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  1. #1
    Sandworm Swallows
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    Summoner's Rift VU info dump

    NA SR Walkthrough and Q&A:



    Here's a brief summary of the Q&A, highlighting the gist of each set and grouping similar discussions together:
    General
    Each side ( now Blue and Red rather than Blue and Purple ) has it's own distinct theme.
    Blue side is themed, art and buildings, like are more blocky and "Paladin like" structures".
    Red side's theme uses rounder shapes, and more "mage like" structures.
    The map has several new visuals to help distinguish different part of the map at a glance.
    Baron is a focal point of the map, the terrain around him is different.
    North and West part of map is full of cracks / damage to denote Baron's location
    South (bottom side Red buff area) is most luscious, and wild. It's how the art team imagined Summoner's Rift would look like if Baron wasn't on the map. No damage, no cracks.
    Hints of red and blue in the jungle give subtle notes to where you are located on the map - red notes near red buffs, blue notes near blue buff.
    The overall theme consistancy is very important - they decided on this lush, mountain top environment and things such as the jungle creeps or doodads needed to match this.
    Jungle camps were changed to feel more at home on the rift
    Wraith's seemed like they were spooky and tied in better with the theme of Twisted Treeline
    In relation to jungle camps reacting and having new animations: "We didn't want it to look like monsters were waiting at a bus stop". They feel natural in the environment.
    Will the size of the lanes change? While it may look larger or narrower it's the same, only a lot more cleaned up which does give the sense of it having changed. The navigation mesh was kept the same.
    There will be LOTS of easter eggs. No specifics
    The map seems darker, why? The map seems darker because of the new focus on visual hierarchy - they want things such as spell particles and character models to pop out more against a darker back around. The goal is to increase readability. They are open to feedback here.

    Example: the vista above top lane is very bright because it's not a "gameplay space".
    The minimap did change, with the main focus of it being clearer and easier to read. They stressed like everything else, this isstill a work in progress.

    The update features subtle changes to fog of war - clearly be distinct where Fog of War is and where it isn't. Quadrupled Fog of War textures - aiming for a hard line of "this is fog of war".

    Gameplay
    Spawn times for Jungle camps have not changed. Spawn animations for minion camps "pre roll" and there is a distinct white flash when mobs can be targeted
    "Eyes on game and not a timer" to see the exact moment camps will spawn.
    You won't be able to see monster spawn animations if you can't see the camp. Spawn animations only happen when the minions respawn, not when you walk by.
    "Proximity animations" - monsters react to players approaching them. - are CLIENT side as to avoid alerting enemy players of your presence.
    Didn't change how thick the walls were, only cleaned up the visuals to match up where the actual wall is starts and stop according to the game.
    Will new boss monster changes be harder or simply more interactive? Baron on live currently casts his one big ability randomly, which is frustrating to react to. The new mechanics will be more reliable and consistent.
    For example, Baron will now do 3 auto attacks and then cast one of his spells. The spells are always sequential .

    New camera angle will reduces the "fish eye" effect.

    Performance
    If you can play SR now, you will be able to play this new map. Performance is of the highest concern.
    They built the map with lower end PCs in mind.


    WHEN WILL IT COME OUT?
    There is no set date. Since the announcement, the team has beenactively addressing feedback and making sure it works well. They want to make sure it to runs on "every toaster on the planet".
    They plan to spend a lot of time on the PBE to make sure they iron everything out.

    Gameplay Dev Blog:

    Dev Blog: SR's gameplay updates
    Nome is up next with another dev blog on the updates to Summoner's Rift, this time focusing on gameplay updates:
    "The update to Summoner’s Rift aspires to improve the game without changing your moment-to-moment gameplay. These iterations share a common goal: to level up the gameplay of Summoner’s Rift through mechanical design, gameplay balance or clarity. Without further ado, let’s check up on the Rift.
    Richard "RiotNome" Liu
    Terrain Changes


    Before we started, we knew that preserving the map's navigation mesh would be our first design priority. The nav-mesh determines what’s pathable terrain, as opposed to what’s, well, just terrain. However, as we built in assets and matched them to the mesh we discovered a host of inconsistencies, particularly in the north jungle. On the current map, the nav-mesh barely matches the visual edges of the walls and hanging edges obscure vision where they shouldn’t. For this update we did a comprehensive pass, ensuring navigation now matches on each side and hanging edges are out of your ward’s way.
    These issues weren’t exclusive to the jungle. If you’ve ever tried to dash through base walls, you’ve probably failed at some point. The issue here is twofold—not only does the visual of the wall not match the nav-mesh, but the thickness of the wall is different at various points throughout—and we do mean various. Even if the wall appears to be dashable at all points, the reality is much less consistent. With the Rift update, we’re working on a change to standardize base walls to be thin and dashablenear the turrets and thicker between the turrets. This should mean that short-dash champions like Nidalee will be able to visually parse which walls are actually Pounce-able. We’ll be iterating on and testing this change while the map’s on PBE.
    Game Camera
    When we launched Howling Abyss, some savvy players noticed that the camera felt slightly different. Indeed, it was slightly zoomed out to give players a better view of the eponymous abyss and curb the surprise of long-rang skill shots. While we won’t be making a change nearly as drastic to the new Summoner’s Rift, we did find it a good opportunity to institute a few quality-of-life improvements to the camera.
    Because the camera aims at the ground plane at an angle, the viewing area is in the shape of an isosceles trapezoid, not a rectangle. This means players see more at the upper end of the screen than at the lower end, resulting in some undesirable parity issues based on whether threats are approaching from the top or bottom of the screen. In addition, the current field of view creates perspective distortion near the edges of the screen, resulting in subtly warped skill shots and targeting indicators.

