This first application I programmed in anger on a PDA was called "Adder," and in it you controlled an Adder, as he went round eating numbers and adding to his length. It's clear that in those days I spent a lot of time deciding what to call my games, even when they were obvious clones of the classic snake game. Looking at the N-Gage Games market nowadays, everyone expected an update of Nokia's Snake game in the N-Gage box, but it wasn't there. Although the rumours of a super 3D version gained strength, it wasn't until the launch of the N-Gage QD, and a five second video snippet of the application running, that Nokia acknowledged this long awaited app.
So with a Q4 2004 release date, it was time for the All About Team to track down who was in charge of Snakes for the N-Gage, and find out the truth about the reptile we all want to play. Our trail led us to sunny Vancouver, and a meeting with Dan Scott at a nondescript coffee bar...
Mr Plissken? Call Me Snake...
"So Dan," I started, "what exactly do you do at Nokia?" "I like to talk about games and making games." Which is as helpful as the bottom of the Espresso menu which says 'Prices available from your Waiter."
"Seriously, Ewan, I'm a Producer for the N-Gage. This usually takes a lot of explaining since there are so many different parts to the job, and I've only this one cup of coffee. Simply put, the Producer is the single person responsible for the game from beginning to end. We are the “keepers of the vision” if you will and are usually part of the project from conception and design, through development in all its phases, through testing, debugging and tuning until the game passes certification and is manufactured. Once the game is released to the public our participation drops off to more of a promotional role where we might meet with the press or otherwise talk about the game and creating the game."
"Like meeting up with myself here?" Dan nods through his latte. "Let's get to the most important question everyone's asking. Are Nokia really going to give this game away for free?"
"Yes. Snakes will be available for free download. All you will need to pay is your carrier charges if you download over the air. You will also be able to download it to your PC and then Bluetooth it over to your N-Gage. We even have a version that people can copy directly to an MMC if they have a card writer."
There's been lots of opinion on what's going to be going on with Snakes, with some voices suggesting the free option, some suggesting it would launch a "budget" brand of MMC card games, with others pointing out it'll probably go into the box for a Christmas promotion. So now all of those rumours can be put to rest, it's time to find out more about Snakes. There's a long history to the game, as I pointed out to Dan. "Indeed there is. I've been told there are over 500 million copies of Nokia's Snake out there, so the idea of being in charge of the 'sequel' is both exciting and a little frightening at the same time." If it all goes wrong then, we can blame you? "Pretty much."
Can Dan tell us a bit more about the history of this version, and where his 'producer's vision' wanted to go? "Sure. First of all, the N-Gage is a fantastic platform for arcade style games so I was certain I wanted to bring a lot of that style of game play to the new version. During the early development of the N-Gage, Iomo (one of Nokia’s long standing developers), made a demo version of a 3D Snake game called Snake-Techno. When I started with N-Gage I was asked to meet with Iomo and see what we could do with their demo."
A small side note here, but quite a few N-Gage games have started this way, with small demos being sent to the N-Gage team. A select few went forward for more investigation. So Snakes was found as part of this process. But back to Dan, who's letting his drink get cold in his enthusiasm.
"We didn’t want to lose the connection between the original game and the new one so we kept some basic elements. The game takes place on a grid, there are walls you don’t want to hit, eating things makes the snake’s tail grow and the game gets harder the farther you go. Keeping these in raised some issues with the Snake controls, since the Snake will only turn when it is on a grid tile. If you look at the original Snake game you can see these discrete movements, in the new game we have a much smoother animation. But it means learning to anticipate the snakes movements."
"In the new game the most obvious change is that it is 3D, but there are some other major changes: you can play against 3 other players in a kind of Snake Deathmatch using Bluetooth, the play fields can have holes in them and you can actually travel through these holes and along the underside of the level. We also added power ups and introduced a brand new game element which we call Power Paths."
"Power Paths are trails you direct the Snake along for huge points. Each time you successfully complete a Power Path you gain a score multiplier but you will only get the multiplier if you travel from one end of the path to the other without coming off. This can be quite challenging but I expect there will be some Snakes gurus who will be able get some very high scores to post up on Arena"
For a brief moment I was wondering what all this meant. Until Dan passed over a heavily customised N-Gage QD with the latest build of Snakes...
Ten minutes pass.
...Okay I'm convinced. Nokia have got a winner here. There's some of the fastest 3d graphics I've seen on a Series 60 device, the play is smooth and easy to pick up, even on the higher levels where there is so much going on around the screen. Dan's team has almost nailed the learning curve perfectly. This is an N-Gage only project, isn't it Dan?
