Who needs a map?

No way. A new blog post? That's right folks, it hasn't been half a year and I'm back. I'm hoping that if I can wedge a block of writing time into my rotation more often it will become a regular thing. I actually have quite a few different things I want to talk about, and I'm already going to change the rules I set in in place last post - I'm kind of a rebel, people say that about me. I wear leather jackets and play by my own rules.

Who wants to see some photoshop art? No one? Awesome, here is some photoshop art.

My classes this quarter are almost entirely upper level drawing courses, no small feat for someone like me. This assignment comes from Background Design and Layout - for our midterm assignments we had to create two compositions - one of a castle that invokes fear and one of a desolate radar station in the tundra. Above (obviously) is the castle. I'm actually pretty proud of how it came out, I'm positive a seasoned environment artist and photoshop expert could tear it apart in half a second - but for my first real drawn environment, I'm happy.

Aaaaaaand there's the snowy radar station environment. Snow is extremely hard, coming from a writing background the aspects of value and composition are still things I'm getting used to. I am going to plug some of the videos I watched however for those that are interested in this type of thing. Feng! His free tutorials are amazing, he breaks everything down to understandable language for someone who isn't a veteran. My success on these two drawings owes much to what I learned from his tutorials.

Glad that's over? Me too, let's talk about some games. I couldn't really think of a game I've played lately that I haven't liked. My play time has become so limited that I don't really have time to waste on games that suck. If I'm not pulled in from the get go then we've got problems.

First and foremost, a game that is close to my heart - which is strange. PvP (player vs. player) isn't something I often enjoy. That was before I joined the League.

 League of Legends, the free to play game that has recently risen to the lofty heights of success. Riot Games knocked one out of the park with this title. For a game that focuses completely on a simple team vs team concept they added just enough depth to make it playable for...well forever. Riot employees frequent the boards and try to interact with the community as much as possible, contests are held, and tournaments are live streamed - this is a company that does it right.

The game has a few modes, but I'll talk about the one I play almost exclusively to give you an idea of how a normal game would be played. At the start of each game, each team is composed of five team members. You go back and forth picking Champions (the character you get to play as) until everyone has chosen their preferred character.

There are an absolute ton of different characters to choose from, many falling into different categories (such as ranged physical damage, beefy tanks to absorb pain for allies, and support players that are all about augmenting their team to put them at peak performance) and all with interesting lore.

The story team is nothing short of amazing, something I feel is sadly overlooked. Each character has an interesting background and the world that they inhabit truly feels alive.

Back to gameplay before I go off on another tangent. Each team of five is tasked with destroying the other team's Nexus (main base). The map is split up so that there are three main paths that go out from each base and lead to the other team's side of the map. These paths are lined with defensive structures that (with the help of timed waves of AI minions spawning) your champions need to break down before they can move in and deal the final blow to the teams Nexus.

Being free to play is another huge draw. There are different rotations of free champions each week that you can try out and see if you enjoy. As you play you also accumulate points known as IP (influence points) which after you save up a certain amount you can use them to have the privilege of "owning" a champion and being able to play them whenever you wish.

Each champion also has skins that change their cosmetic appearance, add new particles, and all sorts of fun flashy things. These skins do not affect how the character plays at all, they are purely appearance based and can also only be purchased with real money - boom business model. No one is actually ever forced to spend a penny on the game, yet here I sit with nearly every champion owned and more skins than I would ever care to admit.

Check it out though, if you are into strategy type games that rely on teamwork it could very well be for you. I'll report back in within a day or two I'm sure. See you then.