I recently witnessed the official announcement of Smite 2 at the World Smite Championships in Arlington. Here I noticed that from a gameplay perspective, Smite and Smite 2 seem very similar. After seeing Smite gameplay on the big screen at an eSports event and giving Smite 2 a quick spin, I actually struggled to pinpoint any major gameplay differences. Graphics updates aside, the changes in Smite 2 are harder to spot for those less familiar with the game. That’s why, among other things, I asked developers Travis Brown, Alex Cantatore, and Daniel Cooper at Titan Forge Games to detail how Smite 2 will be different.
“Obviously, the Unreal Engine 5 graphics are probably the biggest and coolest thing,”Executive producer Alex Cantatore admits it.“However, beyond the graphical improvements and the lighting, the backend is much more capable from a technical perspective for us. We can do more with the animation, we can do more with the creative capabilities. And then in terms of gameplay, we’re looking at changing how some core stats work, so strength, wisdom, and all the god-built items are a big starting point for what characters can and can’t do.
During a two-hour preview of Smite 2 at the venue, I got to play an encounter with the Norse god Ymir, which Cantatore says is actually a feature of the game’s mods: “In the SMITE 1 story, Ymir was able to increase stamina and critical damage, and that’s something we’re reopening. This should be a big change for Smite veterans.“This opening is a really big thing, and we’re going to allow active items. Now in SMITE 1, all items are purely passive, so you have to know the triggers to activate them. In Smite 2, these are basically six extra keylines that you can customize the your character in different ways, or you can go the standard Smite 1 route and opt for those passive items.
Design director Daniel Cooper has added a new action button to the list of highlights.“One of the big changes is that there is now a button that allows you to interact with objects on the map. This opens up many new gameplay opportunities. For example, there is a door at the back of the Fire Giant’s Pit, and if you spend 10% of your life doing this, you can now press the interact button to open it. It’s a fun new tactical way to get into combat that might surprise the team trying to kill the fire giant.
As for the new engine, general manager and creative director Travis Brown explained that it also allows for some major stability improvements.“Architecture isn’t the sexiest topic, but the game is much more stable on the back end,”Players might notice this immediately. Another improvement will be made to the matching mechanism: “Our current matchmaking system has a lot of problems engaging players in the game.”, explains Brown. Players are automatically assumed to be of average skill, meaning you will be matched against more experienced average players, which often results in new players losing most of their first games. The new matchmaking mechanic allows players to start at level zero, while also tracking whether people initially feel more comfortable with certain characters. According to Brown, Punishment 2 The role you hold and the different skills you have in different roles will be taken into consideration. So it doesn’t put you in a game where you have no chance of winning.
Here is an announcement:
However, not everything is about the new engine. There are also more than 100 new deities coming to Smite 2. When I asked the developers where they drew inspiration for the upcoming deities, they responded that they already had a large backlog of potential deities. “We developed “God“Havoc 1” has been around so long that we have our own internal list of gods.”Cantatore told me.“It has to have a hundred characters and people are really passionate about it internally.They also look to the community for inspiration from time to time. When considering adding new characters, developers look for something new that will make them stand out from the existing gods.“What would help fill out our roster, what are we currently missing? One of the reasons we chose Hecate as the first brand new god in Smite 2 is because we thought, man, this is a disguise. The character looks really cool.” in the flowing robe,”– added Cooper. The new engine makes it possible to add new deities in ways that weren’t possible before, which is why Titan Forge won’t be bringing all of Smite’s skins to the new game.
When I asked about any new pantheons that might be added to Smite 2, they responded:They are “looking to add new cultures, but have nothing to announce at this time.” Anyway, Cantatore said“We have a list of potential options.”The main criteria for adding a new pantheon is actually the ability to add at least two new gods. They would rather not contribute to the culture of having only one god. Cantatore added, “Cthulhu isThe one big old character from SMITE 1, some people have been bugging us to go back and make more, but we actually think Cthulhu is the most important and we’ll get another one eventually.
One of the hardest things in development right now for Titan Forge is optimizing and capturing the right feel compared to Smite. Developer comments on rebuilding the game in Unreal Engine 5“It’s like being killed by a thousand cuts. Sometimes the game just doesn’t feel right and you can’t figure it out because there are 20 really little things and you have to dig into them and figure out what they are. They also shared some anecdotes about their recent work: “Just before we flew here, we realized that the way we handle critical hit chance calculations in Smite 2 is different from SMITE 1. So now our conversation is, oh, what makes us feel better? way, okay? Should we go back to Smite 1? So we have a lot of little things to consider.
The balance between taking a new path or sticking with what Smite players are familiar with translates to other aspects of the game as well, including Smite 2’s new soundtrack. Cooper shared some insights into their development of new music: “We had long conversations on Slack and went back and forth on the topic of Smite 2 and trying to be. I wanted to feel that nostalgia when I heard the news, but hear something new.Brown speaks againthe time of music said the existing artists“Basically humming the theme in your sleep, right? We want the music in Smite 2 to be something that SMITE players feel familiar when they listen to it, but then break into something new.” That’s what we’re musically sure of right now.The three developers then joked among themselves that new music would be included“It’s more orchestral. Specifically, it’s more like a cello. There’s just more cello. Finally, they laughed and said they often gave the audio team a hard time with feedback because Brown remembered to tell them“I hear the ‘ding-ding’ sound, but can you make more ‘whoosh’ in there?”
In a previous meeting with the developers, they said Smite 2 for “Hit, but better.”My findings from interviews with developers support this in several ways. Overall, it’s clear that Titan Forge is doing its best to capture the success of Smite and update it with some major improvements to Smite 2, including stability improvements, new gods with a new engine, and an updated but familiar soundtrack. An early alpha version of the game will be available for early access this spring.
Here is an announcement:
2024-01-25 10:00:00
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