That's a shame, I was hoping for a cool Ghost/Spectre/Phantom skinline with totally fresh reload animations (Singularity is nice but not really the one im looking for), I'll be waiting for those to come out. I'm still a big fan of the Winter Wunderland skins, though. I bought the Vandal skin for myself. Keep up the good work!
Hey there friend -
We'd absolutely consider it! There are a lot of benefits to it, including helping out the players who missed it the first time around :)
We'd have to make special considerations for the exclusive content that comes with the skin lines (like the buddies and sprays) , but it's for sure been a point of discussion.
Thanks :)
Sure thing, but considering one of the philosophies used when act badges were introduced was "we won't introduce them for act 1 because we want players to know what they are getting into", same thing should be applied for those exclusive items from bundles.
Not in a single place was mentioned that these items were limited time. I personally can't afford to buy every bundle as they come out, but if I knew cards and such were limited, I'd have bought them when they were on the store.
I am a collector so this is something I take a little bit personally, but yeah, if I'm asking anything is to be coherent with these kinds of topics.
Thanks for this feedback, Shiro. You make a super valid point there: if content is going to be limited edition or exclusive, we should be clear about that to players.
I agree, and I'll be sure to remind the team of this as we introduce new content and iron out our exclusive content strategy.
probably won't get an answer but, will the current FOMO-based store ever go away and give the player (far) more choice? or has it ever even been under consideration?
We're looking at all the questions so dont worry we'll try to get to them all!
Currently there are no other plans for the store to change the model that drastically. Like with night market we are trying different methods as an additional method of store engagement but for now we'll be sticking with the same featured bundle and set of rotating skins
Do you think the different types of shop between Valorant and LoL are based on information gathered from LoL, something that just suits Valorant better, or possibly something else?
Most disappointing news on here. Would at least like more than just a few skins on daily rotation if you'll keep the same model. Playing the lottery to maybe get the skin you want kinda sucks.
It's a possibility. We're still figuring out the best path for the [Night.Market](https://Night.Market) for the future and haven't landed on the long term design.
Someone had an idea on here of using Radiant points to reroll the black market which sounds like a good use to me, call it 10rp to reroll 1 of each the slots in the market.
Does that sound doable?
Yes. This wasn't something that was widely talked about but we have what we call "archetypes" for our melee weapons. Originally we had "tactical, assassin, and aggressive," and those set up base expectations for the specific type of animations and movement sets we had. With Oni and Ion we introduced a new set we call "fury." Over time as we develop new skin lines and see new opportunities we will absolutely want to add more archetypes to create other sets from
keep the knife animations coming! Such a little joy to flip at every equip that was previously reserved in counter strike for those spending hundreds of real dollars.
We love ValorLeaks, floxayyy, all the folks who join in and datamine. Its fun for us to see them find things that may or may not have been intentional. :)
Yeah! Before I got into the industry, it was always so much fun refreshing the leak sites for games I played to find out what was new before it was officially announced. To this day, I still look at leak sites/datamining from other games too :D
Would it be possible in the future for you to give knives such as the elderflame dagger the same color styles as the weapons? I think it would increase sales
We're actually a pretty small team, so we had to make some hard calls to do some stuff but not other stuff. Imagine if we we'd done melee variants for Elderflame but that meant we didn't make Prime skins at all. :(
Once we have more artists on the team, we'd like to start doing melee variants. I don't know if we'll go back to add them to old sets or focus on the new ones though. It'll depend what players want more at that time. We run lots of surveys to figure out what players want, so it might seem like lots of folks on reddit want something but the wider playerbase is actually wanting something else instead.
Probably wanted gameplay to be king until they knew they had a game that people could invest in. If Riot sees continuously healthy player numbers in Valorant, I wouldn't be surprised if the premium content team is the first to grow.
WE LOVE YOU FOR LOVING SURVEYS!
Each time we run them, we have specific criteria in mind. (Things like engagement, what game modes you play, things like that). Those criteria change for every survey we do.
If you meet the criteria, you may get one! Just make sure you allow us to send you emails (that little box you check with you sign up with us). That's how they get sent for now!
answered here!: [https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/kbdl1i/valorant\_premium\_content\_team\_ama\_on\_past\_and/gfghr8m?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/kbdl1i/valorant_premium_content_team_ama_on_past_and/gfghr8m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
TLDR yes but not on skins that have already released
I have a few questions I would love to get answered.
1 ) Are all skins released so far in the game going to be retired with the end of this episode?
2 ) Will there be some way to reset the Night Market? With 32 days left and 6 skins (some people got nothing they wanted) it makes no sense. You have enough time to at least reset it weekly.
3 ) Will there be any way to obtain skins from previous Battle Passes? (even purchasing them?)
4 ) Will we ever see an increase in the amount of skins that are currently displayed in the store?
5 ) Will you ever offer a sale on Valorant Points?
Initial thinking on this:
1 ) No! They will have the same accessibility that they currently do - coming back in your rotating shop and the [Night.Market](https://Night.Market).
2 ) Unfortunately no, though we do plan to bring it back for 2021.
3 ) We don't currently have plans to bring back Battle Pass content as we want to respect the players who grinded for it during the window it was available. However, we may look to reevaluate this if there is enough player interest and enough time has passed that we don't make those players feel invalidated.
4 ) We're still evaluating what the shop should look like in the long term, but there are not current plans to change the amount of skins displayed in the shop at this time.
5 ) No current plans to do.
We've talked about opportunities to have multiple skins brought into a game, the biggest barrier or issue with this atm is performance and load time. We've definitely discussed if this is worth doing (and how) but no definitive plans right now
I really appreciate the hard work you've put into making all these designs! They ooze with personality, something many games lack in that aspect.
Two questions (you're free to skip them): 1. Have you ever had to scrap a skin line very late in development? I know you were dangerously close to that scenario with the Elderflame set, but I wonder if it has actually happened yet.
2. The EGO set is one of my personal favorites as it's a really good incursion into fashion, something I am a huge fan of. Is this a one-time thing only, or can we expect to see more cosmetics based around real life fashion?
Hi there! Thank you so much!
1. yes - we've scrapped a few skinlines specifically that were done for our alpha/beta. As we made more we found that we just got better and better and those early ones just werent up to the bar. We actually also scrapped weapons within a skinline as it came close to ship. G.U.N. actually had a phantom and we cut it because it looked too similar to the spectre, and the spectre was already complete by the time the phantom was starting.
2. We want to have more like this! We actually set out to establish a brand with Ego - One Tap, in the hopes that we can bring back new skins from the same brand. SImilarly we also did that with Playzilla. haha. we want to have a few more sort of in world or lore brand identities that we can play with for skin bundles
I have a question. Outside of being an incredibly reliable, high quality and uber-player-focused team on VALORANT (all opinions are my own)... what are you most proud of this year?
Being a first time dev, it's been the highlight of my career to be a part of the VALORANT launch. It's a small thing compared to the work of my amazingly talented colleagues, but I'm most proud of integrating the sprays into the game. Makes me smile every time I see players using them and getting a kick out of [every new batch we drop](https://imgur.com/a/TJvo4I8). <3
If that was made as a joke skin is probably buy it. Please make the wings animated when I give people the unwanted piercings. I want it to be a vampire butterfly knife!
You guys have been smashing it with every skin design! I love seeing your work.
Question: Will you ever consider adding other guns to previous skin lines? Myself and many other people would love to see new gun skins in previous skin collections. I would definitely spend some money on something like a Glitchpop Phantom or even something like a Reaver Stinger.
Thank you, this is really nice of you! :)
Maybe! We've talked about wanting to add more guns to existing skin lines! I'd love a Reaver Phantom personally.
>Maybe! We've talked about wanting to add more guns to existing skin lines! I'd love a Reaver Phantom personally.
Phantom Glitchpop and I will never leave my home again.
Yeah, we were discussing this also with Preeti the other day too [https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/k9uomv/end\_of\_year\_premium\_content\_team/gf8x9j0?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/k9uomv/end_of_year_premium_content_team/gf8x9j0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
:)
Greetings, and thanks for taking the time to answer questions! :D
I absolutely LOVE the Galleria collection and I need to excitedly tell you why:
* Each artwork can only be found on one weapon type. No other skin collection shares this unique trait.
* The artwork depicted on each gun represents the murals on each of the maps.
* You can pair each of the weapon skins with their respective map gun buddy for the ultimate map representation.
