I started formulating the idea to make a project back in the summer when Unity graciously released most of the art assets that they used in their Unity 5 promotional video also entitled "The Blacksmith."  They were easily some of the highest quality free assets on the Asset Store, and I knew that there would be a ton of awesome material to work with.

Character

After watching the video it seemed like the "Challenger" was the hero who was slain trying to defeat Volund, an embodiment of evil.  I wasn't particularly sure what all the rings meant or why he seemed to absorb the life from the dying man, so I needed to do some research.  Unity said the video was based on Norse Mythology.  After a bit of looking around I found some pretty good resources that talked all about Volund/Wayland the Smith that shed some light unto his story.  I designed the champion primarily around these stories.  

Abilities & Attacks

Initially I needed to find some animations that would fit well with his model.  I didn't want to have to pay for this project and fortunately Mixamo (the guys who worked with Unity to develop their Mecanim system) had two amazing free packages, one that was a "Melee Axe Pack" the other being a "Magic Pack."  Volund physically seemed like a fighter that would get right into the middle of things, so I started with the melee animations.

In the stories of Volund and Wayland, he is hamstrung rendering him crippled.  I started by searching through the animations for attacks that seemed hulky and slow, ones that were easily avoidable, but would hurt like hell if they landed.  I knew I needed several animations for auto-attacks and then more still for his abilities.  In fact the abilities were largely based around the animations that I thought best fit his character and lore.

As far is his weapon, I originally intended for him to use a broadsword or an axe.  However, I had a hard time normalizing the rotation of those weapons when they were parented to his hand.  On some animations (like the idle) they would look great, but on others the slices would be with the flat side of the sword, or the axe would be horribly unaligned.  I figured I needed a weapon that would look to be in the same position regardless of the animation, and settled on a giant mace (nice and symmetrical) which ended up fitting very well with his slow, hard-hitting attacks.

Ult/Passive

The ult was probably one of the more difficult things to come up with.  It felt to me that an ultimate ability should be just as the name implies.  I understand that for balancing and game-play purposes you want an ability that is accessible and on-par with other champions.  However, I wanted to design a move that both made sense in the context of the character's story as well as felt really powerful and influential to the outcome of the game.  I really liked what Riot did on the Gangplank rework, allowing players to upgrade his ult with a separate currency.  I started formulating the idea of having an ult cost a separate currency instead of mana, which is where the idea for the passive came from.  Volund infuses his many rings with the power of his slain enemies (an idea that I got from Unity's video).

I wanted to create a trade-off system.  As players collects these rings, they grow in power.  In this case it's increased life steal and spell vamp to allow him to safely sustain and, when in melee range, feel as "unkillable" as he does in Unity's video.  However, they forfeit these bonuses whenever they decide to use their ult, especially if they decide to use it at a longer range.  I want players to have to think critically before they use this ability and almost encourage by design that it be saved for important skirmishes or objective control instead of solo kills.

Role

Volund would be a proficient top-laner in certain matchups.  I think he would struggle against ranged tops as well as high mobility champions, but with correct jungle help could set up some powerful ganks.  Additionally, I think he would be a strong jungler in that he gains nice ring bonuses from large monsters as well as having a good gank skill set at level 3.

The most fluid combo on Volund is to trap multiple enemies with the ult (R), W into the ring for the sustained CC, kick and slow them with E, and then rip them apart with Q as they try to run away.

Structure, Story, and Level

The Burning Tides event, an awesome story based around Gangplank's champion rework, showed me the effectiveness that a compelling story has on a champion and character.  I think that any champion (hero or villain) that has a vibrant depth to them, further than a short blurb about their origins, truly makes them more engaging and entertaining to play.  As a player, you have a greater understanding of why their abilities, their mannerisms, their vocal expressions, and even their movement are the way that they are.  This leads to both a finer appreciation for the champion and an overall more enjoyable experience.

I structured this demo as an interactive lore piece.  Ideally, this short bit would be available before Volund's release to allow players to learn his abilities and nuances, while simultaneously getting a glimpse into a different part of the lore universe.  This is part one of what I would consider a three part episodic approach to his introduction, culminating in a change and advancement to his character and story.

I wanted the level to tell a fairly linear story but still allow for certain exploration.  I thought it would be beneficial to give a combat related context to each of his abilities, which were referenced in small tooltip popups.  Additionally, I added an item pick-up to show the effect different stats had on his combat prowess.  The level was structured around the usages of his abilities, culminating in the "boss" event which was used to demonstrate the application of his ult-mechanic as well as reveal some serious plot lines. 

I tried to use as much of a variety of the buildings as possible as well as create unique parts of the town.  I wanted different parts to tell their own mini stories, such as finding the "Headsman's Halberd" atop of a stump with a bucket in front of the main courtyard, or the shipwreck under the bridge that was repaired with wood planks.  I made it dark and raining because I felt the ambiance was appropriate for both a betrayal and the rising of undead soldiers. Additionally, by increasing the smoothness of materials that were exposed to the rain, I created a shiny effect that really carried the illusion of being wet (such as the cobblestones or wood planks). 

The story and lore is a mixture of the Norse tale of creation, Volund the smith, Unity's video, and my own ideas.  All of the names and several of the events are pulled straight from Norse mythology.  The sons of Bor were indeed Odin and his two brothers.  Yggdrasill is the World Tree that connects all 9 of the Norse worlds including Midgard (the realm of man) and Helheim (the realm of the dead).  Grior is the goddess of greed, hence why her great-grandson came to steal Volund's fortune (his rings).  In the actual story of Volund, his wife never returns, but I saw a cool opportunity to reintroduce her character as well as open up the possibility of her being a future playable character (perhaps seeing what she saw that corrupted her, or if she was corrupted the whole time).  Her reveal/betrayal at the end of the level offered an opportunity for Volund's closure in that he "killed" her with the very ring (albeit a twisted version) that once marked their love.