Saturday, 10 October 2015

Card Considerations - What to think about when proposing a card

I thought I'd start this blog off with a bit of a checklist. Ultimately our job as want-to-be designers is to create a polished card that excites our readers with the possibility of the card. We want our readers to look at the cards and say, "Yes, I want this card in Hearthstone!"

When analyzing cards on /r/customhearthstone, I'll refer to this checklist, often linking and citing it on the sub-reddit. The hope with this article is to encourage other designers to review it, and create better cards as a result.




1. Is it fun?

The first question, for a reason: if a card doesn't contribute to the fun of the game, it more than likely shouldn't be here. This really comes in two parts:

a. Does playing this card make you feel awesome?
  • Does it have an extreme effect that makes the player feel powerful?
  • Does it have some kind of cool synergy that makes a player feel smart when they pull it off?
  • Does it make the player feel in some small way that they're cheating by playing this card?
b. Does playing this card make your opponent feel hard done by?
  • Does it overly facilitate one-turn kills from a zero board state?
  • Does it affect their stuff unduly? Make you lose cards, mana crystals, cards in your deck? 
I'll drill deeper into cards that are not fun in a later article. Blizzard has some very clearly stated guidelines in regards to this that you ought to know before you get too deeply into Hearthstone design. An example: If a card can fill your opponent's board with 0 attack minions they could be unable to remove them and thus unable to play minions. That's a terrible way to lose a game.

2. Does it fit the setting?

World of Warcraft has an vast, incredible lore-base; one that's well worth knowing. The cards you build should fit, delightfully into the world that exists. Even if you're creating something new, it should, at a glance, feel like it belongs there.

a. Does your card fit the tone and feel of World of Warcraft?
  • Does it generally follow rules of verisimilitude? (Basically, does the card make sense for the World of Warcraft)
  • Does the artwork at least reasonable for the card? (I don't have high standards for art, but I at least want it in the ballpark)
  • Does it relate to the lore in any way? (If you're building a pirate, look at wowpedia and find an existing pirate group for it to belong to)
  • Does its mana cost, attack and health properly reflect the power and influence in the world? (Deathwing should not be a 1 mana minion) 
b. If your card has a class, does your card belong to the class you've assigned it to?
  • Does it do something that that class can do?
  • Is the card named using language that makes sense for a card of that class?
It's worth noting that cards that directly fit the concept of a class should be better than cards that are secondary to the concept of a class. For instance, Rogues in WoW have a healing ability called "Recuperate," but rogue's ability to heal in Hearthstone should not eclipse that of the healing classes.

c. Lastly, there are little things like, for instance, if it's a Legendary does the card have a proper name (like "Bob Smith," instead of something generic, like "Dalaran Mageflinger"?).

3. Is it balanced?

I don't want to dwell on this over-much, but having cards that don't create power creep is, of course, important. 
  • Is it objectively better than a pre-existing card?
  • Does it, in combination with other cards, create worrisome burst potential? 
  • Does it allow for a low-cost steamroll effects? (Everyone remembers the original Undertaker, right?)
  • Does it augment an already dominant deck archetype? (Seriously, Patron Warrior doesn't need the help)
  • Does it have an effect that cannot be played around or countered by certain types of decks?
  • Is it only useful when you're already winning? We don't need no win-more cards...
  • Does it have an unnaturally high health, or stealth just because you want the card to stay in play and do its effect? (I see a lot of custom minions with 3 health and stealth, with an effect that works even when the minion is stealthed. These cards are too difficult to deal with)

4. Does it trigger any problematic edge-cases?

At this point any class, through play, is able to get any card from any class. As such we've got to be very mindful of how the cards we create fit with other, pre-existing cards. 

a. Some common gothchas for cards:
  • Does it require dual-targeting? (ie, you pick one target, then have to pick another target)
  • Does it only make sense in the context of its own class? (Steamwheedle Sniper is an example of a card that causes confusion because it only works properly with the hunter hero power). 
  • Does it cause your opponent to have minions that permanently cost more than 10 mana? (I'm looking at you, Freezing Trap!)
  • Does it limit the future design space in a problematic way? (see Tuskar Totemic)
  • Does it require further explanation? (Whenever I see a post in /customhearthstone that starts with an explanation of what their card text really means I cringe. If the micro-copy isn't clear, the card shouldn't exist). 
  • Does it enable a turn-destroying animation effect with Nozdormu?
  • Does it rely on having knowledge of the past that Hearthstone does not remember? (Cards in HS seem to lack a memory of previous effects, for instance if a card has been Silenced it can't be 'un-silenced.')
  • Does it dominate the game when combined with any of the following cards:
    • Emperor Thaurrisan - cost reduction combo
    • Warsong Commander - charge
    • Echoing Ooze - buff madness
    • Kel'Thuzad - deathrattle insanity
    • Prophet Velen - burst potential
    • Malygos - burst potential
    • Mechwarper - cost reduction tempo
    • Sorcerer's Apprentice - cost reduction tempo
    • Archmage Antonidas - too many fireballz
    • Piloted Shredder - too powerful 2 drop
    • Mysterious Challenger - secret madness
    • Ancestor's Call - burst potential
    • Baron Rivendare - deathrattle insanity
    • Dreadsteed - deathrattle insanity
    • Probably more I haven't thought of, yet...

5. Does it pass my card pedantry standards?

One thing that doing the Class Challenge did for me was make me hyper-sensitive to little mistakes we make when creating the micro-copy for cards. 

a. For instance, does the card:
  • Use proper grammar, with correct spelling?
  • Have a period at the end?
  • Have the right things bolded?
  • Have the right things capitalized? (Health, Attack, Armour, etc...)
  • Use the same language as other, pre-existing cards?
  • Cite other cards or tokens correctly?
  • Use incorrect terms, like Joust, in bold? 
  • Have a plausible rarity assigned to it? 
  • Have the correct set watermark on it?
  • Have the correct class template?
  • Have text that overflows on top of the Attack and Health stats?
So there we have it, my first of what is hopefully many articles talking about the exciting design-space in Hearthstone. I'd love to get your feedback on the article, but I'll note that this article is by definition more generic than the articles I intend to write targeting specific areas of concern.

If there's an article you'd like me to write, let me know as well. I've got at least eight ideas for articles at this point, but can imagine a nearly endless list of topics as I talk about specific effects. Even in this article alone is the opportunity to write dozens of articles that better define some of these questions. 

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