RuneForge: Beginning Our Journey Together

Opening Our Dialogue

In the world of League of Legends, communication and transparency have always been crucial to building trust between developers and their community. Today marks the beginning of RuneForge's commitment to this principle, as we launch our first of many articles sharing our journey, vision, and plans for the future.

For those new to RuneForge, we are a platform dedicated to League of Legends custom skins. But we're more than just another hosting site - we represent the culmination of over a decade of community history, technical innovation, and lessons learned. Through these articles, we aim to give you insight into not just what we're building, but why and how we're building it.

The Early Days

I discovered custom skins around 2014, back when Leaguecraft was the main platform and MapSkins was just starting to grow. Like many others, I started as just a user, downloading skins that caught my eye. It wasn't until Rek'Sai's release in preseason 5 that I decided to try creating my own skin - Asiimov Rek'Sai.

While streaming my first attempts at texturing, Crauzer joined my chat. What started as him helping with technical aspects quickly turned into a friendship. We formed The Natoken Project, bringing together people passionate about pushing what custom skins could do. Crauzer handled models and technical development, inspired by Wooxy's creator Chewy to start developing his own tools - tools that would later help keep the community alive.

Growth and Innovation

By early 2016, custom skins were growing fast. I became a co-owner of MapSkins, and Crauzer and I moved the community to Discord - creating the first open Discord server for League custom skins. Instead of keeping it exclusive to creators, we made it a place where anyone interested could join and learn.

Around this time, Martynas entered the scene after discovering custom skins through YouTube videos of Existor's and Crauzer's Frozen Rift. He quickly progressed from simple recolors to joining Team Royal Flush. Our teams, Natoken and Royal Flush, developed a friendly rivalry that drove innovation and community growth. These team rivalries weren't just about competition - they brought people together, pushed creative boundaries, and helped everyone improve. It's something we hope to see again in RuneForge's future, as new creators form their own groups and push each other to greater heights.

The Great Challenge

When Riot announced their new Wadv2 implementation, it wasn't just another technical hurdle - it was potentially the end of custom skins. Despite our community petition and direct communications with Riot, we couldn't prevent the inevitable. Unlike previous challenges, this one struck at the very core of how custom skins worked.

The implementation of Wadv2 did exactly what we feared. Custom skins died completely for nearly a year. The community scattered, creators stopped producing content, and years of work became incompatible overnight. I stepped away during this time, focusing on other projects while our once-thriving community fell silent.

A Pattern of Instability

But this pattern of community fragmentation wasn't new. Before MapSkins, we'd seen multiple platforms rise and fall. Each time, different issues - unstable leadership, weak technical foundations, or lack of consistent management - would lead to sudden shutdowns or abandonments. MapSkins itself, despite its success, eventually succumbed to similar issues in early 2018.

During this dark period, Crauzer refused to let custom skins die. Working with a dedicated team, he developed Fantome - a new format and installer that would ultimately revive custom skin creation. This wasn't just a technical solution; it was a lifeline for the entire community.

Meanwhile, Martynas, along with others from the MapSkins community like Yoru, Atrix, and Damonix, worked to keep the community together through VoxSkins. As an admin across multiple platforms that followed, he provided the stability and continuity the community desperately needed.

History Repeating

But the cycle continued. VoxSkins, KillerSkins, and other platforms each faced their own challenges. Some collapsed due to internal conflicts, others due to technical limitations or management issues. Each transition scattered the community further, forcing creators and users to constantly rebuild their homes.

The Turning Point

October 2022 marked an unexpected reunion. Without any prior communication, both Crauzer and I returned to the custom skins community. At KillerSkins, where Martynas served as an admin, we saw the familiar signs of history repeating itself - technical limitations, management issues, and a lack of long-term vision.

Initially, we tried to help. We approached KillerSkins' management with solutions, offering our combined expertise to address these issues. Our goal wasn't to create another platform - we genuinely wanted to help stabilize the existing one. But when our suggestions weren't heard, we recognized the pattern. We knew, based on everything we'd seen before, that KillerSkins would eventually shut down due to these unaddressed problems.

This prediction, which ultimately proved correct, became the catalyst for RuneForge. We refused to wait for another platform collapse before taking action. This time, we'd build something before the community needed to scatter again.

Breaking the Cycle

Our separate journeys had given us unique perspectives: my experience in community management and growth, Crauzer's technical expertise and tool development, and Martynas' continuous presence maintaining community stability through multiple platform transitions. We understood not just what was wrong, but how to fix it.

RuneForge wasn't born from a desire to create just another platform. It emerged from our shared understanding of why previous platforms failed and what the community truly needs. We've spent two years building our foundation, ensuring we won't repeat the mistakes of the past.

The Road Ahead

Recently, Marc Merrill spoke about League of Legends' 15-year journey and his hopes for its future. His words resonated with us because we share a similar vision for custom skins. This community deserves more than temporary solutions and uncertain futures.

That's why we're starting these articles - to share our progress, our plans, and our commitment to transparency. RuneForge isn't just about hosting custom skins; it's about creating a stable home where creativity can flourish, where creators can build their legacies, and where new users can discover the amazing possibilities of custom skins.

We've seen this community evolve from simple recolors to incredible artistic achievements, from closed creator groups to open collaboration. We've weathered technical challenges that should have ended custom skins entirely. Through it all, this community's passion has endured.

The pattern of instability ends with RuneForge. We aren't building another temporary platform - we're creating the foundation for custom skins' future.

We aren't leaving. We have just begun.