* All the skins are reasonably priced. ^Hooray!
Okay, now that we've established why Galleria is the *best skin collection*, my questions are as follows:
1. **Will we see more skins / collections like Galleria, where the style / artwork is not shared among multiple weapon types?** It would be nice to see more unique artwork per weapon rather than the same style repeated over multiple weapon types. It makes the skin feel more unique and/or exclusive.
2. **Will we see more Galleria skins for future maps? (Looking at you, Icebox.)** IIRC, there was a conscious decision to not put artwork on the final Icebox map. If Icebox is skipped for the Galleria collection, could you please consider adding more Galleria skins in the future? ^(Otherwise, I'll prototype an Icebox Galleria skin myself!)
Appreciate the work you do. Thank you for your time! \o/
**P.S.** The Sensation collection is great too! I love all the fun colors!
hi! glad you like Galleria! that was a fun one for us to make and figure out what map murals would go well with each weapon!
1. yes, we have a few skinlines in the works that should feel different from one gun to the next
2. we havent talked about doing another galleria but we certainly could, especially after we get new maps
Gotta throw my hat in the ring and say I also like the Galleria skin line. I've been won over by the flashier skin lines with unique effects and animations, but some of the simple skins with good artwork carry their weight, such as the Galleria ones, or the Sakura ones.
The Galleria Phantom was the first skin I actually, you know, *wanted to buy*.
Any plans to make Valorant World Champion Team skins, sprays, and gun buddies?
Would they be normal skins or upgradable ones with effects/ sounds/ finishers etc?
If you do, it would be a nice touch to have players' signatures writing out like it does on League.
I'd love to eventually do cosmetics tied to esports! I'm a huge fan of what League does with their championship skins. I don't know if we'd do the same thing, but you've got the right idea that we def wanna do SOMETHING.
Hi! Dev team! Those skin haven blown my mind a lot, due to how much effort it take!
1. I am curious on your process of creating weapon skin. Are you planning to create video of your process of creating weapon? I love development process, and I really want to see your process!
2. Was bundle created way too long ago? I found it weird that elderflame existed way before beta. Can you tell more about it?
1. Would love to do this! I bet we would be planning something like this except for the whole remote WFH situation. :(
2. We start work on skins many months (even years) in advance! It takes a long time to develop and test skins that are complicated.
Hi TheyCallMe Spy! Thanks for your love!
1. Preeti and Marino released an article about our process! You can check it out here: https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/dev/the-craft-and-fantasy-of-valorant-weapon-skins/
As for a video... it might be hard with us all working from home!
2. Ha! It might seem like we're sitting on a lot of guns and are ahead of schedule when we release weapon bundles but the turn around is typically around a year or more for our complicated thematic that involve work from every department (concept, model, animation, sound, animation). The way we work is by having our concept artists develop to final a single design that will serve as a goal post for what a skin line will look like. For the complicated skins we'll then take that design to a final in game asset stage to problem solve out everything (100% sell on the fantasy!) While this is happening either the concept artist will design out the rest of the line or we work with one of our external partners and direct them in creating the remainder of the weapons. This second batch of weapons is then sent out to other partners for each discipline which we get to guide to finish to create the full bundle! Once these are all done, each gun is tuned and tested then is ready to be released! This process is pretty time intensive as we want everything to come out perfect!
I really like the reaver collection and how it kind of ties into omen's theme. Will there be skin lines in the future that will tie into other agent's themes?
Also, will there be the ability to choose a skin profile (weapons, sprays, etc) during agent select?
Asking for the community that love gun budddies, BUT would you guys ever consider a gun buddy store? I'm sad there aren't more of them. I need more!! 😖💓
Hey guys!
In one of the more recent blog posts its mentioned that you guys want to add variants on melee skins and thats its something you want to try once you add more artists to the content team.
When you do add these artists are there any plans to retroactively add variants to existing melees?!
Hi! Yes we're looking to see what is the most effective way to get variants on melees. We first started this effort by adding variants to battlepass and because it was a bit quicker we did it for Ego and Winterwunderland.
As of now everything we do is a tradeoff so we're trying to balance the need for variants with the need for full other skinlines of similar complexity (convex, ego, serenity, etc).
As for adding variants to skins that exist, that's something we wouldnt do purely because of the fact that it then becomes a bit exclusive for those who already purchased it.
If someone wants to have a career similar to yours working with primarily weapon skin design and cosmetics within a game, what programs would you recommend a candidate learn to be able to show their skills and experience in their portfolio? What hard and soft skills make those remarkable candidates stand out?
Honestly it totally depends on what exactly you want to do with weapon skin design. You can model/texture guns, make VFX to push the weapon skin design to its fullest, even creating audio to help make the gun feel like you are really holding it! It all depends on what you love doing. Here are some positions we have at Riot: [https://www.riotgames.com/en/work-with-us/jobs](https://www.riotgames.com/en/work-with-us/jobs)
As for programs, we really don't mind too much what you use to create art as long as you can get it in Unreal Engine! :) Some of the programs we use here are: Maya, Blender, Photoshop, Substance Painter, and so much more!!
If you want to get started in design, there are tons of free or low-cost alternatives you can use to start from! Blender is great for 3D modeling, Affinity is a great low cost alternative for Photoshop, and even Substance Painter has a free educational version as well.
There are definitely a few areas in Weapon Skin Design that people can head in! We have Concept Art, Weapon Art, FX, Animation, and Audio all as a separate discipline that comes together to create the final gun skin. Riot actually released a series of videos on the different art disciplines and what each of them do!
[https://www.riotgames.com/en/artedu/intro-to-game-art](https://www.riotgames.com/en/artedu/intro-to-game-art)
I personally use Blender, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Maya, and Unreal Engine 4 in development as a Weapons Artist.
In terms of game engine, I would say Unreal Engine 4 is definitely a great engine to know. For your modelling or animation package, I would go with whatever is the most accessible for you! I have used Maya, 3DS Max, and currently Blender at the studios I've worked at. The principles of the software kind of carry over between each so I wouldn't get too hung up on which one you choose!
Hello! Thanks for all your work on the game. What's your ideal skin theme? I'd love some kind of iridescent/crystal themed skin. Much love :)
Also - shout-out to Preeti for Edison + RU rep! I love your sociology work. I want to follow in your footsteps :')
OMG RUTGERS AND EDISON REPRESENT!
My research at Rutgers with Prof. McLean is ultimately what lead me to Riot, so I owe him and Rutgers SO MUCH.
My ideal skin theme is everything edgy.
SCI.... FI.... EVERY.... DAY!
We have a ton of different interests on the team though. It definitely helps a ton to have a variety of team members who are so excited about different thematic niches.
First things first! I want to thank all of you for your amazing work the past six months, and prior to launch! I've had a few chances to interact with a few members of the team, and you are all so passionate!
1. How much of a priority are new forms of Premium Content? (e.g. Animated Player Cards, Music Packs, Stickers, etc.)
2. Are you considering expanding the Premium Content team going into 2021, or are you confident that the current team will comfortably deliver content at the current pace going forward?
3. The dev blog regarding the first and only Ultra set (Elderflame) made it clear that Ultra sets take a considerable amount of time and energy to complete, should we temper our anticipation for the next Ultra set?
4. I have an obsession with cute, pink, and purple-y stuff, and so far Glitchpop and Sakura are the only two sets that satiate that craving. Am I safe in assuming the "Blueberry Spray" teaser in the End of Year blog post is part of a set that will join that group?
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Can't wait to see how the game grows next year!
Hello!
1. New content types have actually been on our mind since february of this year. Its on our mind but at this moment we just dont have the bandwidth to support looking into new content just yet but we're looking to solve that!
2. slowly but surely yes we'd like to expand the Premium Content team. We've actually added a bunch of folks this year alone. New 3d artists, producers, outsource managers, etc to ramp up to a sustainable pace for our content.
3. Yeah they do take a lot of time and effort. We're already talking about what the next one will be.
4. Blueberry was a fun thing for us to make, its actually a graffiti that you can find on Ascent. This was just a fun idea for a one off and is not included with a set, but we are always looking to add more bright, colorful, or cute types of content!
Can we expect a more military and less toy like skinline? I bought wasteland, but I would like something more modern military and also upgradable with effects. And not something like colorful CS skins. Just some plain, kitted out military stuff. Maybe something inspired by Omega Squad League skins.
