Snake, the MMO game

April 20, 2016 12:31 PM

Eat to grow longer! Don't run into other snakes! When longer, hold the mouse button for a speed boost!
posted by numaner (81 comments total)

This game is super fun. It's a cross between Snake and Tron light cycles.
posted by cazoo at 12:48 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

My eldest is addicted to this at the moment. It’s kind of restful to watch, I’ll give it that.
posted by pharm at 12:54 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is this going to be like agar.io -- where after a while people start teaming up by using outside-of-game communications methods and make it basically impossible for others to play? If that's likely then I may not want to get into this because I don't want to be angry later.
posted by cubby at 12:57 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is terrifying. You think you're getting pretty big and then some huge behemoth comes sliding out of the darkness nearby, eclipsing everything you thought you knew about the size of the universe.

Also fuck those slippery bastards who circle you endlessly until you're forced to hit their sides and implode so they can eat the brightly glowing matter of your physical form.
posted by fight or flight at 1:03 PM on April 20, 2016 [16 favorites]

Oh, DON'T run into other snakes. That explains a lot.
posted by tofu_crouton at 1:06 PM on April 20, 2016 [4 favorites]

In my last game I came across a huge path of glowing red matter from a dead giant. I feasted merrily on its remains with my bretheren, who I later chased down and killed with my coils. Rest in power, Barf66.
posted by fight or flight at 1:08 PM on April 20, 2016 [14 favorites]

This is terrifying. You think you're getting pretty big and then some huge behemoth comes sliding out of the darkness nearby, eclipsing everything you thought you knew about the size of the universe.

IOW, it's "Capitalism: The Game"

ProTip: You're allowed to cross your own tail, unlike some other snake game variants.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:08 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is terrifying. You think you're getting pretty big and then some huge behemoth comes sliding out of the darkness nearby, eclipsing everything you thought you knew about the size of the universe.

In one of them, the opposite happened - I was just casually minding my business, and a Shai-Hulud crashed on me. Then, the scramble for the Spice kind of turned into a chain car-wreck - in 5 seconds or so, about 5 large worms - one suddenly being mine - kept crashing into one another. My browser farted light in every direction.



(yes, I was playing this as a Dune + Tron mashup)
posted by lmfsilva at 1:09 PM on April 20, 2016 [6 favorites]

Pretty neat and relaxing game; I like it, I think my kids will like it.
posted by nubs at 1:12 PM on April 20, 2016

I think my kids will like it.

Do yourself a favour and watch the high score board for a while. I've seen at least two Adolf Hitler themed snakes (putting it lightly).
posted by fight or flight at 1:13 PM on April 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

um, how do you dash fast?
posted by leotrotsky at 1:18 PM on April 20, 2016

This is very clean design. It's simple to understand, and there's really compelling tension bound up in the idea that the better you do, the more valuable you are to other players. It's also super-satisfying to assassinate the huge guys as a medium-sized snake.

I do wish the controls were a little tighter. They get progressively looser the bigger you are, which is probably a deliberate design decision, but it's frustrating to have so much control variance over the course of the game.
posted by zeee at 1:21 PM on April 20, 2016

Up arrow, leotrotsky.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:23 PM on April 20, 2016

Pro tip: click or up arrow to "dash", which makes you poop out light (that other snakes might notice and start eating) and lose length. Lay a course of glowing poop to entice smaller worms into your maw.
posted by fight or flight at 1:24 PM on April 20, 2016

Lay a course of glowing poop to entice smaller worms into your maw.

Oooo thaaaat's what they were doing.

Is this going to be like agar.io

If by that you mean playing for a hours and then accidentally split yourself on a spike and have your parts gobbled up and then abandon it and come back to it when you've forgotten the hurt, then kind of, except replace "split yourself" with "pooping a lot of lights to go fast".
posted by numaner at 1:31 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

There is a well-done iPad app as well. I don't think it will be as subject to cheating as agar.io, but once when I was 400k or so I had what appeared to be a coordinated attack from two other players, but they may have just been lucky. Its not that hard to climb the leaderboard, but it is quite difficult to stay there for very long.
posted by Lame_username at 1:32 PM on April 20, 2016

my laggy connection is the devil with this thing
posted by leotrotsky at 1:32 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

After a few tries I made it to all the way up to number 8 before succumbing. This is the most fun I've had in a snake game in years.
posted by Proofs and Refutations at 1:33 PM on April 20, 2016

I like to head towards the center of the map and find one of those behemoths. Once I do, I cruise beside it like a remora - it's hard to stay at the top for long, and usually they supernova and cause a feeding frenzy.

