Mortdog

My time at Riot and on TFT as a Game Designer has come to an end. Just under 10 years, and to be honest I thought it was going to be longer, but sometimes things change.
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I’m so grateful for what I was able to be a small part of, and able to accomplish in the last decade. It’s been a dream career, and I have got to do so much thanks to Riot. Even trying to list it all feels insane what I managed to do in this time. And the crazy 7 years on TFT where I got to design, balance, teach, lead, and more for my job, but then also build a community, stream, cast, go to events…it’s just been amazing. Ending on stuff like the Unlock system and a couple other things…I’m heading out proud.

To everyone I worked with over the years, thank you for letting me be a part of everything we accomplished. I hope I managed to teach you something or bring you joy in some way. I genuinely hope our paths cross again in the future.

To everyone who supported TFT or me over the years, you have no idea what it means to me. I cherish all the moments over the years, and they’ll keep me going. I am so blessed to have been a part of your lives and thank you for letting me bring some fun into your world.
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So…what’s next for me? I’m trying to figure that out.
First off, since I was on sabbatical and am terrible at relaxing/not working, I have been making my own small indie game. I’m about 2 months into development and have already had folks playtesting some early builds. I’d say the game is like 20-30% done, but my goal is to release it as a full game. It’s been fun keeping my skills sharp in a different space, and I hope to share it with you all someday.

Beyond that, I’m keeping my eyes open for other opportunities. I’ve had a few conversations here and there already during my Sabbatical. It’s a brutal industry right now, so I’m taking one day at a time and figuring out what’s next for me, whether it’s working on another studio’s game or even my own thing.

And I’d love to find a space to do some content creation and be able to share my knowledge of game development. But that may take some time to figure out how to do it right.
-------------------------------------------------------Again, thank you for everything these last 10 years. It’s a big change and I’m nervous but hoping it all works out. Until next time, take it easy!
-Mort

Playing my game on an airplane. Pretty sweet…

On my way to Atlanta for my first Magic Con! I’m looking forward to 3 straight days of nerding out and having a good time. Feel free to say hi if you see me!

I’ve been trying to keep myself busy with work and stuff like this. The next month in particular will be hard for a bunch of reasons, but I’ve been lucky that I’ve found things to distract me and keep me going. Huge shout out to the players on my discord who have been having fun.

This trip, then turkey day, then another 2 week trip out of the country, then the holidays. Huzzah. Ok, now I board and sleep to Atlanta. Take it easy!

Gaming discourse continues to be in a weird spot, and it's getting tougher and tougher to navigate it.

I spend a lot of time on various social media platforms, probably more than I should. But it's how I ingest a lot of information about the industry, player perceptions of games, and what's relevant. You have to to keep up with innovations and make sure you're making resonant designs. It is what it is, and I learned over the years how to navigate it with efficiency.

But more and more over time what I see is people who claim to love the space, looking desperately for reasons to be unhappy. It isn't just criticism (which is valid and should be expressed, as it helps makes games better) anymore, instead its become jumping through hoops and pulling out magnifying glasses looking for the slightest imperfection and then tunneling on that as a reason to be dissatisfied.

You can see it everywhere. A game that everyone is hyped to come out and excited to play with their friends, and then 2 days later someone finds out that 50 hours in there's a bad thing in the game and now everyone should dislike the game. Rather than the reasonable take of "Man this game was good, but this one decision was bad I really think they should patch it.", we get "This game is awful and no one should play it". What?

Now I know some of this is the fact that negativity generates clicks, that's just human nature. Youtube videos and X posts and what not are often driven by people looking to get revenue, and the way you do that is through negativity. This isn't new. Rodger used to help me understand that, that it's been the reality for hundreds of years. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is. So a lot of what we're seeing is this. I get it.

I just miss having the spaces to have down to earth real conversations about games. Where we can be honest and say "Yeah this game sucked here's why", but also "This game was amazing except for that one part" or "I really loved this system in this otherwise mediocre game". I want to see more nuanced conversations about the medium. Because man I love games, I love making them and talking about them. I just want to see the medium improve. Cause there's still so much it can do. There's so many games worth your time right now.

Anyway, that's my morning thought before I sit and finish this last piece of content for my game. Just between all the news the last week or two in gaming, just whats on my mind. Ok have a good Tuesday everyone and take it easy :)

Quote from my testers discord:

"I've put more time into this game than I have fire emblem lol"

Honestly this brought a smile to my face on this Friday.

But as an aside, being an indie dev is dangerous. It's the first time in my career where NOTHING is stopping me from working more, and basically using every free moment on it. I realized for the last like 6 weeks, every unscheduled moment I'm in my office working on this thing. Kind of crazy. I'm sure I'll talk more about it in the future, but we're trying to finish the game content by end of year, so clock is ticking!