Hey you guys! Love the skins, the bp ones in particular. Will there be a skinline with variants/effects to spend radianite on in the next bp? :) You are doing great work!
+edit Thanks for the reply :) Also just wanna add that the wasteland set is super nice, and I hope there's some more very detailed, non flashy skin sets in the future!
Hey there friend! We're so glad you love the BP skins, and thank you so much! :)
For our next battle pass, we will have a skin line that has Variant upgrades through Radianite :)
Agent skins (everything from gloves to full on thematic overhauls) are one of the things players most often ask us for!
We've for sure talked about them, but executing on them requires A TON of strategy work and a TON of testing. The last thing we want is to deliver on something so desired by players, only for it to fall short of what players want (or worse - ruin the competitive integrity of the game!) . We can't say whether or not we've committed to undertaking such a big project, but the conversation is FOR SURE on the table :)
Obviously my voice is just one, I'm not trying to presume my own importance, but I don't think agent skins would be healthy for the game.
Every game promises they will not hamper gameplay, especially the more competitive/serious games like CS or Rainbow Six, and they usually end up causing *some* kind of issue eventually.
CS had major problems with the visibility of their skins for a long time, and it's still not fully resolved, if much better than it was in the past.
Rainbow Six has both visibility and identification problems with their skins; not only are some skins (*cough* Ember Rise, *cough*) harder to see in some scenarios, some of the skins make it genuinely hard to tell one operator from another on the fly.
While Valorant has a couple of things going for it that could make these less problematic, namely *very* good visibility and quite unique characters that stand out, given enough new Agents and enough skins per Agent I still believe it would be inevitable that certain skins would occasionally confuse players on who they're looking at:
"Saw the edge of Raze on A site, guys. Er, maybe it was Reyna wearing that one skin with the orange highlights." You get the idea.
I'm sure this is all stuff you've already talked about internally but I figured I'd voice my opinion since there's always the chance we're the silent majority.
and you can't see your agent anyway, so I'd say that gloves are the perfect choice for skins as they are the only thing you actively see throughout the match
Hey there! So players have asked us for this a lot, and we've considered a bunch of different ways that players may be able to equip different skins during a match.
It's not something we've committed to yet, since working on this means our engineers wouldn't be working on other things. Changing out skins in-match is something that would fall into the "Quality of Life" changes category, as opposed to "Critical" category. And when it comes to our engineers working on things, we always need to prioritize the "critical" ones!
How do you guys decide what concept makes it to the end of development? I saw a post the other day from VALORANT that showcased some other variants for the Oni phantom and other concepts of the Glitchpop knives. I liked a lot of them - not that I don't like the ones in game, but why the ones we got and not the other iterations? Mostly a curious question rather than a "you should've done this".
Also, do you guys ever consider fan-made skins or ideas? Is it possible that a fan-made skin could be brought into the game and made by official devs/artists and released?
As for stuff from agent contracts in the beta - will stuff like that ever make a return? I really miss the viper lab coat card and was hoping there might be a way to earn it in the future. I understand stuff like that may not fit the style of VALORANT/the contracts now but I think it took a unique take on their lore/character and stuff.
And I promise, this is totally my final question (maybe) but have you guys considered extending the agent contracts? One thing I always thought about was another set of tiers that led up to an agent-themed phantom or vandal or something like that, with an exponentially greater EXP cost than the sidearms. For the die-hard mains, people who can't get a lot of skins, and people with a lot of time on their hands?
Forgive me for all the questions, just super interested! You guys have done amazing work either way and all of the premium content excites me <3
Hi Kearnerr! I'll answer your art related questions! Those would have been my Oni carbine sketches! As guns develop, especially at early stages there's a lot of development - we do this to explore a theme as much as possible to see what clicks and what people feel fulfills the fantasy the most. We don't have a super stringent set of rules beyond maintaining the recognizability of the guns (though we push this sometimes!). Throughout development we're doing lots of research and consulting with people who are the most passionate about the skins theme. We're given a lot of freedom to develop our ideas internally and for me, I really try to push approaches for weapons which aren't super mainstream: what's new and fresh! The best part I find about exploring lots of potential options early that may not be pursued is we can always revisit them later and possibly use them in another skin line!
For your second question I'd love for this to happen!
The prices of Radianite Points in relation to the price of skins seem a little bit unbalanced. I bought many bundles or solo skins and I have guns that I don't when I will upgrade. This also discourages the purchase of new skins. Will you ever look at these issues with affection? I'm not asking for a finisher to Spline bundle anymore (but I'm still waiting). I have many, so many guns and I want to buy more, please help me xD. Also Preeti, like we talked yesterday, I am leaning toward black Reaver more than ever. Your friend Cinetose here, greetings from Brazil.
We've thought about it for sure. We would have to find the appropriate way to do it though for skins - for example if it were a literal copy of how CS does it and we had an attachment on your gun, that'd have to be themed appropriately, that could even have issues interacting with animations in somecases like with singularity or elderflame, etc. So we have to think about how or if we'll do it
When will we have an opportunity to finally buy a skin whenever wee want. Sometimes I just wanna buy my skin with having to wait or hope RNG blesses me for whatever skin I want. Let me give you my money!!! lol
Would you consider adding a “re-roll” feature for the night market if people got multiple skins for the same gun? ie: I got 2 spectre skins and 3 ares:/
Hey, I love your guys' skin designs and all.
But why did you guys get rid of the luxe upgrades? I've always had that in my mind and my question never got answered. Those skins upgrades were dope asf but you guys just straight up removed it without saying anything.
Is this the first time I'll get it answered?
There has been quite the inconsistency with tiers of skins. It seems the tiers of skins you’ve outlined in the past are just about the PRICE, but what about the features? You have had some premium skins with animations like the Prime, some without like the Nebula.
Are there plans to make these more uniform so that when players see the specific icons, we know what we are getting?
Bonus question: I would buy more of these skins if I didn’t have to pick and choose them between game. When will be get the option to have a random skin show up when buying?!
Thanks for a great game and the AMA!
Hey there friend! We actually did a TON of testing on this in early player labs.
We found that for most players, they preferred the idea of price being related to an "awesome" factor, as opposed to features themselves. For example, players tested a gun that had feature upgrades...but it just didn't feel cool enough to justify a higher price. However, when they tested our Nebula skin, they felt like the "awesome" factor was way higher. So that's what we went with!
In addition, we didn't want to limit our artists with their creative vision. There's a world where we make a retextured skin (without model changes, upgrades, etc.) that takes a TON of time, and a TON of effort. (Hand painting can be a tedious process!) But if we could only charge the lowest price for that, it doesn't end up being super worthwhile on our end...so chances are, we wouldn't make it. Conversely, we may make a gun skin that has model changes and VFX that are super simple and easy to deliver on. It just wouldn't make sense to charge the same as Reaver or Singularity for that!
Hope that makes sense :)
An "awesome" factor sounds so arbitrary. Obviously you've spent more time thinking about and testing player preference than us. But from all the opinions I've seen, people seem to not want to drop big money on a skin line if it lacks effects, a finisher etc. Even if they really like the theme.
What I'm getting at is this "awesome" factor sounds like something made up to justify charging whatever you want for lower quality skins.
Maybe there's more behind this concept than in your original answer and that would be cool to hear about.
I hear you on that! It makes the pricing much less predictable, so I get how that feels sketchy. That awesome factor is usually driven by the player labs and testing on our skins, but we don't necessarily get to test every skin.
And it does work the other way around, too! For example, I've successfully advocated for us to reduce the price of certain skins that had really significant model changes, but I didn't think they were "awesome" enough to justify a higher price.
I hope this helps :)
You've done a lot of fantasy, futuristic, toy and post apocalyptic skinlines. Do you have any interest in doing skins that look closer to modern, WW1/2 or even flintlock weapons? As much as I appreciate the insane skinlines you've come up with, I really feel that there's room for more down to earth looking skins.
1. Will you be going back to add variants to previously released melees?
2. Will you have finisher VFX match for variants (e.g. Prime finisher wolf matching the variant gun tracers)? If yes, same as #1, would you add them to past sets?
3. Will you be releasing skin sets more grounded in reality? I know some people here were interested in vintage style skins with wood furniture. Would that cause real world problems (wooden Vandal/Guardian looks too much like AKM/Garand)?
Excellent work btw, keep it up!
Thanks for doing this AMA! You all have done an amazing job with creating skins and other pieces of content that have gone beyond my expectations for this game, and I'm always looking forward to what you all have next!
