MMO Snake + Qix
September 15, 2016 4:15 PM   Subscribe

splix is a game where you capture territory and avoid being touched by other players.
posted by Going To Maine (42 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
keys so far, don't run into yourself, and if the other people cut your tail as you're taking new territory you die.
posted by Carillon at 4:31 PM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


Yes the usual mechanics of snake are reversed - if someone hits your tail, you die. I like it.
posted by Jimbob at 4:33 PM on September 15, 2016


This is my favorite variation on the .io thing so far.
posted by phunniemee at 4:35 PM on September 15, 2016


Also the boundary wall will kill you.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:50 PM on September 15, 2016


Pretty fun!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 4:55 PM on September 15, 2016


Made it to #2 rank at 10k blocks with my sekrit strategy NO I WON'T TELL YOU
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:06 PM on September 15, 2016


im in ur base stealin ur skwarez
posted by Flashman at 5:08 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


I had things to do
posted by KChasm at 5:53 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


on the one hand, the most fun part of this game seems to be fighting. on the other hand, fighting seems to be a pessimal strategy — the right thing to do, as far as I can tell, is to always keep your entire body on the screen and avoid interactions with others insofar as is possible.

what's the more subtle game I'm missing? what should I do other than either get bored slowly but efficiently nibbling out territory for myself, or have fun (but not get very many blocks) by getting all up in the business of my neighbors?
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:05 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don’t think that this game is particularly subtle; your ability to avoid fighting for territory depends a lot on where you get spawned.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:14 PM on September 15, 2016


Is there a way to roll over and kill the ad's? :--)
posted by sammyo at 6:19 PM on September 15, 2016


I find myself getting angry at players near me now based on the colors I was fighting with last time. Goddamit, bright green!
posted by Adridne at 6:31 PM on September 15, 2016


Ha Ha, wait what color was I when.... never mind.
posted by sammyo at 6:34 PM on September 15, 2016


11098! Briefly ranked #2.
posted by miyabo at 6:43 PM on September 15, 2016


Anyone make a twitter/facebook share to unlock custom blocks? What does that give you?
posted by Mitheral at 6:47 PM on September 15, 2016


> Is there a way to roll over and kill the ad's? :--)

AdBlock works fine.

anyway, here's my account of a boring time on the leader board. This strategy is uninteresting, but effective. I would be glad to hear of anyone replicating it (or, please, improving on it), because, honestly, I found it a bit too dull to repeat myself. Anyway:
  1. Keep your entire body on screen at all times.
  2. Never stray more than four squares from your own turf.
  3. Frequently dip back into your territory to keep your body from becoming too long to comfortably fit on the screen.
  4. Return to your territory immediately if you so much as see another snake.
  5. If another snake enters your territory, do not by any means leave your territory at any time. Follow them — but not too closely, and, I repeat, do not leave your own color. At all.
  6. Do not worry about losing squares.
  7. No, seriously, do not worry about losing squares. Just follow invaders from inside your remaining turf. Wait for your invader to screw up and clearly expose their body to you, then take them. Or wait for them to leave after getting fed up with how cautiously they have to play while you're following them.
  8. The reason why you don't care about losing turf is that it's trivial to gain it back in one swoop after your invader either leaves or dies. Most players will attempt to burrow deep into your territory. If they do, just go back to where they entered your territory, draw a line across, and it's all restored.
  9. No matter how cautiously you're playing, you can play more cautiously. Remember, after all, that lag exists and that lag can kill you even when nothing else can. But also remember that getting squares back is easy. There is no reason not to compensate for lag by playing even slower and safer than you would need to in a perfectly lagless world.
  10. Enjoy (?) your stay on the leaderboard.
Hopefully there's things I'm overlooking, and hopefully there are more interesting, more balanced strategies available that outcompete the sort of turtling I advocate above.

But maybe there's not.

Here's how I'd change the game, if I were making small tweaks:
  1. Make the board smaller. Make people fight by denying them breathing space.
  2. Give out extra squares when you take a lot of squares at once. Keep cautious players off the leader board by rewarding adventurous play with extra territory.
  3. Make it so that players who kill other players get a portion of the defeated players' squares, thereby encouraging combat.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:58 PM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]


lag can be a real killer; I just died after an unexpected 30 + block drive to the south.
posted by Mitheral at 7:40 PM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


This is a helluva lot of fun.
posted by pianoboy at 9:00 PM on September 15, 2016


This is really great.
posted by equalpants at 10:36 PM on September 15, 2016


There needs to be a master list of .io games.
posted by BiggerJ at 11:39 PM on September 15, 2016


Metafilter: Keep your entire body on screen at all times.
posted by ejoey at 12:58 AM on September 16, 2016 [5 favorites]


I was kind of surprised when I first saw someone grab my coloured squares directly. I had assumed the only way to capture someones space was to surround them entirely. Which would lead to very different dynamic but I'm not sure whether it would be a better dynamic. I suppose there would be a risk that you could be surrounded and unable to expand.
posted by RobotHero at 9:35 AM on September 16, 2016


But it could also be a motive against turtling.
posted by RobotHero at 9:36 AM on September 16, 2016


There needs to be a master list of .io games.

We just need to institute .io Friodays
posted by Kabanos at 10:05 AM on September 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have never understood geopolitics so much. At first it was just idyllic, as the isolated empire of Greenopia claimed small pockets of uninhabited land a few square at a time. Sure there were a few scuffles here are there, but these were new players, unfamiliar with the rules and quickly defeated as they attempted to traverse our sacred lands. But then... we made the leader board.

