SFB Games on how Snipperclips Plus came to be, new Stamp mode, more
Nintendo Life conducted a new interview with Tom and Adam Vian from SFB Games about Snipperclips Plus. The developer brothers discussed how the new release came to be, the new Stamp mode, and more.
Find some excerpts from the interview below. You can read the full discussion here.
On how Snipperclips Plus came to be…
Tom: Both SFB and Nintendo agreed that we wanted to add more content, we felt that the game deserved to be bigger. And we knew that we still had plenty of ideas, both those we’d already thought of and lots that we hadn’t!
Adam: We saw pretty quickly after launch that people were really enjoying the game, which reassured everyone that it was something worth going after. We discussed what kind of additional content would players value the most. We decided one development priority should be to expand the “core” 1-2 player part of the game.
On the design goals for Snipperclips Plus…
Adam: As I mentioned before, we noticed players would often try to solve levels using the same shapes over and over, so I wanted to try to encourage them to cut shapes they’d not thought about before. We wanted the levels to feel new and interesting, but we were careful not to push the difficulty too far. Of course, that’s quite subjective.
Tom: We had a design philosophy in the original game that it should be fun to fail – that messing up should often be funnier than the right solution. Watching everyone play the game after launch, I think we found a pretty good balance, and we noticed that the World 3 levels were tricky enough to still be fun and just stay short of frustrating for most people. So we tried to keep the new content on the same side of that line.
Adam: We also wanted both “World 4” and “World 5” to offer a great deal of variety. In World 1, for example, there are three levels about putting different kinds of balls through hoops. Those levels are all different, but they share the same logic, and they look similar. In the new content, there aren’t as many levels with multiple iterations like that. Most levels are completely unique experiences.
On Stamp mode…
Adam: We actually had this idea at a very early stage in development. (It even pre-dates the Hockey mode, which shares the same control scheme) We always felt we’d like to give players a chance to relax and play around without having to worry about completing objectives. The game has a theme of creativity and freedom, so it was a natural fit. It’s fun to see what kind of art you can make within the limitations of the system. I think people will be shocked by what’s possible – please everyone, share your Stamp mode screenshots on Twitter so I can see!
Pm how has the relationship between SFB Games and Nintendo evolved…
Adam: I’m not sure it’s changed in any particular way since the initial launch. SFB proved what we’re capable of by getting the game done on time, which was reassuring to everyone at Nintendo, I’m sure. Over time we’ve all learnt a bit more about how to communicate effectively, give the most helpful feedback, things like that.
