Sneaky Snakes may remind older players of a platform game for GameBoy, but today this is a card game and it comes from Zagreb. The creators from the team say that the idea itself is about 4 years old, and that it was created during meetings with the famous games Exploding Kittens, Codenames, Unstable Unicorns, etc. so they did not lack inspiration. They say that they jokingly decided to design their own game in which all players always stay in the game until the end, do not drop out and do not “buzz” while the others play, as was the case in some others games in which they tried their hand.
– The game is based on bluffing and maintaining a poker face. The goal of the game is to have the longest snake at the end of the game, which means the most cards in your hand. During the game, you use sneaky moves to try to reduce your opponent’s card count while at the same time trying to increase your own. In short, the game is čoften an emotional rollercoaster – the story establishesč Nico Poropat.
How did they get the snakes? Their idea was to be connected with animals, but not the ubiquitous cats and dogs, and that these animals could be connected to cards.
– And so, through the conversation, the decision was made – “the essence of the snake”! We agreed that the goal of the game could be “the most cards in the hand at the end of the game”, which thematically corresponds to snakes. Because snakes can be long, and the number of cards in the hand of the winner of our game would also be long. So we came up with our first slogan with a slightly humorous tone, “Who has the biggest snake? – he adds.
After the initial idea, they talk about how hours of brainstorming followed, socializing, making maps and cutting A4 paper, and writing various names and actions. This was followed by testing, ‘brainstorming’ about the holes in the game, a little more brainstorming, fixing the flaws, and turning all of this around until the moment of general satisfaction, after which they presented the game first to their friends, and then to the wider audience. All this preceded the concrete prototype of the game and eventually the final form of the game as it is today, they explain.
They designed the game for those who want to socialize with fast and simple games, and that they are refreshing compared to classics like UNA and other games, and they say that the logic of the game itself is quite different. better than other games.
– Right when the cards are dealt at the beginning of the game, everyone will play. part of his cards in his hands facing the other players and in that way he will not be familiar with part of the cards in his hand. Alsođer every time he playsč draws a card from the draw deck, he draws them in such a way that he cannot see them, turns them to face the other players. Although at first it sounds like it is almost impossible to play such a card, believe us that it is very possible and fun! The mechanics of the game allow players to use cards from other games, and this entails a dose of bluffing, which is not common in ‘party’ card games. Although there is a lot of luck in the game, there are a lot of cards that make the game interesting not only for players who like strategy, but also for those who like to play board games casually – they explain.
With their innovation, they were at the fair in Birmingham and Essen last year, after which they ended up in the test phase with a couple of stores across the EU.
They also thought about Kickstarter as an online platform for presenting products.
– For some time, we were thinking whether, with the budget we have, it is more worthwhile to go to kickstarter or to two large European fairs. Kickstarter is all or nothing, everything goes to marketing, and you have a few minutes for a virtual presentation of a product that is actually best experienced live. For Kickstarter to be successful, it needs to appeal to a critical mass of people. If this does not happen, it is a very expensive market research with an undesirable outcome. At fairs, there is that “live” component where you see how people react when they read the name of the game, the slogan, how they react when you tell them about the game and during the game itself. You have instant feedback on the effectiveness of marketing communication, and on which parts of the game people are less excited, and on which they are happy and laughing – they state.
Can you introduce the team behind the game?
– Denis Nešić as a mathematician from PMF, he always gravitated towards the development of game logic, since he is now alive and well, Lucia Rai. is an extremely organized PMF and geneticist who loves animals, and I am a creative business geek from the field of economics and IT. An interesting combination was somehow created here and our team was born. Along with us, part of the original team is the graphic designer or illustrator responsible for the snake characters – said Nico.
– For a long time, we looked at the whole thing as a hobby in addition to our regular jobs, and only later in development, that is, during the official launch of the business, did we begin to share roles in the business a little more formally. Now our team is divided into design, game development (thinking/balancing expansions and new games beyond Sneaky Snakes), organizational (day to day operations), and business part (creative and marketing, sales, finance, tactics and strategic management) – he adds.
– Given that the game is sold on the EU market, we should have done testing with the manufacturer to obtain the CE certificate – this is a note by the way for everyone who plans to go into similar waters, not to forget the same thing – the same said Nico and adds that moreć they also have a part of the expansion ready that would bring new things to the game and another game in development.