The DEFINITIVE RIOT MMO Everything Known Information Compilation

Compiled by Ryve Genesis

✣NEW: DISCORD SERVER LAUNCHED!✣

I have made a new Discord server that is specifically for the RIOT MMO. The other one is not very active and not specifically about the Riot MMO. I have a dev Twitter tracker fully setup with all of the known devs tracked. https://discord.gg/QnBSAJjrH2

✣ACCOMPANYING RIOT MMO EVERYTHING KNOWN VIDEO✣

✣CREATOR – RYVE GENESIS✣

YouTube | Twitch | Twitter | Discord

CHECK OUT RYVE GENESIS’ “EVERYTHING KNOWN” SERIES:

THRONE AND LIBERTY EVERYTHING KNOWN

THE NEW ZENIMAX MMO EVERYTHING KNOWN

PAX DEI EVERYTHING KNOWN

SUBMIT NEW INFORMATION FORM:

If you have new information that you think should be added to the document, FILL OUT THIS FORM.

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The Original RIOT MMO Everything Known Google Doc (May not be Updated in the Future)

✣RIOT MMO EVERYTHING KNOWN SOURCES:✣

Ghostcrawler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ghostcrawler

Mark Yetter Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkYetter

Other Riot Twitter Accounts: Twitter Accounts

Riot MMO Careers Page: https://www.riotgames.com/en/work-with-us#product=MMO

Riot LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/riot-games/

Oheyspun Document: SPUN.GG

The Riot MMO Fansite: https://theriotmmo.com/

Other Youtubers:

Stoopz: https://www.youtube.com/c/StoopzzTV

OHeySpun: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTu-UOi8HXx2fviHgSBtfuw

Shambits Gaming: https://www.youtube.com/c/ShambitsGaming

Necrit: https://www.youtube.com/@Necrit

Force Gaming: https://www.youtube.com/@ForceGamingYT

Voidborn Sharkness https://www.youtube.com/@VoidbornSharkness

Ebonhardt https://www.youtube.com/@EbonhardtTV

✣CONFIRMED OR LIKELY CONFIRMED RIOT MMO INFORMATION✣

THEY ARE MAKING AN MMORPG

• Announcement of MMO Tweet
• MMORPG Confirmed

The Name is not World of Runeterra

• Name(Not World of Runeterra)

It is probably still Early in Development

• Vijay Thakkar LinkedIn
• Mark Yetter Tweet – Long Road to MMO
• Ghostcrawler started December 2020(see topic)

Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street is leading the project, he started on it December 2020 (Ghostcrawler left the project in March 2023)

• Started in December 2020
• Ghostcrawler announces he is leaving the project

Most Senior Roles were filled July 2021

• Most Roles filled July 2021

Beginner/Casual Friendly and not Niche, they are aiming big

• Beginner/Casual Friendly
• Casual Friendly(Fit Busy Lifestyle)
• Casual Friendly(Many Great Games)
• Casual Friendly(Respect Players’ Time)
• Mass Appeal vs Niche

They will not release it if it sucks and they will not rush it

• No Guarantee the Game Ships
• Development is Going Great
• Not Rushing the Project(No Publisher Pressure)
• Not Rushing the Project(No Strict Schedule)

They want early playtesting and feedback

• Playtesting(Early)
• Playtesting and Feedback(Testing well before launch)
• Playtesting Confirmed
• Open Development

It will have PVP

• PVP(Confirmed)

Very likely to have raids, will have dungeons

• Raiding likely?
• RPG and Dungeons Confirmed

Seems pretty likely to have action combat

• Combat(Action instead of Old-School Tab?)
• Game Designer III, Action/Combat

Unreal Engine seems likely to be the Game Engine(This means faster development)

• Senior Manager, Software Engineering
• Staff Software Engineer, MMO Generalist

Trinity Likely(Tank, Healer, DPS)

• Trinity(Seems Confirmed)

Fishing

• Fishing Confirmed

Updates Likely in 2022 (NOTE: Didn’t happen…)

• Updates in 2022

There will be Character Customization(Ghostcrawler Response to this document)

• Character Customization Confirmed

Randomness/RNG Confirmed

• Randomness

Transmog Confirmed

• Transmog

Quest Hubs Likely

• Quest Hubs Likely

✣THE MOST INTERESTING SPECULATIVE RIOT MMO INFORMATION✣

Camera Perspective(Move Completely out of the Genre suggests not Isometric to me)

• Camera Perspective?

Group Size 6?

• Group Size(Maybe 6?)
• Group Size2(Maybe 6?)

Guides/Content Creation(Development with that in mind?)

• Guides/Content Creators
• Randomness via Complexity

Innovation vs Status Quo

• Innovation versus Status Quo

Lead Rewards Designer very Important

• Lead Rewards Designer very important

No Racials?

• Racials(No Racials Confirmed??)

Should be playable on low specs machines?

• Specs

No Talent Trees?

• Talent Trees?(Maybe not)

Verb Ecosystem? (Not just combos)

• Verb Ecosystem?
• Clarification of what Verb Ecosystem means

Riot Open’s Office in Seattle, will be hiring for MMO there(ArenaNet Devs?)

• Riot Open’s office in Seattle

Making it easy to kick players from groups versus forcing groups to work together to improve

• Xenogenic on Kicking Players versus explaining and helping with concepts

Balancing Short Term Engagement versus Long Term Engagement

• Mark Yetter on Short Term versus Long Term Engagement
• Mark Yetter on 50 hours of fun content that takes 500 hours to complete

Time-Gated Content seems Likely

• Time Gated Content 1
• Time Gated Content 2

Separate PVE and PVP Balance?

• Separate PVE and PVP Balance
• Kanon Interview

Alts and Content Skipping

• Alts and Content Skipping

Balancing Horizontal and Vertical Progression (Important to not have too much of either, find the right balance)

• Balancing Horizontal and Vertical Progression (Tweet)
• Balancing Horizontal and Vertical Progression (Kanon Interview)

Open World PVP, Greg likes it when it is political(Guild vs Guild) and not griefing

• Open World PVP Tweet

RIOT MMO Fully Themepark or Sandbox, Not Hybrid? (IMO, leans towards Themepark as I outline in the Video Below)

• Sandbox vs Themepark
• RIOT MMO | Themepark or Sandbox?

Don’t Want one player to be able to do everything with Alts

• Alts doing everything Tweet

✣RIOT MMO CLASSES✣

From Kanon Interview: “If you want to see what the classes are in this MMO look at League of Legends”

League Classes and SubClasses are as follows:

CREDIT TO SPUN.GG For the Classes Image:

✣RIOT MMO RACES and SUBRACES✣

CREDIT TO SPUN.GG for the IMAGE

✣RIOT MMO BESTIARY✣

See the “BESTIARY” Tab at SPUN.GG

✣RIOT MMO MAP✣

https://map.leagueoflegends.com/en_US

THE WORLD OF RIOT’S MMO IS ALREADY DONE – NECRIT YOUTUBE

✣KANON INTERVIEW✣

Kanon Interview YouTube Transcript

RIOT MMO Director FULL Interview ft. Greg Street (Ghostcrawler)

RYVE GENESIS RECAP

Kanon Interview Cliff Notes

✣RIOT MMO TWEETS✣

Alts and Content Skipping

• TEXT: I like playing alts, i just dont like to grind the same things i already did on my main.
• Make things we unlock accountwide, like grinding for a thing once and having it on all your other characters would be great
• .I largely agree. The challenge with alts is always how much to let you skip. If you skip everything (leveling, gearing, etc.) then what do you get out of playing an alt? 🙂

Announcement of MMO

• TEXT: I have news!

