LogFAQs > #977015398

Still Playing: Snak

Thoughts:
-Well, time to chase some high scores!
-My goal is to get on the leaderboard for one of these modes. Let's see how long that takes.
-Leaderboards are also posted on the game page on the Playdate website, for the curious: https://play.date/games/snak/
-First thought: Okay so it looks like Snaaaaak will be the easiest. Tenth place is 155 which is nothing. I'm already at 70 after barely trying!
-Second though: Who the fuck is 2257259091194867 and why are they 100 POINTS BETTER than literally everyone on every high score board?
-2257259091194867 is a robot built to Snak and only Snak. We can only hope he doesn't gain sentience and view us as the apples he must consume.
-Seriously though what the hell 2257259091194867 save some Playdate high scores for the rest of us.
-It is not as easy as I thought it would be to get on the Snaaaaak leaderboards. The snake moves so damn fast in this mode and I'm having trouble getting 70 again. What sort of Snak zone was I in last night?
-I do eventually top it, getting to 100. Let me try one of the baby modes first and see if I can get on that high score board.
-Im curious exactly how big these score boards are and how many people are actually trying, so I check by repeatedly only boosting my score by one. I'll try Snaak as that one is pretty easy and I don't have a score posted yet. Snaak score of 4 gets me 1721st place.Snaak score of 5 is 1611. Snaak score of 6 is 1507. Snaak score of 8 is 1314. Snaak score of 9 is 1220. Snaak score of 10 is 1136. Snaak score 11 is 1064. Snaak score of 12 is 977. Snaak score of 13 is 902. Snaak score of 14 is 830. Snaak score of 15 is 743. Snaak score of 16 is 672. Snaak score of 17 is 615.
-Even 17 is barely what I'd be consider trying, so I would guess less than 500 people actually tried multiple times to get a score posted to this mode. Time to embarrass those 500 losers.
-I try and I get a score of uh 273. Good for 11th and one off the leaderboard. AH NUTS.
-Also the slowdown in this game gets craaaaazy when you get this far in. It really messes up with the performance and it kinda ruins the experience a bit.
-Ive pretty much figured out the way to win and now Im just replaying the same pattern over and over. Fun.
-Since the apples climb on you, once you get long enough it is better to just let them crawl along your back towards your head and then loop back on your own body to snatch them up. They only seem to go ever so slightly faster than me so Im mostly free to ignore them unless they climb on super close to my head.
-Uh so using my method I get to 4th place. thegoodgurmain. That's me on the leaderboard suckaaaaaaas
-I'd like to thank those of you who supported me and rub this in the face of those three of you that told me I'd never amount to anything in Snak (you know who you are).
-I also go back and get on the leaderboard for Snak default. Snak Classic? Whatever, I'm 10th now. I might try again to get up to at least 9th so my leaderboard spot isn't so perilous.
-I'm going to try to get on the leaderboard for the other three modes and then I'll call it done.
-But. Bad news. This game is worse than I thought it was. Worse than the default version of Snake, honestly.
-Couple of issues. First is the slowdown. It is horrendous. Like I'm half expecting smoke to come billowing out the side of my Playdate. If you heard of someone who died in a Playdate related fire, just know that was me and avenge my death at the hands of Snak.
-Slowdown is so bad it works to your benefit though. After you get to 100 or so, it gets soooo much easier it's crazy. Your movement is so damn slow that it is incredibly easy to make each and every turn you need to. There's no challenge and I swear that the only reason I had to do Snak twice to get on the leaderboard after I figured out the best strategy is because I yawned really big and crashed into the side of the wall mid-yawn. This games best defense is boring you into a stupor.
-Beyond that though, there is a fundamental flaw in the design that wasn't obvious to me at first. The hard part about Snake is those little dots appearing around seemingly randomly and having to chase them down and maneuver your snake around different patterns. I could be wrong as I wasn't a Snake expert, but each game felt different to me.
-Here, because the apples literally climb on you and go towards your head, every attempt is the same by the end. Once you get to say 40 or so, there is zero point going after apples. I would do a loop.A long line at the end, go down, then up and down until I got to the middle or so, then come back to the other end. The apples honestly aren't fast enough to get you unless they jump on really close to your head. It's hard to describe, but here's what I mean:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7addeac2.png
-That's actually sideways from the best strategy I found, but you can sort of see what I'm talking about. The limitation there are those little bits in the middle where you have to loop around and jump back on yourself, so it is actually a bit better if you turn that sideways as there are less squares you don't double up on, thus extending the maximum possible footage you get doubling up on yourself.
-It becomes this endless loop. Apples only spawn on the sides, and they cannot climb on you when you're doubled up, so you have this huge buffer built in where they cannot start chasing you, and they are no where near fast enough to catch up. So every attempt is forming that and going back and forth back and forth. Mind you, the game is so slow at this point that timing becomes really easy.
-Which, brings me back to one final little point: 2257259091194867 you cheating bastard
-Fuck you 2257259091194867 all my homies hate 2257259091194867
-Those second place scores I think are essentially "perfect" runs. You cannot triple up on yourself, and trying to jump over a double is a death. My best score is 361, but that was with leftover space on the loops. I think if you get lucky and double up perfectly on that extra space your last time going over yourself, you should be able to hit 371-373 which is when the entire screen is fully doubled up, nowhere else left to go period.
-So how the hell does 2257259091194867 get a score in the mid/upper 400s? It shouldn't be possible unless he's found out some trick or hack.
-TELL ME YOUR SECRETS 2257259091194867. I WANT TO KNOW.

Time Played: I haven't really been keeping count. At least 3 hours. A lot of that time is me slowly watching my lagging snake trudge around at speeds lower than most elderly mall walkers.
High Score: 361 on Snaak. 4th place bby. 353 on Snak because I tried to get cute at the end and double up on the "extra" space to get above 361 but I messed up. Shouldn't have gotten greedy. 95 on Snaaaaak but that'll get easier too once I lag it enough. 0 on the other two modes but I'll get there.
Beaten? Beat the game so bad it is borderline broken
Grade: We might have a 3 on our hands. Worse, broken Snake clone is not a good thing.
Favorite Part So Far: Finding out the true villain of the Playdate commuinty: 2257259091194867. I'll find you someday, you stone cold bastard.