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| 0s | [serene orchestral music] |
|---|---|
| 4s | Ahoy, voyagers! |
| 6s | Welcome to another roundtable edition of the Hearthside Chat. |
| 11s | Today, we'll be looking at mechanics and themes |
| 15s | for the new expansion: Voyage to the Sunken City. |
| 18s | And, of course, we'll have some card reveals, too. |
| 21s | I'm your host, John McIntyre, |
| 23s | and I had the privilege of being the Set Lead on this expansion. |
| 27s | Today, we're joined by an incredible crew. |
| 30s | Let's give a quick hello. |
| 32s | Hey there. I'm Valerie Chu, Senior Narrative Designer. |
| 36s | And thanks for joining us today. |
| 38s | What's up, everybody? |
| 39s | I'm Leo Robles Gonzalez, |
| 41s | Card Designer on the Hearthstone team. |
| 43s | I'm stoked to be here again for another Hearthside Chat. |
| 46s | Hey, everyone. |
| 47s | I'm Tiffany Chiu, Concept Artist. |
| 49s | I'm excited to be talking about the new expansion. |
| 53s | Voyage to the Sunken City tells the story of a band of adventurers |
| 57s | as they explore the ruins of Zin-Azshari. |
| 60s | It's a city as dangerous as it is difficult to spell. |
| 64s | And this is a classic adventure story |
| 66s | filled with all the silly Hearthstone antics |
| 69s | you would come to expect. |
| 71s | Val, can you tell us a little bit about the history of the Sunken City? |
| 76s | Absolutely. |
| 77s | 10,000 years ago, Zin-Azshari was the center of the night elf capital, |
| 82s | a glorious, shining treasure of a city. |
| 85s | However, catastrophe struck when the Great Sundering tore it apart, |
| 90s | along with creating all the different continents of Azeroth. |
| 93s | Following that event, Zin-Azshari went to the bottom of the sea, |
| 97s | along with all of its history and relics. |
| 99s | But now, Ambassador Faelin, |
| 101s | who formerly lived in Zin-Azshari, |
| 104s | is eager to revisit his home for his own personal purposes, |
| 109s | and he has hired Ini Stormcoil and Sir Finley to help him do that, |
| 113s | and explore all the way down there. |
| 116s | Here in this card, Bioluminescence, |
| 118s | we can see Sir Finley taking in the sights under the sea. |
| 122s | So, Bioluminescence can actually be found |
| 125s | in one of the many, many environments we did for the Sunken City expansion. |
| 130s | The art team was excited to do all the ocean biomes, |
| 134s | and it was one of the most content-heavy expansions we've ever done. |
| 138s | There were the classic Zin-Azshari ruins and the gardens, |
| 142s | then there are the mysterious abyssal depths |
| 144s | where you can find Bioluminescence. |
| 146s | There's also the trenches and the coral reefs, |
| 149s | where we wanted to depart more from the typical blues and greens of the ocean. |
| 154s | The trenches can be seen here in The Fires of Zin-Azshari. |
| 158s | We used the city ruins to really link all of the environments together. |
| 163s | The underwater setting is such a novel environment for us |
| 167s | that it led to a bunch of inspiration for both, you know, the biomes, |
| 172s | but also for mechanics. |
| 174s | One of the new mechanics is Naga, which is a new minion type. |
| 178s | Val, can you tell us sort of the history of the Naga? |
| 183s | Sure thing. |
| 184s | But, John, you know how that city was full of people? |
| 188s | Guess what happened to them after they went to the bottom of the ocean. |
| 192s | They acquired snakelike attributes to survive in this underwater setting, |
| 197s | and they are all now the Naga. |
| 199s | So, they have retained their connection to magic and arcane power, |
| 203s | but they are also fiercely defensive of their home, |
| 206s | and hostile toward anyone who is invading, |
| 210s | whether it be pirates, explorers, or... |
| 214s | Basically, any surface dweller is on their "no" list. |
| 217s | And we haven't done a new minion type |
| 220s | that we supported an archetype for |
| 223s | since all the way back with Elementals in Journey to Un'Goro. |
| 227s | So, Leo, can you tell us how the design team tackled this process? |
| 232s | Yeah, I think, when we create a new minion type, |
| 235s | where we start is just by asking the question: |
| 237s | How do they differ from other minion types and how do they have their own identity? |
