I joined Blizzard in mid-2014 with a simple but challenging goal: Design a simple, beautiful, and usable interface for Hearthstone on phone, while preserving the UX from it's desktop predecessor.
Hearthstone is a team effort! Special thanks to Derek Sakamoto, the other half of the UI design team and the creator of origional Hearthstone UI for desktop - the phone UI wouldn't be what it is today without a great foundation. Sojin Hwang, our amazing UI texture painter and one of the best artist I have had the opportunity to work with at Blizzard. And everyone else who supported the phone release at Blizzard.
To create the finest experience achievable on a smaller screen, the wireframes and mock ups ended up drasticlly different than it's desktop predecessor - almost a complete overhaul to the entire game screen by screen.
This leads to series of challenges that are not just problem solving, but also minimizing new design's impact to exisiting assets, animation, effects, and perhaps most importantly - front end code.
We seek the solution that's able to put millions of existing desktop users right at home,
At the same time attracts new players who just begin their Hearthstone journey on phone.
"Blizzard’s first venture into the mobile gaming space is perhaps the most successful transition of a PC gaming studio to date."
- Nerd Reactor | Review: Hearthstone for Android
"The mobile version of Hearthstone is fantastic and will not disappoint players coming from the desktop version and it won’t scare away new users either with how easy it is to maneuver around and use all of the game features. The game is practically identical to the PC version with a few tweaks to how the mana crystals are displayed for the same of space-saving, your experience is almost identical across platforms and it is brilliant."
- Moargeek | Hearthstone Smartphone Review: Where Has the Day Gone?
"Personally, I think the iPhone version works really well. I’ve been pining for a way to truly play Hearthstone on the go and Blizzard’s implementation is top notch. Folks looking to transition to iPhone play will just need to learn one or two nuances in terms playing cards, but otherwise should have little problem enjoying it."
- Touch Arcade | First Impressions of 'Hearthstone' for iPhone
