Snakes Outbreak
- Brand
- Nokia
- Year
- 2005
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- Farfar
Objective
The N-Gage handheld was struggling to find an audience, so Nokia leaned on the one game everyone already knew — Snake, carried on an estimated 350 million phones — to give people a reason to pick the device up. Giving away a free 3D remake let Nokia turn years of casual Snake skill into N-Gage trial, while using the release to prove out the handset's Bluetooth and online multiplayer without spending on media.
Solution
Players downloaded a free, roughly 1MB 3D remake of Snake straight to their N-Gage from snakesoutbreak.com or Nokia's own site, no memory card needed. Solo, they steered the snake through 42 levels grouped into four elemental worlds, starting on square grids that later turn hexagonal, racing a constant countdown that forces them to keep eating just to stay alive. Anyone who already had the game could open its "Send Game" menu and beam the whole thing to a nearby N-Gage over Bluetooth, so a friend could start playing without ever visiting the site. Up to four players could also link up over Bluetooth for a last-snake-standing match on one shared board, with scores reported to a worldwide leaderboard on N-Gage Arena.
Results
The snakesoutbreak.com minisite drew hundreds of thousands of hits in its first few days online.
- 1
Players get the game either as a free download from the campaign minisite or by standing near another N-Gage owner and receiving the entire game over Bluetooth — the same transfer that gives the campaign its "outbreak" spread.
- 2
Launching the game opens a title screen and a start menu listing the game modes, with "Send Game" present as a menu item from the outset.
- 3
In single-player, the snake moves across a 3D neon grid, following trails of blue diamonds that lengthen its tail as it eats them; a running timer pushes the player to boost along clear stretches and brake before turns rather than crawl.
- 4
Beyond the diamond trail, players detour off the main path to collect letters spelling N-G-A-G-E and extra lives, often reaching them by passing through breakaway walls that shorten the snake, trading length for the pickup.
- 5
Additional specials such as shields and teleporters appear on the board, and the soundtrack shifts in response to the player's actions.
- 6
The game spans 42 levels (37 in the N-Series version), each themed around one of the four classical elements — earth, fire, water, air — with hazards and visuals changing accordingly.
- 7
Later levels replace the square grid with a hexagonal one, adding a "hard turn" move for sharper direction changes, while some boards wrap around at the edges or run across two connected surfaces at once.
- 8
Switching to multiplayer, up to four N-Gage owners connect over Bluetooth on a shared board; instead of collecting, players ram rival snakes to eliminate them, and the last snake left wins the round.
- 9
Scores post to a worldwide leaderboard hosted on N-Gage Arena, and players can then hit "Send Game" from the menu to pass the entire game to another N-Gage owner over Bluetooth, continuing the outbreak.