| 241s | Naga are all about spells and mastering the arcane. |
| 246s | And so, because of that, |
| 247s | we took the opportunity to make Naga a minion type that cares all about spells |
| 251s | and casting spells to power them up. |
| 253s | I think, with Elementals in Un'Goro, we established |
| 256s | that they care about playing Elementals last turn to power them up. |
| 259s | Now, with Naga, what they care about is, while you're holding them in your hand, |
| 263s | you cast a spell to power them up. |
| 265s | I think a great example is this new priest Naga called Handmaiden. |
| 269s | Handmaiden asks you to, while she's in your hand, |
| 272s | cast three spells. |
| 273s | And in doing so, when you play her, |
| 275s | you get to draw three cards from your deck. |
| 278s | So, with all of the new, exciting types of Naga that we have, |
| 283s | the art team wanted to make sure that we don't just have |
| 286s | a bunch of angry snake people, |
| 288s | and we have a range of different personalities. |
| 291s | So we wanted some Naga that were serious Naga, |
| 294s | but we also wanted some silly Naga and some cute Naga. |
| 297s | [Naga babbles] |
| 299s | With Coral Keeper here, |
| 300s | you can see how we used the setting to inspire a very unique character. |
| 306s | So, we've got Naga, |
| 308s | and opposing them are the pirates and explorers |
| 312s | who are exploring the city and searching for relics. |
| 316s | We get to tell the story of this through the new keyword Dredge. |
| 321s | Dredge allows the player to look at the bottom three cards of their deck |
| 325s | and choose the one to put on top. |
| 328s | Leo, you were really involved |
| 329s | in the iterative process to come up with this design. |
| 333s | Can you give us a little bit of background? |
| 335s | Definitely. |
| 336s | From the very beginning of the design process, |
| 339s | we really liked this idea of your deck kind of being like the ocean, |
| 343s | where the top card is the surface level |
| 345s | and the bottom card is the seafloor. |
| 348s | I think that idea spawned the mechanic of Dredge, |
| 351s | where you're kind of digging up treasure all the way from the bottom of the ocean |
| 355s | to the top, where you can play them. |
| 357s | Previously, we've never had a whole mechanic |
| 361s | geared around the order of your deck. |
| 362s | We've maybe had, like, a handful of cards. |
| 365s | So, for most of the time in Hearthstone's existence, |
| 368s | really drawing from the top, middle or the bottom of your deck, |
| 371s | they were all kind of the same. |
| 373s | Like, you don't know what's coming next. |
| 375s | But with Dredge, you have a way to influence what's coming next, right? |
| 379s | You get to put something at the top of your deck |
| 381s | to have a more consistent draw. |
| 383s | But not only that, |
| 384s | another cool aspect is you have this little pocket of three cards |
| 387s | at the bottom of your deck that you can revisit with later Dredges |
| 391s | if there's maybe some really strong spell that you don't need right now |
| 395s | but you could use later. |
| 397s | And so what we did is we created a cycle of cards |
| 399s | called the Azsharan Treasures. |
| 402s | Here's an example right here, Azsharan Gardens, |
| 404s | a new druid spell that gives all minions in your hand a buff |
| 407s | and puts the Sunken Gardens at the bottom of your deck. |
| 411s | And if you manage to get that and play it, |
| 413s | it gives your minions everywhere that same buff. |
| 415s | A really powerful card, |
| 417s | and it going to the bottom of your deck gives you a really sweet piece of treasure |
| 421s | to try to Dredge up to the top of your deck. |
| 424s | The treasures are also great because they really capture that feeling |
| 427s | of Zin-Azshari during its glory days. |
| 430s | It's almost like you can go to a museum |
| 432s | but play with all the exhibits yourself and wield that priceless power. |
| 437s | Yeah, I just love when a story can be told through a card, |
| 442s | and here it's a story being told through multiple mechanics interacting. |
| 447s | Tiff, can you talk a little bit about the art's approach |
| 450s | to communicating Sunken cards? |
| 453s | For sure. |
| 454s | So, with such a unique mechanic from design, |