    For the new Summoner’s Rift, we’ve made adjustments to compensate. The field of view is decreased, but to compensate the camera itself was pulled further from the ground plane. This change balances the viewing area differentials between the top and bottom of the screen. For most, these changes will be barely perceptible, but we hope they provide a functional improvement in gameplay.
    Game Clarity
    Parallel to the development of SR’s update, we’ve been embracing the concept of game clarity for broader League of Legends. With competitive gaming gaining visibility, it’s become increasingly important to ensure that gameplay is readable for players and spectators alike. After all, the game should be about player vs. player, not player vs. interface or player vs. art. This approach guided design and art decisions from day one, resulting in clarity gains that should make the new Rift more readable.
    When it comes to clarity vs. visual fidelity, the two generally tend to have an inverse relationship—that is, the more visual bells and whistles you attach, the messier the game tends to appear. This effect is especially pronounced as we add more and more content. The umpteenth yordle needs to be diminutive like the rest of the species, but equally important is an identifiable silhouette in a lineup of another hundred-plus characters. With some of our older content, such as the much-beloved minions, we lucked out in terms of readability. They may not have legs, but their simple shapes mean they have a recognizable silhouette and lumber to their walk. That said, minions were long overdue for a visual update—and while they’re wonderfully readable, they need to be more than a marching triangle to match the new scenery. Happily, the new minions feature an increase in visual fidelity but maintain the low profile of their predecessors.

    We’re aiming to depict all gameplay-impacting effects clearly and visually. This means that invulnerable turrets will be shielded, consecutive turret hits will make a bigger impact and the Fortification buff on turrets will be visualized! Some of these won’t make it in time for the PBE launch, but it’s all on our radar. Finally, check out these new epic monster health bars!

    Epic Encounters
    Speaking of epic monsters, when we started concept work on the fearsome boss duo of Summoner’s Rift, it became immediately apparent that their gameplay failed to match their new visuals. Their kits on live are rudimentary; Dragon has only a basic attack, while Baron’s spells lacked the physicality that makes a monster feel vicious and animated. The word encounter here is immensely important, because approaching what are effectively bosses as encounters is a fundamentally different approach. For example, Dragon on live has effectively no gameplay differences from a lesser monsters like the Wight, yet it plays a much more important role over the course of a game. The epic monsters of Summoner’s Rift should demand respect, project power and command attention—and players shouldn’t just be able to right-click them from a hundred to zero without further thought.
    What followed was an exhaustive process of overhauling the technology, art, and design driving these formidable monsters. Tune in for a future dev blog focused exclusively on how these new encounters bring Summoner’s Rift to life!"
    Following the Dev blog, Nome ( or Les Nomerables as he is currently know on the forums ) stuck around to answer questions.

    When asked if minions on the other maps will be updated to match the new designs on SR, Nome commented they would likely not be updated right away as the SR minions were designed for specific reasons:
    "Quote:
    So I'm guessing the minions will only be changed for this map, but the other maps will still have the older looking ones?
    We're actually not sure about that right now. For launch, this will probably be the case, as the minions were designed specifically to fit in with the architecture on the map. In the long term, we may port these to the other maps, or create new ones altogether."
    As for how the "epic" Baron and Dragon fights will scale up during a game, Nome noted:
    "Right now, the scaling is similar to live. I'll bring up some potential ideas to the gameplay balance team and we'll discuss potential solutions. I like the idea of the battles scaling better, but obviously there are competitive concerns there."

    RiotForScience also commented on the health value displayed above Baron and Dragon's head, saying:
    "We are continuing to consider it. There is still a ton of discussion on this feature. I don't think it is in a final state yet, it is just in the state that it happens to be in right now."

  2. #2
    Sandworm Swallows
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    You still might be able to catch Samsung and Najin playing on the new Summoner's Rift here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOvK6hD7CSg

    Here is the Twitch VOD, the game starts around 34:00: http://www.twitch.tv/nicegametv/b/538046334

  3. #3
    Relic Horn
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    Looks like a slight brush issue at 42:30 when those minions go after jax with no vision on him, but I'm sure they'll get it.

  4. #4
    Sandworm Swallows
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  5. #5
    Sandworm Swallows
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    Reign of Gaming is streaming the new Summoner's Rift

    http://www.twitch.tv/reignofgaming_pbe

  6. #6
    Sandworm Swallows
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    For old-school league players, a tribute on the new SR.

    http://imgur.com/f3yXt30

  7. #7

    The new map is really nice.