Why Smite Character Design Needs a Rehaul

Can of worms, nest of vipers, etc etc. Whatever.

I think Smite's character design sucks.

1: Character designs lack variety

---

We have two main "types" of design: Generic muscle dude, and Boob lady.

The former aren't so bad, since there are multiple different designs. This is mostly about warriors, really, but most of HiRez' male characters are the same bulky body type with a broad chest of 25-40-ish age ( Thor, Zeus, Tyr, Ares, etc etc). Again, this one is less of a problem, since we clearly have variety: Apollo is lean and lanky, Vamana is baby smash, Loki looks starved, and so on.

The main problem I have with this is that while we are talking about gods, people have different builds even if you are in the prime of physical health. Give less bulky characters, give more interesting designs, even if they are like Ne Zha. (On second though, give less like Ne Zha.) I was pretty annoyed with He Bo's remodel; old homeless surfer dude was awesome.

The second is something so annoying I've made a post on it before. Almost every single female character looks like something from those "XXX MMO Boys Only: Don't tell your GF about this game!" advertisements.

Smite has no shortage of scantily clad nearly nude women. In fact, it seems to be the default go-to mode for their art department when it comes to the depiction of female characters*.

There is a time and a place for that. There's nothing wrong with sexy women. Unfortunately, having that as the default option all the time leads for little diversity in character design and leads to less interesting choices.

Personally, I'd like other options for the goddesses of Smite than "Anime boob blowup doll."

2: The Smurfette Principle

---

This section is for those who will inevitably say, "all gods are super fit people, of course they're going to look like supermodels."

The gods in Smite have variety in character design. The goddess have much less.

I'm sure if 90% of our women in the world dressed like Hel or Eset, the world would be a more interesting place. But we don't live in a world like that.

I think Smite could handle a little more accurate representation out the fairer sex. We don't need more generic busty women. Why not short and stout? Rail thin and tall? A non-DD cup size? Variety is the spice of life.

Thankfully, Nemesis seems to avert this trend, from what I can see.

3: The Lore Arguement...

---

...holds no water, since Smite had ignored, changed, or twisted so many parts of the actual lore, that they're just guidelines for character design. Nothing more, nothing less. So don't say, "this character is nude in traditional artwork" when Poseidon kills people with a Norse sea beast. (Get it? Poseidon, Holds no water?)

4: Why Should You Care?

---

Hmm.

I care because I want to see more equality in daily life. For many people, this "daily life" includes video games. For me and many others, this includes Smite.

Very much agree on two points:

1. The female characters need decent outfits more true to mythology and not look like XXX
pimps.


2. The god lore misses to state the connection between various gods in mythology. Like the
relationship between ares and posiedon etc. Lore could be more detailed including various
myths and legends.

There is only one answer to your "Female" problem: Advertisement. 65% of the worlds gamer population is boys in puberty. And only 35% are men who see more through than the boobs on their screen and women.

This is how a growing gaming company works. Either put flashy robots and guns, or boobs. This is why they have Aphro in their website backgroud. Right you see some of those mmo ads that always shows the girl character rather than the male? It's obviously they want the attention. Their not that big enoughto be able to keep from being in the dark space of the internet. Once Smite gets more popular they might lay off the cleavage for a while. For now. Just put up with your Hipster critism and enjoy the boobs? lol

I know. Once upon a time. in the late 2k and below. Games were all about guns and aliens. No boobs. But right now. We live in the 20st century and above. With internet. Internet with a LOT of porn. :/

If only we could go back in time.

21st century and i agree with you that might be annoying but it is for the glory of the game meaning that they may change it when smite is a bit more popular.

I agree, but a few sexy big boobed girls isn't bad. Especially one like Aphro where it actually makes sense. They just don't need them to ALL look like that.

The thing is, they already have a good assortment of sexy ladies to use for advertisements. If they make a new one I feel like they could do a different body type... Although, you are right that it's a less "safe" option for generating interest in the new goddess. As long as the define fits the character, I'm fine. The only goddess made so far that I think would have a good reason to be a different body type is Hel, but even then is unnecessary. I just hope if one comes along that would make a lot more sense with a different body type they will do it.

I would honestly like to see more variety in faces in goddesses. Like, actually taking face structure / skin tone etc of the region they are supposedly from into account. They all pretty much look Caucasian. The males are pretty bad too, but I feel like they have a little more variety. They actually have older male characters as well, and while I wish a game would finally let me be some middle aged woman that could beat the **** out of the youngsters I know that's going to be one of the last things that will happen. (Need more Lin Bei Fong's please)

I think the more the community makes an outcry for it, the more likely it is to happen. I mean, Hi Rez listened when there was an outcry about Athena's art. I've seen other games have similar responses to player outcry concerning art / design.

That being said, I don't think Hi Rez's character designs are terrible or anything like that. They still have a good variety in overall shapes for characters, which is the most important for this type of game. The characters are easily distinguishable from a distance and the designs fit the character (for the most part). I think a big focus of a god's character design should be to make you feel epic, and they do a good job with that.

Games:

Everyone's fit.
Everyone's white.
Boobs.

Just for the record, the Kraken is a main part in the Nordic area's mythology, but it's not solely norse, and Poseidon has ties to it.
http://greekmythology.wikia.com/wiki/The_Kraken
It's also been called 'The Beast', 'The Leviathan' (in some cultures), and more.

Anyway, I agree with some points, however. Females have little variability. I think the males aren't as diverse as you think - I see pretty much frail/weak (ne zha, loki), the classic strong (thor), and fat (pretty much just Bacchus and Zhong Kui.) But that's still more than females have. Still waiting for a completely non-humanoid type female, however. Bastet is still, more or less, human in appearance, while Sobek is completely reptilian. Arachne is decent, but still...hmm.

There are some games that don't do the whole puberty route. Want to know one? League of Legends.

I know, League has plenty of fanservice, but that's not all they have. Caitlyn is definitely not the same model as Fiora, who looks completely different from Leona, etc etc.

I agree with most of what you said. Aphro already fits 90% of all hormone-fueled ads, so it doesn't really make sense to keep churning out the same wireframe.

And I really don't think posting on Reddit is a good idea. Five minutes, -20 u suk noob QQ hipster trash.

Also, your last comment is kind of hilarious. I always thought that Thor's blond card art was made to make him resemble the movie Thor.