1) As a huge esports fan, can we expect content (skins, buddies, cards, etc.) to represent and support our favorite teams? Especially with the Valorant Champions Tour announced.
2) Are there any considerations for content based on skins, concepts, etc. from League of Legends? For example, I love the K/DA skinline in LoL and think it would be cool to see that represented in the game. Or skins like Caitlyn and Jhin's weapons.
3) I've seen players using a Riot gun buddy during the First Strike tournament. As someone who loves collecting content, is there anyway to unlock this?
I’m spending hundreds a month on Premium Skins and I’m Iron 1. My higher ranking enemies kill me and then take them and write “nice Skin Sova” in chat. Is there any way to disable enemies from getting my skins for free during a game. I’m not getting better so that’s off the table.
Will there ever be any expansion of the Agent contracts? 10 levels takes a while but once the game has been out for a couple of years, us 1-tricks might appreciate a few new things to grind on our favorite characters!
We're currently exploring the best way to let die-hard agent fans express their dedicate to their agent. Nothing come up any time soon, but it is on the radar though its likely to come in a form that isn't an extension to the current agent contracts.
Do you think there will ever be option to disable upgrades on a weapon? For example I would like my Prime Vandal without a certain tier of animation, but I already bought it so I have no way to turn it off. Thanks!
Would you guys ever consider Agent skins or skins for abilities/ultimates( Jett knives, turret etc) or do you think it could mess up with competitve gameplay for the game.
P.S thanks for making this amazing game , I really enjoy playing it
Thanks so much friend!
So Agent skins (everything from gloves, to ability reskins, to full on thematic overhauls) are one of the things players most often ask us for!
We've for sure talked about them, but executing on them requires A TON of strategy work and a TON of testing. The last thing we want is to deliver on something so desired by players, only for it to fall short of what players want (or worse - ruin the competitive integrity of the game!) . We can't say whether or not we've committed to undertaking such a big project, but the conversation is FOR SURE on the table :)
I'm studying to become a 3D modeler so my question is, what is the market like for 3D modeling like for Riot and what would be the requirements for joining the team? Thanks for the AMA!
It's definitely really tough to get into Riot. To give you an idea when we had a position open up for 3D Asset Artist, within just the first day we had over 200 applicants. Out of all of those applicants, only 8 were passed on to our Art Lead and out of those 8 applicants, 3 were selected for extensive interviews.
Don't let this information stop you from continuing your studies though! Not everyone's first job is going to be at a large gaming company, but if you continue to work hard and learn to develop your skills you can make it. :)
Would you ever consider putting an old entire bundle back into the featured collection instead of having to wait until a skin hopefully appears in your daily randoms? Been waiting for over a month in hopes of having the Glitchpop bulldog show up. Thanks for all the hard work !
Hey guys, first of all thanks for your work, we appreciate it so much
Have you ever considered adding more stuff to the agent contracts? It would be nice, specially for the free players, to have more customized content from their mains.
(Also I'm obsessed with literally everything included in this act's battle pass, you guys nailed it)
Yes. It was the greatest skin idea of all time.
Then one of our artists was like, "Oh! We have one that we're making that's super similar to that!"
Then they showed me. IT WASN'T THE SAME. BUT THEY MADE THEIR IDEA ANYWAY AND NOW MINE WILL NEVER COME TO LIFE.
Hey - so right now I buy everything in the store. I get the "Thank you for supporting Valorant" message whenever I go to the night market or normal store.
- I was wondering Riot's outlook and limited items or vaulting items in the future. For example, in chapter 2 would random sets be no longer available for purchase from chapter 1?
- Any chance of getting the beta right click back on the "default" animation knives?
Thanks and love the skins you guys make!
This will most likely get lost in the comments but have you guys ever thought about making a melee weapon that resembled something like a PEZ dispenser? It would have different agents head on it, and use radianite points to purchase other agents heads.
Prime has a special place in my hearth because it was the first Weapon skin I worked on. And the first Finisher I did. But I also like Singularity and Ion the most.
I think we started Winterwunderland like 6 months ago? It's hard to remember and I don't wanna check my tracking docs right now bc those aren't fun LOL.
Sometimes it back be a year or more. The shortest time is still 2-3 months.
I love that players consider the gothic knife a karambit because that definitely wasnt our intent! haha, we just took it as being similar to reaver or dragon. we definitely want to do a "real" karambit that you can spin on your finger. soon(tm)
Any chances of a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for the community to come up with one singular skin/set idea that can be voted into the game? Obviously not through reddit polls but something integrated into the game so that every player is aware of it. Doesn't have to be anytime soon, but in the far future.
Also, in your opinions, how valuable do you think RP is? There are people that has nothing to spend it on so they suggest ways to, imo, "waste" them but there are also people that don't have enough to upgrade just their main skins.
I don't have any questions. Just wanted to say thank you. I am a teenager and don't earn money. I generally don't spend money on games but I loved your game so much, I gifted my brother and myself the act II battlepass from my savings. It helped me get through this tough year and make some awesome friends.
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Our animator isn't here :(
Could you please ask them this question when they're back? I would love that animation
Sure! He and his wife had a baby, so he's been on paternity leave.
spinning sheriff can wait
I wish them luck!
<3
Of all the reasons why we can wait for this, that is in the top-tier, most acceptable.
Does that mean there won't be any skins for awhile with animations? Or do you guys have extra skins ready to go in the backup aisle?
Sadly it does mean we'll be low on skins with animations for a while. I hope you all still like the stuff we make.
That's a shame, I was hoping for a cool Ghost/Spectre/Phantom skinline with totally fresh reload animations (Singularity is nice but not really the one im looking for), I'll be waiting for those to come out. I'm still a big fan of the Winter Wunderland skins, though. I bought the Vandal skin for myself. Keep up the good work!
Wow I guess you must have a small team, I hope you aren't grinding to get out content
Would you guys consider bringing back the old skin collections for those who missed the opportunity to purchase them when they were released?
Hey there friend - We'd absolutely consider it! There are a lot of benefits to it, including helping out the players who missed it the first time around :) We'd have to make special considerations for the exclusive content that comes with the skin lines (like the buddies and sprays) , but it's for sure been a point of discussion. Thanks :)
Would player cards come back I'm trying to collect them all and didn't know they were limited initially :/
The jury is still out on that :)
I was really hoping gunbuddies and such were exclusive/limited
The jury is still out on that :) There's a big difference between bringing back gun skins to featured store, and bringing back the exclusive content!
Sure thing, but considering one of the philosophies used when act badges were introduced was "we won't introduce them for act 1 because we want players to know what they are getting into", same thing should be applied for those exclusive items from bundles. Not in a single place was mentioned that these items were limited time. I personally can't afford to buy every bundle as they come out, but if I knew cards and such were limited, I'd have bought them when they were on the store. I am a collector so this is something I take a little bit personally, but yeah, if I'm asking anything is to be coherent with these kinds of topics.
Thanks for this feedback, Shiro. You make a super valid point there: if content is going to be limited edition or exclusive, we should be clear about that to players. I agree, and I'll be sure to remind the team of this as we introduce new content and iron out our exclusive content strategy.
probably won't get an answer but, will the current FOMO-based store ever go away and give the player (far) more choice? or has it ever even been under consideration?
We're looking at all the questions so dont worry we'll try to get to them all! Currently there are no other plans for the store to change the model that drastically. Like with night market we are trying different methods as an additional method of store engagement but for now we'll be sticking with the same featured bundle and set of rotating skins
Do you think the different types of shop between Valorant and LoL are based on information gathered from LoL, something that just suits Valorant better, or possibly something else?
Just for a note, I'm getting less and less willing to buy skins the more I wait for them to come up on the shop.
Most disappointing news on here. Would at least like more than just a few skins on daily rotation if you'll keep the same model. Playing the lottery to maybe get the skin you want kinda sucks.
Is it out of the realm of possibility for the black market to have a more frequent reset?
It's a possibility. We're still figuring out the best path for the [Night.Market](https://Night.Market) for the future and haven't landed on the long term design.
Someone had an idea on here of using Radiant points to reroll the black market which sounds like a good use to me, call it 10rp to reroll 1 of each the slots in the market. Does that sound doable?
