Last time, we had a thorough discussion about Chernobog and why, from a design standpoint, he is a bit of a mess. This time, I’d like to put that article into a wider context and talk about god design in Smite as a whole: the good and bad as well as the old and new. Smite is by no means an old game, but in the six or so years it’s been around, its design philosophy has made a tremendous shift, not even mentioning the recent change to production speed. Altogether, it’s important to note the hints of change over time, especially when it means we could be seeing more gods designed like Baron Samedi rather than Loki, Kuzenbo, or Ah Puch.

When Smite was first released to the public in 2012-2013, there were about 18 or so playable gods to choose from. Among these gods, none have kept their original designs totally intact over their six year lifespan. In fact, for most of these characters, we’ve seen both their visual and gameplay design shift drastically. For instance, let’s consider Arachne and Zeus. Both of these gods have seen visual makeovers with evidence of their original models found in their Toxic Caress and Stormbringer skins respectively. For the most part, these changes have been good; they’ve been updated to better fit the game’s visual style, to be more expressive and detailed, and to be more visually interesting.

Also, these two old gods have seen changes to their kit which drastically altered their style of play. Arachne, for example, is fondly remembered for her low cooldown ultimate that was much like Sylvanus’ third ability, Nature’s Grasp. In patch 3.7, The Weaver was changed into her current state that made her much more auto attack focused. Zeus saw some changes as well, though his were less drastic. At one point, instead of Zeus’ second ability, Aegis Assault, he had a whole other ability that was a self buff that gave him movement speed, slow immunity, and additional protections. Let’s also not forget that his third ability, Detonate Charge, used to stun. By giving these gods remodels and rekits, they remove mechanics that either didn’t fit well with the god’s playstyle or didn’t have enough counterplay. By opening the door to counterplay, the game becomes more fair to both sides and also raises the skill ceiling, which makes everyone happy.

While I do stress on this visual aspect, you’d be surprised how much having good visual design matters in a game. For instance, take a look at 2012 Smite as compared to 2018 Smite. Everything from the gameplay to the UI is much crisper, including the general atmosphere. 2012 Smite seems more like a mashup of an MMO and a MOBA, being that the visual style was more focused on being atmospheric and unique, while nowadays the design is centered on beauty within standardization. Keeping the game in a standard design is good because it means that information is more readily understood by the player. A strong example of this within the game is showing symbols for when a god is affected by a certain kind of crowd control. Even if a player has never played against a Thanatos, for instance, when he uses his third ability, Soul Reap, that small text bubble symbol that appears overtop of the player’s god lets them know they’re silenced without even having to know the specifics of Thanatos’ abilities.

I have strayed some from talking specifically on god design, but it is so important to understand that what makes a god’s design good is heavily influenced by the environment the design is placed into. Considering this central aspect, what makes a god’s design good? The answer isn’t simple, but it’s best to break it down into pillars: visuals, gameplay elements, and synergy.

Firstly, I’ve already talked a bit on why visuals are so key to good design. Communication between the game and player is the reason why people continue to play a game. If the game communicates one thing but another occurs, that creates frustration for the player and thus makes them less likely to continue playing. Making sure that a god’s effects and animations clearly portray what they’re doing is one of the biggest factors as to whether or not a god feels good. This includes hitboxes being accurate to their visual representations, auto attacks being synced to their animations, as well as things as minute as the volume of certain effects being at just the right level.

Gameplay elements are on more of a technical level than visuals. Yes, a god has to look good to feel good, but these mechanical elements will determine how the god adapts to the particular meta of the moment. For instance, a god has to fit into one of five different classes that each have their own characteristics. It has happened before where a god of one class acts like another, take Ao Kuang or Ravana for example, but for the most part, their kits make it clear where they belong. Does a god have good enough clear to jungle? Does a god have the right crowd control to engage or peel? Does a god do enough damage to burn down towers and objectives in the late game?

Even beyond these questions, a god will fall into place among their fellow classmates in terms of their potential. When we take a look at god releases, there have been a number of them on both sides of the viability spectrum. Looking back, gods like Bellona, Medusa, Sol, and Achilles were released and thought to be incredibly overpowered. Other gods like Ravana, Cabrakan, Kuzenbo, and Da Ji had bad or awkward releases. Whether or not a god ends up on either extreme of this spectrum is heavily dependent on their design since there has been very little data collected on their performances pre-release.

Let’s take Achilles’ release as an example. As previously mentioned, Achilles’ release was definitely leaning toward the overpowered end of the viability spectrum to the point where he was in nearly every game because he was just that good. Turns out having great chase, solid self-setup, healing, and an execute was a recipe for success. But can we really call Achilles’ design bad because he was overpowered? Surely not.

That’s where the third aspect of good god design comes in: synergy. When considering Achilles’ kit, he probably has one of the most synergistic kits on the market. Each ability goes hand-in-hand with another, no matter the order, which makes his kit function really well as a unit. Whether you dash, stun, execute, or pop your steroid first, you’ve got a huge number of options to dissect your enemy depending on the situation.

So then what went wrong? Why was his release so unbalanced when he clearly has good synergy? In short, he was missing that balance of good gameplay elements. Giving such high mobility, healing, and an execute to a warrior didn’t sit well in the meta. HiRez took the next several patches to refine those mechanics to the point where Achilles is actually pretty balanced now. It only took several nerfs to his damage, crowd control, healing, and mobility - but hey, better late than never.

If we look at Achilles now and go through the three pillars of god design, how would he check out? First; are his visuals communicating everything they need to? I would say that’s a definite yes. All of his abilities are clearly animated and his design is visually appealing. Second; are his gameplay and mechanics standard for a warrior? More or less. Achilles fills the niche of lane bully well. He’s got all the standard bells and whistles, but is his own character in that he’s the only warrior with an execute and transitions somewhat better into the late game than other warriors of a similar playstyle. He also has been toned down a bit to the point where he doesn’t have both the tankiness of a warrior and the damage of an assassin, not to mention he recently got robbed of a good chunk of his mobility from his passive. Finally; is his kit synergistic? Yes, absolutely. Because Achilles’s kit is so flexible, it can be used in a number of different ways to work around whatever situation he’s put into.

Developing a god to have strong visuals, interesting yet standardized mechanics, and a synergistic kit is definitely the way to go, though that’s easier said than done. A number of gods do struggle to find that perfect balance that makes a god well-designed, especially when their mechanics are unique. Consider Loki, one of the most hated gods in Smite. Why is Loki so universally despised? Because invisibility is so hard to counter. Why is Kuzenbo not engaging to play? Because reflect depends entirely on your enemies damaging you rather than you doing anything proactive.

Designing a god is an incredibly difficult process that presents a number of problems based on huge numbers of minutia within the game. With almost 100 gods on the battleground, coming up with something that feels unique and fresh while being able to keep visuals and mechanics to a passable standard is not a simple task. Next week, we’ll be discussing the newest god to join Smite’s roster, Baron Samedi, and how HiRez knocked his design out of the park.

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