Behind the Scenes of SMITE 2: How GETS Enhances Live-Service Analytics

How Developers Use Generalized Event Tracking (GETS)

In the realm of live-service games, harnessing the power of game data plays an important role in the development cycle. Understanding player behavior, optimizing game performance, promptly identifying bugs, and maintaining a balanced game state can mean the difference between game success and failure. As a developer and data analyst on a live-service title, this is where the Generalized Event Tracking System (GETS) has been a game changer.

Out-of-the-box Events

As a developer for a live-service title, the suite of out-of-the-box events provided by GETS have proven to be invaluable. These immediately accessible data points, which include user logins, instance data, and match data, has allowed us to start building our reporting pipelines from the moment our systems went live.

These out-of-the-box events have become particularly useful when coupled with other services provided by RallyHere. A noteworthy example is the role they have played in reporting on our matchmaking process. RallyHere GETS provides comprehensive insights into every step of the pipeline, from the moment a player presses play, to the onset of a match - right out of the box. This has not only enabled us to promptly improve matchmaking settings, but also revealed invaluable information about player behavior, such as how long players are willing to wait in queue for a match.

Equipped with these events provided through GETS, we have been able to take quick and decisive action to improve our matchmaking systems, and we’ve been able to produce reliable reporting to ensure we can keep a close eye on the state of these systems.

Custom Game Events

The flexibility of GETS allows us to integrate custom events that are specific to our game into its existing system. These custom-defined datapoints enable us to not rely on out-of-the-box events, which is important because every live-service title has unique data needs. GETS provides the framework to implement custom game event tracking that allows us to track features that are specific to our live-service titles, driving us beyond the scope of standard analytics.

As an example, our team utilized this feature to track player selection of characters and items on a per match basis, and generate reports on their subsequent impact. This detailed tracking gives us insight into character and item performance, which allows us to identify any potential balance issues before they become problematic. GETS played a pivotal role in quickly deploying this part of our analytics pipeline, as it facilitated the implementation of custom data such as a players character choice, and the order in which they built items during a match.

Getting this data in a frequent and reliable manner has been incredibly important for our team, as the insights that these balance reports bring has become a key part of our update development schedule.

Player Experience Events

Another area where GETS shines is in handling Player Experience (PEX) data. It provides a robust framework that allows us to seamlessly track and analyze client and host data for each match. This includes a myriad of metrics such as frame rate, memory usage, packet loss, ping, and many others.

What this granular tracking brings to the table is the prompt identification of issues. This can be anything from server problems to specific game states that lead to degraded performance, such as a particular character causing frame rate issues in match. The ability to track down specific problems quickly through this robust system has allowed us to increase our ability to respond to potential issues in a timely manner, which is a powerful tool for player sentiment.

As part of the SMITE 2 development team, we’ve seen firsthand how impactful the Generalized Event Tracking System (GETS) can be for live-service games. By utilizing its out-of-the-box events, harnessing custom game event tracking, and implementing robust player experience data, GETS has empowered us to make data-driven decisions that directly impact our ability to deliver a polished and engaging experience for players. Whether it’s fine-tuning matchmaking, identifying balance issues, or resolving performance bottlenecks, GETS provides the actionable insights we need to keep SMITE 2 at the top of its game. With this level of flexibility and precision, GETS has become a cornerstone of our development process, ensuring that we can meet the high standards our players expect and deserve.

Want to learn how RallyHere can help improve your game analytics? Reach us at contact@rallyhere.gg