Theme + Mechanics + Artwork.
It’s rare that a game aces all three departments at once, yet one did. And it turned into a game I’ve been carrying around with me ever since.
It’s been about a month since I got introduced to Shinobi Spy & Supply, a game about two rival shops selling spy tools to ninja spies, while also slipping spies into each other’s shops.
The whole thing feels like the plot of a movie!
The spying bit that introduces Opponent Parasitism, one of my favorite game mechanisms.
The story of rival shops selling spy tools to ninjas while secretly spying on each other.
The animal artwork bringing these sneaky little ninjas to life.
There’s a lot this little card game gets right.
Look at them adorable ninjas!
So naturally, I had to reach out to Leslie Kolke, who co-designed the game alongside Jered Byford, while also being the artist behind the game. I wanted to know what went on behind creating a game where so many things clicked so well.
Here’s what Leslie shared with me:
“Shinobi Spy & Supply started really simple; drawing cards, spending them to serve customers (that score at the end), and taking bonus actions. While a good start, it didn’t feel interesting, or enough like ninja (either historically or pop-culture ninja). One cool thing about co-designing games with my partner is that we can play the game repeatedly and iterate quickly and spontaneously, which we did!
We added a lot of mechanics to the game at this point, some of which stayed and others had to be stripped back. Firstly, we added the spies, with opponent parasitism and resource discounts. The resource discounts started too high (all of your opponent’s cards), and got scaled down to make the resource management more interesting (discounts on spies only, which fit better thematically too).
Reshuffling the 18 card deck was cumbersome, so we added just enough cards to keep the same game length without reshuffling. Each card had a unique bonus action, which we later reduced to 4 action types. We made the set collection more complex and varied by card, but had to remove the negative point scoring. The market size got reduced from 5 cards to 3, and we added the center market rotation with directional limitations.
Our goal as designers is to make games that are fun, but crunchy and make you think! Shinobi Spy & Supply definitely hits that mark, while being a funky set-collection tableau-builder and also a 2-player duel. I hope folks enjoy it!
The art and historical research behind the game deserve more time than I can talk about here! I dove deep into the history of Shinobi-no-mono, Ukiyo-e art and artists, Kabuki theatre, and Japanese animals. We’re giving away my notes as a free artbook so everyone can have access to what we learned while making the game!”
Shinobi's first prototype
Knowing Leslie’s thoughts on the creation of Shinobi Spy & Supply made me appreciate the game even more. You can feel how much refinement went into this game.
Making the game more compact without losing depth. Removing mechanics and frictions that did not fit. Building a crunchy little experience where every move has consequences.
And perhaps my favorite part: making sure the theme was not just pasted on top of the game, but woven directly into its mechanics and artwork from the ground up.
Aspiring game designers, take notes!
There’s a lot to learn from designers who know exactly what they want their games to be, and more importantly, know when to stop. Kudos to Leslie and Jered for bringing Shinobi Spy & Supply to life so beautifully!
- Tas.
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