My recent job at Riot has been to help develop the League universe, which we’re going to need!

Because it is time. My new job is to kick off a big (some might say massive) game that many of you, and many Rioters, have been asking us to create.

PS We’re hiring

• tell me now… IS IT AN MMO? Will I be able to pick my waifu’s clothes and hairstyle?!
• It is an MMO

Beginner/Casual Friendly(Has to be)

• TEXT: Hey Ghostcrawler, thanks for being so open about the development of this totally unannounced game. I’ve always been a gamer, but have never played an MMORPG. The genre has never really spoken to me. Do you think this game will be beginner friendly for people like me? Thanks, GLHF
• I think it has to be. There are a lot of players who missed the MMO train the first few times around.

BIS Gear

• TEXT: There are multiple examples of this in WoW, and I mentioned WoD for a reason as this was partially where the RNG flood began — initially it was “just” the way bonus loot worked, which effectively made ever being able to reach BiS gear impossible.

At the time, that seemed big.

• I have a lot of thoughts about BiS gear. I think it comes down to whether players expect to be able to acquire it all or not. Most players tend to not farm things with sub 1% drop rates. But if a 10% drop chance fails 10 times they get a little frustrated.

Boss Fights(Not impossible to do, but challenging)(Very old Tweet but still interesting, IMO):

• TEXT: I’m gonna let you kids in on a secret: I don’t design bosses to win fights against the player. I design them to lose *very convincingly.*
• It’s like blackjack. I lose if I go way too far under, but I also lose if I go over.

Camera Perspective?

https://mobile.twitter.com/Ghostcrawler/status/1498696215239618566

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler the thing I’m most curious about the upcoming MMO is: Is it gonna be first person, third person, top down isometric?
• We haven’t announced that yet. A big challenge of games of this scale is innovating just enough without innovating so much that you lose the magic or move completely out of the genre.

Casual Friendly(Fit Busy Lifestyle)

• TEXT: I can’t comment on specifics yet, but we want to make a game that fits in your lifestyle, whether you have hundreds of hours to play or very few.

Casual Friendly(Many Great Games)

• TEXT: It’s cruel for any game to try to be the only game you’ll ever play when there are so many great games out there.

Casual Friendly(Respect Player’s Time-Huge Ghostcrawler Thread)

• TEXT: A lot of the comments we received (thank you!) were about “artificially” increasing the time you have to play an MMO. A quick thread…
• I put “artificially” in quotes, because the entire product is pretty virtual at the end of the day. 🙂
• But this sentiment comes out when players may not be having fun in the moment but feel like they have to log in or risk falling behind or letting their friends down.
• A *little* of that sentiment is probably healthy. It’s the same thing that gets you to actually show up at the party you were sort of dragging your feet to, but then end up enjoying.
• I showed up for raids for years even on those days I wasn’t excited to, because in the long run it helped out my friends and our goals as a group. But you can definitely overdo this!
• The real heart of the problem IMO comes when players say they are bored. They did the raids, and the alts, and the economy, and whatever else, and they kind of want something else to do. This is especially true if they are paying by the hour or by the month.
• If you add too much to do, then you’re asking most progression-focused players to just play more. But if you make the content really optional feeling (“Hey why don’t you go finish this low level quests you never ran?”) then it doesn’t feel like real content.
• This is the kind of thing we will have to playtest the heck out of, but if I had to guess, we will probably come in on the side of not having enough to do. Yes I am serious!
• We don’t want to be the only game you will ever play. If another game comes out that you love, or god forbid you love more than one live game (say VALORANT), you should be able to play those too!
• If you don’t have another game you want to play, great. Read a book. Catch up on TV. We will make more content, and then you can jump back in.
• If you really, really love our game, well thank you, and we will make sure there is something you can do if you just want to play more and more hours. But it will probably feel pretty optional.
• The TLDR of all this is we want to respect player time. Now please don’t misread that to imagine we are making a small game. We are not. It is a very large game. The reason you are going to have to wait so long is because it is a large game. But we can still respect your time.
• And you can help remind your friends when they say they’re bored and wish there was more to do, that the developers didn’t want it to feel like a second (or third) job. They didn’t want you to have to play 4 hours every day without fail. They didn’t want every session to be epic.
• Can’t wait until we can share more! And remember, if the kinds of things I am describing end up sucking, we will change them. /thread

Casual Friendly(Respect Player’s Time-Ghostcrawler)

• TEXT: “Just remember an mmo should make me Want too waste my time. Not actually waste my time.”-Asmongold 2021
• “Respect players’ time” is one of our mantras

Casual Friendly(Respect Player’s Time-Yetter)

• TEXT: Thinking about RPG systems a lot as you can imagine
• Players feel rewarded for their time and efforts. It’s natural and fulfilling.
• Players feel pressured and obligated to keep grinding at things they don’t enjoy. Leads to a ‘bad breakup’ when you realize what’s happening.
• I think these two goals aren’t unreasonable to achieve. The hard part (to me) is designing systems that maintain both goals over hundreds/thousands of hours of gameplay.
• Yea it’s extremely hard. Also there is the trap to set a play time goal that is too big.
• If you have 50 fun hours of content but the system demands 500 there no way it’s going to work.

Character Customization Confirmed(Ghostcrawler Reponse to this document)

• TEXT: just wanna know, but where did they mention less customization for better balance?
• We will have customization. Not everything can be justified by being easier to balance. The game has to be fun, and making decisions about how to make your character is fun for most of us

Character Customization(Leaning towards less?)

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler Alright let’s ask for more of an opinion. Ghost crawler do you think Classes should be on levels of classic wow customization where there’s an OK amount of choices for your class or do you think the game should give as much freedom as path of exile 1/7
• I think there is value in having classes or something like them in a multiplayer game, because it simplifies communication and role distinction. When everyone is a jack of all trades it’s harder to form groups without a lot of discussion.
• Now, I do believe in customization. Players like to build their own characters, and theorycrafting is fun. It’s a challenge in multiplayer games because players generally really will only take the builds or options that the community considers viable.
• Both WoW and LoL struggled with this on my watch and I am sure always will to some extent. Player builds work better in largely single player games, or when you have a DM, or when there isn’t a player expectation of fairness / balance.
• None of this is intended to be a hint about what we will do with the new game. We are pretty excited about the class direction and we hope you will be as well.

Classic WOW and Timeless Isle

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler I loved vanilla World of Warcraft and Timeless Isle in MoP, will the Riot MMORPG be for me?
• ooh clever. Too early to give away features but let’s just say those are things I liked too

Combat(Action instead of Old-School Tab?)

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler will there be tab targeting in the new mmorpg? and if not directly, could there be an option to chose for it, like ashes of creation is trying to have?
• Not quite ready to share this kind of detail. We think combat is a space where the genre feels a little dated (and humbly I think Riot is pretty good at combat) but explaining our design and intentions will take a lot more space than a tweet

Combat will be great

• TEXT: What I can say is that Riot is just okay at some things. But Riot is very, very good at combat feel. I am biased of course, but LoL and VAL are exhibits A and B.

