Interview with TydeTyme

Hello everybody and welcome to this interview of TydeTyme for the SMITE Magazine! So sit back, relax like Moonlight Love Chang’e’s bunny, and let’s get to it because that’s a thing!

Q: First of all, I’m sure the readers would be very interested to know. How did the name ‘TydeTyme’ come about?

A: My name is inspired by a few different events. First, when I was about 13 years old, I was playing a game called Little Fighters 2. In this game, there was a character that would shout “Tide” upon casting a specific beam-like ability. I am not sure why but I loved that ability and the way it was shouted so I simply took a massive liking to it. It could have also been the fact that Water is my favorite element. When playing various online video games at the time, I wanted to make a name that no one else had so I can have the same name over many games. Taking the word Tide and putting my name Ty into it you get Tyde.

There were only so many games that I could get that name in since Tyde was apparently a popular name. So I had to find another addition to the name to make it my own. The second piece of the name was inspired by a character from the Castlevania: Judgement series named Aeon. He was a character based on the essence of time and had a catchy little phrase he’d spew out after defeating an opponent, “It’s time to go now.” Just like the previous part of my name the way this character had said it just clicked with me and suddenly I’m slapping it to my name by replacing the I with a Y. Put the name together and you get TydeTyme. The phrase I had originally come up with that inspired the name is “It’s Tyde’s Tyme.” Looking at it now it is silly but the name is unique to me and shares heavy significance in my life.

Q: Many of us have been introduced to SMITE in various ways. How did you come across this game and what was your first experience like?

A: I was playing League of Legends casually about a year ago. I had played it over a span of almost 4 years and have been experienced with MOBA games ever since the first DOTA in Warcraft III. There were several mentions of SMITE during my time with League of Legends but I remained faithful to the game since I had plugged a lot of money into it for those nifty skins. After all my friends left the game, it got a bit dull as I didn’t want to enter the competitive scene with the massive amount of toxic players I would encounter. So eventually, I just left the game in search of another online game to play on my free time. Specifically, I was searching for an MMORPG but I haven’t found one that could fill my expectations that World of Warcraft, Mabinogi, and a few other titles had put in place.

While on Facebook trying to find something to do I saw an advertisement for SMITE. I just remembered a friend telling me to join it and that it was a cool new twist on the MOBA scene. I thought “Well hey, nothing better to do” so let’s try it out. Installed the game and hopped right into it playing as Thor for the first time. MOBAs are nothing new to me so I went in with a bit of skill from previous games. It had this feel of World of Warcraft with attacks that felt satisfying with every strike. It wasn’t automatic combat but I could choose when to strike and each strike made a difference in so many ways. SMITE felt very involved and I can proudly admit that I bought the God Pack right after that first game since I was heavily impressed.

Q: The number of gods in the game have been increasing steadily over the years. Who are your top 3 favorite gods?

A: This question is funny as I have a running gag of being asked a very similar question throughout my YouTube and Twitch. The majority of my subs could probably hop on this question so quick I usually don’t have to answer it myself anymore. Poseidon is my number one god for his lore and I do love his gameplay. However, I like Apollo more for his gameplay as he fits my style of play. He Bo takes my third favorite for being a water god. I have this thing about water, hence Tyde, making anything related to water something of interest. He Bo has some fun style of play to him as well being a god with low cooldowns and high burst potential.

Q: On your YouTube channel, you seem to play a lot of Joust. Is Joust just your favourite game mode or are there other reasons for it?

A: 1v1 Joust is by far my favorite mode. It pains me to see that it is only available in League. There have been so many times that I would prefer to be able to 1v1 casually against random opponents. There may be custom games but they don’t provide any benefit and are not as convenient as a regular mode. League Joust is so focused on skill and mechanics of the game that it really takes deep understand of individual items and how they interact with your playstyle and your opponents build. It is interesting to have to anticipate what your opponent will build and what you can build to counter what they have. Additionally, there is no one else but you standing in the way of victory. I love the feeling of defeat when I know it is my own fault. It helps me learn and better my skill so that I do not repeat similar mistakes. With this, I also get to learn about specific builds, break them down, and ultimately understand why it has the power it does and when it is most effective. Overall, League Joust has been the reason I got good at SMITE.

Q: What inspired you to start creating SMITE-related content on YouTube?

A: There was a time before creating SMITE content that I had done just a couple of Let’s Play videos on some random games. They never took off and no one really heard of me of course. I liked to make videos for fun and show them to friends since they didn’t always have the games I had, or the ability to play them. When getting into SMITE, I had stopped recording for a period of time since I was having so much fun. When getting into Leagues Joust, I had tried to find some helpful content for Joust 1v1. There really wasn’t anything and I couldn’t find any videos that would help me. There was only one person at the time, SamDaDude, who was really doing any content at all but his videos were not answers to the questions I was looking for. So I jumped into my qualifiers and came out right into Platinum 5. At the time I felt I had done something right to get such a high rank right off the bat. Maybe someone would watch me do something I didn’t know I could. So I recorded my first game of Platinum 5 and have been doing so ever since.

It was the few subscribers I got that really inspired me to help people. Originally, it was just about having fun and making something entertaining. Shquiby was one of the most inspirational people that I have to mention reason being that I would not have made it this far without him. He made me aware I was good enough to teach people a few tricks. Then, over a period of a few months, I spent time learning mechanics of the game and trying to fully understand everything I could. I was able to make a few basic guides that were a bit cheesy due to my lack of experience with making guides but I think it was good enough to get started and create the content I have today.

Q: What about streaming? How did that come about?

A: Originally I never wanted to stream. Streaming was something that was extra effort that wouldn’t provide anything additional for my YouTube channel. I have a full time job and the recordings and rendering of videos took up enough time already that streaming would eat up any free time I had. SamDaDude and a few viewers encouraged me to stream to connect with my viewers of YouTube. Their encouragement caused me to create my Twitch channel. During one of my Subscriber Milestones of YouTube I did my first stream. I was honestly able to say it was supposed to be a one time thing but being able to connect to the viewers I had was touching. They wanted me to stream more and not leave them behind and I made the promise to continue to stream just for them. So thanks to those 5 viewers, I now stream every weekday.

Q: You have a few different opinions when it comes to builds such as the ‘Hastened Fatalis master race’ and the ‘No Deathbringer Rule’ as I like to call them. Are there any other similar ideas in the works?

A: Crafting a build in this game is very fun as there are a ton of overlooked items. The way we think of items and how they affect the character differ from person to person. I myself don’t always just look at the Stats of an item but the utility. Another item set that I’ll be looking at are Rod of Tahuti and Book of Thoth. I consider both these items “Power” items as they exceed 150 power. A lot of people overlook the power of Book of Thoth since it is a stackable item that pulls extra power from your mana pool. The funny thing is the power difference between the items is about 60 on average based on the build. For a mage, 60 power does not translate to 60 damage since mages usually have a reduced power ratio in their abilities and basic attack. With this in mind, you’re able to gain an additional 875 Mana to help sustain in long fights or holding within a lane. Other item choices that I will be going over soon are Telkhines Ring vs Demonic Grip. You’d be shocked how powerful Telkhines is and how often it is ignored. Titan’s Bane vs Executioner and the magical counterparts, Obsidian Shard vs Spear of the Magus. It’s item choices like these that have a heavy effect on a player’s game and sometimes I think that items are picked based on popularity instead of the situation the player is in.