League of Legends Fans Take the Riftwalk

Hello summoners, Audrey here for another day of League Festival at the League of Legends World Championship. Now, inside the Staples Center SK Telecom T1 will be facing off against Samsung Galaxy for the Summoners Cup. But right outside there is still plenty for League fans to enjoy. Enough of the talk, let's walk the Rift Walk. Okay, guys, so we are inside the Rift Walk where League of Legends fans can dive into the history of the game, check out exclusive artwork, get some really cool photo ops, and basically indulge in their love for everything LOL. Now, when you check in, you actually get these little wristbands, and along the way you scan them, like this. Ooh, Feel powerful. What is it about League that would that would have you guys buy plane tickets to jump all the way out here to watch the World Championship?

Well, it's a little bit of a combination of getting a tour of Riot and uh, just uh, getting that networking opportunity seeing how the campus is and then being able to experience such a one-of-a-kind one of a kind event. It's going to be another three years until it's going to be in North America, hopefully. And uh, we just jumped at the opportunity.

What's so cool about the Rift Walk is that you also get an inside look at what it takes to put these characters together. And so they kind of walk you through the artistic process and everything that goes into what eventually becomes this in the game. Where else are you going to find a 13-foot Thresh in the flesh? Nowhere else but the Rift Walk. This is amazing. And a little scary. This is the pièce de résistance of tonight's event. Am I right?

Yeah. Thresh is really an amazing example of a collaboration with our community. So there's two studios that were involved, a creator studio called Four Itchy Tasty, and they're all players of our game, members of our cosplay community. And then a professional studio called Stoopid Buddy Studios. They're best known for making Robot Chicken, and we actually brought them together and uh, and asked our cosplayers from Four Itchy Tasty, what is the craziest thing you've ever thought about building? And they said, how about a 13-foot tall Thresh?

You are part of the Thresh build team, officially.

Yes, officially. T-shirt says it. Yeah, we uh, you know, only the people that worked on the on the Thresh get to have these cool T-shirts. And the coolest thing about them is that they actually show how the puppet works on the back. So if you if you look on the back, you can see, you know, where the performer is in the puppet just from that kind of diagram, which is something that we often have to like tell people, you know, like, it's not a giant robot. We don't have that kind of technology yet. There's a guy in there. So, you know, being able to say like, this is how it works and turning around and showing them on the T-shirt.

You're ever that guy in there?

I'm not tall enough to be the guy in there. Oh, okay. It's a height minimum. You have to be about 6'1" or 6'2" to be in the Thresh.

Seven feet?

I mean, for the guys who are the puppeteers and creators, I know it's a great moment for them. For us, we're excited to have him here to sort of represent uh, a big, literally big. Uh, a big, you know, commitment that we have to our creator community to, uh, to the artists, to the players, uh, to the work that they do and sort of how they take the game that we make and bring it into the real world, literally.

It's been super buzzy on the internet. Tell me what's the hardest part about putting this together?

Um, it's hard to say. You didn't even touch me. You didn't even touch me, and I freaked out. This project is honestly been kind of one of those dream projects where like everything is just kind of works. We had a great team, uh, that worked together extremely fluently and, and well to put this guy together. Um, honestly, the hardest part has been getting him in and out of the doors of the venues.

I couldn't imagine why.

Like the whole game itself just like develops like such a nice like tight-knit community like of course like you always have like the the slight toxicity on occasion, but you know, it's just it just comes with the passion, you know? If if no one was emotionally invested, no one would get upset. And the fact that this game like gets people invested that much like that says something about the game, that says something about like Riot as a company like to develop such a such a community. This is probably the most passionate group of fans that I've ever met. It's amazing. Everybody here is just all about League, and that's what we're all here for, so. I mean, meeting everybody with the costumes, cosplay, waiting in line to take a picture with Riven and Zed, it's awesome. We sat next to people in line who came from out of the country, and they just flew in just to see it, and that's that's dedication, so it's amazing the passion that people have.

Well, I'm glad I can finally just sit and enjoy a little game of Mechs versus Minions at the end of the Rift Walk. I got my cards, I got a scythe, and I have no idea what I'm doing. I am with Chris Cantrell, one of the guys behind this. Thanks so much for sitting down with us.

Absolutely. Yeah, it's a pleasure.

It makes sense that we're sitting down because this is a tabletop game. That's right. Tell me what is the the mission that of this game?

Mechs versus Minions is a cooperative game for two to four players. Uh, so everyone plays together and tries to beat the game. It's uh, story-driven campaign, so there are 10 missions, and each mission is kind of set up differently with different objectives, and same basic core rules, but you you have different ways to kind of tackle the problems in front of you. So you don't really have to know the universe. You can kind of come in fresh.

Absolutely. Right now in board games is a very, very exciting time for for gamers of of all ages. Uh, it's just the innovation in in designs and and, uh, just the experience is is so much more robust than, uh, than I think games we played as kids.

If you've ever wondered about the origin story of some of your characters' favorite weapons or weapons of choice, this is where you want to stop at. You get the backstory about, say, Ziggs' bombs. Also, Tryndamere's helmet. And here's a sign that you will probably not see anywhere else. Uh, please do not touch the weapons. No touching. If you're wondering what this piece of art in the making is, this is a mosaic that's actually being created as the event unfolds. These are all pictures that people have tagged on Instagram with #Worlds or #WorldsLA. The League of Legends team is printing it out, and then they're piecing it together. And by the end of the World Championship tonight, there will be one complete mosaic made up of all of your fan pictures. Heading up this department, you get to see some of the most creative people in the League of Legends community. Um, tell me tell me what that has been like and, and how impressed you've been with the community.

Oh, God. It's probably arguably my favorite part of my job, and I think I have one of the most fun jobs at Riot. Uh, is getting to sort of meet these creators, whether they're animators or musicians or cosplayers, uh, and see how much they love this IP and this world that we've built and their commitment to bringing it into the real world and sort of sharing it with the rest of the player community, sharing it with us. Um, I mean, I've been so honored to be a part of like their creative development. I feel a little bit like I get to be a patron of the arts, uh, but just for just for League. Just for nerds. Um, which is good. It feels like home. Uh, but yeah, I I feel like I'm I'm pretty lucky in that way.

Oh my God. Are you real?