Wait, you guys don’t just get all the skins?!
Seeing as your games are F2P I figured Riot would at least chuck you some freebies
No way! I like that we don't get all the skins for free, tbh. Makes us think about what we're making (and who it's for) and play like players.
Respect the honesty haha
You have no idea how much I wanted to respond "you're getting one soon!" every time someone complained about no red/black Ion variant.
I love it. I actually got an extra copy of CoD MW II I’m selling to hopefully pick some of them up, just wanted to say your team has done an amazing job here. I don’t think I’ve been this impressed since maybe Protocol or Glitchpop. Even if I’m unable to afford this one just know that this is probably the coolest in game skins I’ve seen since Prelude, Glitchpop and Protocol.
Just wanted to say as someone who has been playing counter-strike since 1.5 I love the game, love the work you do and even if I’m unable to pick up this bundle it’s a work of art. Somehow took that “Halo” feel and made it even more badass.
Thank you so much for the kind words (I saw your comment in the other thread too, ty!).
I love to hear from former CS players how they're enjoying VAL and VAL's cosmetics. Makes me really happy we released our game!
Are there other skins the dev teams aren’t really into?
Plenty. We all have our favorites and least favorites.
For me, I'm into Ruination, Reaver, and Champions (both 2021 and 2022). Ion too. And Sentinels of Light and Gaia's, though I don't own either of them.
In terms of high tier skins, I don't really like BlastX, Magepunk, ChronoVoid, Glitchpop, or Oni. I think they're really well-done, but they're not my personal taste. Since we spend on own money on skins, I don't really know for sure if a skin is my kinda thing until it's in the Store and I have to decide if I want to spend my own money on it our not. Before that point, I'm too deep into thinking about who it's for and if that player will love it or not.
With Araxys, I loved it right away when I heard the firing audio. I immediately knew "yup, I'm getting the Vandal at the very least."
They look like they don't belong in the game or fit the artstyle but in a really good way!!
I love to hear this. It's what it means to create a really compelling alternate fantasy with a skin, so thank you!
I know it's not really an AMA, but the insight is cool.
How do you guys decide whether to introduce a new archetype for a skin line? Is it based around budgeting, the skin itself, or influenced by how it can be made in a way that's re-usable for other designs?
There's not really a formula, it all depends on what we're working on, when its releasing, what else is happening then, etc. lots of things to consider so we just need to pick and choose so we can appropriately deliver exciting things, and actually get it all done in time.
Read moreHaving the same archetype already is for sure the biggest factor in the excitement dropping by quite a bit. I am generally trying to purchase 1 melee weapon of a new archetype I like, since I can only buy so many bundles.
Having 2 or more feels like a bit of a waste for me, since usually I would just prefer one over the other, which would result in the other one being a useless purchase. This is only really different for weapon skins (probably because the whole experience feels a lot different from gun to gun due to sound, visuals, variants, finisher etc).
And since I limit myself to basically 1 melee per archetype I try to wait for one that could be the best of that archetype or at least checks all the marks. This includes effects etc, which is why I didn't purchase the recon butterfly knife or the xenohunter knife.
Even though I loved the animations, I wanted to wait for a more premium feeling version (like I did with the RGX 2.0 and hopefully another xe...
interesting to hear your thoughts on this, thanks! for us its all about trying to find out whats the most compelling for people. we've definitely tried to find opportunities to change some things up with animations here and there and we've seen it have the most impact in terms of what excites players. We took the original Reaver "assassin" archetype and gave it a new right click on Ruin, Nunca Olvidados, etc and players loved that so its good for us to find those kinds of wins that allow us to not have to reinvent the wheel every time. We want the impact of the changes to feel meaningful and not forced (not new just for the sake of new but actually interesting and exciting).
We're definitely working on doing this more and more in the future!
I agree with the other comment about the default claw animation. And for me this is a big deal breaker when buying an expensive premium bundle.
The melee is always a big part of the decision and unique or new animations (pullout, attack etc) are by far the most important factor.
Sadly the really cool new types (butterfly knife on release or xenohunter knife) often released in less premium feeling bundles.
This makes me want to wait for a version with actually cool effects on top (I got the rgx 2.0 bf). Sadly this is often times a long waiting time which might even take the hype away.
If cool new archetypes would release in real premium bundles I would be way more likely to buy the bundle.
Additional effect like on the claw weapon are fine and all, but at this point just boring and not a must-buy factor anymore. A xenohunter type melee with the new bundle would have been an instant cop instead of sadly like the 9th claw type weapon.
