There are slot themes that make perfect sense on paper. And then there’s Spice – NetEnt’s sun-soaked crime caper starring a cast of shady turtles who look like they’ve spent a little too much time watching 1980s gangster movies.
It’s a wonderfully strange concept, but also one that gives Spice an identity all of its own. From pastel suits and tropical surroundings to reptiles with distinctly questionable lifestyles, the game embraces its absurdity rather than trying to play things safe.
So, how does an idea like this actually make it from the drawing board into a finished NetEnt release? We spoke with game designer William about the story behind Spice, why its characters nearly weren’t turtles at all, and the creative decisions that helped shape its unmistakable look.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): Hi William, thanks for your time! I’m just going to fire off the first question straight away. Spice has one of the more unusual themes we’ve seen from NetEnt in recent years. At what point did you know “criminal turtles” was an idea worth committing to?
NetEnt (William): Honestly, it wasn’t really about the turtles at first, it was about the vibe. For Spice, we wanted something sun-soaked, a little sleazy, a little glamorous, like a beach town where everyone’s definitely doing something shady through a smoothie shop.
Funnily enough, the cast actually started as turtles, then at some point someone said “wait, what if they were just… people?” So, we made them human for a while. It looked fine. It looked normal. And normal was exactly the problem, the moment we swapped them back to turtles, the whole thing suddenly had personality again.
Turns out nothing sells “mafia with questionable life choices” quite like a guy in a Hawaiian shirt who also happens to have a shell.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): Was there a real-world visual reference – films, TV shows, comics or even specific neighbourhoods – that influenced the look and atmosphere of Spice?
NetEnt (William): Scarface. One hundred percent, unapologetically, Scarface. We basically watched it, took notes, and then asked, “okay but what if it was slower and had a shell.” The pastel suits, the excess, the questionable business decisions. It’s all there. We just swapped Tony Montana’s temper for something with significantly less leg speed.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): The Feature Lane is constantly drawing the player’s eye above the reels. Was the visual design built around that mechanic from day one, or did the gameplay come first?
NetEnt (William): It really grew out of wanting the gameplay and the story to feel like the same thing, not two separate layers slapped together. The Feature Lane became our way of literally showing the “story escalating” above the everyday grind of the reels, like the difference between running your usual racket and suddenly getting a call that things just got a lot more serious.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): There are lots of small environmental details, cars, storefronts, beaches, colours, that help sell the world. Are there any hidden references or Easter eggs players probably haven’t noticed?
NetEnt (William): Honestly, with this one we wanted to keep the focus squarely on the gameplay and the visual storytelling itself, rather than scattering the world with a bunch of hidden jokes for players to go hunting for. We’d rather you notice the vibe than notice we hid a pun somewhere.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): Grid multiplier games have become a crowded space over the past few years. From a visual perspective, how did you make sure Spice had its own identity instead of feeling like another game in the genre?
NetEnt (William): Simple: nobody else had turtles with questionable hobbies. That’s not a genre trope. When your competitors are doing “generic fruit grid” you just quietly bring in reptiles wearing sunglasses and let the market sort itself out.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): Did the artists and mathematicians work closely together during development? Were there moments where the visuals had to change because of how the game actually played?
NetEnt (William): Oh, we absolutely butted heads with the math team. Multiplier presentation especially was a battlefield. They wanted numbers, we wanted visual comfort. But after enough coffee and enough passive-aggressive Slack messages, we found a balance everyone could live with. Nobody stormed out, and the turtles came out the other side looking appropriately smug about their winnings.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): If players remember just one thing about Spice a few years from now, what do you hope it is?
NetEnt (William): Honestly? We just hope there’s one damn turtle out there living rent-free in someone’s head, popping up at 3am for no reason at all. If one player loses sleep wondering what that little shelled crook is up to next, job done.