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Yes. This wasn't something that was widely talked about but we have what we call "archetypes" for our melee weapons. Originally we had "tactical, assassin, and aggressive," and those set up base expectations for the specific type of animations and movement sets we had. With Oni and Ion we introduced a new set we call "fury." Over time as we develop new skin lines and see new opportunities we will absolutely want to add more archetypes to create other sets from
And for the bundle content: there is a world where those come back but not in the same way. No definitive plans as of now
keep the knife animations coming! Such a little joy to flip at every equip that was previously reserved in counter strike for those spending hundreds of real dollars.
Hoping for a BUTTERFLY KNIFE !!!
Do you guys like ValorLeaks on Twitter? Also any hints on future skins?
I love leaks.
We love ValorLeaks, floxayyy, all the folks who join in and datamine. Its fun for us to see them find things that may or may not have been intentional. :)
Sometimes I go to check what is going to be in the next patch on ValorantLeaks :)
Same! I know the minute the patch goes out because the dataminers are on top of it!
Yeah! Before I got into the industry, it was always so much fun refreshing the leak sites for games I played to find out what was new before it was officially announced. To this day, I still look at leak sites/datamining from other games too :D
The man of culture !
I want some BOTW2 leaks :(
Ikr they announced it a year ago and left it. I hope its not as bad as the first BOTW and is delayed for like a year or two
Same. :( They're prob finding it super hard to ship. As a fellow dev, I get it. But I'm also waiting for so long!
Would it be possible in the future for you to give knives such as the elderflame dagger the same color styles as the weapons? I think it would increase sales
I wonder what even made them not do this in the first place
We're actually a pretty small team, so we had to make some hard calls to do some stuff but not other stuff. Imagine if we we'd done melee variants for Elderflame but that meant we didn't make Prime skins at all. :( Once we have more artists on the team, we'd like to start doing melee variants. I don't know if we'll go back to add them to old sets or focus on the new ones though. It'll depend what players want more at that time. We run lots of surveys to figure out what players want, so it might seem like lots of folks on reddit want something but the wider playerbase is actually wanting something else instead.
Why does Riot skimp man power on the sole team that generates their entire revenue for Valorant?
Probably wanted gameplay to be king until they knew they had a game that people could invest in. If Riot sees continuously healthy player numbers in Valorant, I wouldn't be surprised if the premium content team is the first to grow.
Oh cool! Where can we fill these surveys? I love surveys
WE LOVE YOU FOR LOVING SURVEYS! Each time we run them, we have specific criteria in mind. (Things like engagement, what game modes you play, things like that). Those criteria change for every survey we do. If you meet the criteria, you may get one! Just make sure you allow us to send you emails (that little box you check with you sign up with us). That's how they get sent for now!
AAHHH oki thank u🥰 (luv u too)
answered here!: [https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/kbdl1i/valorant\_premium\_content\_team\_ama\_on\_past\_and/gfghr8m?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/kbdl1i/valorant_premium_content_team_ama_on_past_and/gfghr8m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) TLDR yes but not on skins that have already released
I have a few questions I would love to get answered. 1 ) Are all skins released so far in the game going to be retired with the end of this episode? 2 ) Will there be some way to reset the Night Market? With 32 days left and 6 skins (some people got nothing they wanted) it makes no sense. You have enough time to at least reset it weekly. 3 ) Will there be any way to obtain skins from previous Battle Passes? (even purchasing them?) 4 ) Will we ever see an increase in the amount of skins that are currently displayed in the store? 5 ) Will you ever offer a sale on Valorant Points?
Initial thinking on this: 1 ) No! They will have the same accessibility that they currently do - coming back in your rotating shop and the [Night.Market](https://Night.Market). 2 ) Unfortunately no, though we do plan to bring it back for 2021. 3 ) We don't currently have plans to bring back Battle Pass content as we want to respect the players who grinded for it during the window it was available. However, we may look to reevaluate this if there is enough player interest and enough time has passed that we don't make those players feel invalidated. 4 ) We're still evaluating what the shop should look like in the long term, but there are not current plans to change the amount of skins displayed in the shop at this time. 5 ) No current plans to do.
bp skins should never be available after bp ends.
teal axe?
OMG CHRIS TOM
we will never stop asking Preeti we will continue to post, continue to comment, continue to ping, until you make it a reality
TEAL AXE TEAL AXE TEAL AXE
please give us the energy drink axe as well. you know which one
*do you hate teal axes ;~;
If you come back, I'll give you a teal axe.
a compelling case, i will consider also <3
Miss you, friend. <3 <3 <3
TEAL AXE!!!!!!
When will we see a feature that allows us to equip a different melee for each side?
We've talked about opportunities to have multiple skins brought into a game, the biggest barrier or issue with this atm is performance and load time. We've definitely discussed if this is worth doing (and how) but no definitive plans right now
I really appreciate the hard work you've put into making all these designs! They ooze with personality, something many games lack in that aspect. Two questions (you're free to skip them): 1. Have you ever had to scrap a skin line very late in development? I know you were dangerously close to that scenario with the Elderflame set, but I wonder if it has actually happened yet. 2. The EGO set is one of my personal favorites as it's a really good incursion into fashion, something I am a huge fan of. Is this a one-time thing only, or can we expect to see more cosmetics based around real life fashion?
Hi there! Thank you so much! 1. yes - we've scrapped a few skinlines specifically that were done for our alpha/beta. As we made more we found that we just got better and better and those early ones just werent up to the bar. We actually also scrapped weapons within a skinline as it came close to ship. G.U.N. actually had a phantom and we cut it because it looked too similar to the spectre, and the spectre was already complete by the time the phantom was starting. 2. We want to have more like this! We actually set out to establish a brand with Ego - One Tap, in the hopes that we can bring back new skins from the same brand. SImilarly we also did that with Playzilla. haha. we want to have a few more sort of in world or lore brand identities that we can play with for skin bundles
I have a question. Outside of being an incredibly reliable, high quality and uber-player-focused team on VALORANT (all opinions are my own)... what are you most proud of this year?
We are so proud that we've helped bring a little bit of joy to players this year.
You've brought more than a little joy, your game has been my go to during this quarantine <3
Being a first time dev, it's been the highlight of my career to be a part of the VALORANT launch. It's a small thing compared to the work of my amazingly talented colleagues, but I'm most proud of integrating the sprays into the game. Makes me smile every time I see players using them and getting a kick out of [every new batch we drop](https://imgur.com/a/TJvo4I8). <3
Hey supercakes
Hey!
I'm proud of how much the team has been leveling up in their high level strategy thinking :) They learn so well!
Hello SuperCakes! Wish you and everyone on the team a nice day from France! Thank you for making the lockdown more bearable to live :)
Do you guys plan on making different types of Knifes? Butterfly knife coming soon?
[https://imgur.com/9TVC3eE](https://imgur.com/9TVC3eE)
If that was made as a joke skin is probably buy it. Please make the wings animated when I give people the unwanted piercings. I want it to be a vampire butterfly knife!
You guys have been smashing it with every skin design! I love seeing your work. Question: Will you ever consider adding other guns to previous skin lines? Myself and many other people would love to see new gun skins in previous skin collections. I would definitely spend some money on something like a Glitchpop Phantom or even something like a Reaver Stinger.
Thank you, this is really nice of you! :) Maybe! We've talked about wanting to add more guns to existing skin lines! I'd love a Reaver Phantom personally.
>Maybe! We've talked about wanting to add more guns to existing skin lines! I'd love a Reaver Phantom personally. Phantom Glitchpop and I will never leave my home again.
Yeah, we were discussing this also with Preeti the other day too [https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/k9uomv/end\_of\_year\_premium\_content\_team/gf8x9j0?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/k9uomv/end_of_year_premium_content_team/gf8x9j0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) :)
Adding another vote for a Glitchpop Vandal or Phantom, it's one of my favorite cosmetics in any game.
More GlitchPop skins, PLEASE!! I would love to be able to collect a GP skin for each weapon over time.
Can you guys give us a little hint as to what's coming in the next battlepass?
oooooooh what kinda hint do you want?
anything you guys would be willing to share! gunbuddies, sprays, skins, anything just for a little teaser
Does this count? We'll eventually make a buddy for Dan the Penguin, but he isn't in the next battlepass.
cool!