For you is there any sort of time or limit when something that was exciting no longer is? Like lets say the reaver karambit was the first, with its effects and all, would another karambit on a skinline that lets pretend is also interesting to you still be interesting, or would you be less interested because you already have a karambit you like?
Is there any chance we get to see another one of the xenohunter type in the near future, with effects etc? It's my favorite animation but the knife itself is a bit too basic.
I think it's a pretty popular type overall and we didn't get any alternative yet (and iirc it was released quite a while ago).
Would love it in a premium bundle like the upcoming one. Would be an instant buy.
Its fairly common for us to release a new archetype in a basic format, and then improve upon it later. Look at the butterfly knife first with Recon and then RGX, or the Karambit with Champions and then Reaver. We like to keep upping the bar when we can and also help things feel fresh so it could be a safe bet that if there's a thing you like and see room for potential, so do we :)
I think Kaplan said it best on Twitter. Omen isn’t good enough to compete with Astra if he’s limited to one-ways that Astra and Brim can also do, especially when a buffed KJ and Cypher is forcing a more default-heavy meta that also takes away value from his flash. There needs to be more oneways added to maps or this nerf needs to be reverted.
Rest assured we're aware that this is an Omen nerf and we're in the early stages of exploring if there are any buff opportunities to compensate for this (but I can't make any promises - we want to see what the impact of this change is). We felt that the "inside walls red arrow" one-way smokes were unintuitive and unintended, and that we'd rather tune Omen around more accessible and intentional gameplay going forward.
What the hell? What a contradictory statement. In the same breath saying they are part of the game but too hard to play against so they are being removed?
As an Omen main, someone make it make sense.
EDIT: it seems they are only removing “red arrow” smokes that go inside walls. That makes a lot more sense, and fortunately the majority of his one ways smokes are “green arrow” and hang off a ledge. So if those are still around then that’s fine.
Rest assured we're aware that this is an Omen nerf and we're in the early stages of exploring if there are any buff opportunities to compensate for this (but I can't make any promises - we want to see what the impact of this change is). We felt that the "inside walls red arrow" one-way smokes were unintuitive and unintended, and that we'd rather tune Omen around more accessible and intentional gameplay going forward.
yall did great work on the bulldog; I tend to like the lazer sound effects because they're just less loud, and these sound so good; the perfect amount of pew and crunch
Thank you! This Vandal and Bulldog are my favorites for firing audio. The first time I heard it, I thought maybe it was too much. Like right on the edge of "damn this is cool but also is it TOO out there?" We did a bunch of design testing on it (like we do with all skins) and got a really good response, so we felt it was in a good spot. Hope you love it once you try it!
its pretty rare that we change animations for melee weapons. are you talking about any in particular like equip or the attacks, or just all of them?
the way we think about melee weapons is through what we call archetypes. different weapons follow different preset structures. so while its true this does have the same animation as say Oni or Magepunk claw, the same is true for other Premium skinlines like Reaver, RGX2, or Prelude to Chaos
the hope in these cases is that despite the animations being the same, the addition of things like VFX/SFX can do a good amount of lifting in terms of making the weapon feel unique. Something id say that does this well is Chronovoid, where its quite literally the same animations as Araxys, but it "feels" different.
additionally - we definitely do want to make new archetypes! and we are working on some new exciting ones, its just that we need to pick and choose where that effort goes. Last year we saw the Xenohunter "CQC" set, the Cryostasis "hammer" set, and some dual wielding with Sarmad. There will definitely be more new and exciting sets coming in 2023!!
Isn't it just the default animation? Whenever theres a clearly premium skin line having default animations randomly thrown in always feels bad imo
its pretty rare that we change animations for melee weapons. are you talking about any in particular like equip or the attacks, or just all of them?
the way we think about melee weapons is through what we call archetypes. different weapons follow different preset structures. so while its true this does have the same animation as say Oni or Magepunk claw, the same is true for other Premium skinlines like Reaver, RGX2, or Prelude to Chaos
the hope in these cases is that despite the animations being the same, the addition of things like VFX/SFX can do a good amount of lifting in terms of making the weapon feel unique. Something id say that does this well is Chronovoid, where its quite literally the same animations as Araxys, but it "feels" different.
The inspect for the claw actually seems passable, but I definitely hate the actual melee animations.
what about them do you hate?
i like the look ALOT, but now im wondering about the sound? i want to hear if its got an "aimbot" sound.
Personally, this may be my favorite for sound so far. The dev team was really into it too.
Now we know why we didn't get a black and red Ion variant...
It is true.
devtrackers.gg
