopias.
Take if from me: I worked at both Pixar and Riot.
They are workplaces with strengths and flaws and politics and cliques and gossip mills and opportunities.
Focus on the work.
Focus on learning from peers.
Someone made an ai that replies to you like Kindred.
What is this life?
I worked at Riot for 7 years, and the work I did there still lingers.
Grateful.
@Official_Raichu
None of it is official in game or world, it’s just part of how I approach figuring out characters.
A story that never shipped was Ekko rewinding a song to dance with everyone at a party bc he was looking for love.
It was a sketch and never formalized.
I found my voice writing stories with some talented peers at
@riotgames
Disappointed they are dropping short stories. It’s a shame
Oh, and I’m starting a new gig as a principal writer for
@superevilmegaco
New ip. If you liked my work on league, you will love this.
Hands down, one of my favorite stories we’ve created on champions team. Well done team! David,
@metalmaryo
@Kindlejack
and everyone who touched this champ really brought their all.
We’ve been fighting the cancer since February. We relocated to my dad’s old place to take care of it and mourn.
Life changes in an instant.
Ive had some amazing friends (
@EvilShanon
) rally around us. Luckily our healthcare is still under coverage for a little while longer.
I’ll be posting a lot more about game writing, cancer, and cats. I’m the future I have short stories and some longer form fiction I’m getting ready to share.
I’m also here for offer support for those breaking into the field
Learn to remove ego from the work.
Ego wants perfection.
Ego wants to always be right.
Ego wants advancement at all costs.
We all have ego. It serves us when we apply it toward sitting down to put out our best.
But it also holds us back from being our best.
@JuddApatow
My father caught covid, recovered a little, then died. His death certificate from Suffern, NY says “natural causes”, and doesn’t mention covid anywhere. He was in a vent for 80 days!!!
@DyronLoa
@papuchochoe
I had more. Dozens of pitches for Ez. Riot didn’t want them, or me! Oh well. One was a pitch for a 7-season ez show that had a character arc for him that was similar to jimmy in “better call Saul”. I worked on that for years
Top band names where you can sub an
@LeagueOfLegends
champion’s name: Fountains of Swain
Right Said Zed
Kled Zepplin
Ivern Maiden
Archers of Olaf
Death Cab for Yuumi
@JonKizerX
@KateyAnthony
Sort of. She shares common ancestry with modern vastaya, Only neeko’s ancestors lived in isolation from the rest of runeterra. She falls under the umbrella term of “vastaya”
Sitcom pitch: Four
@leagueoflegends
champions living in an upscale apartment in downtown Piltover discover that their friendship is more important than their dreams of “making it.”
Who are the four champs?
A wonderful bit of advice given to me by
@TKittenWritten
was that if you have to rewrite an email or a slack message more than once, it means you need to have a face-to-face conversation
Warmest holiday wishes to all League’s players and lore enthusiasts! You are the true meaning of the friends we made along the way. Writing for you is a joy.
We had a zoom funeral mass for my father. It wasn’t the same. I cried for days after. Luckily my family was on board for this.
My dad didn’t want anyone to get COVID-19. He wanted to share his story of survivorship and tell ppl to take it seriously
Now I gotta do it for him
Some of Ornn is based on
@oldsalt
who taught me the value of hard work and intention. I admire the heck out Odin’s work ethic and discipline (and talent).
Don’t let anyone tell you this is no worse than the flu. My dad died alone in a hospital. It breaks my heart everyday.
Worse: it was avoidable.
Freedom of speech does not cover inciting panic and causing physical harm. Doesn’t matter who says it, I want to see justice served
I just realised,
I really hope Matt Dunn's last story was intentional.
The last story he wrote was about Soates who wrote stories about Kindred, but he was unable to finish the story before the end mysteriously claimed him.
Now others have to finish his work.
@thatmattdunn
👏👏
My dad died COVID-19. Two months on a ventilator. Two months in rehab. We thought he pulled through. The strain of the virus ravaged his organs, and he passed on August 20, 2020.
dr didn’t put Covid on the death cert, and won’t admit he was hospitalized before his death.
@thejanellemj
believed in my kindred story “a good death” and advocated for it to be published. Her confidence in that story still lifts me up to this day.
I do not support governments that murder journalists, LBGTQ+ folks, or oppress any humans based on religious, sexual orientation, gender, or any other means of discrimination, murder, or torture.
