How Snake Clash Was Born: From a Simple Snake Game to a Fight for Survival

Every game starts with an idea. Sometimes that idea changes only a little during development. Other times, the final game ends up looking completely different from where it started.

Snake Clash belongs to the second category.

The idea behind the game first appeared in 2024, when we started experimenting with a simple concept: players would place cards on the table, and those cards would determine the direction in which their snakes could move.

At first, the game was not about fighting other snakes at all.

A Table Full of Snakes

The original prototype was built around a much simpler idea. Players would place movement cards on the table, move their snakes around, and try to catch small animals such as insects, mice, frogs and other creatures.

Each animal was worth points, so the goal was straightforward: move your snake around the table, find food and collect as many points as possible.

And surprisingly, it worked.

The prototype was fun, easy to understand and created a very entertaining situation on the table. But as we tested it with more players, we started noticing something interesting.

The snakes were becoming competitors.

With several snakes moving around the same table, they quickly started fighting over food and, even more importantly, space.

That observation led us to ask a simple question:

What if the snakes could actually fight each other?

From Competition to Clash

This was the moment when the game started changing into what would eventually become Snake Clash.

Instead of simply collecting food and trying to score more points, players could now interfere with their opponents. Snakes could attack each other, and in the most dangerous situations, even eliminate another snake by biting through its neck.

Suddenly, the game was no longer just about collecting points.

It was about survival.

The table became a battlefield where every movement mattered. Getting too close to another snake could be an opportunity — or a very bad idea.

But we wanted to take the idea even further.

Never Know What Is Coming

We wanted players to feel that even when they thought they had the perfect plan, something could still happen.

That is when we introduced special abilities.

Each snake could gain unique powers by drawing cards. These abilities could protect a snake from an incoming attack, change the situation at the table or allow a player to launch an unexpected counterattack.

This added a new layer to the game.

You could no longer assume that an opponent was helpless just because you had managed to corner them. Maybe they had a card that could save them. Maybe they were waiting for the right moment to strike back.

The result was a game with more strategy, more surprises and, most importantly, a much stronger sense of tension.

You are not simply trying to get the most points.

You are trying to survive long enough to get them.

Browse the Snake Clash board game →

Finding the World of Snake Clash

As the gameplay evolved, we also felt that the visual style needed to evolve with it.

The game had become more competitive, more chaotic and more focused on survival. We wanted the artwork to reflect that feeling, while giving Snake Clash a distinctive identity.

This led us towards an ancient, almost archaic visual style. The games graphic elements were inspired by Aztec art.

The goal was to create a world that felt as if these snakes and their struggles had existed long before us — a strange, colourful world where survival and competition were simply part of nature.

The visual world of Snake Clash was created by illustrator Sandra Jančiukaitė, whose work became a huge part of the game's identity.

From the patterns and scales of the snakes to the illustrations on the cards, every detail was carefully created by Sandra.

The result gave Snake Clash the colourful and distinctive look we were looking for, while the cover itself became a reflection of what happens when several snakes end up sharing the same territory.

From a Simple Idea to Snake Clash

Looking back at the first prototype, it is fascinating to see how far the game has come.

The original idea was simple: place cards, move a snake and catch food.

Through playtesting, however, we discovered something much more interesting.

The snakes wanted to compete.

They wanted the same food. They wanted the same space. And eventually, they wanted to take each other out.

That evolution is what turned the original prototype into Snake Clash — a game about movement, strategy, unexpected attacks and the fight to stay alive.

And that is perhaps the most interesting part of creating a board game.

You start with an idea.

Then you put it on the table.

And sometimes, the game itself tells you what it wants to become.