Founding Interns of League of Legends

Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck set out with a vision to build a different type of game company. To make it real, they’d need help from a bunch of talented game industry vets. And a few interns.

[@AnhNguyen-sl7nx]

We found the guy who wanted Teemo in the game guys...

[@drash79]

Get him!!!!!!! lmao!!!!!

[@demonicpenguin1430]

teemo was a stolen concept from a dota 2 forum

[@xMonsoonWar]

Give him back!

[@xd-nb1qh]

he is also a teemo main. KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!

[@Yunhohoho]

DISPOSE OF HIM

[@maximtchernykh757]

"Teemo came from a napkin drawing" Teemo should have stayed a napkin drawing.

[@kawaiiVietCong]

Haha.. True

[@chrislife1101]

The doodlebob effect

[@angelosumugat6653]

HE SHOULD... HE SHOULD...

[@naoyasuakaza7693]

Glad he's a champion now

[@xXLethalWolfXx]

That footage of the original LoL... damn. Reminds me of how low our gaming standards used to be.

[@allentan2568]

Imagine if a game that quality was released on steam nowadays... Feelsbadman.

[@stopit.4596]

+infernovoid me too

[@Siddharth175]

Allen Tan man you forgot about Minecraft

[@joonatantjader5328]

Siddharth Suraj minecraft was realesed in 2011

[@Webberjo]

That statement can be flipped to apply to our standards for today's games compared to what they'll be 12 years from now. Today's games don't seem so bad to us right now, but in 12 years we'll look back and think about how rough we had it.

[@anurag476]

"Holy shit, you're playing for fun"? Man, that phrase would have really inspired the team.

[@indremik.5454]

That's smrh that would inspire my duo who is there for elo

[@lindholmaren]

I mean, when you're in early stages it typically looks and plays like shit, and it's your job to play it you tend to get burned out (there's plenty of streamers iirc that have said that it becomes a chore to play videogames when it's also your 9-5), so having people in charge of polishing this zygote of a game actually sit down and play it for fun is a big deal. Games that I know of that actually get to the "people are just playing and enjoying it" state early are simple, like pole position simple.

[@evwong874]

"What types of servers do we need?" "How do we build a server?" "What's a server?" XD

[@caramelfrappe402]

Even to this day, they stress over servers because people play League around the world. The tech team are always busting their butts off making it work.

[@evwong874]

Ik, it's like pokemon go, but riot had enough time to stabilize the amount of servers

[@alexthering6615]

Pokemnon go has no server problem anymore due to lack of players

[@100tsirdante5]

Ev Wong made my day

[@bernhardtrian7471]

"a computer" :)

[@mydude5926]

"he still plays teemo"

[@user-vs9et6ik5i]

Arrr hated Teemо!

[@user-eq7pp5uj3z]

Веринхейм Атмора I love teemo

[@scholletech]

Man, that's the type of company I want to work for, I wish someday I can work up to being a programmer or designer for a company like this! So much hype. Thanks for the video guys.

[@whatinthefahhhhh5532]

good luck

[@shadowpod13]

From this vid I'd say lower your standards on what type of company you want to work for. Rito started out pretty poorly.

[@eylulguner02]

hey did you achieve your goal?

[@pieroanselmetti520]

@@eylulguner02 hope he did

[@greetingsmars]

So THAT'S why their game is built on spaghetti code.

[@jayhuda7524]

the reason to you being stuck in bronze is just the game. blame it all on riot and your ego won't be harmed

[@nguyenuchuy1220]

@Tec Geek wait wat.

[@PraxstaRevolution]

Lol what? The game is full spaghetti code though. They nerf a champ's stats and next thing you know another champion is disabled for being bugged even though there was no patch updates for the other champ. It's like the game was made by one long line of code.

[@HIMO37089]

Omg you guys don’t know shit about code do you?

[@PraxstaRevolution]

welp, i'd be worried if i don't know shit about code when I do it for a living. Have you seen this new patch? Everything is broken. Can't make a lobby, BE & RP is missing, champ select not working, rune pages missing GG

[@RossBoomsocks]

League really looked like a Warcraft 3 Custom game mode in it's infancy - having started my MOBAs with DotA Allstars, it made my nostalgic ;_;

[@xkindividual5143]

ok

[@Manrique114]

He is right, Tryndamere and Ryze worked with IceFrog in making Dota, at least know your shit man.