As near as I can tell, the trick is to get as much as you can in the feeding frenzy scenario and then bail before it gets too crowded and you headbang yourself into oblivion.
posted by chinese_fashion at 1:47 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

OK, my biggest score so far has been 5674, but by then I was being constantly besieged by tiny snakes making suicide runs at my head. It's tough out there.

Some beginner tips from the slither.io subreddit (of course).
posted by fight or flight at 2:10 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

from that subreddit:

I like to surround two snakes, plenty space and watch. The winner can take the other body and run free.

Except if they are big enough, then I will eat him.

dear god.
posted by numaner at 2:15 PM on April 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

My 12 year old has been playing this for a week and a half. He's pretty zen about it...when he gets big and dies, his family is more upset than he is. Perhaps that calm is why he has hit #1 at least once!
posted by heidiola at 2:20 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

Addicted instantly
posted by Omnomnom at 2:31 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

What are the flashing dots that speed up as you chase them?
posted by Omnomnom at 2:32 PM on April 20, 2016

It took me like 20 turns through the game before I encountered the walls -- I thought it would just wrap around like a lot of other similar games.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:45 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

What are the flashing dots that speed up as you chase them?


From the Slither.io Wiki (go figure) page on pellets:

There are also special pellets that appear larger than most other pellets and move around the screen, generally trying to avoid the player. When eaten, these special pellets give a much larger amount of length to the player and so it can be worth it to use your speed ability to grab them, especially early on in a game.

posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:48 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

It got easier when I realized that you couldn't die on your own body.
posted by sparklemotion at 3:05 PM on April 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

Not dying on your own body is a mixed blessing--it generally makes it easier to escape attackers (since you can easily double back), but also enables circling around you so that you cannot escape unless they screw up.

I love this game and am sad that my IT department has now blocked it (not that I blame them), because it was the perfect low-brain power diversion to keep my eyes occupied while on a conference call. For a bunch of simple rules there are a lot of risk-reward dynamics in play, and even without chat some minor communication is possible.
posted by thecaddy at 3:09 PM on April 20, 2016

SOYLENT GREEN IS SNAKES!
posted by Bob Regular at 3:40 PM on April 20, 2016

What's your best score so far?
posted by Omnomnom at 4:58 PM on April 20, 2016

This was an incredible thing to post on 4/20.

Snaz, the snazzy purple snake, made it to the 14-th biggest snake in the world. I am inordinately proud of this.
posted by Gaz Errant at 5:26 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Snake? You've created a Time Waster! Snake? SNAKE! SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:02 PM on April 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

fuck this game / I LOVE THIS GAME
posted by threeants at 7:03 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I love how pretty much the only "achievement" is an exclamation point after your final score if it's more than four digits.
posted by HeroZero at 7:30 PM on April 20, 2016

5119.4!
posted by The Whelk at 8:30 PM on April 20, 2016

6272.2! So addictive!
posted by meinvt at 9:06 PM on April 20, 2016

How do you get the cool colors and patterns?
posted by Bugbread at 9:14 PM on April 20, 2016

This is a lot like agar.io (previously), but better.
posted by crazy with stars at 9:21 PM on April 20, 2016

NBD or anything but I reached #2 at one point

SECOND SNAKE, motherfuckers!!!!
posted by threeants at 9:33 PM on April 20, 2016

How do you get the cool colors and patterns?

Yes, this is exactly what I came here to ask! I want to be a cool rainbow snake!

Also is it possible to catch those damn little balls of light? And what happens if you do?

Also also, if you were wondering what happens once you hit the wall, you die. Which I guess is pretty predictable, but I couldn't help myself. Stupid suicidal snake.

Oh man, this is so so addictive. I love this/hate this/really wish I hadn't discovered it so late at night.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:34 PM on April 20, 2016

There's a note at the bottom to share the game either on twitter or facebook for custom skins. But you don't actually have to do it. Just click either one, then click back on your browser (or close the pop up if you allowed pop ups), and if it's still telling you share the game, reload the page and at the bottom left there should be an icon to change skins. I've been rocking the rainbow all night.

12000+ is my best so far, I made it to 6th place on the leaderboard at the time, so I'm satisfied enough to go to bed.