"Well I’m sure that Series 60 phone users would love to play Snakes but the game is being designed for N-Gage and N-Gage users. The reason for this is that we want to give all N-Gage owners a game in common so that no matter who you run into you will always be able to play a game with them. Even if they don’t have Snakes when you meet them it only takes a few moments for you to send it to them using the “Send Game” option in the main menu. This option uses Bluetooth so there is no charge to anyone for this transfer."
Hold on, strike that, reverse (yikes, I'm turning into Willy Wonka). It can be sent to another N-Gage user? Seriously?
"Absolutely. We've created a “Viral Distribution” technique that allows us to send the game from one N-Gage to another. The demo of Pathway to Glory was a 16mb d/load, and was made available to anyone who wanted it. Snakes comes in at around 1.5mb, with this viral send option in Snakes. Not only that but it will only take up as much room as the installed game takes. If you were to send over a sis file of the game it would take up a lot more space since you would need to have the message with the sis file then you would need to copy it to the installer and then install the game! Our method is much more efficient."
And Dan shows me with his Snake enabled QD and my Snake-less version. Needless to say, the trip home is going to drain my battery by a significant amount as I practice.
"We are going to use this technique in other games for sending demo copies from one machine to another or maybe even multiplayer levels so you can play a game with someone who doesn’t own the game. We are still working out the details on that though." Hopefully those details can be worked out quickly - people who have bought, say, Ghost Recon (which multiplayers up to eight people) are more likely to advertise it in their own groups if a Multiplayer demo can be provided. Dan nods in agreement as we order more coffee. Looks like I get another fifteen minutes!
Obvious question after seeing the demo, Dan. Given Nokia have bundled Snake with every phone for the last decade, it was a bit of a surprise that Snakes wasn't in the box with the N-Gage. So was this version of Snakes always planned, or was there a lot of feedback asking for a new version of Snakes?
"Well, when Iomo developed the Snake-Techno demo it was hoped that we would be able to get a version ready for launch but we had so much work to do getting the launch titles ready that Snakes didn’t get started until after the N-Gage was launched. That was almost a year ago and we are just putting the finishing touches on it right now. That might seem like a long time to make a game but in reality it is quite short for an original title. Most N-Gage games will take over a year to design, develop and manufacture. Ports of existing games don’t take as long but they still take a surprising amount of time."
"The N-Gage is quite a complex machine to develop for. Not only do you have to create the game but you also have to factor in Bluetooth, Arena and the Telephony functions. These all have to work in harmony so you don’t miss any phone calls or lose your place in the game if you answer the call. Our developers are now becoming experts in this but until we made the first N-Gage games no one had ever done it before."
Even in a quick run round this beta, I can see a lot of new features. Which are your favourite? "Well I guess the first and most noticeable is this version is fully 3D. Since it is 3D we can have multiple camera angles and you can change it whenever you like or use the angle we define. Snakes also follows a classic arcade game style which challenges the you to see how far you can get, how many levels can you beat and how high of a score can you earn before you use up your last snake."
"There are over 40 levels in the game and you can earn bonus levels by collecting the letters of the word “SNAKES”. You can pick up extra snake lives by spelling “NGAGE” or by eating the 1-up pickups, they look like little snakes floating over the level. We also have a few surprises like double sided levels and the Hex tile grids that are a lot more challenging and will test the skills of even the best old school Snake pilots."
"But by far the most exciting thing about Snakes is the multiplayer mode. There is nothing quite as satisfying as destroying your mate’s snake. (ha ha ha) This is really where the N-Gage shines. Getting together with some friends for a match or two, throwing down the gauntlet and seeing who’s snake rules."
And there's another cold coffee for Dan. I guess Producers are just like Programmers, where a tepid drink means something good has just been coded.
Has this enthusiasm been tempered by the fact that there are early version of Snakes on the internet? It seems that people visiting events like Gamestars Live have been beamed the game? "I would say that is a reflection of how excited everyone is about Snakes. It is not our normal policy to release games that are not finished and I doubt it will happen again."
Do you find that enthusiasm strange? I mean there's a justifiable hype for a huge war game like "Pathway to Glory," which is complex, has huge depth, a massive story arc... why do you think there is as much anticipation for Snakes (if not more) compared to Pathway? "To start with, PTG is a great game with a lot of intricate game play and depth. Snakes, on the other hand, gives people a chance to play a much simpler game in a style that takes us back to the roots of video games. These kinds of games have a broad appeal since the simple controls and game concept won’t intimidate anyone and they can have fun with it right away without noticing the learning curve. It's simple fun where you feel a sense of accomplishment after beating a level and can’t wait to see what cool stuff lies ahead."
We leave our table, and it's time for Dan to go back to work, and myself to head back home. Dan thanks for your time.
Snakes is due out sometime before Christmas 2004. Watch the All About N-Gage front page and the Snakes entry in our Games Database for more news...