It’s a no-brainer.
Money is never more important than human beings
Some of my last work at Riot was released in Legends of Runeterra, working alongside the mighty
@Riot_fizzNchips
and
@rnoelliams
and
@MartyMong
, all exquisite writers in their own right! Wonderful team, all of whom I miss dearly. Keep rocking, y’all!
It was my dream to see things like this pop-up in my twitter feed one day
@oldsalt90
@_skeeziks
@EndlessPillows
@RiotAugust
Creating champions was about making expressions of fantasy folks could see themselves, and I loved being a part of it.
My least favorite people in the games industry are the ones who believe they are creative geniuses but don’t know basic shit… like what an act break is. Or that personality is not backstory. Or that stories are made of words, not memes.
Go read The Dream Thief and behold this freakishly good artwork by
@crownsforkings
and editorial by
@Hulk__Harvey
with choices by all of our RU players! Writing this piece was a very wonderful experience thanks to
@LaurieGoulding
LOOK 👏 AT 👏 IT 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏!!!
@crownsforkings
just knocked this art assignment out of the park. If you haven't see her work then you need to fix that!
Now, go read a freaking awesome story written by
@thatmattdunn
and edited by
@Hulk__Harvey
!
Learning Unreal, and I gotta say it reminds me of that Silicon Valley episode where all the engineers love the pied piper app but no regular human understands how to use it.
Hello Twitter friends. Here’s a mental health break in light of all the game industry being horrible news
She (currently searching for a name) is the latest addition to our family to help us through some very sad and hard times. Enjoy.
I love making folks believe in, and see themselves in
@leagueoflegends
champions. I’m no longer on league.
My goals haven’t changed: folks of all stripes see themselves in
@riotgames
stories, believe in the world & empathize with its characters
Best wishes to the new team!
Discover the lore of Runeterra in Riot Games’ first ever collectible narrative companion book, featuring never-before-seen maps, artwork, and new original narratives. Realms of Runeterra is available today!
@DyronLoa
@papuchochoe
In the end, he would have a kid of his own (possibly with lux). The final season would see ezreal choosing between his remaining parent, and raising his own child. He would learn he can’t do both. He would mess up this choice. He would almost lose his child.
@Spideraxe30
@riotgames
@superevilmegaco
I don’t really get the decision at all, except there was palpable disdain for narrative writers who wanted to write more stories. No clue where it came from
Yes, this.
Also, someone I don't know posted a message on my dad's online memorial page the day before his funeral, demanding that I give their favorite LoL champion "better lore".
Just so we're clear, that's possibly the most disgraceful and disrespectful thing I've ever seen.
Writers get let go/laid off/fired often. It never hurts less. But, then you get back on the horse, digest what you’ve learned, and apply it toward your personal work, and the next gig.
Constant growth isn’t comfortable.
Wanna manage it better?
@YBourykina
doing the good work :) so excited to see this release to players. Massive kudos and champagne bubbles to everyone who worked on Spirit Blossom! Y’all knocked it out of the park
so incredibly honored to have been able to be a part of such a massssive event! this was the last skin i made with my amazing pod before switching to full leady things :3
also had a chance to make the chromas for her 💙
massive team effort!
#LeagueOfLegends
#Ahri
#handpainted
This year i will finish writing a thriller, a slasher, a comedy, a dramedy, a fantasy, manatee, a sci-fi, a pot pie, a two hander, a grand slammer, a reboot and a gum root, a wave, a knave, a screenplay, a Green Day, a novel, a hovel, but first: this dumb tweet.
#screenwriting
@DyronLoa
@papuchochoe
They are still alive, but one would die. The other would not return with ez, instead offering him to stay. But ez has the same problem as his parents, whom he idolized. He’d leave.
The last work I did for riot was on Legends of Runeterra. It’s bittersweet, but this team was so welcoming, kind, and talented.
And the game’s damn good too!
@smelissali
@MeaghanBowe
Ro
@Riot_fizzNchips
are a voltron of kickass
See what’s in store for the rest of 2021. Discover the final region joining Legends of Runeterra, explore a leveled-up Lab of Legends, and mark your calendars for a bonus PvE expansion in the fall.
So many members of my family either have coronavirus or intimately know someone who does
Do not let anyone tell you this is not serious
No amount of money is worth losing loved ones
Stay safe, stay home
Love you all