Snake game

Snake (Python, Boa Constrictor, Snake, classic Snake, etc.) is a computer game that first appeared in the Nokia 6110 push-button phone. Developed by Finnish developer Taneli Armanto and released by Nokia. Until 1997, there were already similar games on computers with the names Snake, Boa, Pithon, Serpent and others, in many variants, for one or two players, on computers of different models and slot machines. The merit of Taneli Armanto is only that he made a snake for a Nokia phone.

Taneli Armanto said that he was tasked with creating a game that could fit on a small screen, would not take up a lot of memory, had a minimum number of buttons to control and it would not be difficult to program. His snake, which was constantly lengthening and accelerating, unexpectedly for him, became very popular and opened a new chapter in the world of mobile games. About 400 million smartphones with this game have been sold in the world. There is practically not a single person left who has not heard of her.

Gameplay

The player controls a long, thin snake-like creature that crawls along a plane (usually bounded by walls), collecting food (or other objects), avoiding collisions with its own tail and the edges of the playing field. Every time the snake eats a piece of food, it becomes longer, which gradually complicates the game.

History

In 1995, Taneli Armanto, a programmer from Finland with little experience in the gaming industry, joined Nokia. He also gets the task to come up with a few simple games for the Nokia 6110 phone that would be suitable for its power. Armanto, in turn, offers the company to make just one game. Initially, Taneli was confident in his version — Tetris. He had already managed to adapt and test it, as he received a strict requirement from Tetris[en] - it receives its share of money from every phone sold. However, at Nokia, everyone was confused by the phrase about "every phone sold", because they were not going to keep an accurate account of sales. The final solution is found when Armanto plays with his friend on an Apple Macintosh in a game where everyone controls their snake. Armanto is looking for similar games and finds the future primary source - the game Blockade[en] of 1976, from which the origins of the "Snake" came.

Taneli himself later recalled that the original version of the game was much more difficult than the final version: he himself could not become a champion, and, as he himself believes, the only way to pass is training. In order for the player to have a chance to escape when crashing into the wall, he added a few milliseconds of delay.