[@otto1526]

ayy its ross

[@VictoriousLoL]

Hell yeah it did.

[@phia710]

go away

[@zwampy1212]

can you guys upload the original demo trailer?

[@MultiAlberto300]

That would be great! ^^ I do really want to see that

[@gi8809]

This. We need this.

[@Sismanski]

they kinda integrated it in this video... maybe not at full length but you can see some parts of it

[@gi8809]

Sismanski i meant the whole thing

[@MarkShaneHansen]

That demo trailer... Runescape in it's early years looked better lol.

[@hobiewankenobie3994]

'The kind of games they could spend hundreds of hours playing, testing their skills.' *Puts Tryndamere in the video*

[@TikOLoRd]

Riot game*

[@freelemonade5032]

TikO LoRd That's where you're wrong Bard, they got a board game, the arcade ziggs game, and an app.

[@oskardavelid5495]

Free Lemonade Weeeell, the app is just for keeping track of stats and friends... But hey! I habe it anyways!

[@spacecatjohn6770]

SAVAGE

[@captloki13]

They have a board game too.

[@karlhans6678]

and nobody plays those "games"

[@MrInsdor]

Wow that promo video isn't even close to what lol is today Not even close to the beta or season 1 I believe I would've thought the direction would've been clear a lot earlier

[@knostar8935]

I played to closed beta, it was nothing like that demo. It seriously wasn't so different from now. The map was the same in beta as before the summoners rework like two years ago.

[@sageeyetea]

*IKR!!* the wind of fate dictates your furure!! `*For exampl* I drew a stickman in a white piece of paper and threw it thru my window hoping someone to find my piece of art... later that day i came outside and i found my stickman covered in dog shit. Makes no sense right? And then i thou*ght ... *Fuck RITO!*

[@NanoLT]

Well that was a prototype and they only had their experience from DOTA to build it.

[@TheXextreem]

same here played the close beta nothing like this promo vid. I want more info on that RIOT?

[@TehFabled]

Looks like they were still fresh from the DOTA inspiration

[@mattiemaas]

I love it when riot uploads videos like this one. please do many many more.

[@wcz2891]

so teemo was a consept from day one to be the little evil shitter

[@darkha3rt841]

I don’t care what anyone says but i‘ve got mad respect for those guys never giving up and i hope y‘all appreciate what they did too.

[@revert_irelia]

3:20 "It was just a broken mess." some things never change xd nah I'm just joking. but in all honesty it's really cool to see how far league has come!

[@j94]

Don't ever laugh at people who have a dream. I can guarantee everyone had doubts when they saw the office and whatnot. But now look at it. LoL is the most played game in the world. Congratulations! An absolutely inspirational story!

[@itsudemo3893]

Jonny123898 i dont think LoL is the most played game in the world

[@kribii]

I loved the editing choices made in this video. Great job

[@fabianmonge4722]

This video keeps inspiring me since it released to now. My favorite part is when they're playing league for fun, you know when your developers play the game a whole lot of time, and for fun, you've done it.

[@riv8472]

5:03 When you are trying to save the character you created that everyone hates

[@DuyminhHuynh]

ΩmG Gaming and at 8:50 after all these years he still play teemo

[@vampse5454]

He is very pure and courageuos Me:oh very pure that he even poison other,sneak attack and...even bomb others WITH THE D*MN MUSHROOM..... very pure

[@tsmwukong5302]

what they described seems to exactly fit the description of patch 6.21

[@MrClosercloser]

sup nerd.long time no see

[@widb8evd8wg38dhsu]

just typical "we were like you guys~ u guys can be superstars like us~ keep pushing~ try harder~" bullshit. this kind of made-up, glamorized success stories are boring and also not true. make huge success in game industry = there are only 2 ways. 1.fuck lot of 100% pure luck 2.fuck lot of money that's it.

[@Archeides]

Really? 'Cause I'm pretty sure hundreds of thousands of people remember when League of Legends was just the way they described it. I remember seeing this shit when I was playing Warcraft III, and not being interested for a long time because it was based off DOTA (the original; based off of a WC3 custom game) which I didn't like because of the way people acted playing it. They really did start as practically nothing with just the 2 guys they mentioned in this video, and two people who worked on the original DOTA. I know some random guy on the internet doesn't count for much... but I can vouch for them.

[@rlaxasdf12]

They didn't really seem to "glamorize" it as you seem to mean it. I mean, they talked about how difficult it was to get there. Also, this video is about the interns, the people who actually started off with practically nothing. I think you should be able to show some respect for that.