The top score I saw during all the times I've played today was like 54000+, but I didn't run into that snake. It's a bigger space than you think.
posted by numaner at 9:48 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm also pretty sure I caused the death of a #2 at one point, while being only 1000+, so that's a little victory in itself.
posted by numaner at 9:49 PM on April 20, 2016

fuck this game / I LOVE THIS GAME

I saw a "FUCK THIS GAME" on the leaderboard at some point. Was that you?
posted by numaner at 9:50 PM on April 20, 2016

Ah, thanks, numaner. Because of various script-blocking stuff I have in my browser, those "Share on Facebook or Twitter for custom skins!" didn't show up, but now thanks to you I'm sporting a big floaty magnet on my head!
posted by Bugbread at 9:52 PM on April 20, 2016

I saw a "FUCK THIS GAME" on the leaderboard at some point. Was that you?

no! but I can appreciate the sentiment.
posted by threeants at 9:54 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

This would be easier without lag (boo!) and without a 13yo purring cat occluding 60$%*#( of the screen.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:54 PM on April 20, 2016

But you don't actually have to do it. Just click either one, then click back on your browser (or close the pop up if you allowed pop ups), and if it's still telling you share the game, reload the page and at the bottom left there should be an icon to change skins. I've been rocking the rainbow all night.

Thank you!
posted by Shmuel510 at 9:58 PM on April 20, 2016

Yeah my old PC was really having issues when there were too many big snakes on the screen using speed boost. I almost wanna buy a new computer just to get #1.
posted by numaner at 9:58 PM on April 20, 2016

4176.5!
posted by Bugbread at 10:01 PM on April 20, 2016

In all seriousness I have done the following things while operating the mouse to play this

hit the back button
deactivated the browser window
activated the window behind the browser (got rid of that)
resized browser horizontally
resized browser vertically
dragged a .txt file from the desktop to the browser, taking me out of the game

holy fuck I am dangerous with a mouse.

Got a length of 20k once, haven't been able to repeat anything 3/4 as good since.

This is evil.
posted by sylvanshine at 10:05 PM on April 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

Apparently I will just never learn not to dive into a feeding frenzy.
posted by litera scripta manet at 10:06 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yay! Finally made #1 and held onto it for quite a little while. This game is really about patience; if you avoid aggressive shenanigans and go about your business peacefully grazing on star debris, you can do quite well for yourself.
posted by threeants at 10:17 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

There's a graphics high-quality/low-quality toggle on the upper right corner of the start screen; moving to low-quality helped my PC keep up. (I can still hear it rumbling when there a lot going on...)
posted by Shmuel510 at 10:35 PM on April 20, 2016

This game is really about patience; if you avoid aggressive shenanigans and go about your business peacefully grazing on star debris, you can do quite well for yourself.


That's what I tried! I'd resigned myself to eating nothing but snake poop and being the lowest ranking predator full of shame. But as soon as I'm past a certain size, there's always some asshole snake speeding up and trying to eat me!
posted by Omnomnom at 12:19 AM on April 21, 2016

I killed someone named boo. If that's MeFi's boo (_radley), sorry!

not terribly sorry, just a bit
posted by vanar sena at 1:02 AM on April 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

I mean he was trying to get me, so
posted by vanar sena at 1:03 AM on April 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Played last night, got to #4. Tried again today and too laggy. :-(
Must be the price of popularity.
posted by jadayne at 2:24 AM on April 21, 2016

That's what I tried! I'd resigned myself to eating nothing but snake poop and being the lowest ranking predator full of shame. But as soon as I'm past a certain size, there's always some asshole snake speeding up and trying to eat me!

Do a bunch of quick small loops and figure 8s when people are being a nuisance; chasers have to do a larger-radius curve and find it tricky or tedious to follow you. And it reduces death-by-lag.

It does not help with death-by-13yo-purring cat.
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:27 AM on April 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Although I have it easier than this person.
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:38 AM on April 21, 2016

Thank you! That actually works!!
posted by Omnomnom at 3:21 AM on April 21, 2016

if you avoid aggressive shenanigans and go about your business peacefully grazing on star debris, you can do quite well for yourself.

Aka the Culture strategy when playing Azad.
posted by MartinWisse at 3:34 AM on April 21, 2016 [4 favorites]

This game is hilarious... I briefly recorded myself hitting Rank 1 with 30,000 points, I had earlier hit Rank 1 with a more boring snake color so I had to re-record it.

I think dueling other snakes is really difficult when you get so large because your turn radius is so big. Feels like when you're small you are quick and fast and can directly kill other snakes by getting in front of them, when you're big you can encircle other snakes and squeeze them to death. Being greedy is never a good thing, and always leave yourself an escape route by being reasonably close to your body so you can "cross over" to safety if someone is trying to kill you.
posted by xdvesper at 7:45 AM on April 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm disappointed that my chosen nickname of "why'd it have to be snakes" is too long to be accepted. I did manage to get "monday to friday snakes" though.
posted by fight or flight at 9:37 AM on April 21, 2016

11419, got to #7. Got trapped circling a small snake and then someone circled me! Not smart.

