GDC Observation- Clayton Chod

Post date: Mar 28, 2014 9:55:0 PM

Notes From:

The Art of Hearthstone: Playing the Cards You're Dealt

Speaker: Ben Thompson, Lead Artist of Hearthstone team at Blizzard Entertainment

    The visual design of Hearthstone, which is a free to play online trading card game by Blizzard Entertainment, can be boiled down into four categories.

Real and Physical

Charming and Whimsical

Simple and Clean

A Valuable Collectible

Real and Physical

Most every visible element of Hearthstone is meant to be a tangible object constructed of materials such as wood, metal, cloth, etc. Material definitions are heavily exaggerated, as mandated by Blizzard's hand painted style.

When Hearthstone is booted up players are immediately introduced to a gilded wooden box with an intricate opening mechanism wherein the game takes place. Ben stated that he was inspired by the box from Jumanji.

Many interactions in the game are accompanied by visual effects from the subtle dust cloud to raging fireballs. Cards will explode into pieces when destroyed. Ben also stated how Popcap's Peggle was an inspiration for the game's victory screen which provides the player with a nice amount of catharsis.

Charming and Whimsical

 Blizzard games can be dark and violent at times but Hearthstone is meant to be much more lighthearted and fun. It's a very colorful game with pleasing music and cartoonish action. The game is based on the Warcraft universe and imports many of the heroes and villains found in the world of Azeroth. The game applies a veneer of whimsy even when dealing with the universe's more sinister characters.

Simple and Clean

The game's interface is meant to be as basic as possible to facilitate fluid gameplay. Buttons are large and easy to read. The game does a good job of condensing information on cards, only displaying absolutely necessary information. The rules of the game are simple and easy to learn but mastering the game is more complex. Status effects that can occur to your cards are achieved through visual effects.

A Valuable Collectible

Ben made the point that there was a challenge in giving virtual cards a sense of value. The physically tangible presentation of the game combined with appealing visual effects allow the player to distinguish between standard cards and FOIL CARDS!