[@danyeun01]

개미 lot of money? It started with two people lol

[@lutriula]

This is amazing guys! So inspiring!

[@StoryOfYasuo]

Thanks Riot, I met my girl of my life in this game.. Insane. Thanks ♡

[@Sierra1337_]

I met my boyfriend there aswell ♥ Were together for 2 years, living together and playing league ~

[@ryuhayabusa6651]

Sounds like a dream. Im happy for both of you guys. I dont know how you got to know each other tho. Wish it would happen to me someday.

[@traveel9409]

*I met the girl of my life, this game

[@StoryOfYasuo]

@@ryuhayabusa6651 We broke up already. We were together for almost 4 years

[@ryuhayabusa6651]

@@StoryOfYasuo :( sad to hear

[@Alejandro-rt2ed]

It's feel so great to see some of many of the people who created the game that gave me so much hours of fun and made me met new people, people that now are part of my life. They helped to create the game , and the game gave me all those special moments. Im really grateful with all the people who made that posible. Thank you

[@Alejandro-rt2ed]

And srry if my english isn't that good

[@phoenixultimate8253]

*It's feel so great to see some, out of the many people, who created the game that gave me so much hours of fun and allowed me to meet new people, that now are part of my life. They helped to create this game, that gave me many special moments. I'm very grateful to all the people who made them possible. Thank you

[@EinsteinJR2]

So, who had the idea to make a system that waits for your promos to get you matched with trolls ?

[@WinterbIue]

probably Jeff, after all he still plays teemo

[@EinsteinJR2]

Hauress :C division?

[@MrHauress]

I'm on EUW same name.

[@EinsteinJR2]

Hauress I'm on EUNE "Jeff Matt"

[@foucauldbernard]

EinsteinJR2 shut you play on EUN you shouldnt'be allowed to speak

[@uros6666]

can we get star guardian urgot pls

[@Josh-tc9hl]

this aged well

[@hiraimomoshusband5330]

There you go

[@TripleTen]

8:47 Dammit Jeff !

[@MiJungArty]

8:49 "He still playes Teemo" *triggered*

[@tydeuskero7020]

Rito, pls, say something about old Champions' abilities like Teemo's "Mechnobot" or Shaco's "Paranoia"... The story of old good LoL is pretty interesting! :D

[@avroken]

Tydeus Kero riot said a lot on old forums post

[@allensomething2642]

You know what will make it more interesting? Releasing customized offline league of legends for each major rework/patch so you can replay/re-live an old patch, with maybe like single person co-op vs AI?

[@jimmiliekola2053]

Thank you for making the game!

[@MatchaMan]

i signed in after watching this video to commend your whole team! this has been my favourite game for almost 10 years that i've been playing!!

[@Eminence_1337]

Devs actually decided to play the game in order to make it better? Who would've thought.

[@MyLovelyForm]

ye, what a twist

[@MyLovelyForm]

sorry i dont answer back to frustrated kids :) i know they just want attention so im not gonna "feed them" , the point was that they say that " they have to play the game to make it better" like there was a unique idea to make the game better, but ofc is oblivious u have to play the game to make it better lol.

[@psinjo]

the fact that they could play it for FUN was the real kicker. after you've worked on a game for that long, that much, you've seen every champ inside and out (literally) the fact that they could sit down and really enjoy the game even after all that is the impressive part

[@PurrfectHeart]

Ok, not going to lie. Seeing what they're talking about, nearly brought me to tears of joy. I can see myself working in the game design industry, like I've always wanted. What the producers of the video showed me was the reality of working in a small start up company designing a game...I can just see myself being so happy working like that, even through the tough days, I'd be finally making games too. I'm currently getting together my financial aid so I can get my associates degree and get in the field. See you on the other side, someday.

[@Kovi_99]

1:40: I first heard “they locked me into a conference room”

[@ralphenevoldsen9978]

Great video guys!

[@stickersdogcat42]

Lol one black guy on that entire team, he's probably the one that gave us Lucian.

[@splitsdlt9941]

sion? lllaoi? lucian? ekko? HE"S A GOD THEN! i play all of those chaps

[@theViece]

Lucian was actually created/designed by Daniel Klein aka ZenonTheStoic, a german guy :p

[@Holygiant]

How is Sion black? lol

[@sukmadek8626]

I think illaoi ain't african-american either.