Community Feedback

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler I don’t know if you can answer this now but when designing the MMO do you approach it like “This is how we want our MMO to be, take it or leave it” or “This seems to popular with the community lets add it.”
• It’s like we decided to open a seafood restaurant dammit, not a place where “no matter what kind of food you like, we gotchu.” But we will pay attention to what seafood entrees are more popular with the seafood dining community and adjust the seafood menu accordingly.
• So closer to the former, but it’s not like a painting where we don’t really care if anyone likes our art or not. We want a vibrant community to love our art, and we’ll make changes to get them to love it more. But we won’t try to appeal to everyone. That doesn’t lead to great art

Development is Going Great

• TEXT: A few weeks ago I made a tweet where I intended to emphasize what a commitment I had made to this MMO. Some players and media latched onto the “might never ship” part and extrapolated that the development was not going well. Spoiler: It is going great. This team is so stacked.

Don’t want one character that can do everything

• TEXT: There are pros and cons to the FF job system vs stable of alts system. Most likely we won’t be able to make everyone happy there. But the one thing we do want to avoid is feeling like you are don’t need other players at all because you can do it all yourself

Camille Sanford hired

• TEXT: Today is my first day at @riotgames as part of the R&D MMO Team.

Crafting vs Loot Drops

• TEXT: Could you give us an opinion on how you feel about Armor sets in raids being the best or crafting your best in slot gear? Do you think there’s a way to go somewhere inbewteen?
• It’s complicated. I’m a big fan of player crafting economies, yet you need a reason to go in the dungeons as well, and if the big dragon just drops a much of ingots and scraps, that’s not really delivering on the expectation

Elitism

• TEXT: There’s no room for learning and if you struggle because you are new to the role then people just end up quitting or kicking you.There’s zero incentive for people to work with a newer player to the role and it’s really hard to get better at the role when no one will work with you
• The intolerance people have for someone learning in multiplayer games is a really frustrating problem. It’s like the job search meme, where the entry level position requires 5 years of experience 🙁

Engine

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler just learnt that you guys used Unity for Wild Rift.

Will the upcoming MMORPG also be made with Unity?

• We have not announced the engine we are using for the MMO yet.

FFXIV All Jobs on one character?:

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler for the MMO, do you think classes will be fluid for characters, like in FF14? I liked that approach of being able to invest in a single character and not feel forced to make a new toon just to try out a new class, like in WoW. Any thoughts on this? Thanks 🙂
• I have found that a lot of people prefer the FF14 approach and a lot of people don’t. Which makes choosing a model hard 🙂

Fishing Confirmed??

• TEXT: MMO development is like today we made 100 arbitrary decisions… but *one* of them will end up spawning 1000 conversations with players, cost us millions of dollars, and developers on the team 15 years from now will refer to it as the Day Everything Changed
• So you added fishing today. I’m in.
• Don’t RPGs have to have fishing? I think it’s in the bylaws.

Ghostcrawler Blog

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler been a while since your last post on https://askghostcrawler.tumblr.com

Today is a good day to sit back with a glass of [Beverage That Makes Greg Spill His Beans] and write tons of information about the MMORPG over there and then fall asleep.

• People didn’t love going to Tumblr. I still need a format that lets me answer longer than Twitter.

Ghostcrawler leaves the RIOT MMO

TEXT: Hey internet. Thanks for all the support over the past few months while I was afk I am back now with some big news to share: I have decided to step down from my role at Riot Games. A combo of personal and professional considerations led me to down this path. We experienced some devastating personal losses last year and I want to be closer to my surviving family. But while I was on break I got to think a lot about my career. Grief has a way of really bringing into focus what matters the most to you (still don’t recommend it overall though). And after nine years at Riot it feels like it’s time for something new! I said from the beginning that building a League of Legends MMO worthy of you all was going to be a long journey. The most important job I could do as part of that was to build an amazing team, and while I try to stay humble overall, I will brag about this team all day! The MMO is in good hands and it’s the right time to hand over the reigns for the next phase I plan to stay in game development and I have had a number of exciting opportunities presented to me already. And I will be with you all playing the Riot MMO when it comes out. I know one typically hands over the “reins”. I was trying to be too clever about someone leading the project. Also I tweeted that from a park since the house is being shown cuz I gotta move so cut me some slack

Ghostcrawler leaves the RIOT MMO Mark Merrill Response

TEXT: A little bit ago @Ghostcrawler shared that after 9 years witH @riotgames he’ll be stepping away to focus on the things that matter most: his family. Thank you again for everything, Greg. I want to take a second to talk a little about what that means for the MMO… [1/4] First, we are still in early development, but have a direction that we’re very excited about. We’re working hard to deliver an experience that you’ll love. (But it will still be a VERY long road to get there – thanks for being patient with us.) [2/4] We believe in this game and the team working on it. If we look at development as a race, Greg has run an amazing first leg with an incredible team, and I know whoever takes the baton next will be set up for success going forward. [3/4] In the meantime, we’re looking for the world’s best and brightest who LOVE MMOs. If you have ever dreamed of helping to build what we hope can be the world’s next incredible MMO – we’d love to hear from you. [4/4]

Ghostcrawler Response to this Document(Can’t Confirm or Deny)

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler @MarkYetter @Xenogenic @RiotShantzilla https://reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/ubz6en/riot_mmo_information_compilation/ …

I’ve been compiling as much information about your MMO as I could find. How close did I get? Am I way off? Thanks for the work you are doing and how open you have been so far!

• We can’t confirm or deny anything, but you have made it easy for us to keep track of what we’ve shared or not 🙂

Group Size(Maybe 6?)

• TEXT: WHERE IS THE RIOT MMO INFO IM NOT ASKING ANY MORE
• We will share more, but expect it to also be a dialogue where we go back and forth with interested players. For example, we might say group size is 6 players and players respond that they prefer larger or smaller for reasons

Group Size2(Maybe 6?)

• TEXT: Gonna be honest, I really did not enjoy leveling in Lost Ark whatsoever. Compared to MMOs, it was fast to get to endgame, yet still too long for what it was.

But I’m actually really enjoying the endgame. Did the 8 player abyssal dungeons last night and they were awesome

• What is the optimal design for number of players for a dungeon? Asking for a friend.
• On WoW we felt like it might be 6, given the ratios. But maybe that was a consequence of the 5 player design.

Guides/Content Creators

• TEXT: The problem with any MMO imo is that Youtube, Content Creation, and really any form on information monetization ruins them. There’s no adventure anymore and everything is essentially told to you on how to play or Min Max the game. You’re basically just following a guide now
• Keep in mind WoW was developed before a lot of that stuff even existed. I think it’s possible to make influencers part of the experience instead of somewhere you go when you’re stuck on a boss or don’t know the right rotation for your class.

Healing

• TEXT: MMO healing is a topic on which I have a lot of thoughts and at least some experience. It’s hard. If too much is on the healer, they get blamed and their life is stressful. If there isn’t enough, then the healer gets bored. And there is always the solo question.

Horizontal vs Vertical progression:

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler How much of a vertical progression game will the MMO be? Are there plans for any sort of solid horizontal progression? And how much do you guys care about making pve content that’s so fun that people wanna do it just because it’s fun? I hope my questions make sense.
• The question makes sense! The delicate nature of MMO design is what makes this tricky. Specifically, if you give players a lot of fun or horizontal progression, but the vertical grind occupies most of their playing hours, they may not have any free time for it

Innovation versus Status Quo

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler I feel that a lot of MMO players have their ideas and expectations coloured deeply by influences from existing titles, and only think of how they want that model adjusted. The MMO of tomorrow is not a WoW clone or a WoW killer. It’s something new entirely.
• We definitely will innovate in a lot of (hopefully) exciting ways. What we don’t want to do is make a super experimental game that shatters genres but appeals to only a handful of players.

