LermyWermy: Smite Game Development, Balancing, Character & Ability Design | Dashboarrd Podcast #5

Lexie "LermyWermy" Lerman is a Smite Game Developer who focuses on combat and character design. She plays a very pivotal role in balancing, item & character creation, map changes, and more. She's designed some of your favorite characters such as Ishtar, Nut, Charon, Martichoras, and Yu Huang. Lermy also dabbles in Smite content pieces and voice pack writing, while also working on the Smite 2 development team. In this episode we talk about all of that including the famous 9.5 update patch that got reverted in patch 11.6 (Season 11 mid-season update). If you're interested at all in the development process of how "updates" are thought out, character abilities & items are designed, and how balancing & characters themselves are designed in Smite, then this episode is for you.

If you enjoyed this episode, consider checking out my other episodes here:    • Dashboard Podcast  


Lermy's Socials:
Stream:   / lermywermy  
Twitter / X:   / lermywermy  
YouTube: ‪@LermyWermy‬


Dashboarrd's Socials:
Stream:   / dashboarrd  
Twitter / X:   / dashboarrd  
YouTube: ‪@Dashboarrd‬


Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
0:49 - Smite Character Designs & Contributions
2:03 - Smite Character Creation Process
11:06 - Tiamat & Character Kit Designs
12:49 - Working On Multiple Characters At Once
14:48 - From thought to Finish
17:11 - Project Management
19:16 - Hardest Stage of Character Development
21:27 - Developing as a Team
23:23 - Ability Design
31:27 - OP (Overpowered) Character Releases & Accumulating Data
36:28 - Determining a Characters Class
38:37 - Breaking Charon & Other Roles
41:44 - The Mage Class
45:18 - How to design an item (Item Design Process)
48:23 - Why We Add New Items & Department Resources
51:03 - Stacking Items (Equinox, Stormseeker) & Curseweaver / Duality
53:24 - Item Expectations
54:50 - Performance Metrics for Balancing & Appeasing Players
1:02:42 - Winrates
1:04:48 - Balancing Between High & Low Elo (MMR)
1:08:26 - Making Changes & Maximizing Happiness
1:10:46 - Balancing Between Game Modes
1:14:26 - Balancing Hunters (ADCs) & Role Balancing
1:18:20 - Reverting The 9.5 Patch & Community Criticism
1:25:00 - Patch 9.5 Community Perception vs Data
1:26:33 - Patch 11.6 Mid Season Update
1:27:44 - Season 11 Quality Of Life Changes
1:37:03 - Developing Smite in UE5 vs UE3 (Unreal Engine)
1:38:56 - UE3 Limitations vs UE5 Efficiency
1:41:16 - Smite 2 Potential Patch Frequency
1:43:58 - Adding to Smite 2
1:46:34 - Voice Pack Writing
1:50:00 - Voiceline Inspiration
1:53:34 - Esports Content Pitches & Brainstorming
1:57:39 - Inspiration For Game Development & Art
2:00:17 - First Job At Hi-Rez & Becoming a Game Dev.
2:04:18 - Advice for Aspiring Game Developers & Passion
2:08:32 - Outro



#smite #podcast #gamingpodcast