[@silafuyang8675]

She is like native American...

[@KsanUwU]

Working at riot, atm a dream come true for me...

[@MemezadoGM]

thats the dream job, i would do it 100% shure

[@KsanUwU]

allenc1308 same

[@Pablo1517]

"Dream job" says everyone who never worked in a gamedev studio ;]

[@KsanUwU]

Pablo1517 thats why i said atm

[@NanoLT]

Riot is rated as one of the best companies to work at, I think it is a good dream, if you understand what exactly you are getting into.

[@fjaank7404]

Really fun to watch!

[@bezelbob1507]

We need more documentaries like this

[@MD-cq4np]

It would be so cool if we could play the beta version of the game or something like that :D pls rito xd

[@greenfox1991]

I'm crying like a baby!

[@EduardoYukio]

I cried too! I want so much to be a game developer, success stories like that makes me so emotional haha

[@scofield1154]

yeah but imagine spending a year or two getting low payed to make a game that may be or be not successfull. its a lot of risk and risk that they took payed off

[@automobilership9888]

This actually made me really happy...to see the development, and commitment, and sacrifice that went in to a game I've been playing since season 1was really touching. Makes me want to hop on and play a round now 😁

[@whitewolfgod7013]

All of the easter eggs are so awesome. Loved the gurran laggan one.

[@-Kuro.]

Those old-school looks

[@Awesomeness9842]

6:29 is my god damn favorite thing I've ever heard. I want that shit as my ringtone for my phone somehow >.< so fucking funny

[@SamuelDhinakaranofficial]

really good video Riot! Great as always

[@klown1148]

These people are legends, Thank you

[@Folder]

"We need to play our own game." Holy crap, tell that to the balance team please.

[@MikhailCazi]

As someone who hopes to get into game development, this was a really great video. Thanks, Riot! We

[@HelvestaCh.]

This really gives me tears of joy, knowing there are people out there like these guys that are willing to work hard, not just to make a GAME, but to make it fun. Thanks Riot.

[@sot8546]

More of these types of videos PLEASE

[@rayseodium]

Well Super Galaxy Rumble obviously was inspired by Tengen Toppa but the poster at 7:58 makes it official Riot loves TTGL. Just who the hell do you think we are?

[@drash79]

ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER!!!!!!!!!

[@LiAM-bp5gt]

Aiden Attack ii

[@Tsuba_Nick]

Dat Gurren Lagann poster at 8:00 :D :D

[@darkrain9229]

Dude Super Galaxy Rumble is from Gurren Laggan.

[@BOSHKOB]

WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!

[@Slyborgnet]

CLENCH YOUR TEETH!

[@EmilioKolomenski]

Is Gurren Lagann that old? That part was probably 2010 or even 2009.

[@TheLolgonewrong]

2007 was the first airing of TTGL its almost 10 years old

[@marinavranjes9833]

thank you guys

[@monkeylordofdoom14]

you guys are fucking awesome!!! thanks for the history and for making games for gamers!! you rock!!

[@DarkSpiritslayer]

3:49 dayum back in the day the guys working on LoL even PLAYED THE GAME?! WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! right now the balancing team etc arent even playing the game ... like wtf

[@papiagua]

MeisterTerra based off what? Everyone so quick to bash. It's a massive fucking game dude! It will never be balanced, and that's okay. 10 years in and I still love this gd game. Sooner you realize that the better

[@MrInsertfunnyname]

I'm glad that simon pegg found his passion! :)

[@diowatahell]

This is so inspiring!!

[@SuckerKiss]

I am showing this to all my intern with the hopes 😢 that our game will be as big as league one day .. I hope y'all will play it someday too.

[@sumio1580]

tbh this sounds like fun

[@awildencounter2350]

Panda wrong

[@ATP980]

"what's a server" lmao

[@billybob6807]

this is one of the MANY reasons I love league/Riot Games, coming out with simple videos like this that shows the true heart of the game and the people behind the game.

[@macc2222]

I love this Start Up story💕

[@alexlucibello]

Dat Gurren Lagann poster at 7:58

[@dafriendlydumplingd1764]

really want a league anime channel :(

[@dafriendlydumplingd1764]

and fuck teemo

[@PoisoNico93]

You want an anime about League where the characters fuck Teemo? Interesting..

[@Nyokota]

Lua's time

[@KsanUwU]

No no, star guardians

[@splitsdlt9941]

that shet lit ^

[@tamsiph4478]

big thanks to this guys for making the League of Legends

[@Taurenwarrior321]

This video touched my heart.