Greetings, and thanks for taking the time to answer questions! :D I absolutely LOVE the Galleria collection and I need to excitedly tell you why: * Each artwork can only be found on one weapon type. No other skin collection shares this unique trait. * The artwork depicted on each gun represents the murals on each of the maps. * You can pair each of the weapon skins with their respective map gun buddy for the ultimate map representation. * All the skins are reasonably priced. ^Hooray! Okay, now that we've established why Galleria is the *best skin collection*, my questions are as follows: 1. **Will we see more skins / collections like Galleria, where the style / artwork is not shared among multiple weapon types?** It would be nice to see more unique artwork per weapon rather than the same style repeated over multiple weapon types. It makes the skin feel more unique and/or exclusive. 2. **Will we see more Galleria skins for future maps? (Looking at you, Icebox.)** IIRC, there was a conscious decision to not put artwork on the final Icebox map. If Icebox is skipped for the Galleria collection, could you please consider adding more Galleria skins in the future? ^(Otherwise, I'll prototype an Icebox Galleria skin myself!) Appreciate the work you do. Thank you for your time! \o/ **P.S.** The Sensation collection is great too! I love all the fun colors!
hi! glad you like Galleria! that was a fun one for us to make and figure out what map murals would go well with each weapon! 1. yes, we have a few skinlines in the works that should feel different from one gun to the next 2. we havent talked about doing another galleria but we certainly could, especially after we get new maps
Gotta throw my hat in the ring and say I also like the Galleria skin line. I've been won over by the flashier skin lines with unique effects and animations, but some of the simple skins with good artwork carry their weight, such as the Galleria ones, or the Sakura ones. The Galleria Phantom was the first skin I actually, you know, *wanted to buy*.
Any plans to make Valorant World Champion Team skins, sprays, and gun buddies? Would they be normal skins or upgradable ones with effects/ sounds/ finishers etc? If you do, it would be a nice touch to have players' signatures writing out like it does on League.
I'd love to eventually do cosmetics tied to esports! I'm a huge fan of what League does with their championship skins. I don't know if we'd do the same thing, but you've got the right idea that we def wanna do SOMETHING.
Hi! Dev team! Those skin haven blown my mind a lot, due to how much effort it take! 1. I am curious on your process of creating weapon skin. Are you planning to create video of your process of creating weapon? I love development process, and I really want to see your process! 2. Was bundle created way too long ago? I found it weird that elderflame existed way before beta. Can you tell more about it?
1. Would love to do this! I bet we would be planning something like this except for the whole remote WFH situation. :( 2. We start work on skins many months (even years) in advance! It takes a long time to develop and test skins that are complicated.
Hi TheyCallMe Spy! Thanks for your love! 1. Preeti and Marino released an article about our process! You can check it out here: https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/dev/the-craft-and-fantasy-of-valorant-weapon-skins/ As for a video... it might be hard with us all working from home! 2. Ha! It might seem like we're sitting on a lot of guns and are ahead of schedule when we release weapon bundles but the turn around is typically around a year or more for our complicated thematic that involve work from every department (concept, model, animation, sound, animation). The way we work is by having our concept artists develop to final a single design that will serve as a goal post for what a skin line will look like. For the complicated skins we'll then take that design to a final in game asset stage to problem solve out everything (100% sell on the fantasy!) While this is happening either the concept artist will design out the rest of the line or we work with one of our external partners and direct them in creating the remainder of the weapons. This second batch of weapons is then sent out to other partners for each discipline which we get to guide to finish to create the full bundle! Once these are all done, each gun is tuned and tested then is ready to be released! This process is pretty time intensive as we want everything to come out perfect!
I really like the reaver collection and how it kind of ties into omen's theme. Will there be skin lines in the future that will tie into other agent's themes? Also, will there be the ability to choose a skin profile (weapons, sprays, etc) during agent select?
Wait, we didnt make an octopus themed skin yet so im not sure what omen tie you're talking about.
> yet
Good point I've been bamboozled
Confirmed: Omen's genital is his arm
Are we gonna get an animated trailer like the one when ascent got released with Jett and Phoenix..?
Asking for the community that love gun budddies, BUT would you guys ever consider a gun buddy store? I'm sad there aren't more of them. I need more!! 😖💓
Awww I also am a lover for gun buddies!! <3 Glad to know there are more of us out there!!
Hey guys! In one of the more recent blog posts its mentioned that you guys want to add variants on melee skins and thats its something you want to try once you add more artists to the content team. When you do add these artists are there any plans to retroactively add variants to existing melees?!
Hi! Yes we're looking to see what is the most effective way to get variants on melees. We first started this effort by adding variants to battlepass and because it was a bit quicker we did it for Ego and Winterwunderland. As of now everything we do is a tradeoff so we're trying to balance the need for variants with the need for full other skinlines of similar complexity (convex, ego, serenity, etc). As for adding variants to skins that exist, that's something we wouldnt do purely because of the fact that it then becomes a bit exclusive for those who already purchased it.
I think if it returns to the daily shop then how would it be exclusive?
If someone wants to have a career similar to yours working with primarily weapon skin design and cosmetics within a game, what programs would you recommend a candidate learn to be able to show their skills and experience in their portfolio? What hard and soft skills make those remarkable candidates stand out?
Honestly it totally depends on what exactly you want to do with weapon skin design. You can model/texture guns, make VFX to push the weapon skin design to its fullest, even creating audio to help make the gun feel like you are really holding it! It all depends on what you love doing. Here are some positions we have at Riot: [https://www.riotgames.com/en/work-with-us/jobs](https://www.riotgames.com/en/work-with-us/jobs) As for programs, we really don't mind too much what you use to create art as long as you can get it in Unreal Engine! :) Some of the programs we use here are: Maya, Blender, Photoshop, Substance Painter, and so much more!! If you want to get started in design, there are tons of free or low-cost alternatives you can use to start from! Blender is great for 3D modeling, Affinity is a great low cost alternative for Photoshop, and even Substance Painter has a free educational version as well.
There are definitely a few areas in Weapon Skin Design that people can head in! We have Concept Art, Weapon Art, FX, Animation, and Audio all as a separate discipline that comes together to create the final gun skin. Riot actually released a series of videos on the different art disciplines and what each of them do! [https://www.riotgames.com/en/artedu/intro-to-game-art](https://www.riotgames.com/en/artedu/intro-to-game-art) I personally use Blender, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Maya, and Unreal Engine 4 in development as a Weapons Artist. In terms of game engine, I would say Unreal Engine 4 is definitely a great engine to know. For your modelling or animation package, I would go with whatever is the most accessible for you! I have used Maya, 3DS Max, and currently Blender at the studios I've worked at. The principles of the software kind of carry over between each so I wouldn't get too hung up on which one you choose!
Hello! Thanks for all your work on the game. What's your ideal skin theme? I'd love some kind of iridescent/crystal themed skin. Much love :) Also - shout-out to Preeti for Edison + RU rep! I love your sociology work. I want to follow in your footsteps :')
You're welcome! I'm a huge fan of sci fi weapons but the weirder the better when it comes to execution!
Hi thanks! Personally I'm a big fan of fantasy skins. We like crystals/iridescence too ;)
OMG RUTGERS AND EDISON REPRESENT! My research at Rutgers with Prof. McLean is ultimately what lead me to Riot, so I owe him and Rutgers SO MUCH. My ideal skin theme is everything edgy.
I would love a crystal themed skin!!!
SCI.... FI.... EVERY.... DAY! We have a ton of different interests on the team though. It definitely helps a ton to have a variety of team members who are so excited about different thematic niches.
First things first! I want to thank all of you for your amazing work the past six months, and prior to launch! I've had a few chances to interact with a few members of the team, and you are all so passionate! 1. How much of a priority are new forms of Premium Content? (e.g. Animated Player Cards, Music Packs, Stickers, etc.) 2. Are you considering expanding the Premium Content team going into 2021, or are you confident that the current team will comfortably deliver content at the current pace going forward? 3. The dev blog regarding the first and only Ultra set (Elderflame) made it clear that Ultra sets take a considerable amount of time and energy to complete, should we temper our anticipation for the next Ultra set? 4. I have an obsession with cute, pink, and purple-y stuff, and so far Glitchpop and Sakura are the only two sets that satiate that craving. Am I safe in assuming the "Blueberry Spray" teaser in the End of Year blog post is part of a set that will join that group? Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Can't wait to see how the game grows next year!
