Attack of the SNACs.

Where it started

Pieland Games has a clear visual identity: bright, funny, character-driven. When I was brought on to help develop their first board game, the IP was already established and the art style non-negotiable. The designer, Danilo, had a dice-based combat system he wanted to build from, and a rough idea of the feel: family-friendly, mid-complexity, something that introduced players to the mechanics you'd find in modern board games without overwhelming them.

My job was to make that work across the whole thing. Theme, mechanics, components, and production in the same conversation.

Finding the game's character

Early playtests used a Market > Fight > Rest loop that worked as a skeleton but had no reason to exist. During one of those sessions I introduced the Huntmaster, a central NPC who gave players a context for everything they were doing. This character became our north star, helping us define the theme and how the experience should feel.

From there, Danilo and I developed a working method. He came at the game through mechanics; I came at it through theme. Meeting in the middle produced something neither of us would have arrived at alone. The loop we landed on was a condensed worker placement phase before combat: simple enough to teach in minutes, substantial enough that the choices felt real.

Theme on brand

The IP gave us the world. The central character gave us a specific angle on it. Players are monster hunters recruited by the Huntmaster, competing to prove themselves as his next apprentice. The monsters are SNACs — Spooky Nectar Effected Creatures — warped animals infected by a spreading blight and named with the food puns the Pieland brand runs on.

I became the art director and lore master for the project. Working with the artist and a writer, I made sure every monster fit the tone and the mechanics simultaneously. A SNAC had to make sense as a creature, as a pun, and as a game mechanic. That three-way check ran through everything we made.

Components and the player boards

Attack of the SNACs is component-heavy. That is a selling point and a cost. The central dice system is the game, and players loved it. Here is how I balanced it.

On the monster cards I cut mechanics that added complexity without adding choice, tightened the colour system to reduce cognitive load during learning, and let the artwork carry more weight. On the main board, removing an entire region brought every number into clean divisibility by four, which matters more than it sounds when players are mid-combat tracking resources.

The component I'm most satisfied with is the player board. The game is push-your-luck at its core: players need to see exactly what resources they have left before deciding whether to tackle another monster. I designed a dual-layered board that tracks HP, dice, and tokens at a glance, and found room in the layout for mild engine building — a reward for players who engage with the system deeply, invisible to those who don't. Technical print requirements forced multiple redesigns before arriving at the final version.

Result

Attack of the SNACs was funded on Kickstarter in 2024, produced and delivered in 2025. It has been well rated and reviewed on Board Game Geek, and well received at conventions throughout Mexico and Canada.

"Great game — easy to learn, fun for everyone regardless of ability, and next-level theme. The team did a phenomenal job. Also love the unique mechanics and replayability."

"I've played with my 12- and 14-year-old daughters and they absolutely love it. Between the laughs, the tension of dice rolls, and the joy of character building, it's a game we keep reaching for."

The artbook

Alongside the game, the team produced a companion artbook collecting the visual development of Attack of the SNACs — monster concepts, character references, and the illustration process behind the Pieland world.