On December 31, Halo Infinite lead narrative designer Aaron Linde introduced the “bittersweet information” that he was leaving 343 Industries to do one thing new. It is nonetheless not clear what precisely he’ll be doing, however a minimum of now we all know the place it’s going to occur: In a follow-up tweet posted yesterday, Linde revealed that he is now part of Riot Video games.
“Bittersweet information to report: I am departing 343 Industries to pursue a brand new alternative in 2022. It was a terrifically troublesome resolution; Halo Infinite will stay one of many proudest achievements of my profession for the remainder of my life. I am so grateful to have been part of it,” Linde wrote in his departure tweet.
“I wish to thank my expensive colleagues at 343 for making one of the best sport I’ve ever labored on, our unimaginable voice forged for elevating our work in each single line supply, and our gamers for becoming a member of us on this wild-ass journey. You made 2021 an extremely particular yr for me. I get squidgy speaking about actual shit on this silly web site so I am going to depart it at that for now. However I can not underscore sufficient how grateful I’m and at all times might be. See you subsequent mission.”
I wish to thank my expensive colleagues at 343 for making one of the best sport I’ve ever labored on, our unimaginable voice forged for elevating our work in each single line supply, and our gamers for becoming a member of us on this wild-ass journey. You made 2021 an extremely particular yr for me.December 31, 2021
The thriller lasted till Monday, when Linde tweeted:
“I forgot to cancel my Adobe Premiere trial so this tweet value me $30. Anyway I am thrilled to report I am becoming a member of Riot R&D!”
I forgot to cancel my Adobe Premiere trial so this tweet value me $30. Anyway I am thrilled to report I am becoming a member of Riot R&D! https://t.co/jQeC3LbMaWJanuary 3, 2022
Riot R&D—that is Analysis and Improvement—is basically part of the studio that focuses on early-stage improvement of recent video games. “The R&D division at Riot oversees two improvement levels: prototype and pre-production,” this February 2021 blog post explains. “Our R&D course of has been optimized for the intentional consequence of every stage.”
“Our R&D groups are small, with robust help and shut communities round every sport group. Groups are staffed by extraordinarily gifted builders from round Riot. Above all else, we goal to succeed collectively whereas making participant desires a actuality.”
Tasks on the prototype stage lean closely on “engineering managers, gameplay engineers, and generalists who work carefully with Rioters from different disciplines,” whereas necessities get extra specialised as soon as a sport reaches the pre-production stage: Gameplay and AI engineers specializing in Unreal and Unity, rendering engineers, construct automation engineers, and that kind of factor.
Previous to his lead narrative designer stint at 343, Linde served as senior author at Bungie, narrative lead at ArenaNet, and lead author at Gearbox, and his LinkedIn profile signifies he’ll proceed that custom within the function of narrative author at Riot. Sadly, there is not any indication as to what precisely he’ll be writing for, however there are a minimum of a couple of choices on the desk that we all know of: Riot has expanded past its League of Legends roots lately with the multiplayer shooter Valorant and the CCG Legends of Runeterra, and has a minimum of three different unnamed initiatives on the go together with Project F (a Diablo-style action-RPG), Project L (a preventing sport), and a League of Legends-based MMO.