Kicking Players from Groups versus explaining and helping with concepts

• TEXT: Doing the 8 player dungeons again in @playlostark on my sorceress alt and I’m still so surprised at how patient players are with new players still learning the mechanics, especially the ones where all 8 must do them correctly or it’s a full wipe.
• I said this last time but it’s refreshing to me to have pug content that isn’t trivial. Not only does it keep it interesting and rewarding, but I actually think it plays a part in this patience: it’s just better/faster to explain the mechanics to the new player so you can win
• You can’t kick them, and if they leave, they won’t get replaced, so letting them fuck up and getting mad will actually hard fail the dungeon for you.

Lead Rewards Designer very important

• TEXT: Heck I will go as far as to say lead rewards designer is one of the most important roles on this or any MMO. We need a superstar here

Leveling

• TEXT: Making a good leveling experience isn’t super super hard (*nothing in MMO design is really easy). But then the first expansion lands and the you’re like do we salvage the old leveling experience? Do we make a giant new one? Do we catch people up?

Loading Screens, Day/Night Cycles, and Seasons

• TEXT:I don’t know that anyone loves loading screens. Sometimes they are just faster or less technically challenging than a seamless transition. No feature in a game comes for free after all.
• I think daily / seasonal changes are cool, but again to what end? Is it just a nice visual look? Nothing wrong with that. Does it affect the game? Do undead only come out at night? Do you need more food in the winter? You have to balance that against other features you want.

Long Road to RIOT MMO

• TEXT: It’s a long road for the MMO project, trying to do it right so we build something worthy of expectations.
• Sorry you aren’t getting a ton of updates from us quite yet but we’re hard a work making strides every day. This team has a lotta heart, grateful as hell for them.

Lore of the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler Any reason you guys decided to start with MMORPG before more worldbuilding in an rts like war craft. Any plans on rts genre. It’s another one that could use the Riot touch I think.
• Runeterra is a pretty well developed world. Check on out LotR and Arcane in particular.

As for RTS, it’s something we debate a lot. I for one think the right game could lead to an RTS resurgence, but alas I already have a gig. (Tip: make your RTS team based and not 1v1)

Lore2

• TEXT: Would world content feel like an unnecessary unenjoyable afterthought to the instances? or would world content have enjoyable challenges? and where would it take place? in LoL universe or somewhere new?
• I think we have dropped enough hints that a lot of the League IP work was to help prepare for this

Mains/alts in the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler I’m curious which approach the MMO will be taking towards mains/alts. FF14’s everything-on-one character is a great open approach to character progression – although diminishes main-class identity. Wonder what your take is on this? 🙂
• Yeah that’s a tricky one and I can see both sides. We have discussed it a lot.

Mass Appeal Game vs Niche for the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: I think it’s safe to say that we are not aiming for a niche product. Some games do great with 500,000 very loyal players who love the game. That’s awesome but that’s not what we’re going for

MMO vs Single Player

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler curious for the MMO what you and your team’s philosophy is in approaching grouping for group content? I always found that not having instant queuing random group finders is healthier for the game as it forces the creation of guilds and creates a sense of community.
• This will be vague, but our philosophy is if you want to play a single player game, there are great ones out there. Horizon! GoW! Persona! Shout out to Pathfinder WotR! If you want to play a game with a community, with friends, then play our MMO.

MMORPG Confirmed

• TEXT: Is it going to be an MMORPG? Or just an MMO?
• MMORPG

Monetization for the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler, you probably get this question a lot but, if you are able to share: What business model will the Riot MMO follow? MMOs these days monetize everywhere and it feels overwhelming. (P2P + subscription + microtransactions)
• We aren’t ready to talk about that, but we will almost certainly be consistent with Riot’s other game where it’s our hope that players spend money because they want to not because they feel like they have to

Nameof the RIOT MMO(Not World of Runeterra)

• TEXT: BTW, WoR is almost certainly not the name of this game.

Name of the RIOT MMO?(We have one internally)

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler I’m not asking what it is, but was curious if the MMO project Riot is making has a working name? Or is that something you will think of much later on during development.
• We have an internal name, but I want a public-facing name (not the shipping one, so website squatters don’t get all excited) because calling it “the MMO” all the time makes it sound generic and like we don’t have a strong vision

No Guarantee the RIOT MMO Ships

• TEXT: There is no guarantee this game will ship. We are optimistic, but you just never know until it does. However assuming it does, this will be the fourth major franchise I have worked on (AoE, WoW, LoL), and likely the last. And I am very okay with that. It will be a good final act.

No Industry Experience Hiring for the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler How exactly is the team expansion with unexperienced Game Designers gonna work, and how unexperienced are we talking? (Something like 1st Semester Game Engineering in Munich? O.o) (pls say yes and hire me)

When we are at the point where we are pouring a ton of systems and content into the game, we want to make sure we have the perspective of folks brand new to game dev. (It’s also a way to give back to the community.)

It’s likely we won’t require any experience, but we still need an interview process (probably broad design questions). It won’t just be a lottery.

No Industry Experience Hiring 2

• TEXT: Since a lot of you have reached out, we are committed to hiring some folks with no industry experience to work on the MMO. I think fresh eyes will benefit us & it’s also a way to give back a little to the community. We aren’t ready for that yet – maybe next year if all goes well
• You can’t prototype much of it obviously and a lot of it requires many players and long time periods to answer e.g. is end game good?
• So you typically choose the areas that are higher risk or where you really want to innovate and prototype those.

Not for everyone?

• TEXT: One thing I can say about “unannounced” MMORPG is that you won’t all love every feature in it. We’re going to make some choices that you may not agree with. Players want different things in their games. That’s fine. Some of you (shudder) may not love the game at all. Also fine.

Not Rushing the Project(No Publisher Pressure)

• TEXT: Please don’t make me hyped up for an MMORPG they usually flop, I know you guys are good devs, but its really hard to make an MMORPG
• Yep. However one big problem with MMO development is that the dev team is always trying to convince the publisher not to rush them and to give them enough resources. Riot wants to make this game and wants to make it right. That’s a big risk mitigated already.

Not Rushing the RIOT MMO (No Strict Schedule)

• TEXT: You know what my single biggest hope for the Riot MMO is?

That Riot takes their time with it, and that they aren’t put on a strict schedule.

“It’ll be ready when its ready” is, and I say this in complete sincerity, an excellent design philosophy — live by it!

• There is no strict schedule. We are being encouraged to take the time to do it right. We want to have plenty of opportunities to respond to player feedback and concerns after they’ve seen and played it.

Open Development

• TEXT: So the worst part of the MMO’s is the communication between devs and players, that can ruin the whole thing! We dont care if the game isnt perfect we just want you to open your ears and listen the community. Dont hesitate to ask anything when youre at latest stage of development.
• We want to have a really open dialogue with the community. We want to get as close as we can to players feeling like they are on this journey with us, without getting to the level of “vote on what this class name should be.”

Open World?(Seems to be):

• TEXT: The series was amazing and silco was one of the best characters imo.

I am hyped for the MMO, but i need to know only 2 things.

Will it be open world ? And will there be classes?

Thats all i actually want lol

• What do you mean by open world? Or rather what is an MMO that isn’t open world look like to you?