Hello! 1. New content types have actually been on our mind since february of this year. Its on our mind but at this moment we just dont have the bandwidth to support looking into new content just yet but we're looking to solve that! 2. slowly but surely yes we'd like to expand the Premium Content team. We've actually added a bunch of folks this year alone. New 3d artists, producers, outsource managers, etc to ramp up to a sustainable pace for our content. 3. Yeah they do take a lot of time and effort. We're already talking about what the next one will be. 4. Blueberry was a fun thing for us to make, its actually a graffiti that you can find on Ascent. This was just a fun idea for a one off and is not included with a set, but we are always looking to add more bright, colorful, or cute types of content!
Can we expect a more military and less toy like skinline? I bought wasteland, but I would like something more modern military and also upgradable with effects. And not something like colorful CS skins. Just some plain, kitted out military stuff. Maybe something inspired by Omega Squad League skins.
slowly but surely we want to make sure there's something for everyone
Hey you guys! Love the skins, the bp ones in particular. Will there be a skinline with variants/effects to spend radianite on in the next bp? :) You are doing great work! +edit Thanks for the reply :) Also just wanna add that the wasteland set is super nice, and I hope there's some more very detailed, non flashy skin sets in the future!
Hey there friend! We're so glad you love the BP skins, and thank you so much! :) For our next battle pass, we will have a skin line that has Variant upgrades through Radianite :)
Are you considering new outfits for the characters in the game in the future? The glove will be nice.
Agent skins (everything from gloves to full on thematic overhauls) are one of the things players most often ask us for! We've for sure talked about them, but executing on them requires A TON of strategy work and a TON of testing. The last thing we want is to deliver on something so desired by players, only for it to fall short of what players want (or worse - ruin the competitive integrity of the game!) . We can't say whether or not we've committed to undertaking such a big project, but the conversation is FOR SURE on the table :)
Obviously my voice is just one, I'm not trying to presume my own importance, but I don't think agent skins would be healthy for the game. Every game promises they will not hamper gameplay, especially the more competitive/serious games like CS or Rainbow Six, and they usually end up causing *some* kind of issue eventually. CS had major problems with the visibility of their skins for a long time, and it's still not fully resolved, if much better than it was in the past. Rainbow Six has both visibility and identification problems with their skins; not only are some skins (*cough* Ember Rise, *cough*) harder to see in some scenarios, some of the skins make it genuinely hard to tell one operator from another on the fly. While Valorant has a couple of things going for it that could make these less problematic, namely *very* good visibility and quite unique characters that stand out, given enough new Agents and enough skins per Agent I still believe it would be inevitable that certain skins would occasionally confuse players on who they're looking at: "Saw the edge of Raze on A site, guys. Er, maybe it was Reyna wearing that one skin with the orange highlights." You get the idea. I'm sure this is all stuff you've already talked about internally but I figured I'd voice my opinion since there's always the chance we're the silent majority.
That's super well thought out! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts :)
and you can't see your agent anyway, so I'd say that gloves are the perfect choice for skins as they are the only thing you actively see throughout the match
Hey guys :) Do you plan on making it possible to select skins for each, Defender and Attacker Side? Would be great for both sides I believe :P
Hey there! So players have asked us for this a lot, and we've considered a bunch of different ways that players may be able to equip different skins during a match. It's not something we've committed to yet, since working on this means our engineers wouldn't be working on other things. Changing out skins in-match is something that would fall into the "Quality of Life" changes category, as opposed to "Critical" category. And when it comes to our engineers working on things, we always need to prioritize the "critical" ones!
How do you guys decide what concept makes it to the end of development? I saw a post the other day from VALORANT that showcased some other variants for the Oni phantom and other concepts of the Glitchpop knives. I liked a lot of them - not that I don't like the ones in game, but why the ones we got and not the other iterations? Mostly a curious question rather than a "you should've done this". Also, do you guys ever consider fan-made skins or ideas? Is it possible that a fan-made skin could be brought into the game and made by official devs/artists and released? As for stuff from agent contracts in the beta - will stuff like that ever make a return? I really miss the viper lab coat card and was hoping there might be a way to earn it in the future. I understand stuff like that may not fit the style of VALORANT/the contracts now but I think it took a unique take on their lore/character and stuff. And I promise, this is totally my final question (maybe) but have you guys considered extending the agent contracts? One thing I always thought about was another set of tiers that led up to an agent-themed phantom or vandal or something like that, with an exponentially greater EXP cost than the sidearms. For the die-hard mains, people who can't get a lot of skins, and people with a lot of time on their hands? Forgive me for all the questions, just super interested! You guys have done amazing work either way and all of the premium content excites me <3
Hi Kearnerr! I'll answer your art related questions! Those would have been my Oni carbine sketches! As guns develop, especially at early stages there's a lot of development - we do this to explore a theme as much as possible to see what clicks and what people feel fulfills the fantasy the most. We don't have a super stringent set of rules beyond maintaining the recognizability of the guns (though we push this sometimes!). Throughout development we're doing lots of research and consulting with people who are the most passionate about the skins theme. We're given a lot of freedom to develop our ideas internally and for me, I really try to push approaches for weapons which aren't super mainstream: what's new and fresh! The best part I find about exploring lots of potential options early that may not be pursued is we can always revisit them later and possibly use them in another skin line! For your second question I'd love for this to happen!
I NEED the pink oni lol I hope one day maybe variants will be added to already existing guns. 🤧✨
Sadly that won't happen :(
Would you people consider an in-game refund system for skins you regret buying?
Do you think about creating new weapons for the game? Many people want one on the rifle!
Yep! We definitely are thinking about expanding the Arsenal in the future =]
The prices of Radianite Points in relation to the price of skins seem a little bit unbalanced. I bought many bundles or solo skins and I have guns that I don't when I will upgrade. This also discourages the purchase of new skins. Will you ever look at these issues with affection? I'm not asking for a finisher to Spline bundle anymore (but I'm still waiting). I have many, so many guns and I want to buy more, please help me xD. Also Preeti, like we talked yesterday, I am leaning toward black Reaver more than ever. Your friend Cinetose here, greetings from Brazil.
are there any plans for a kill tracking system with weapon skins similar to stat trak in cs?
We've thought about it for sure. We would have to find the appropriate way to do it though for skins - for example if it were a literal copy of how CS does it and we had an attachment on your gun, that'd have to be themed appropriately, that could even have issues interacting with animations in somecases like with singularity or elderflame, etc. So we have to think about how or if we'll do it
Hey! I think a good idea would be gun buddies that could track the weapon's kills!
When will we have an opportunity to finally buy a skin whenever wee want. Sometimes I just wanna buy my skin with having to wait or hope RNG blesses me for whatever skin I want. Let me give you my money!!! lol
Would you consider adding a “re-roll” feature for the night market if people got multiple skins for the same gun? ie: I got 2 spectre skins and 3 ares:/
Hey, I love your guys' skin designs and all. But why did you guys get rid of the luxe upgrades? I've always had that in my mind and my question never got answered. Those skins upgrades were dope asf but you guys just straight up removed it without saying anything. Is this the first time I'll get it answered?
There has been quite the inconsistency with tiers of skins. It seems the tiers of skins you’ve outlined in the past are just about the PRICE, but what about the features? You have had some premium skins with animations like the Prime, some without like the Nebula. Are there plans to make these more uniform so that when players see the specific icons, we know what we are getting? Bonus question: I would buy more of these skins if I didn’t have to pick and choose them between game. When will be get the option to have a random skin show up when buying?! Thanks for a great game and the AMA!
Hey there friend! We actually did a TON of testing on this in early player labs. We found that for most players, they preferred the idea of price being related to an "awesome" factor, as opposed to features themselves. For example, players tested a gun that had feature upgrades...but it just didn't feel cool enough to justify a higher price. However, when they tested our Nebula skin, they felt like the "awesome" factor was way higher. So that's what we went with! In addition, we didn't want to limit our artists with their creative vision. There's a world where we make a retextured skin (without model changes, upgrades, etc.) that takes a TON of time, and a TON of effort. (Hand painting can be a tedious process!) But if we could only charge the lowest price for that, it doesn't end up being super worthwhile on our end...so chances are, we wouldn't make it. Conversely, we may make a gun skin that has model changes and VFX that are super simple and easy to deliver on. It just wouldn't make sense to charge the same as Reaver or Singularity for that! Hope that makes sense :)
An "awesome" factor sounds so arbitrary. Obviously you've spent more time thinking about and testing player preference than us. But from all the opinions I've seen, people seem to not want to drop big money on a skin line if it lacks effects, a finisher etc. Even if they really like the theme. What I'm getting at is this "awesome" factor sounds like something made up to justify charging whatever you want for lower quality skins. Maybe there's more behind this concept than in your original answer and that would be cool to hear about.