[@HaiTharImDavid]

7:12 Xizun for new Lee Sin skin!

[@mambobolanumba5933]

Ryze rework 2019

[@AbdiasTelles]

8:50 wtf doesn't WildTurltle play adc though?

[@EduMiguel16]

lmao

[@Andre-md1oh]

teemo is actually a marksman

[@danyeun01]

André he said adc

[@whatinthefahhhhh5532]

haha

[@LtKrau]

@@danyeun01 ADC = Marksman

[@halcohen122]

Wow that first-ever LoL footage... so amazing how LoL has evolved over the years

[@hewings5610]

Look how it is now. Good job guys.

[@yagoovirus2751]

7:08 the old lol demo is insipred by DotA the stats is really the same as DotA 1, there's agility, intelligence and strength and the map looks like wc3

[@RJ_Prevendido]

I like your profile pic lol made me wipe my screen cause I thought it was a lil piece of nose hair haha

[@BarbieRoosi]

Omg i wanna try out that old demo of league IT RLY SEEMS FUN

[@BarbieRoosi]

Idc that my character will die for no reason atleast i will have fun playing this game

[@BarbieRoosi]

YEEEEAH!!!!!

[@SoonEnough]

Agreed

[@Dameleon6]

wow this was actually really cool to watch

[@user-fn1nt1su5m]

who ever did the art and animation is amazing

[@apollont6155]

4:53 teemo outsmarts his opponents thats a summary of lol these days

[@CodPlayerNo77]

Singed still looks the same wow :D

[@choibandrangx]

Paul Bellezza, Jeff Jew and Colt Hallam, You guys are legends at least for me; The way you guys explained this and starting from scratch to what's League of Legends now is truly inspiring, I hope Riot Games grows and make some games that can truly defy you guys as what I think you are.

[@BluePacificMedia]

Ok that was a good watch!

[@CheokCG]

this is inspiring, shed some tears tho

[@chrisdalego6144]

All these hardworks and sleepless nights.. Then here comes Moonton (mobile legends) just copying basically every idea riot has produced without even a single effort.

[@MellopellowChess]

True.

[@pancitbihon1629]

I RLLY HATE THEM FOR THAT WTF..

[@squafps]

Damn looking at the creative process of one of the worlds most amazing games starting from where they did. It’s amazing lol

[@RickVietsub]

Look how far u guys have been going!

[@Nahinfi09]

Good thing he filmed it when he got the job on craiglist all those years ago

[@RideYamaha98]

almost like he... knew it was going to succeed

[@FabledBlack8]

They "recreated" the filming for dramatic effect lol.

[@vaderglenn]

you'd be surprised what people record for whatever reason.

[@RideYamaha98]

Casey Neistat is a huge example, records the most useless shit in the 90's and early 2000's lol

[@shatteredarrow501]

One of those stories in modern style where u quit your boring and unsatisfiable routine(job) and just jump out there in the unknown following your dreams and doing the things that makes u truly happy and useful.Just imagine how hard it was for them at the beginning but they never rly gave up on their dreams.So whats stopping u to reach yours? : ) (just got INSPIRED ,not a Jhin things lol :D )

[@mohamedgido1045]

Thank you guys for giving us league of legends

[@Bankston94]

This video gave me the feels

[@Ventusx515]

literally nothing changed with singed

[@poseidon1512]

My name is Poseidon and I was the sevenhundredfiftyninththousandeighthundretseventyfift intern at Riot Games

[@pinkachuu5226]

i cant imagine my life without lol, tnx u guys made my life not so boring lol

[@danielherrera6416]

Makes you appreciate the game a lot more than when you started

[@chozer1]

he still plays teemo

[@fuzzy455]

wow.... very cool video and very inspiring!!!

[@veledwin1]

That was surprisingly inspiring :')

[@wilburtmoreno469]

this is so inspiring ^>^ and i saw the first league of legends for the first time

[@TheConductorOfLife]

You could have just thrown that piece of pacer into the trash after eating but.. well here we have Teemo xD And i thought the game looked "raw" as an alpha-player but that´s some real early footage you got there :)

[@Maztaimm]

"it was just a broken mess".... Well it's good to see somethings never change.

[@753357851]

I'm seriously so happy for that Paul guy

[@helenwxw]

It is and was my dream to be a part of community like this one day