Pets/Mounts obtained from other Riot Games for the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: Hi @Ghostcrawler. I’ve asked @IksarHS something similar in his AMAs but he hasn’t seen it yet so I’ll ask you. Any consideration given to adding MMO pets/mounts tied to certain LoR cards like the old TCG ones? Or something like LoR wildcards/packs as a very rare Riot MMO drop?
• There are probably good ways to do it, but there are a lot of bad ways as well, including a bunch of people who aren’t really interested in LoR itself just there for the mounts.

The edge between reward and bribe can be really sharp.

• what about it just being one of several ways to earn something.

Kinda thought back during spirit blossom I wished progress I made on either the pass for league or for LoR went cross game, cus as it was I had to choose which game to grind rewards for and which to pass on

• Yeah one of several ways to earn is fine (IMO). That feels like a reward, not pushing players into somewhere they don’t really want to be. Getting people to try something you think they might like also isn’t bad either (again IMO).

Player Engagement(Balancing ST versus LT):

• “Engagement” is one of those tricky metrics for game devs. It can be good or bad depending on how it’s used.
• The intention is usually good because if people are playing the game, they must be happy.
• The pitfall is that chasing short term engagement is so tempting and uses tactics that burn players out long term
• A demanding design that pressures players to log in a ton of hours is really effective in the short term but it chips away at their long term trust or interest
• So the better goal to pursue is long term engagement trends like “are more players playing this year compared to last year?” (Even better if it’s a longer time frame)
• Over really long periods of time it’s more about actual player satisfaction with the game.
• It’s not so easy though because it’s also very important to gather feedback and data constantly to evaluate and improve on your work.
• It wouldn’t be a good method to release a game update and say “ok see you in a year to find out how this went”
• So in the end I try to keep the focus on long term goals rather than short but check for signs quickly. Real success is when players are satisfied long term.
• 1. Are players engaging more or less now?
• +
• 2. Player sentiment around long term (Stuff like surveys asking players if they think the game is improved, or if they feel like we’re demanding too much time etc)

Playing other MMOs besides the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: One of the best parts of reorienting my brain towards the MMO is immersing myself in every kind of game I can find to draw inspiration and learnings. FF14, Zelda, RDR2, New World, ESO, Genshin, Soulsborne (I already spent half my life on WoW so I’m almost too familiar)

This is of course not a comprehensive list, there are so many more not mentioned and ones that I overlooked.

Appreciate all of the recommendations – this is exactly what I’m all about right now. Leave no stone unturned and be humble about how much we can learn from others.

Playtesting(Early)

• TEXT: one problem with taking too long to release something is that, people’s expectations will be HUGE

when Diablo 3 came out, it was great!

but after SO many years of waiting I still felt like “is that all??” kind of disappointed

is this something you think / worry about?

• It’s a fair concern for sure, but we want to show the game and have players play it long before going live, so there shouldn’t be what we sometimes call the grand reveal

Playtesting and Feedback(Testing well before launch seem likely)

• TEXT: We very much are looking forward to talking about it, and we want to share info early enough that we have plenty of time to respond to (extensive) playtesting and feedback.

Playtesting Confirmed for the RIOT MMO?

• TEXT: We are flattered and happy with the kind words about our game so far, but also want to acknowledge it’s easy to talk big about our aspirations, but the proof will be when you get to playtest. (Which won’t be soon.)

PVP

PVP(Confirmed)

• TEXT: Sincerely hope you don’t abandon the pvp crowd, I know many times it’s been stated that “the game won’t be for everyone” but I think many are praying that we will have some stake in game.
• The challenge is even if I say we will have PvP (and we will), that can mean so many different things, from ganking, to epic battles, to looting, to dueling, to arenas, to even esports. So still probably not for everyone.

PVP (Open World) in the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: I like it when open world PVP is political in nature, like guild vs guild stuff. I don’t think someone ganking a lowbie and snickering about it is particularly deep gameplay.

Quest Hubs Likely in the RIOT MMO?

• TEXT: Sincerely hope you don’t abandon the pvp crowd, I know many times it’s been stated that “the game won’t be for everyone” but I think many are praying that we will have some stake in game.

Raiding(Competitive)

• TEXT: I don’t like to confirm many things on twitter. It’s not the right format. But GC loves raiding.

Raiding Likely in the RIOT MMO?

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler Please make the raiding enjoyable. This is the only thing I ask for. Enjoyable raiding with cool complex bosses and fun rotation. Rest of the game can be tailored however.
• I would be crushed if we failed on this.
• I don’t want to get into specific features yet especially not just over twitter like this. But anyone that knows me from my WoW dev days would know that I love dungeons and raids as a player.

Racials(No Racials Confirmed??)

• TEXT: What do you think about race/appearance being tied to classes? Would love to know if player expression is going to be a bit more freeing than other experiences so I can really enjoy who I play and how I play!
• If I was making WoW today, I’d campaign for all races for all classes, and remove racials, so race could just be a cosmetic choice up to each player. I know that removes some decision making, but appearance is such a subjective and personal choice.

Randomness

• TEXT: I’m barely a designer these days, but as a designer I have always enjoyed randomness.
• I like it when players have to adapt to the current situation instead of just focusing on rote execution.
• It’s possible to overdo it of course. Player actions, even when adapting, should have consequences (good or ill). If things are *too* random then player actions can’t drive the outcome.

Randomness via Complexity in the RIOT MMO

• TEXT: Don’t you think that unpredictability would be a better concept? So the situation can’t become solved, but outcome is somehow tailored to circumstances.
• There are a lot of forms of unpredictability. Other players is a huge one. Having systems so complex that the outcome is hard to predict is another. But good old randomness also has its place IMO.

Respect Player’s Intelligence(How much handholding to do?)

• TEXT: A design value I’ve been chasing a lot is to “respect player’s intelligence.”

It’s a challenging one and big polished AAA game dev process struggles with it in particular.

• (Thread)

This most frequently is related to how you present information and guidance to the player.

Ultimately you don’t want the player to get hard stuck but if you spoon feed them everything you remove a TON of the best parts.

Discovering things on your own, mastering the game by doing, and solving the “what to do next” puzzle is one of the core satisfactions when playing.

This problem applies in so many places as well

• -how much guidance do you put on a players map in an RPG?
• -how much info do you put in the spell tooltip?
• -how much do you show to the player when an enemy attack is incoming?
• In high polish AAA dev, you have the time and money to iterate which is an enormous benefit.
• But ironically in this particular area it can hurt you. There is a pull where every time a playtester runs into a problem or gets stuck to fix it with more guidance or restrictions.
• Four things I’ve found most helpful in finding the sweet spot
• -match player intuition
• -focus on game strengths
• -plan for good failures
• -tools for learning not answers
• Match player intuition
• Of course you want to make the answers make sense for the problem
• To cheer up your dog rover you’d expect to feed her or pet her not give her a tattoo
• Similarly if I see a bomb ticking down I expect it to hurt me not heal me
• Focus on game strengths
• Areas where the game is most fully fleshed out are great for challenging the player to figure it out
• An action game like dark souls with awesome animations doesn’t need big red indicators in the world for every attack
• Plan for good failures
• There’s trial and error in the process so think about the failures
• Low stakes enemies like minions are great for trying out spells and doing the wrong for a while
• If you’re searching for clues better to be inside a house rather than a whole continent
• Tools for learning
• If you’re not telling players answers, how do they get to them?
• The perfect example here is great environmental design. There is a huge range of ways to give little or big clues. Do I find the source of corruption by following the trail of dead fauna?
• I mean level design like that is a whole career path in itself, so this is much easier said than done.
• Either way I’m done rambling and I love this topic too much lol

RPG Confirmation?

