Card Wars: Kingdoms was a sequel to a previous Adventure Time game Kung Fu Factory made with Cartoon Network. With the success of Card King Dragon Wars, Cartoon Network hired us to reskin the game into a new Adventure Time card game. Due to my work on the previous game, I was one of 2 designers on a 10 person development team. Gameplay development was a bit easier this time around, but I got to have a primary role on designing live events, balancing competitive games, and working with a bigger publisher. When this game launched we received Editor’s Choice on both the Apple and Google Play stores, and reached the #2 most popular game on the free games chart. I love Adventure Time and Cartoon Network and so it was a dream to work with them on a game.
Character Design
Some of the most fun I have ever had as a designer was concepting and creating the creatures for Card Wars: Kingdoms. There were 5 different “Lands” where each creature came from, based on the titular card game in the show, and I wanted each land to have a specific theme that each creature fit into. Creatures from the Cornfields fit traditional feudal fantasy tropes, while creatures from the blue plains had a cool future fantasy aesthetic. My favorite creatures to design were the ones from the Nicelands, where sweet objects were given a creepy twist. The Knife Kite was a cute kite brandishing a knife, while the Pile of Kittens was an adorable mewling mass of fur, flesh, and cardboard. I designed most of these creatures, both their physical forms and how they played in game.
Live Ops and Boss Design
Due to my success in live ops event design on the previous game, I was put in charge of live ops on this project too. Since this was an Adventure Time game, the player base was a lot larger so I could focus my work on creating satisfying reward loops in Event Dungeons, converting people to monetize with good sales, and designing unique and challenging Event Bosses. This game also began as a reskin of the previous project, so I was already familiar with the engine and I could try more ambitious events. The fight against the Hydra-Headed Husker dragon had the player facing off against the three heads of the monster, each one presenting a different growing threat. The player had to choose which threat to eliminate first, giving the players their own options on how to approach the challenge.
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Deputy Hot Dog
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Plain Jane Dungeon
