For most of my first year on Spellslingers I was working exclusively in the custom card editor and design tools made by the engineers on the project. Periodically receiving requested card changes from Wizards of the Coast that I would then interpret, implement, test, and then either accept the card as is or provide my own feedback for any potential changes before submitting the update.

Besides implementing new cards and card updates, I was also on the design team responsible for brainstorming and prototyping additional modes of play the game could introduce either in the form of an event or in a major game update.

After some months had passed I was approached by the Lead Designer to research ways other digital CCGs and TCGs were dealing with social features such as player-to-player messaging or clan support. This led me to generate a deep dive report into the social features of the other popular mobile CCGs in the space complete with mock-ups of my suggestions based on the findings. After some more design and production meetings I was then put in charge of a small strike team responsible for carrying out my vision.

When the Teams feature was finally introduced in Spellslingers we wanted it to bring value to the player’s experience. It brought the ability for like-minded players to form teams where they could chat about the latest strategies or setup friendly duels. Players could also share in game currencies with each other as well widgets that allowed for decklists to be shared between players. Teams specific Challenges were also part of the Teams feature that gave players a shared goal to achieve meaning anyone in the same Team could help you progress any of the Team Challenges. Ultimately the goal was to encourage players to join Teams and reward them for staying active which is a bar I feel we definitely achieved.