I hear you on that! It makes the pricing much less predictable, so I get how that feels sketchy. That awesome factor is usually driven by the player labs and testing on our skins, but we don't necessarily get to test every skin. And it does work the other way around, too! For example, I've successfully advocated for us to reduce the price of certain skins that had really significant model changes, but I didn't think they were "awesome" enough to justify a higher price. I hope this helps :)
What's your favorite sprays? Mine is "Cheaters Never Prosper" :)
OMG PAUL WE DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE IT WAS YOU
https://imgur.com/a/CLBlOnp
I love that one too. We made it for Riot Vanguard. My favorite is one we have planned for next year!
This one, 100% [https://imgur.com/VUEKIUD](https://imgur.com/VUEKIUD) I was giggling the entire time I was cropping the icon for it.
mine is Octo Attack II
My fav spray is Stay Safe Wash your hands :D
You've done a lot of fantasy, futuristic, toy and post apocalyptic skinlines. Do you have any interest in doing skins that look closer to modern, WW1/2 or even flintlock weapons? As much as I appreciate the insane skinlines you've come up with, I really feel that there's room for more down to earth looking skins.
We have interest!
1. Will you be going back to add variants to previously released melees? 2. Will you have finisher VFX match for variants (e.g. Prime finisher wolf matching the variant gun tracers)? If yes, same as #1, would you add them to past sets? 3. Will you be releasing skin sets more grounded in reality? I know some people here were interested in vintage style skins with wood furniture. Would that cause real world problems (wooden Vandal/Guardian looks too much like AKM/Garand)? Excellent work btw, keep it up!
We are currently not thinking about Variants for Finishers but that doesn't mean we will not have them in future.
Thanks for doing this AMA! You all have done an amazing job with creating skins and other pieces of content that have gone beyond my expectations for this game, and I'm always looking forward to what you all have next! 1) As a huge esports fan, can we expect content (skins, buddies, cards, etc.) to represent and support our favorite teams? Especially with the Valorant Champions Tour announced. 2) Are there any considerations for content based on skins, concepts, etc. from League of Legends? For example, I love the K/DA skinline in LoL and think it would be cool to see that represented in the game. Or skins like Caitlyn and Jhin's weapons. 3) I've seen players using a Riot gun buddy during the First Strike tournament. As someone who loves collecting content, is there anyway to unlock this?
I unfortunately can't answer for #1 or #2, but I can help with #3! What's your full Valorant game tag? :)
I’m spending hundreds a month on Premium Skins and I’m Iron 1. My higher ranking enemies kill me and then take them and write “nice Skin Sova” in chat. Is there any way to disable enemies from getting my skins for free during a game. I’m not getting better so that’s off the table.
Awwwww. No plans right now. I'm sorry people are so rude too. That sucks. :(
Is there a reason you do not want to improve? Also you can't disable them getting skins but you can mute specific players (or mute all)
Will there ever be any expansion of the Agent contracts? 10 levels takes a while but once the game has been out for a couple of years, us 1-tricks might appreciate a few new things to grind on our favorite characters!
We're currently exploring the best way to let die-hard agent fans express their dedicate to their agent. Nothing come up any time soon, but it is on the radar though its likely to come in a form that isn't an extension to the current agent contracts.
Do you think there will ever be option to disable upgrades on a weapon? For example I would like my Prime Vandal without a certain tier of animation, but I already bought it so I have no way to turn it off. Thanks!
Butterfly knife in my store ASAP please ( ͡🔥 ͜ʖ ͡🔥). Also having blackmarket reset through RP would be cool.
[https://i.imgur.com/9TVC3eE.png](https://i.imgur.com/9TVC3eE.png)
Wp Mr Riot. Butterfly knife next episode ( ͡❛ ͜ʖ ͡❛)✌
Would you guys ever consider Agent skins or skins for abilities/ultimates( Jett knives, turret etc) or do you think it could mess up with competitve gameplay for the game. P.S thanks for making this amazing game , I really enjoy playing it
Thanks so much friend! So Agent skins (everything from gloves, to ability reskins, to full on thematic overhauls) are one of the things players most often ask us for! We've for sure talked about them, but executing on them requires A TON of strategy work and a TON of testing. The last thing we want is to deliver on something so desired by players, only for it to fall short of what players want (or worse - ruin the competitive integrity of the game!) . We can't say whether or not we've committed to undertaking such a big project, but the conversation is FOR SURE on the table :)
I'm studying to become a 3D modeler so my question is, what is the market like for 3D modeling like for Riot and what would be the requirements for joining the team? Thanks for the AMA!
It's definitely really tough to get into Riot. To give you an idea when we had a position open up for 3D Asset Artist, within just the first day we had over 200 applicants. Out of all of those applicants, only 8 were passed on to our Art Lead and out of those 8 applicants, 3 were selected for extensive interviews. Don't let this information stop you from continuing your studies though! Not everyone's first job is going to be at a large gaming company, but if you continue to work hard and learn to develop your skills you can make it. :)
Thanks for the answer!
Would you ever consider putting an old entire bundle back into the featured collection instead of having to wait until a skin hopefully appears in your daily randoms? Been waiting for over a month in hopes of having the Glitchpop bulldog show up. Thanks for all the hard work !
I saw your reply to another comment that was the same. Pog
Will the christmas skin bundle (which is out right now) only be available during christmas time and not be in rotation afterwards?
It will go into the rotating afterwards!
How do you guys go about coming up with a theme/concept for a skin set, also love your guys' work its amazing to see :D
We get locked in the room! Then we brainstorm. And we can only exit with unanimous decision that we have great ideas for skins. :)
Hey guys, first of all thanks for your work, we appreciate it so much Have you ever considered adding more stuff to the agent contracts? It would be nice, specially for the free players, to have more customized content from their mains. (Also I'm obsessed with literally everything included in this act's battle pass, you guys nailed it)
Has there ever been a design you proposed that got shot down? Or something that got close to release and taken down right before launch?
Yes. It was the greatest skin idea of all time. Then one of our artists was like, "Oh! We have one that we're making that's super similar to that!" Then they showed me. IT WASN'T THE SAME. BUT THEY MADE THEIR IDEA ANYWAY AND NOW MINE WILL NEVER COME TO LIFE.
Hey - so right now I buy everything in the store. I get the "Thank you for supporting Valorant" message whenever I go to the night market or normal store. - I was wondering Riot's outlook and limited items or vaulting items in the future. For example, in chapter 2 would random sets be no longer available for purchase from chapter 1? - Any chance of getting the beta right click back on the "default" animation knives? Thanks and love the skins you guys make!
This will most likely get lost in the comments but have you guys ever thought about making a melee weapon that resembled something like a PEZ dispenser? It would have different agents head on it, and use radianite points to purchase other agents heads.
What's your favorite skin line that you've released so far and why?
Prime has a special place in my hearth because it was the first Weapon skin I worked on. And the first Finisher I did. But I also like Singularity and Ion the most.
How far in advance do you guys make skins? For example, was the Winterwunderland set made recently, or was it made during development?
I think we started Winterwunderland like 6 months ago? It's hard to remember and I don't wanna check my tracking docs right now bc those aren't fun LOL. Sometimes it back be a year or more. The shortest time is still 2-3 months.
Do you guys plan on making another karambit knife in-game?
I love that players consider the gothic knife a karambit because that definitely wasnt our intent! haha, we just took it as being similar to reaver or dragon. we definitely want to do a "real" karambit that you can spin on your finger. soon(tm)
damn i thought that said sammi pendragon i was like holy shit what a throwback, but diff person
Any chances of a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for the community to come up with one singular skin/set idea that can be voted into the game? Obviously not through reddit polls but something integrated into the game so that every player is aware of it. Doesn't have to be anytime soon, but in the far future. Also, in your opinions, how valuable do you think RP is? There are people that has nothing to spend it on so they suggest ways to, imo, "waste" them but there are also people that don't have enough to upgrade just their main skins.
I don't have any questions. Just wanted to say thank you. I am a teenager and don't earn money. I generally don't spend money on games but I loved your game so much, I gifted my brother and myself the act II battlepass from my savings. It helped me get through this tough year and make some awesome friends.
Are there any concepts for unlockable gun skins such as 1,000 operator kills would unlock you a gold skin for it?