Para além de ter a oportunidade de ler Ruination, ainda tive o incrível prazer de poder falar com o autor e saber mais sobre este e outros trabalhos no mundo da Riot. Anthony Reynolds é oriundo de Sydney e juntou-se a Riot! em 2014 como Senior Writer; no entanto, já joga League of Legends desde 2011. 

Foi a sua paixão por videojogos que o levou a escolher uma carreira neste palco e na escrita. Como geek, não consegui ficar só pelo livro e quis saber sobre tudo o que é trabalhar na Riot e num jogo como League of Legends. 

1. We had a TV series, comics, and games, but this is the first official League of Legends novel. How does it feel to be the writer this first novel?

Anthony: Very honoured! It’s a big responsibility to write the first novel. This world of Runeterra and its characters are beloved by so many people around the world, so it was a daunting prospect. I wanted to make sure the book did justice to the characters it tackled–Kalista, Viego, Hecarim, etc–and that the fans of those champions felt I got them right. The book also tackles a rather large and impactful moment on the history of Runeterra–the formation of the Shadow Isles–and so it was important to make sure when players read it that it lived up to their hopes, dreams, and expectations. So, when I was told I was going to get to write this first book, I felt a flood of different emotions; excitement, nervousness, and a hope and determination to write it as well as I could. Our players deserved nothing less! Lucky for me I had great help from beginning to end, with a wonderful editor who was there every step of the way, a bunch of fantastic creative collaborators to bounce ideas off, and test readers who were able to help pinpoint which parts were working, and which parts needed extra work during the drafting of the book.

Na sua resposta a esta pergunta inicial, o autor diz-nos queue está “Muito honrado! É uma grande responsabilidade escrever o primeiro romance. O mundo de Runeterra e as suas personagens são amadas por muitas pessoas pelo mundo inteiro, e por isso foi algo assustador. Queria ter a certeza que o livro fazia justiça aos personagens que aborda – Kalista, Viego, Hecarim, etc- e que os fãs desses champions sentissem que o fiz corretamente.“ Acrescentando ainda que “Felizmente, tive uma grande ajuda de princípio ao fim, com um espetacular editor que esteve lá a cada passo, fantásticos colaboradores criativos para trocar ideias, e leitores-teste que me ajudaram a descobrir as partes que funcionavam e as que precisavam de mais trabalho.”

2. What inspired you to choose this particular setting and characters?

Anthony: This story was one that I had longed to tell for many years. Back when I first joined Riot Games in 2014 the first thing I worked on was a champion who back then was code-named “Spectral Legionnaire”. Over the course of the champion’s development, she got a name–Kalista. During that ideation, I plotted out a lot more of her backstory than was suitable to include in her bio, but without anywhere to include it, that extra background material was stashed away in a drawer (or rather, a folder on my computer). I always hoped to be able to come back to her, though, and get the opportunity to tell more of her story. 

And so, when the Riot Books team started thinking about what could be our first book, I pulled out those old notes. Things aligned really well, as on the product side of things there was a desire to tie the book release in other developments going in around the company, including the League champion Viego (and to a lesser extent, Gwen), who was being worked on, as well as work being done on the Sentinels of Light on League and in Legends of Runeterra. It was the right time to tell this story… and so I felt incredibly lucky to be able to get the chance to tell Kalista’s story in the long form narrative of a novel.

Em relação à sua inspiração, Anthony Reynolds diz-nos que “Esta história é uma que queria contar há muitos anos. Quando me juntei à Riot Games em 2014, a primeira coisa em que trabalhei foi um champion que naquela altura tinha o nome de “Spectral Legionaire”. Durante o desenvolvimento do champion, ela ganhou um nome – Kalista. Durante essa idealização, planeei mais da sua história do que era necessário para incluir na sua bio, mas sem lugar para a incluir, esse material foi guardado numa gaveta (ou melhor, uma pasta no meu computador).“ Concluindo ainda que “Assim, quando a equipa da Riot Books começou a pensar no tema do primeiro livro, eu resgatei essas notas antigas.”

