[2020] It's been almost 3 years since Riot said they were going to add the Showdown 1v1/2v2 game mode to Customs

Originally posted by SuperMrBlob

Hey, thanks so much for the response.

My understanding from L4T3NCY's post is that Showdown is the one exception to the 'RGMs are difficult to support cross-patch' rule because it's just a small variation of ARAM, so nothing should break from patch to patch. He said it would be "effectively zero upkeep".. was he wrong?

I know there's the other issue of enabling RGMs that are currently live for matchmaking in customs (something to do with matchmade game modes and custom games running on different server tech - L4T3NCY refers to the problem towards the end of his post) but that's not at all what the Ask Riot article discusses.

Originally posted by TheWanderingSuperman

Hey u/RiotPopc0rner!

Thanks for taking the time to swing by. I understand that custom games and game modes aren't a "set if and forget it" type of thing (especially in a game with such frequent updates), and that overhead doesn't come free.

In that first dev blog you posted, as in other dev blogs, and elsewhere by other Riot employees, the message has been that the "Modes Team" is focusing on finding long-term alternate game modes (that Nexus Blitz tried to be). However, what is to stop these new modes from encountering that same cost/benefit trap that has killed every other custom game mode or rotating game mode? Where bugs (or dev time) eclipsed the money directly earned?

Built in monetization (like TFT)? Simpler designs that are more similar to SR, allowing for fewer bugs and thus overhead?

The reason I ask is that Riot specifically says they want long-term alternate modes, but well ... as with client fixes and toxic bans ... talk is cheap.

Originally posted by SuperMrBlob

Ah, that's disappointing. I have to say, from an outsiders perspective - I'm sure you'd agree - L4T3NCY's analysis really does seems to make a lot of logical sense. Showdown is indeed just ARAM with a win condition attached. If what you're saying is accurate - that something that seems like it should be so simple to implement is indeed so hard to do - the tech debt is worse than I realised... I vote kill it with fire ;)

If you're interested and able to discuss what emerged from that evaluation, and why it'd be so difficult, I'd be really curious to know. I'm sure it exists, but I'm really struggling to think of a technical reason why that'd be the case (mid level full stack dev)

Edit: The more I think about this, the more confused and curious I get. ARAM works, check. Customs supports multiple game modes, check. What stops y'all from literally copy-pasting ARAM, adjusting it slightly, and adding it as a custom mode? Really am interested in a response, if possible!

Originally posted by TheWanderingSuperman

Hey! So, my source of the "long term" modes from the Ask Riot: Events and Game Modes is the following:

That means it takes the same amount of work to bring a mode back for customs as it does to bring it back for queues, which takes us back to our previous discussions around why we’ve chosen to invest our time into developing new modes, rather than keeping older modes on rotation.

Within that link (the /Dev: State of Modes), my key takeaway (as it is bolded in the summary) is:

So to that end, the Modes Team is focusing all of our attention on improving the existing long-term game modes and discovering new, potentially long-term modes that you can play for years.

So, I admit I may be reaching a bit too far, but, hopefully that helps lay out my thought process.

Second, I'm still unclear as to whether Riot intends to release a "long-term and casual" mode (ie a separate queue for a quick mode like Nexus Blitz). Because, in October of last year, Cactopus had the following to say about Nexus Blitz in particular, emphasis is not mine:

This conversation is tough because at the end of the day people who really like NB can’t be convinced that it didn’t deserve more love. Like, if you like it and want more of it, you aren’t wrong.

So when Rioters like me come out and say “here’s the facts, not that many people were playing it,” it doesn’t feel like it’s really addressing NB fans’ point. And that point is, Nexus Blitz really DID fill a niche and it met player needs that we’re currently failing to meet.

So, look, even if the conspiracy theory about missions is totally wrong (and it is), we get it—NB offered something special. And we’d be crazy not to try to get that special something right in the future (and hopefully in a way that’s appealing to more players). That’s all I’ll say for now.

I interpret that bolded sentence to mean that Riot intends to fill that niche at some point, but, as it is a waste of money (if nothing else) to temporarily fill a niche (a la an event), the logical conclusion is that a "long term" mode is intended. But, maybe I'm so far down the rabbit hole that I'm twisting 8 month old words too far.

Because at the end of March, the Quick LoL Thoughts had the following to say:

Finally, one more event related note. A piece of feedback we’ve received regularly is that some players would really like an event game mode where you get to pick your champ that also has a shorter game time than SR/ARAM do. Makes sense as a point of feedback, especially given our last few events have been either random champ select or limited control, with Poro King, ARURF and One for All. As a result one of our goals now is to deliver an event game mode that has shorter times and standard champ select rules this year.

By referring to this game mode as an "event game mode", I'm led to believe that it won't be long-term/permanent. (And I am pretty sure they are meaning exactly having Nexus Blitz come back for an event this year.)

All of this is to say, I want to keep playing League, but I don't always want to play Summoner's Rift, TFT, or even ARAMs very much any more, nor do I want to wait 18 months to be able to play Nexus Blitz for a week or two. If Cactopus is to be believed, I'm not alone in this feeling (though I'm certainly not a majority), and Riot intends to do something to attract and retain players like me. Or not, I don't know.

Either way, thanks for swinging by, I cannot wait for Nexus Blitz to come back, and if you accidentally flip the totally real magic switch in the server room to keep Nexus Blitz enabled permanently, I'd be overjoyed.