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Hearthstone is one of the most popular card games of all time and last month I talked about my addiction to it. This week I did an interview with Shad Nerving and Connor Kohl, both working as Hearthstone game designers.

In this the interview I spoke to Shad and Connor about making Hearthstone starting with how cards are created and how long this takes and what plans are ahead for the main phase and the Battlegrounds development. So without further elongation, let's get into the subject crucifixion!

What difficulties and challenges do you face in creating a card game? He answered this question, saying:

We are trying to make the most fun arcade game for players everywhere. Sometimes the challenge is to track all cards and different mechanisms and maintain their enjoyment, in addition to creating new things. We always do new things and this increases the difficulty of innovation, but it is really fun to work on the game and on expansions and to create new ways to play, such as developing Battlegrounds next to the main method of playing around collecting cards and building a group.

 

Connor agreed with Shad and added some information about the card design process:

Besides that, each card has an artistic image attached to it. There are cards entering in a long review period. We have a visual effects team that works hard on the effects, and there is also an audio team that always creates new sounds as well as many parts that come together to create a deck of cards.

I think there are over 3000 cards in Hearthstone, how do you maintain balance?

We have learned a lot over time about how to balance the game and make fun cards with the right strength. Much of the budget is done by comparing the values, statistics, and the price of cards. Also, a large part is through understanding the Meta (the most used set of cards) and understanding and knowing the other cards that you will collect in addition to the cards commonly used so that you know what to expect from your opponents and the appropriate value to control the card that is produced.

Besides, we have a whole team dedicated to balancing the game only and they are very skilled players who focus on improving the new cards that we are working on to fit well with the existing meta in terms of fun and strength. One of the things that we did and helped us with this topic is the presence of Standard and Wild cards. In the standard phase, there are cards that were issued only the last two years and this makes us worry about a group of cards while in the land phase there are all cards that were created. In the wild mode, the strength levels are higher due to the presence of all possible cards and interactions and this is something that players expect while the standard phase is more balanced.

 

This is definitely to be expected as it is very difficult to balance thousands of cards with each other as the possibilities are huge as Shad told us above. Despite this, some cards are usually rebalanced after launch based on feedback from the game community. More details about the design process below.

What is the process of making a card and adding it to the game and how long does it take?

The process of making a card is very long. We create an expansion that usually contains more than a hundred cards, which are fired into large groups of course. The process of making and adding a card takes about a year. We start working on a new expansion group and we start collecting and exchanging ideas (brainstorming) starting with the topic of the story and its flavor and new mechanisms and effects of cards and also about the groups of cards in different categories that we want to work on. After that we start making bouquets, we brainstorm a ton of cards, the number of cards that are removed with every expansion exceeds hundreds and usually, the best 135 cards are added approximately to the expansion.

 

Well, the card-making process is really long that is why I'm going to summarize it while keeping all the information Shad told us. Initially, the initial design is done after the brainstorming stage and is tested with different card combinations. When approved, the writing stage begins, such as name, technical description, and transcript. The technical description is then sent to the art team that assigns it to an artist who then submits a sketch/draft. Now comes the stage of reviewing the diagram and one is chosen for the artist to work on, and the final artistic image will be sent later. It doesn't end here as a second artistic image of the golden type of card is created with a process similar to the one we talked about.

Voice texts are sent to the audio team that selects the appropriate sound performers and card designers are usually present with recording periods to direct and produce the meaning of audio texts. After all, this is done, the visual effects are done and some cards need software support. Are we done? No, according to Shad, now we have reached ninety percent of the card making stage. Well, after all, that is done, work begins on the translations and community teams are working on ways to reveal these cards and to what site or content maker will be sent. Even after the card is launched, it is monitored to ensure its level of strength. In his speech, Shad also said: "I am sure I forgot some steps, but it takes about a year from start to finish and a lot of work goes every card." It is definitely tiring, but that's why Hearthstone is one of the best card games.

What helped me and many other players to enter the world of Hearthstone was the Battlegrounds development, are there any plans to improve it or to control the style of the Antipater?

We always try to improve and add more content to the Battlegrounds stage especially during its beta period. Currently, we are very focused on providing the most enjoyable experience in the phase. We have regular and planned content updates and we're still working on more stuff every day as well as playing quizzes all the time.

It's nice to see more ongoing updates that will add new content of the course but the most important question remains, when will the phase be released in its full version? This is what we asked Connor, who answered:

We don't have any announcements on this topic right now but as I mentioned earlier, we are focusing on trying to make the game and make it as fun as possible. We are also delighted that our players are enjoying their time with all the new updates, new heroes and minions. Recently we launched a new update and the player community reaction was really cool. People are so excited to see more heroes in the Battlegrounds mode.

What Connor told us is interesting, I am a fan of style and I always play from time to time but what he said means that we will only see new cards and heroes and for this the reason I asked him the following: Will there be only updates and improvements to the content (like heroes and cards)? Will we see a new innovation with style?

 

There are definitely, some things in our mind but the cards and the new heroes are at the top of our listings as these are the things that excite players and we enjoy making them. There are also other things that players get excited about and talked about earlier and try to improve some things in the future. For example, there is a stats page on the Battlegrounds stage which is one of its advantages and we are currently thinking about other stats that can be added along with some other small things.

Therefore, we can say that during the coming period, we will not see huge changes in the phase next to the new content issue, but this matter may change after the launch of the new Hearthstone phase, which is preferred for players in its full version.

 

After a long time after adding a new class, what made you decide to add the Demon Hunter class and how did the players react? Are they still inclined to the main varieties?

Demon Hunter has become very popular with players. We were really pleased with the launch of the Demon Hunter and finally, it is something that the players wanted and they certainly show that as we follow how the players play the class and how successful they are in it. Since the Hunter launched demons we have been working on his balance and one of the reasons for his popularity is his strength. Aside from that, the players have a lot of fun in their game and we are constantly working on adjusting it to increase the amount of fun they get from playing Demon Hunter.

 

Well as Hearthstone game creator, what is your favorite hero? This is an answer that took some time but in the end, we got something really interesting where Shad told us:

Hmm... My favorite hero is the next hero soon. I will leave you with that.

 

After this, the statement, the enthusiasm inside me surely stirred and I tried to find out more information about what he was talking about, but he did not add anything else except that he was coming "very soon" with a laugh after that. Does this mean a new class? Well, that's what I thought first but later after sharing a tweet about the interview on my Twitter account, Shad commented, "Let me make it clear that this indicates that I'm excited about the next hero (what some people refer to as pictures)." This often meant a new skin-look, but it was also something that would increase the enthusiasm of many, including myself!

Are there plans to expand Hearthstone more through new phases or ways of playing, for example?

We are looking for new ways to play and see Hearthstone as a platform that contains traditional gameplay and new ways to play like The Battlegrounds Released in the second phase of the year. We have previously mentioned that we are working on new ways to play, it will be of a smaller scale but we are, yes, we are committed to continue adding new methods.

It's always nice to see new things breaking the routine, which is why the Battlegrounds have become so popular with the game community and it's good to know that we'll get something else despite knowing it's smaller.

 

Now we come to a question that concerns a large percentage of players, is there any plans to launch Hearthstone on the consoles?

There are no plans now on this topic but I will not deny that it will happen in the future.

Hearthstone is definitely one of the best card games and during the interview, we learned a lot about what's going on behind the scenes. What do you think of the interview and the game? Share your comments below and wait for us in more interviews with various developers!