Is there just one world, or are they running multiple worlds? It must be the latter, since each time I've logged in there's been just about 500 snakes in the world.
posted by crazy with stars at 10:36 AM on April 21, 2016

Yeah I think every time you load the game it puts you in a different room, but if you don't close the game, you keep respawning in the same room.

holy fuck I am dangerous with a mouse.

If you're not playing with the full screen because you're at work, clearly you need to start coughing and go home.
posted by numaner at 11:26 AM on April 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm.... I'm not good at this game.
posted by meese at 12:55 PM on April 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

36385, got to #1 and stayed there for a while. This strategy works great -- at about 10,000, go to the center and form a big circle with your snake body, and just keep circling. I got too aggressive and died, but there's no reason you couldn't keep going indefinitely.
posted by crazy with stars at 1:24 PM on April 21, 2016

crazy with stars: I tried that strategy and got 47K. It's a different way of playing, but definitely fun for a while.
posted by jjwiseman at 10:32 PM on April 21, 2016

36385, got to #1 and stayed there for a while. This strategy works great -- at about 10,000, go to the center and form a big circle with your snake body, and just keep circling. I got too aggressive and died, but there's no reason you couldn't keep going indefinitely.

May your passing cleanse the world.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:41 PM on April 21, 2016

Hooray! I got to #1 and stayed there for awhile, while adhering to a pacifist philosophy—no intentional killing of other snakes.

(With the exception of snakes that made multiple aggressive attempts on me: if you're still zooming at my head after I've deliberately avoided you a few times, I can only parse it as a request for assisted suicide. I will regretfully oblige.)

Final score 22819.1 (not, I think, my high score, but my previous highest ranking was #3), and now I never need to play again. I'm free!
posted by Shmuel510 at 12:14 PM on April 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

I hit #1 also. It's scary because everyone starts gunning for you when you're #1.
posted by cazoo at 6:15 PM on April 22, 2016

A benefit of paying late at night is that so few others are playing: I made it to #6 with just over 2000.
posted by meese at 8:52 PM on April 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hooray! I got to #1 and stayed there for awhile, while adhering to a pacifist philosophy—no intentional killing of other snakes.

I switched to a passive/defensive strategy, naming my snake "I won't hurt you" to advertise my position, after I had played quite a bit in standard worm-eat-worm mode. While I had to lethally outmanoeuvre a few worms persistently bent on my destruction, I was left alone for the most part. I finally logged out when I hit the top ten on the leaderboard—for the first time in all my time spent playing.

There's a lesson here, I suspect, but it may make video games less exciting...
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:09 PM on April 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

25932. ACHIEVED TOP SNAKE.

I am going to do my best to tell myself that this means I have "won" so that I never need play again. Holy hell, this is addictive.
posted by davidjmcgee at 11:31 PM on April 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

My favorite thing to do in this game is to get to the point where I can easily encircle most other snakes (say 1500-2000), isolate one, and just circle endlessly around it - not even going for the kill - until it suffers an existential crisis and suicides.

I play under the name "a mother's love".
posted by logicpunk at 6:56 AM on April 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

If you're not playing with the full screen because you're at work, clearly you need to start coughing and go home.

Just couldn't get into the 'aspect ratio'/absolute size of full-screen at first, but now I have. My best is now 44.2k and I don't need to fake that sickness because this game was not good for my habits n stuff!

I am 'snake on a plane'
if you see what I did there
posted by sylvanshine at 9:24 AM on April 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

I usually play as 'om nom nom'. I'm usually also non-violent.

I like to play as a bottom feeder: I find a really big snake, follow them while hanging out near their tale, eat any other snakes that run into them, and then eat as much of them as I can when they die.
posted by meese at 8:58 AM on April 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I finally hit #2 the other night and died at ~38000+, a brave little snake kept going after my head and I just couldn't turn fast enough. Oh well, at least that 6+ hours of consecutive play time on a friday afternoon was productive. And I haven't played since then. I feel so free. I also stopped playing Mienfield last week, and now I don't know what to do with all this time.
posted by numaner at 11:56 AM on April 26, 2016

There's a Chrome extension which gives you a zoom feature. Is it a cheat? It really helps if you want to get big in a short amount of time.
posted by cazoo at 10:56 AM on April 27, 2016

Can I just point out

a) this game has ruined my life
b) I was secretly cursing so many MeFites!

I play as "FEAR THE EARLY BIRD".

Fear Me.

Please.
posted by cacofonie at 9:21 PM on May 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I burnt out about a week ago. Because of l-























-lag. Also an RSI flareup from pressing on the trackpad too hard.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:25 PM on May 19, 2016