• TEXT: It will almost certainly have RPG systems like stats, gear, dungeons. We’re not ready yet to talk about how much it is or is not like other games out there. What defines an RPG can be a bit academic in nature, but I call it an RPG.

Sandbox or Themepark for the RIOT MMO?

• TEXT:Hey @Ghostcrawler !

I don’t know if the question has already been asked, but I would like to know if the mmorpg will be sandbox or more classic with a fixed and repetitive quests

We have not shared this yet, but we have a strong stance on it

Senior Roles Filled for the RIOT MMO(July 2021)

• TEXT: Are you guys still building teams at the moment and still need leads
• Yes. We have our most senior roles filled, like tech director and game director, but we will also need people like a lead rewards designer or lead tools programmer

Separate PVE and PVP Balance?

• TEXT: An abundance of mechanics that stalemate PvP matches.
• In other words, designing damage to feel lethal and exciting in variable moments, not just in the peaks and valleys of cooldown windows.
• Are you okay if abilities work differently in PvE and PvP?

Specs

• TEXT: Hey Greg hope you are safe and good but I just wanted to ask you one thing is the MMO high specs game or low specs like LoL
• We can’t answer that yet, but in general you want a game that can let people show off their high end graphics cards while also not eliminating a sizable chunk of players who want to play and don’t have access to an expensive rig

Ghostcrawler started in December 2020

• TEXT: LinkedIn says this so that that as you will.
• MMO 2020-Present
• etc.

Story

• TEXT: Ant is a good friend of mine, plays in my D&D group, AND is working on the stories we’ll tell in the MMO!

Story and Cutscenes

• TEXT: If the MMO is of the same caliber as these episodes was, gorram we’d all be living in Runeterra forever.

All those hand painted textures, the music, the story flow. Best animated show I’ve seen in a long time.

Hyped for next week!

• That’s the plan. But an MMO also has to entertain for 1000+ hours so we will be busy. Glad you are enjoying it

Talent Trees(Maybe not?):

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler I know it’s “way” too early, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the talent system of WoW vs Classic vs. having none in FF14. Hell, it probably doesn’t even need to relate to the new MMO (probably).

Talents are so hard to do right (and I have tried). Especially in a multiplayer game players gravitate towards what is accepted as the “right” choice to play. This isn’t an announcement either way mind you.

Themepark or Sandbox

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler Good afternoon sir, not sure if this has been asked before, so sorry in advance. How are you and the team planning on approaching the mmo; will it be more of a theme park or Sandbox? Will the world focus more on player interaction or a pre-scripted story
• We have talked a whole lot about this topic. I wish I could share our answer here, but we are pretty excited and confident about it.

Time Gated Content(Seems they are leaning that way1)

• TEXT: Artificial time-gating that doesn’t respect your time beyond an engagement metric.
• Sometimes those systems are designed so players don’t fall too far behind rather than trying to get you to login every day.

Time Gated Content(Seems they are leaning that way2)

• TEXT: Time-gated content. Whether it be daily logins, Events that unlock/progress gradually each day, resources that refill overtime etc. It makes your burn out real quick, and feels like a chore to log into the game every
• What if those systems are intended just so you don’t feel like you have to play for 60 hours straight when new content drops?

Transmog(Seems Confirmed)

• TEXT: You realize I coined the term transmog for WoW? (I didn’t make up the word.)

Trinity in the RIOT MMO(Seems Confirmed)

• TEXT: Do you think an MMO could thrive without the tank/healer/dps holy trinity setup?

Something I’ve thought about lately trying to make groups the last couple of years and always seems so hard to find those tank/heals.

Just more parts of it being a complex problem, hah.

• There are games that take on the challenge of no trinity. But that becomes a major design focus, which means you aren’t innovating on something else, and the trinity does mostly work. Besides there are lots of players who just really want to tank or heal.

UI Feedback

• TEXT: Hey gamers—MMOs can sometimes look a bit like spreadsheets. What are some great games that offer immersive ways of interacting with the world?

For example, in BoTW you can walk up to items at shops to buy them instead of navigating a list in a menu.

Happy Wednesday

Updates in 2021(Long ways off)

• TEXT: Sorry to tell you, but you know we wont be spilling the beans on the MMO for quite a while.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t be part of the conversation, what is your dream / wish for the game?

Updates in 2021(2)

• TEXT: Well we weirdly kind of announced already but we won’t show much for a long time. Don’t look for anything this year at least. We do need to start showing stuff pretty early though so that we have time to react to feedback before it’s too late.

Updates in 2022 for the RIOT MMO? (NOTE: Didn’t happen)

• TEXT: Will we be getting any dev updates, visuals, art, etc… in 2022 for the new mmo? @Ghostcrawler
• That’s the plan, but plans can change…

Verb Ecosystem in The RIOT MMO Clarification

• TEXT: Verb ecosystem is just a fance way to say “what are the actions that players (or enemies) take?
• Combat is part of it, movement and traversal, and interfacing with systems like “stagger” in final fantasy etc. Or like you said, “combo” – that’s a verb in Guild Wars.

What do you not want to see in this game?

• TEXT: So let’s be a little more negative for a moment. Without bashing other games, what features do you NOT want to see in this game we are making?

WOW Clone?

• TEXT: @Ghostcrawler Can you say if Riot’s MMO will be anything new or will it just be a Riot reskin of WoW/FF14. So many of the people working on it seem to hold WoW/FF14 in high regard which is fairly worrying.
• Too soon to share. But as I said before, we know players want different things in an MMO and we won’t be able to deliver on all of that. Some want almost all PvP. Some want almost all PvE. Some want nostalgia. Some want something brand news. None of those desires are wrong.

WozzerGG(New QA Lead Hire)

• TEXT: Working on Valorant has been a blast but I’m excited today to be starting a new chapter on the R&D MMO project.

Writer Hire

• TEXT: Big career update – I spent last few months meeting and talking to a number of great people and Teams, and now I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be joining @riotgames on their upcoming MMO project. I’m excited and looking forward to this new challenge, stay tuned!
• I have been a fan of Mateusz work for a long time and am beyond thrilled to welcome him to Riot! His vision, approach, and commitment to resonant stories and player experiences are perfect for the new MMO.

✣RIOT MMO TWITTER ACCOUNTS✣

SPUN LIST

SEE THE TEAM TAB AT SPUN.GG (ALSO MORE FREQUENTLY UPDATED)

RIOT MMO Twitter List:

✣RIOT MMO JOB POSTINGS✣

Riot MMO Job Page

https://www.riotgames.com/en/work-with-us#product=MMO

Game Producer II, Unpublished MMO

https://gamejobs.co/Game-Producer-II-Unpublished-MMO-at-Riot-Games

As Producers at Riot, we lead passionate teams to create products and experiences that seek to achieve maximum player value. We guide development, smash through obstacles, and push projects across the finish line while making sure that our teams are sustainable and have a great collaborative environment.

As a delivery-focused Producer on Riot’s Unpublished MMO Project you will partner with the Production Director to support one of Riot’s most exciting R&D projects. You will be the custodian of strong delivery processes internal to the team and ensure that collaboration with other teams runs smoothly. You will oversee delivery, build work systems, keep the team focused, and provide stakeholders with visibility on complex deliverables. You will also ensure the team works at a sustainable pace and continuously improves. You will report to the MMO Production Director.

