” We did comprehensive testing with our design play-test team, which is, like, our highest ELO gamers who play twice a day and test maps, characters, everything, and of course, skins,” she stated. This group went back and forth with the art group and the animators continuously on each of the skins to ensure that they all felt ideal.
” [They] had a long summon animation,” Khanolkar said. “It [was] this sort of swoopy gun emerges thing. And it was cool. Everybody was like, I dislike this. I know its the exact same speed, however it feels slower which tinkers me.”.
According to Marino, the Operator sniper rifle showed to be particularly challenging, “We were on the brink of cutting it, because its the only dragon that has wings,” Marino said. “It was like, if you open up these wings, now it takes up all of your screen space, and that compromises competitive stability.”
On Wednesday early morning, Riot Games revealed Valorants a lot of elaborate set of skins up until now, themed with dragon designs. They also look great. Each various gun-dragon has its own roars, firing noises, and animations for things like gearing up or reloading. The dragons spread their wings, grab magazines with their claws, and fly towards players hands. Theyre made complex and detailed, but Riot had another obstacle with this skin line beyond just making it look good: The skins needed to be fair and they had to feel fair. And those arent always the exact same thing.
Maybe the most specific struggle of the skins, however, was making them feel well balanced, even if there wasnt really anything out of balance about them. According to Khanolkar, this was among the problems the team encountered early with the Elderflame skins.
Because the real time it took to equip the weapons with Elderflame skins was the exact same as any other weapon skins, it was everything about feel. And the only way to find the perfect feel was through lots and lots of testing.
On Wednesday early morning, Riot Games revealed Valorants most intricate set of skins so far, themed with dragon designs. Theyre complicated and detailed, but Riot had another challenge with this skin line beyond just making it look great: The skins had to be fair and they had to feel fair. One difficulty is that the skins require to feel special and complex, with all the details particular to each dragon, without actually taking up more screen genuine estate than any other skins. Possibly the most particular struggle of the skins, however, was making them feel balanced, even if there wasnt actually anything out of balance about them. She said, if players like the Elderflame skins, then the team can see just how much further and weirder it can get with Valorant skins in the future.
” Silhouettes are really essential,” Marino stated. That way, if someone sees it on the ground, they immediately understand what it is, and if you see it in very first person you understand what it is.”
She said, if players like the Elderflame skins, then the group can see simply how much even more and weirder it can get with Valorant skins in the future.
The more complex task was making the Elderflame set feel reasonable to utilize. One obstacle is that the skins need to feel intricate and special, with all the details specific to each dragon, without in fact taking up more screen property than any other skins. Covering more of the screen would make the skin objectively worse to use.
” Yeah, there were at least a number of minutes where Marino would rely on me and be like, Can we ship this skin line without an Operator?” Khanolkar chimed in, laughing. “And I was like, OK, well we have a number of months; lets simply see […] and it did somehow make it. It was simply extreme partnership between the group and declining to let it fall through.”
Fairness in Valorant is connected to a concept that Riot describes as “competitive stability.” The main idea is that anytime you pass away, all the information and innovation needed to avoid dying need to have been at your disposal– rather than you passing away due to the fact that of lag.
Throughout our interview on Monday, prior to Riots popular skin teaser on Wednesday early morning, both Marino and Khanolkar were delighted but worried about how gamers would respond when the skins drop on July 10.
Competitive stability can be a little harder to see when it comes to cosmetics, but whatever still needs to feel fair both to other players and to the gamer utilizing the skins, which wasnt easy to do with the skins as made complex as the Elderflame line.
Concept art for the Elderflame Operator.Image: Riot Games
The Vandals Elderflame animation.Image: Riot Games.
Concept art for the Elderflame Frenzy skin.Image: Riot Games
One of Riots early battles with the Elderflame line, according to Valorant art lead Sean Marino, was attempting to make certain both that the weapons appeared like living dragons which players might still identify them as the exact same base weapons theyre familiar with.
In a recent interview with Polygon, Valorant manufacturer Preeti Khanolkar discussed, “Ultimately, you simply desire to win your video game, so [discovering] whats going to look cool but not be pay-to-lose has actually been a difficulty.”
