12.20 [Designer’s Notes] We all love snow leopards, but who will love the ugly blue sheep?
By Zheng Yanning (SnowSerene Games)
Among all the cards in Snow Leopard Shadow, there is one called 【Tail-Biting】.
In the illustration, a snow leopard is holding its long, fluffy tail in its mouth—it looks incredibly adorable. During our showcase in Birmingham, I lost count of how many times customers picked up this specific card and exclaimed, “So cute!”
This is hardly surprising. Half a century ago, Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz proposed the "Baby Schema": round faces, large eyes, and fluffiness. These traits strike the human brain with surgical precision, triggering dopamine and igniting a powerful protective instinct the moment we lay eyes on a snow leopard.
Admit it—we are visual creatures. On nature’s shelves, "cuteness" is the ultimate hard currency.
While we pour all our affection and resources into the snow leopard, we often overlook the dusty, grey shadows in the background of the frame. In the barren rock zones of the Helan Mountains, at altitudes above 2,000 meters, lives an animal called the Blue Sheep (Bharal). Their appearance is unremarkable; once they stand against a rocky slope, they vanish instantly from sight. Yet, they are the permanent residents of these mountains, with a population density as high as 15 per square kilometer. They aren’t "cute," and they don’t know how to play for our affections.
Yet, for the snow leopard, the blue sheep is its primary food source; the population density of these sheep directly dictates the survival or death of the leopard. Given that these unassuming blue sheep are so vital, how can they be presented to the public in a way that earns them a measure of favoritism and concern?