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- Honor of Kings Plus rolls out voice-to-text, Flowborn, and a revamped reward system.
- Dean Huang shares how player feedback drove key gameplay and balance updates.
- Exciting global collaborations and new features are planned for later this year.
Honor of Kings continues to dominate the mobile MOBA landscape, and its latest major update, Honor of Kings Plus, is a bold step toward deepening the game’s competitive roots while keeping it fair, fun, and fresh. We at GamingonPhone had the opportunity to interview Dean Huang, the Game Design Lead for Honor of Kings and a long-time hardcore gamer himself.
In our discussion, Dean shared his design philosophies, the thinking behind Honor of Kings Plus, the technical enhancements under the hood, and the deeper values that continue to shape the game’s global direction.
Staying on top with bold updates and community-driven evolution
We opened the conversation by asking what inspired the Honor of Kings Plus update and what the team expects players to feel as they dive in. Dean laid it out clearly: “As a live service game, we can’t just sit still. If we are to maintain our position as the most played MOBA globally, Honor of Kings needs to continually evolve and deliver fresh content and adjustments.“
This update packs in a ton of new features, including voice-to-text support, an upgraded Honor Pass, Flowborn, a new star-based reward system, and several other impactful improvements.
According to Dean, the goal is to boost player motivation without compromising the game’s competitiveness or balance.“We hope that players feel more engaged and immersed, and we value all their feedback—positive or critical—to help us continue improving and evolving the game.“
Encouraging teamwork without rewarding selfish play
Honor of Kings is fundamentally a team game, and with the new system that offers rewards even on the losing side, we asked if this might accidentally push players toward self-centered gameplay. Dean addressed this concern head-on: “Our definition of a standout player does not include those who act selfishly or undermine team coordination.“
He stressed the importance of teamwork, highlighting metrics like assists and participation rate as key factors. “These rewards are based on a comprehensive performance rating, encouraging players to become better team players.” This makes sure that only players who perform well as a team, not just lone wolves with impressive stats, will be acknowledged.
Voice-to-text makes communication more inclusive and global
The new voice-to-text feature is one of the coolest parts of the update. It helps make communication smoother, more inclusive, and easier for players around the world to connect. “We want to knock down that barrier and facilitate new friendships regardless of geography and native tongue.“
He also addressed possible concerns about things like profanity, assuring us that a solid moderation system is already in place, built on their existing text filter tools and adapted for voice-to-text.
The focus then shifted to gameplay-related modifications, including removing super minions when all lanes fall, modifying river sprites, and tweaking minion waves. Dean confirmed that the majority of these modifications were directly influenced by community observations.
To centralise gameplay focus, for example, “we made the Space Spirit the main objective and increased its respawn frequency“ in the Clash Lane. In the meantime, Farm Lane was modified to reduce the stress brought on by Firehawk. By adding one extra minion per wave, the Mid Lane promotes conventional lane gameplay rather than excessive roaming.
Even major changes like the removal of super minions in all three lanes came from the need to offer comeback opportunities and better game balance. “To improve overall game balance, we’ve removed this mechanic, giving teams more of an opportunity to regroup and stage a comeback.“
Low-end device optimization is a long-term priority
Honor of Kings is a visually rich game, but not everyone plays on flagship phones. The optimizations introduced in this update particularly made Dean proud. “We’ve developed multiple sets of visual effects tailored to different hardware profiles, and even removed certain animations that could affect performance.” He views the challenges of supporting low-end hardware not as limitations but as design opportunities. “We’re excited by the challenge of continually improving the gaming experience on constrained devices.”
From competitive gamer to thoughtful designer
Dean has a long history in competitive gaming, having competed in Hearthstone and Warcraft III tournaments. Reflecting on that, he said, “Only by genuinely experiencing the joy and frustrations of gaming can you truly understand where to focus your efforts as a designer.”
As he stated, to comprehend balance, fairness, and what makes a game feel good over time, a great designer needs to be both passionate and skilled as a player.
Anticipating global aspirations and new partnerships
Dean alluded to some intriguing innovations when we asked him what he was excited about for Honour of Kings’ future beyond this update. “We will continue pushing the limits of the genre, whether through leveraging technical advances in handset capabilities, introducing new gameplay modes, or partnering with globally recognized brands and franchises.”
He also confirmed that new collaborations are on the way before the year wraps up, great news for fans eagerly waiting for what’s next. The interview offered some real insight. Dean Huang and his team are working on a global MOBA that’s constantly evolving, not just with surface-level updates, but with meaningful changes, all while staying true to the game’s original vision and values.
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