Responsibilities:

• Lead delivery and process for a cross-functional team of game developers
• Manage and improve work systems and team performance metrics
• Identify misalignment areas in development and develop risk mitigation plans
• Build strong relationships with partner teams and craft working agreements to manage joint projects

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum 3 years experience leading production efforts for cross-functional game development teams using agile methodologies
• Experience leading teams through the full feature development lifecycle (planning, execution, delivery, post-release support)

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience producing teams on live service games
• Experience producing core gameplay and/or systems focused teams
• Knowledgeable in Jira use, configuration, and limitations

For this role, you’ll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about the experiences of players, this could be the role for you!

Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

Sr. Director, Operations – Unpublished MMO

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/c/Riot-Games/Job/Sr.-Director,-Operations-Unpublished-MMO/-in-Los-Angeles,CA?jid=03979f0626b96d0a

The Sr. Director of Operations of this Research & Development (R&D) project is responsible for ensuring the members of the cross discipline teams can effectively move products and features through the development cycle and out to players. This includes: turning the product vision into an operational framework, developing and executing the operational strategy of the product, driving the “how” of the work that happens on its various teams. You’re obsessed with understanding how the needs of the audience, the direction of the business, the health of the team and the critical elements of its products are translated into action. You work closely with the Team Captain, the Game Director, and product stakeholders to make sure the approach to work on the business is well-defined, that its talent systems are effectively adhered to, and that resources are allocated appropriately.

As a Sr. Operations Director on the R&D team working on our Unpublished MMO project, you will help organize and deliver one of Riot’s new game projects to production and beyond. You will work closely across all disciplines to ensure the project team is highly adaptable, efficient, and effective. The Sr. Operations Director is a member of the Product Leadership team and reports directly to the Executive Producer of the project.

Responsibilities:

Accountable for developing and executing the operational strategy of the product

Develop the work systems used throughout the business unit, including how teams are structured, whether and how they report status back to the business unit, and how multi-team work is coordinated

Ensuring all teams in the business unit make and meet commitments

Develop accountability rituals wherein teams review their commitments/delivery and hold each other accountable for them, celebrate successes, and learn from failures

Develop systems to ensure problems with delivery are regularly and quickly diagnosed and addressed

Ensure stakeholders and customers are always up-to-date on what’s going on in terms of what commitments have been made and how the delivery is going

Understand the capabilities of the business unit and how those match to its strategies in order to plan for current work and future needs

Inform the other members of the leadership team in choosing how to grow and allocate the workforce of the business unit

Work with department heads around Riot to represent your business unit’s staff, service, and tooling needs

Manage the department and discipline leads that don’t report to the Executive Producer, supporting them in their management of the broad span of Rioters on the business unit

Partner with the Talent organization to ensure that Riot’s talent processes are implemented effectively on the business unit (e.g., performance management, compensation, and promotion systems are consistent and applied based on Talent and Department standards)

Ensure that conflicts within and between teams are resolved effectively

Ensure psychological safety, healthy feedback culture and conflict management within and between teams

If applicable, ensure that co-development relationships are managed and effective

Required Qualifications:

12+ years of production experience in a dynamic professional environment such as games, tech, entertainment/media, etc.

7+ years of game development leadership experience with at least 5+ years in a senior leadership role shipping games (Director of Production, Head of Production, Operations Director, etc.)

3+ years of senior leadership experience shipping large-scale AAA games on multiple platforms with a live service component

2+ years of senior leadership experience on multiple game titles

2+ years of senior leadership experience managing, at scale, and international live product. This includes managing international development partners (internal and external.)

3+ years of senior leadership experience growing leaders, designing scalable organizations, and building healthy, diverse, and inclusive teams

2+ years of direct ownership of product budget and product hiring strategies

2+ years managing a co-development or outsourcing relationship

Experience with various development methodologies and their applications (e.g. Agile software development, Six Sigma, etc.)

Deep knowledge of games, relevant gaming audiences, and the gaming industry

Experience leading and functioning in ambiguous, collaborative environments with team members of several levels and disciplines

Experience maintaining excellent relationships with stakeholders

Demonstrated ability in product management and using prioritization schemes

Experience translating product vision into operating strategy an organization design

Desired Qualifications:

9+ years of experience in game development

For this role, you’ll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about the experiences of players, this could be the role for you!

Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

Game Designer III, AI – Unpublished MMO

https://www.startwire.com/jobs/los-angeles-ca/game-designer-ai-unpublished-mmo-3772295559/amp

Challenging Raid Bosses??:

• TEXT: Creating believable and readable AI characters that present challenging and exciting combat puzzles for the player to solve is the key area of focus for this role.

Experience Designing AI for open world systems:

• TEXT: Experience designing AI for open world systems

Multiplayer PVE Game Experience:

• TEXT: Deep level understanding of multplayer PVE games (ARPG, MMOs, etc.)

Verb Ecosystem

• TEXT: Collaborate with player ability designers on low level combat features and verb ecosystem.

Full Job TEXT:

As a Game Designer, you will design, tweak, and optimize the player experience. Your analytical skills, player insight, and creativity aid in crafting in- and out-of-game experiences that engage and surprise players. You will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and work with every tool at hand to innovate and iterate player-focused designs that’ll delight millions around the world.

As a Game Designer III specializing in AI you will build and iterate on the core foundations of our AI. Creating believable and readable AI characters that present challenging and exciting combat puzzles for the player to solve is the key area of focus for this role. A strong core AI foundation will be the bedrock for a huge variety of interesting enemies, allies, and encounters. We are still small, so this requires plenty of hands-on work creating, iterating, and tuning levels and mechanics. You are comfortable operating in an ambiguous environment where goals and constraints are mostly team driven and where change, big and small, is a critical part of the process. You will report to the Combat Design Lead on the team.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive overall enemy systems and experience
• Lead small cross disciplinary teams (2-5 people) to build core AI systems that drive our NPCs and combat enemies
• Mentor other mechanics designers in good AI design and implementation practice
• Collaborate with player ability designers on low level combat features and verb ecosystem
• Collaborate with level and encounter designers to deliver compelling content experiences
• Create and provide multiple potential designs and solutions. Articulate trade-offs and risks between different options.
• Playtest the game and help push for continued improvements for existing designs and fresh prototypes.
• Seek opportunities for new design spaces in collaboration with Product Managers and Design Leadership.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in professional Game Design
• 3+ years of experience working with enemy AI foundations like behaviors, movement, coordination, and combat
• You have demonstrated proficiency in scripting in at least one engine in a shipped title
• Shipped or worked on at least one AAA+ online game
• Can create complex mechanics and systems with attention to the player impacts and downstream effects
• Deep level of understanding of multiplayer PvE games (ARPG, MMOs, etc.)

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working on a live product
• Experience designing friendly or non combat AI
• Experience designing AI for open world systems
• Experience designing cooperative combat scenarios
• Is familiar with the LoL IP

Game Designer III, Action/Combat – Unpublished MMO

https://gamejobs.co/Game-Designer-III-Action-Combat-Unpublished-MMO-at-Riot-Games

Action Combat Confirmed?:

• TEXT: Action/Combat
• 3+ years of experience in either Combat Mechanics or Combat Feel in real time combat games
• Design and improve combat mechanics and systems that contribute to satisfying visceral combat

MMO Experience:

• TEXT: Deep level of understanding of multiplayer PVE games(ARPG, MMOs, etc.)

Full Job TEXT:

As a Game Designer, you will design, tweak, and optimize the player experience. Your analytical skills, player insight, and creativity aid in crafting in- and out-of-game experiences that engage and surprise players. You will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and work with every tool at hand to innovate and iterate player-focused designs that’ll delight millions around the world.

