SNAPTRAP
Project Description
Risk life and limb to grab nectar from the jaws of a massive venus flytrap! (page WIP)
Timeline
Summer 2025 - present
Responsibilities
Visuals, Fabrication, Game Design, UX
Tools
Hands, One Massive Bandsaw, Bartering, Blender
Background
Basic Overview
Operation meets Hungry Hungry Hippos. You're just a bug competing against other critters for nectar. Grab as many with your pincers, but it's harder than it looks - avoid the crafty flytrap's trigger hairs! Brush up against two and it'll snap shut on you!
Shown at alt.ctrl GDC and Maker Faire LA. Over 1000 bugs trapped! <- real statistic
Design
Fabrication
While designing this, I played around with many different shapes and sizes of trap. We landed on a 2-3 player game, and looked at average arm length to figure out the depth of the trap.
To prevent pinching players' arms or hands, we added pool noodle padding on the edges and increased the height of the hinge. This kept everyone's limbs intact!
I had a lot of fun choosing materials. The faux pink alligator leather made it easy to wipe down the game between players, and our pincers were printed with an iridescent, beetle-shell like filament.
one of our earliest builds
Design
Game Design
Can't change what nature's already figured out! Real venus flytraps attract flies with nectar, and snap shut once two hairs are triggered in succession. The delicate balance between collaboration and competition translated really well to the game itself. Triggering one hair puts everyone in a danger state for 5 sec; if another hair is touched, everyone loses. Players as a group had to decide if it was worth it or not to continue grabbing nectar.
The physical nature and open-ended rules of our game led to some really interesting emergent gameplay and strategies. Some players hoarded nectar on their side, some stole from others, and some bold ones fought other players for preferred pieces.
Our pincer shapes also left a lot to personal preference. Players found creative ways to use their "jaws"!
Extra
WIP + Game Footage
