Steve 'Guinsoo' Feak: League of Legends Pioneer and DotA Allstars Developer
Steve 'Guinsoo' Feak is a renowned game designer who significantly impacted the MOBA genre. He was a key developer of Defense of the Ancients: Allstars (DotA: Allstars), a popular Warcraft 3 mod played by over 10 million people worldwide.
Born in Wisconsin, Feak later joined Riot Games as a game designer. His gaming passions include World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike, Diablo 2, DotA, and classic RPGs.
During his time developing DotA: Allstars, Feak introduced several innovative features:
- A recipe system for items that scaled with player power
- Roshan, a powerful boss character requiring team coordination
He led development until version 6.01, when he passed the project to IceFrog.
At Riot Games, Feak contributed to the design of numerous League of Legends champions, including:
- Cho'Gath
- Karthus
- Shaco
- Shen
- Multiple collaborative champion designs with the development team
Notable References:
- Guinsoo's Rageblade, an item he created while designing Corki
- Shen's occasional "Guinsoo!" chant during Stand United
- The item "Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse" in DotA: Allstars (later renamed in Dota 2)
His design philosophy emphasizes character creation and innovative gameplay mechanics, demonstrated by his ability to visualize and implement complex champion concepts.