Sure, we were over 10,000 blocks behind but the hunger was real. Scanning the map for large swaths of unoccupied tiles and making risky captures. Entreating two blocks into enemy territory just to goad them into attacking us, not realizing the mass of our nation, and retaliating with full force. Tense, armored standoffs with neighboring territories that ended in death when they abused our mercy. Empires crumbled into dust and we rose and rose! By the end it was sheer brutality. We'd murder just because the opportunity arose, even with no plans to expand into the emptied land.

Our glorious motherland finally hit number 1 and further expanded into a glorious 16,556 blocks, dominating the map. It was finally defeated by that which all nations succumb to--a code review meeting.
posted by OMGTehAwsome at 10:26 AM on September 16, 2016 [6 favorites]


Unless I missed something, the game only cares about blocks captured, not the retention of those blocks. There's no reason at all to defend territory, from a strict score-building standpoint.

My strategy was to slowly and safely strike off in one direction (four x four areas at a time) and then turn 90 degrees, and continue making a perimeter of a square. Then I eventually close the square and capture a huge territory. Then build another large square off this one, etc.

The temptation to kill other players, both for the sheer gratification and the 500 points is high, but I've died because I struck out too far from safety, securing the kill only to die to a 3rd player.
posted by explosion at 10:47 AM on September 16, 2016


I got into 2nd rank a couple times using most of You Can't Tip A Buick's strategy, with a score about 15,000. I omitted rule 2, though, but I adopted a "slowly close pincers around a huge territory" approach like explosion says.

Also, if you spawn near an edge, or even better, a corner, you have an easier time because you know attacks are less likely to come from some directions.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:12 AM on September 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Also I saw someone playing under the name "Metafilter Aw Yiss".
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:13 AM on September 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Your block captured count doesn't go down but your score depends on held territory not raw block count.
posted by Mitheral at 11:28 AM on September 16, 2016


It is worth making a big territory grab at the beginning if you look at the overall map and see a blank spot next to your spawn spot. It give you room to manuver and if you do get killed you haven't invested much.
posted by Mitheral at 11:29 AM on September 16, 2016


Welp! Just saw someone with the username “KILL TRANZGENDERZ” who was trying to draw a wang. So, yep, it’s the unmoderated Internet.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:34 AM on September 16, 2016


to be fair, a little while back I was someone with username "talk less smile more" who was trying to draw a wang.

so, yeah.

whatever i bet burr drew wangs everywhere
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:49 PM on September 16, 2016


>>There needs to be a master list of .io games.
>>posted by BiggerJ at 2:39 AM on September 16 [+] [!]

www.iogames.space
posted by now i'm piste at 6:06 AM on September 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Probably my favorite .io game yet. I just spent a minute or 2 as 'MeTa,' battling for first place with 'I am a feminist.'

Another part I like: using things like 'feelings' and 'narcissism' and 'hubris' as my name.
posted by box at 1:19 PM on September 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


My new quest: to circumnavigate the grid.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:56 PM on September 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


I was curious how much money the creator is making from video ads. Doing a little light reverse engineering and some guesstimating, it seems like the absolute maximum when all the servers are maxed out is around $400/hr -- probably under $100 for an average hour. Nice work if you can get it, but not millions or anything.
posted by miyabo at 7:42 PM on September 17, 2016


24 hours a day? Great work if you can get it, really.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:43 PM on September 17, 2016


anyway, here's my account of a boring time on the leader board. This strategy is uninteresting, but effective. I would be glad to hear of anyone replicating it (or, please, improving on it),

Build up a bunch of 2x10, 3x15 piers out from your core body. Then stitch together two parallel piers or just circumscribe a large rectangular area by iteratively building out its perimeter using piers built on the end of the previous pier.

If you notice a border incursion, make a few provocative countermoves, then wander far away into your territory and then swoop in and catch them when they're making too aggressive a bite.

This is a easy way to get close to the top of the leader board, but no one else is doing it.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:43 PM on September 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


Here's my method for a quick climb to the leader board:

1. Add four square areas to the sides of your initial territory, making a cross.
2. Then continue to add squares around the perimeter of your territory, sort of like this (in a center square number style).
3. For maximum efficiency, go in one direction around the perimeter of your territory, jumping from corner to corner. The larger you get, the greater proportion of your new territory grabs are accomplished with just two lines.

As mentioned above, ignore and/or run away from any competitors (this is always my downfall). Once others eat into your territory, the perfect symmetry is destroyed. But as long as you maintain the 'stepped' edges (even if irregular) as much as possible around the perimeter, your efficiency will remain high.
posted by Kabanos at 9:09 AM on September 19, 2016


My down fall is always once I get two opponents eating away at my blocks. Two semi aggressive opponents can chew faster than you can grab new blocks. You can hope they eventually go to war against each other but that takes a while once you get above 15K+. So I get frustrated at my declining score and go on the offensive which only works about half the time.
posted by Mitheral at 10:55 AM on September 19, 2016


I started a brief trend towards emoticon usernames of which I am proud. I am upset that it won't play nicely with the corporate firewall because I'd carved out some really nice conference room time for it. At 500 points, PVP is very much worth it as Sebastien notes above. Plus, when you can pull a win out of a duel; so good. You can tell pretty quick the ones not to mess with; they'll buzz at you like an angry hornet. Catching those players off guard is really the best part of the game. That and keeping yourself on the leaderboard.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:55 AM on September 19, 2016


After tapping my fix: I rode #1 for a while but PK was the only way to do it. I was aggressively consuming real estate but continued to fall further and further. Lag when I was taunting a border interloper did me in.

Some players making interesting framed blocks that consume mass real estate with small sticklike bits. When the frame is closed, mass points for little risk. You've got to be a spider if you've got an annoying neighbor though...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 7:12 PM on September 19, 2016


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