As a Game Designer III specializing in combat, you excel in the systems and components of compelling player combat. Tuning and getting the finest details perfect for great feel, depth, and strategic decision making is your focus. We are still small, so this requires plenty of hands-on work creating, iterating, and tuning levels and mechanics. You are comfortable operating in an ambiguous environment where goals and constraints are mostly team driven and where change, big and small, is a critical part of the process. You will report to the Combat Design Lead on the team.

Responsibilities:

• Design and improve combat mechanics and systems that contribute to satisfying visceral combat
• Own and refine core player actions like Camera, Controls, and Combat
• Design and iterate on low level details of combat that contribute to great feel, rich decision making, and a balanced ecosystem
• Create and provide multiple potential designs and solutions. Articulate trade-offs and risks between different options.
• Playtest the game and help push for continued improvements for existing designs and fresh prototypes.
• Seek opportunities for new design spaces in collaboration with Product Managers and Design Leadership.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in professional Game Design
• 3+ years of experience in either Combat Mechanics or Combat Feel in real time combat games
• You have demonstrated proficiency in scripting in at least one engine in a shipped title
• Shipped or worked on at least one AAA+ online game
• Can create complex mechanics and systems with attention to the player impacts and downstream effects
• Deep level of understanding of multiplayer PvE games (ARPG, MMOs, etc.)

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working on a live product
• Experience with both MMORPG combat and action combat design
• Experience designing AI or enemy combatants
• Experience designing cooperative combat scenarios
• Is familiar with the LoL IP

Game Designer III, Metagame Systems

https://startup.jobs/game-designer-iii-metagame-systems-unpublished-mmo-riot-games-2808589

GATHERING, CRAFTING, TRADING, ECONOMY, AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS(GUILDS), PLAYER POWER(ITEMS+LEVELS) – GAME DESIGNER III METAGAME SYSTEMS:

• TEXT: Experience Designing non combat systems like crafting, gathering, or social interactions
• Experience with balancing a long term game economy or crafting systems
• Experience Designing for Social Systems
• Experience with progression or rewards systems like leveling and items

Senior Manager, Software Engineering

https://startup.jobs/senior-manager-software-engineering-tools-lead-unpublished-mmo-riot-games-2808620

Engine(Unreal)(Unity for Companion App?)

• TEXT: Experience with Unreal Engine

Staff Software Engineer, MMO Generalist – Unpublished MMO

https://gamejobs.co/Staff-Software-Engineer-MMO-Generalist-Unpublished-MMO-at-Riot-Games-176

Experience using game engines(Unreal, Unity):

• TEXT: Experience using game engines (ex. Unity, Unreal Engine)

Experience shipping games across multiple platforms(console/mobile??):

• TEXT: Experience shipping games across multiple platforms (PC, mobile, console)

Full Job TEXT:

Riot engineers bring deep knowledge of specific technical areas but also value the opportunity to work in a variety of broader domains. As a Software Engineer III, you’ll also dive into projects that focus on team cohesiveness and cross-team objectives. You’ll lead without authority and provide other engineers with a clear illustration of extraordinary engineering.

As a Staff Software Engineer on the MMO team within Research & Development, you are armed with a wealth of knowledge on the intricacies of gameplay technology to inject life into Riot’s exciting new games. You will work in a small team alongside a product lead and designers to answer fundamental product questions to build experiences that will fulfill our players’ impossible dreams. You will report to the Engineering Director of the project.

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement robust, scalable, and performant solutions in close collaboration with other disciplines
• Implement full stack prototypes to find answers to product questions
• Collaborate with product and discipline leads to identify focus areas, handoff points, and provide the best solution for the development phase
• Follow and contribute to the technical direction and standards for the team
• Mentor other engineers on the team in all aspects of game development

Required Qualifications:

• 6+ years of full stack game development experience
• 2+ years of experience with networking in online multiplayer games
• Experience using game engines (ex. Unity, Unreal Engine)
• Experience developing and shipping games
• Experience collaborating with teammates across multiple disciplines
• Product sense, pragmatism, and player empathy in making tech decisions

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with Unreal Engine 4
• Experience with combat and animation systems
• Experience with general gameplay systems
• Experience with tooling for content creators
• Experience shipping games across multiple platforms (PC, mobile, console)
• Experience working on a live service game
• Experience working on an MMO

✣RIOT MMO LINKEDIN✣

SPUN LIST

SEE ALSO THE TEAM TAB AT SPUN.GG (ALSO MORE FREQUENTLY UPDATED)

Greg Street(Ghostcrawler)(Since December 2020, LEFT MARCH 2023):

https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-street-b356447/

Highlights

• “Officially” on MMO project since December 2020
• WoW Lead Systems Designer for 6 years

Mark Yetter – Game Director(since May 2021)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-yetter-b257171b/

Highlights

• “Officially” on MMO project since May 2021

Justin Hanson – Principal Game Designer (Since March 2021):

https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-hanson-90a19aa/

Highlights

• “Officially” on MMO project since March 2021

Camille Sanford – Game Producer, R&D MMO Project (Since November 2022)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/camillesanford/

Highlights

• 9 Years at Blizzard

Vijay Thakkar – Technical Director (Since April 2021)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thakkarvijay/

Highlights

• “Officially” on MMO project since April 2021
• We are starting to lay the tools and pipeline foundation that will power our MMO.(Still very early at this time).

Ed Altorfer – Principal UX Designer (Since April 2020????)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ealtorfer/

Highlights

• Since April 2020? Seems unlikely he was working on the MMO in April 2020 considering Greg Street wasn’t “officially” working on it then. Either the project or further along than we think, or more likely he was working on one of the other R&D projects at Riot(Fighting Game, ARPG) before moving over to the MMO recently.
• Been at Riot for a long time, tons of UI experience, but does not seem to have MMO UI experience

Shanti Blees – Director of Content Production (Since January 2021)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanti-blees-9b94253a/

Highlights

• Since January 2021

Greg Faillace – Art Director (Since April 2021)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfaillace/

Highlights

• Since April 2021

Yekaterina Bourykina – Lead Character Artist (Since May 2022)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybourykina/

Highlights

• Since May 2022

Mike Higgins – Senior Animator (Since June 2021)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-higgins-bb45303/

Highlights

• Since June 2021
• Blizzard Heroes of the Storm
• Wildstar

Mateusz Tomaskiewicz – Principal Narrative Designer (Since January 2022)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mateusztomaszkiewicz/

Highlights

• Since January 2022

Reece Warrender, Principal QA Engineer (Since November 2022)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/reecewarrender/

✣OTHER RIOT MMO INFORMATION✣

Riot Open’s Office in Seattle area(Will be hiring for MMO there eventually according to Ghostcrawler Twitter:

https://www.riotgames.com/en/news/riots-opening-an-office-in-the-seattle-area

Riot Buys World of Tanks/Warships Developer Wargaming

Riot Games Acquires Wargaming Sydney Studio to Accelerate Development of Live Games | Riot Games

Discord Servers

Riot MMO Discord

https://discord.gg/QnBSAJjrH2

Ryve Genesis Discord

https://discord.gg/8TzW5ag7uN

Official Wiki?

None Yet.

SubReddit

r/WorldOfRuneterra

r/riotmmo

r/theriotmmo

r/RyveGenesis

League of Legends Wiki Entry

https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Untitled_MMO

Chinese Translation of this Everything Known Page

https://mega.nz/file/Um4nyC7I#5pUZElGoYnf1r-qmbYlPrFcrl7S0d9WPO2lqKWb2qo8