Hearthstone’s Heroes of StarCraft mini-set is a large occasion for Blizzard followers, marking the primary time that the builders’ sci-fi RTS has interacted with the Warcraft CCG in its ten-year historical past. That is additionally the biggest companion mini-set ever launched in Hearthstone, with 49 new playing cards to play with, together with 4 Hero playing cards.
Whereas the Hearthstone group has interacted with different Blizzard merchandise up to now, comparable to including Warcraft Rumble playing cards to the core set and an Overwatch card again as a part of the Origins Version of the sport, there has by no means been a crossover of this scale, and particularly not with a sci-fi IP. I received the possibility to talk to senior recreation designers, Leo Robles Gonzalez and Aleco Pors, concerning the expertise of bringing this mini-set to life.
Understandably, given each video games’ storied histories and shared mother or father firm, I needed to know why now, somewhat than earlier in Hearthstone’s life, was the right time to lastly launch a StarCraft collaboration. Positive, it is smart to shut out Hearthstone’s tenth-anniversary celebrations with a bang, however I puzzled if maybe there was one thing extra behind the choice. In any case, Blizzard’s different large IP, Diablo, has already appeared within the cellular card recreation a number of occasions earlier than, so why not the heroes of StarCraft?
Gonzalez stated that originally, the collaboration was going to be purely beauty and launch alongside Hearthstone’s Nice Darkish Past enlargement, because the Warcraft-themed card battler’s first true foray into house. Nonetheless, “there’s simply so many individuals and a lot ardour for something and all the pieces StarCraft-related” on the Hearthstone group, that they made the choice to create a fully-fledged mini-set.
The distinctive draw of the Heroes of StarCraft mini-set is that it splits Hearthstone’s 11 hero courses into the three main factions from the sci-fi real-time technique recreation – Terran, Protoss, and Zerg. Plenty of thought went into how you can divide the completely different courses into their respective factions, encompassing gameplay, present mechanics, and most significantly, sustaining the “fantasy” of the StarCraft universe.
Gonzalez defined, “The overall concept was ‘fantasy first’ throughout all the mini-set, just like the core factor is, we would like this to really feel tremendous StarCraft-y. We need to try this complete universe justice. We need to ensure that individuals who like StarCraft know that we do too.” However, with a view to try this, the group had to determine the overall playstyles of every of the factions. In easy phrases, Zerg is aggressive and quick, Protoss is slower and depends on late-game high-impact playing cards, and Terran incorporates Starships, the brand new mechanic from The Nice Darkish Past.
“I believe the Starship factor was the largest alternative, however on the identical time, the largest wrench in the entire thing,” Gonzalez continued. “We needed to provide courses that didn’t have Starship in the primary set a possibility to have it on this mini-set, in order that instantly dominated out round half of the courses to be Terran.” Gonzalez continued.
If, like some Hearthstone followers on the market (specifically my accomplice), you’re questioning how Rogue ended up in Protoss as an alternative of Zerg, it’s due to a really iconic stealthy Protoss unit – the Darkish Templar. Pors stated, “Stealth can be the important thing characteristic of a Darkish Templar, so the place does that actually slot into the Hearthstone class pie? It felt like Rogue was actually the clear contender there. After which we tried to discover a method the place we might construct it out in order that the Templars and the Archons all work inside among the different issues that Rogue had happening to make that stand out.”
Heroes of StarCraft is the primary time that we’re seeing multi-class Hero playing cards in Hearthstone, which should have introduced distinctive balancing challenges for the group. Pors confirmed that the group took a “StarCraft-first” strategy when designing Artanis, Jim Raynor, and Kerrigan, leaning into the fantasy of what these heroes characterize within the RTS first after which branching that throughout their shared courses.
He continued, “I believe on the finish of the day, these Hero playing cards get to really feel comparatively distinctive as a result of they’re actually keying into these StarCraft-specific mechanics, and that lets us open up the design house a little bit bit greater than if it was only a Hero card that might be performed as a one-of-30 fashion card. These StarCraft playing cards make this tight little package deal inside one another. They’re very synergistic.”
Gonzalez added, “The multi-class playing cards are undoubtedly meant to be the premise for all of the decks – they’re all meant to be the bread and butter of the faction. I believe the Hero playing cards function in a really distinctive house the place they act as a staple, but additionally they’re actually flashy and funky, so they simply really feel nice to play in mainly all of the decks.” One factor that was extremely clear from chatting with each of those recreation designers was the sheer pleasure and enthusiasm that they each share for the sport and the Heroes of StarCraft mini-set general.
Scale-wise, Hearthstone and StarCraft can’t get a lot additional aside. StarCraft’s fight takes place over large intergalactic battlefields, whereas in Hearthstone, you’re sitting down at a desk within the tavern to play a recreation of playing cards. I used to be intrigued to learn the way the group went about translating the sci-fi sense of awe onto a recreation board, and Gonzalez stated that loads of it comes right down to the artwork of the playing cards themselves.
“I believe one factor that I’m fairly pleased with is we tried to characterize frequent and highly effective use circumstances for particular items and skills from StarCraft by means of the artwork of some playing cards. So that you’ll see, like, x unit versus y unit that you just see each single time you play Zerg versus Protoss. We tried to get these moments within the card artwork and even within the precise results of the playing cards themselves.” Pors added that small particulars just like the playing cards’ taste textual content and voiceovers additionally add to the sense of scale, as do the playing cards’ stats. For instance, Zerglings are one-one items as a result of they’re simply little guys!
In fact, this mini-set is extremely thrilling for StarCraft followers, however what about individuals like me, who generally dabble in Hearthstone however have by no means touched StarCraft? “I like speaking about this,” Gonzalez advised me. “That is virtually like a love letter to StarCraft followers, however on the finish of the day, that is nonetheless in Hearthstone. We don’t need to simply completely depart our Hearthstone followers, particularly those that don’t know StarCraft, out to dry, proper?
“What I hope is the largest attraction for gamers that don’t know lots about StarCraft is these are all actually new, actually enjoyable decks which you could play, and each class will get one thing new. As a result of this mini-set has that narrative lens on prime of it, in addition to 11 extra playing cards than a standard mini-set, there’s simply a lot new to do right here.”
Pors talked about that he initially needed to implement StarCraft positional play into the mini-set, however this was one of many mechanics that received left on the slicing room ground as a result of it wasn’t doing “what it wanted to do from a Hearthstone design perspective.” Though a lot of the design course of for Heroes of StarCraft leaned on ensuring the playing cards felt StarCraft-y sufficient, the prevailing really feel and playstyle of Hearthstone stays at its core.
Lastly, I requested each Pors and Gonzalez what their favourite a part of the mini-set is, they usually each instantly stated the Protoss playing cards, so be sure you strive them out in your Hearthstone decks when the mini-set launches globally at present.