The making of a Hearthstone card in 2022
Designing and balancing new cards eight years into Hearthstone's life cycle is no mean feat. We chatted with designer Leo Robles Gonzalez and VFX Lead artist Dominic Camuglia at Blizzard on the blood, sweat and...corpse effects that go into new expansions.
Eight years is a long period of time, and Hearthstone hasn’t stopped increasing its decks in that span. With over 20 expansions and adventures released since its 2014 launch, there is no shortage of cards to parse through and experiment with. But when these additions arrive with over a hundred cards in the existing mix, iterating and balancing this ever-increasing pool becomes a tricky process.
Game Developer sat down to talk to game designer Leo Robles Gonzalez and lead VFX artist Dominic Camuglia at Blizzard about what comes into the creation of a card, how much iteration and theming can define the final deck that players get in their hands, and the philosophy around adding a second resource to Hearthstone with the March of the Lich King expansion.
A thematic foundation
Once the teams decide on the theme of an expansion, the exploration period begins. This includes design for mechanics, testing ideas that work as well as some that don’t, and fine-tuning the ones that make the cut. After that phase, the focus shifts to individual cards and classes.