Developing THE SLASHER: A Brief Discussion with Oike Takaaki
Hi, everyone! It’s Matthew Moller with JELLY JELLY INTL here. I’m posting this article on the first day of SPIEL Essen 2025 to coincide with the release of JELLY JELLY GAMES’ newest game, THE SLASHER! For more details about the game, go here: https://jelly2intl.com/products/the-slasher-pre-order-2025-essen-pickup-available
We thought it would be fun to ask the person tasked with developing the JELLY JELLY version of the game—Oike Takaaki—some questions about it, including what changes were made to the original version by PLAYWARP, and some of his thoughts on developing cooperative games in general. For those of you who are attending SPIEL, you can meet him in person and try out the game for yourself at our booth!
Alright, let’s dive right into the questions.
Tell me a little bit about yourself and your history as a game developer.
Practicing explaining THE SLASHER in English before SPIEL!
I (designer name Iida Takaaki) work for JELLY JELLY GAMES (JJG), primarily focusing on game design and development. I think the game that best represents my work with JELLY JELLY is FIXER, a trick-taking game that received an 8/10 rating from The Dice Tower. I have also released many titles independently. (Just like last year, I’ll be attending Essen this year too!)
Why did JELLY JELLY GAMES decide to remake THE SLASHER? Tell me a bit about the original's appeal.
JJG tends to do 2-player small box games well; we thought it would be a good continuation of our popular title “Two Rooms,” since it’s also a cooperative game with a similar difficulty and ambience. The artwork is excellent, and the mild horror theme is one that naturally attracts attention both in Japan and abroad.
When I first heard about THE SLASHER, it had only been announced on Bodogēma (a Japanese board game web shop) and it appeared there were no plans to sell it at Game Market. Despite this, it continuously popped up on my X timeline, and I saw reviews from overseas players, too. When I initially played it, it was already highly polished, so I immediately reached out to the original creator to start negotiations for publication
Did you make any changes to the flow of the game or card effects?
The game already felt quite complete when I started working on it, so we didn’t really make any changes to the core gameplay flow. The game could occasionally feel unfairly brutal, however, so we focused mainly on reducing that sense of unfairness while preserving the tension.
Note the levels in the bottom left corner of each card.
This ties into one of the main changes we made: difficulty settings. The original had two difficulty levels; the JJG edition features four. We assigned levels to each area card based on area rule difficulty and changed how game setup worked accordingly. The “Nightmare” difficulty is so challenging that even our development team thought “This might be impossible!” so I hope players will take on the challenge after getting their hands on the game!
The effects of item cards were improved significantly - the Walkie-Talkie and Flashlight in particular are very strong!
We also buffed some item cards. Before, it felt disappointing when an escape item wasn’t revealed and players had to take a regular item. We adjusted the effects to make item acquisition something people would actually look forward to.
What about the artwork? Were there any changes on that front?
We kept the original artwork as intact as possible, though we did end up commissioning some new illustrations for the card backs and a few other elements. On the graphic design side, we made numerous UI adjustments. Compared to the original, there’s quite a bit more visible information now, but we designed it so that players won’t feel overwhelmed or confused, particularly on their first playthrough.
What kinds of challenges come with developing a cooperative game compared to a competitive one?
If a cooperative game is too forgiving, it runs the risk of becoming boring. In THE SLASHER, for example, if you tone down the killer too much, the game’s tension drops, and you lose the surprising and heart-pounding moments that make it exciting. In my opinion, a good co-op game should balance things so that players feel like both heaven and hell are within reach; fine-tuning that sense of danger was difficult.
In the final version, we made sure the killer almost always appears in the very first round, creating an immediate sense of danger. In the later stages of the game (as other item cards are taken from the deck) the killer appears in almost every round, keeping up the pressure until the very end.
This game also requires partners to constantly discuss risk and reward. In trick-taking games, the order in which cards are played naturally substitutes for conversation, which makes the mechanism a perfect fit for two-player cooperative play, even more so than for larger groups.
Is there anything you'd like to tell the readers? (Maybe some hints about the game?)
Even on “Easy” difficulty, once your health drops into the yellow, things get rough fast. It’s extremely important to keep the first damage you take to 1.
On higher difficulties, instead of thinking “Maybe we can win next turn,” it’s crucial to play with the mindset of “Let’s make sure we definitely don’t die next turn.”
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And that’s all for our questions! I wanted to keep this a fairly light read, while still giving some insight into the developer’s approach to the game for those who are interested and have the right context. As someone who loves cooperative games, I hope everyone who has a chance to get the game picks up a copy at SPIEL - I wish you luck in escaping the campground!
Interviewee: Oike Takaaki (Designer name Iida Takaaki), JELLY JELLY GAMES
Translation and additional comments by Matthew Moller, JELLY JELLY INTL
PS: Be on the lookout for a future in-depth article discussing cooperative game design and development.