As a kid, like many children of my generation, I was obsessed with the fantastical creature media of the 90s/2000s–Pokemon, Digimon, Neopets, etc. When I was 8, I invented my own critter-filled world, which I dubbed Snopets. Why that name? Who knows. It had nothing to do with snow. The workings of children’s brains are mysterious and I probably just liked how it sounded. Regardless, I spent my days drawing pages and pages of comics about the Snopets universe, probably totaling up to 70+ pages, which presumably are buried deep in a box in my parents’ garage.
Almost 20 years later, in May 2023, I suddenly found myself thinking of the Snopets, and was hit with an urge to give them a glow up, given that my art skills have improved somewhat. This urge developed into a full reboot that unfolded over the following 4 months, where I expanded my original stable of 7 Snopets into a full set of 64 creatures, each with their own unique behaviors and backstories. It was a ton of fun, and I’m proud to see this more fully realized version of my childhood vision.
What also emerged along the way was a very different, ecologically-focused approach to thinking about the mechanics of the Snopets world. I was originally very inspired by Pokemon, but found myself gradually changing elements: rather than being “caught” and fighting each other, most Snopets just go about their lives in the wild, and the collection element is more about discovering them and observing their natural habits. Instead of having “types,” I classified them based on their habitat. Their ability to “evolve” isn’t based on experience gained fighting, but a combination of their happiness, the health of their environment, and their age (so earlier evolution stages are more explicitly like babies). I have no immediate plans to turn this into an actual game, but who knows? Maybe someday! In the meantime, you can learn about all the Snopets in the Snopendium!
Snopets 