3. What is it like to work with Riot? What are some of the most enjoyable points?

Anthony: I’ve been at Riot for coming up to nine years, and I honestly feel so lucky–I’ve had the chance to work with so many incredibly talented people. Every day I am inspired by the world-class creatives I am lucky enough to work with–artists, writers, composers, audio engineers, designers, and the list goes on. And without a doubt, the most enjoyable times I’ve had at Riot have been collaborating with these creatives, bouncing ideas back and forth, and creating awesome stuff for players. I’ve had the opportunity to work on several games, write comics, short stories, audio dramas, and animation, visit amazing places around the world, and speak to hundreds of players about what they love about Runeterra and its champions… oh yeah, and write Riot’s first novel! 

Trabalhar na Riot pode ser um sonho para muitos e para o autor é exatamente isso. Este indica-nos que “Já estou na Riot há quase nove anos, e honestamente sinto-me extremamente afortunado – tive a oportunidade de trabalhar com várias pessoas incríveis. Todos os dias sou inspirado por criativos mundiais com quem tenho a sorte de trabalhar – artistas, escritores, compositores, engenheiros de áudio, designers, e a lista continua.” Referindo ainda as suas oportunidades: “Tive a oportunidade de trabalhar em vários jogos, escrever bandas-desenhadas, pequenos contos, áudio dramas e animações, visitar locais incríveis ao redor do mundo e falar com centenas de jogadores sobre o que eles amam em Runeterra e os seus champions…e claro, escrever o primeiro romance da Riot!” 

4. What are the biggest differences between novel writing and lore writing for a game?

Anthony: The obvious and flippant answer is a novel is longer. But depending on the type of game, that’s not necessarily true. It all depends on what type of game a novel is being compared to, I guess. Compared to League of Legends, it’s vastly different, for instance. A MOBA is not really a good medium for telling a linear narrative story. It does many things really well–it can be a wonderful way to get to know a character, for instance–but telling a singular story with a beginning, middle, and end is not something it does. But if you compare it to a single-player action RPG that’s crafted to be a complete story, there is a lot more crossover. It is still a very different experience to write–most games are highly visual mediums, and are able to make use of sound, and music, and voiceovers, and the gameplay tends to mean the player gets to direct the story and the characters, to larger or lesser degrees. In a novel the author needs to show the reader what they need to in terms of descriptions, and it’s not a medium where the reader is able to direct what happens in any real way. At the end of the day though (and again, depending on the types of game) there are generally a lot of universal elements to writing for games and long-form prose; the importance of having characters that people care about, writing effective dialogue that pulls people in, etc. They are both challenging in their own ways, and it’s a privilege being able to dabble in both.

Trabalhar num jogo e num romance é diferente e o autor indica-nos que “A resposta mais óbvia é que um romance é mais longo. Mas dependendo do tipo de jogo, isso não é necessariamente verdade. Tudo depende do tipo de jogo a que o romance está a ser comparado, penso. Comparado com League of Legends, é bastante diferente.” 

5. Can you tell us anything about your RND project? Or other future projects?

Anthony: Well, I could… but then I’d probably get myself into a lot of trouble! It’s probably for the best that I don’t go into anything of particular depth. Suffice it to say that I’m very excited to get the chance to dive deeper into the worldbuilding and characters of Runeterra, and am very excited–all going well–for players to be able to explore this amazing world further in the future.

Sobre futuros projetos, Anthony Reynolds diz-nos “Bem, podia…mas provavelmente iria meter-me em muitos problemas! É capaz de ser melhor que não diga nada de mais. Escusado será dizer que estou bastante entusiasmado por ter uma oportunidade de mergulhar mais fundo na construção do mundo e das personagens de Runeterra, e estou bastante empolgado para – se tudo correr bem – os jogadores poderem explorar mais deste fantástico mundo no futuro.” 

6. Can we expect more League of Legends novels written by you?

Anthony: Never say never! I’m rather busy with other work at the moment, but I do love getting to tell the kinds of stories that novels do well. So… maybe? 

Para terminar, será que vamos ter mais livros escritos pelo autor? Este indica-nos que “Nunca digas nunca! Estou bastante ocupado com outro trabalho de momento, mas adoro contar o tipo de histórias que os romances contam. Portanto…talvez?” 

Obrigado ao Anthony Reynolds, Riot e a todos os que fizeram esta oportunidade possivel! Desejamos muito sucesso em trabalhos futuros