| 457s | we wanted to make sure that when players did Dredge a card |
| 460s | from the bottom of their deck, |
| 462s | it felt really powerful and really fun to play. |
| 466s | We wanted to make it look really ancient as well. |
| 468s | So, we have these treasures with cracks and they're kind of worn, |
| 472s | but they have this powerful blue magic inspired from the ocean, |
| 476s | and they look really powerful and invincible. |
| 479s | Yeah, I love the bright-blue magic |
| 482s | that the Azsharan Treasures gained from being in the ocean. |
| 487s | Of course, one thing you would expect to see in the ocean are fish, |
| 491s | and we have a fish to reveal right now: |
| 493s | Piranha Swarmer. |
| 495s | By itself it's not too intimidating, |
| 498s | but get a swarm of these and it quickly becomes dangerous. |
| 501s | [Naga yelps] |
| 503s | Piranha Swarmer is a collectible card, |
| 506s | but we're gonna be making a lot of cards that generate Piranha Swarmers. |
| 510s | Let's look at one now: Schooling. |
| 513s | This will help you start assembling that swarm. |
| 519s | Tiff, I know, on the art side of things, |
| 521s | we did something kind of different for these cards. |
| 524s | Yeah, so, with Schooling, |
| 526s | players are adding a bunch of fish into their hands, |
| 529s | and the art team saw this as an opportunity |
| 532s | to add a bunch of color into the otherwise blues and greens of the ocean. |
| 537s | So, you're adding not just regular piranhas to your hand, |
| 541s | but piranhas of many different colors. |
| 544s | We have our small critters, the piranhas. |
| 547s | We also have Colossal critters through our Colossal minions. |
| 551s | Let's look at the Colossal minion from the cinematic. |
| 555s | -He's big, he's mean, he's crabby. -[Colossal minion roaring] |
| 560s | He's Crabatoa. |
| 563s | Crabatoa comes with two claws, |
| 565s | and he increases their Attack. |
| 568s | Leo, Colossal minions are just so insane. |
| 571s | How did you all design these minions? |
| 574s | Yeah, I think Colossal started with a question |
| 577s | that, actually, you, John, proposed, of: |
| 580s | What does it mean to have a giant minion - like, these huge sea monsters? |
| 586s | How do we convey a minion that's bigger than other minions in Hearthstone? |
| 590s | And where we ended up was the current design of Colossal, |
| 593s | where Crabatoa, for example, |
| 595s | whether you play him, summon him, transform into him, whatever, |
| 599s | as long as he enters play, he comes with his two crab claws. |
| 602s | And I think this keyword is, while seemingly kind of simple at first, |
| 607s | that keyword lets us kind of add a lot more complexity |
| 610s | and a lot more just fun mechanics in those token cards |
| 614s | that we wouldn't usually do with a card that just summons them like normal. |
| 618s | The reason it's an exception |
| 619s | is because there's this expectation of this huge monster, |
| 623s | where all the pieces have their own unique characteristics |
| 626s | and it still feels like one cohesive unit |
| 629s | where each piece can call out all the other pieces, |
| 631s | and it feels like you're fighting a boss, like in an old, retro video game. |
| 636s | Cool. I think my favorite thing for Colossal minions is definitely the art. |
| 641s | Tiff, how did the art team bring these characters to life? |
| 644s | So, design came up with such an awesome minion design |
| 649s | that we wanted to make super epic. |
| 651s | But, as you can imagine, it's a little bit of a challenge for art, |
| 655s | because we wanted to make a giant art piece |
| 657s | that would span across multiple minion slots. |
| 660s | It took a little bit of fine-tuning and tweaking of composition, |
| 664s | but eventually we came up with this really, really awesome minion |
| 667s | that spawned from your board |
| 670s | and occupied multiple minion slots that you could beat up your opponent with. |
| 675s | Colossal minions are sure to make a huge splash in the meta |
| 678s | when they come out with Voyage to the Sunken City. |
| 681s | That's all we're revealing for today, but I hope you learned something |
| 685s | from the different disciplines on the Hearthstone team. |
| 688s | I'll see you at the Sunken City. |
| 691s | -Bye! -Peace! |
| 693s | -[pounding EDM beat] -[water bubbling] |