Snake Pit (Compute's Gazette)
Like all creatures, snakes have to eat-it's the only way to grow. But in "Snake Pit", growth can be dangerous. A nonstop action game that really puts your reptilian reflexes to the test.
As a hungry snake on the move, catching mice is just one of your concerns. As your snakes eats, it also grows in length, making it harder to maneuver. If your snake collides with anything-a wall, your opponent, or even your own slithering tail, it's good riddance to you.
Why TAS This Game?
The continuation of TASing games from my all-time favorite magazine, Compute's Gazette. This makes my 37th TAS from this series.
Interesting enough, I never typed this game in. I was more concerned over "Crossroads"...which was a major game!! (Speaking of...it's on its way. :P) So...I really missed out on this. It is a classic game that is addictive. Even though I remember this being available, I regret never experiencing this in my childhood.
Previous Compute's Gazette submissions include (In order of submission):
Game Difficulty and Ending
I play this game on the hardest difficulty, which includes maxing out the running time and the speed of the snake. As you can imagine, this poses a major threat for a human. The length of the snake certainly will become a hazard, late in the game; however, more importantly...the speed of the snake is more of a concern, since the game runs too fast where turning on an exact frame is available on every frame your press a direction. So we are witnessing a situation, that requires extreme accuracy...which only a TAS can overcome.
Effort In TASing
I have gone through this game a number of times, and failing on sub-sequential efforts. Having a number of conversations with
DrD2k9, we brainstormed and came up with some ideas. Still...nothing helped. Eventually, I had a thought...while laying down for bed. It was a radical idea that forced me to break my current thinking. Good thing that I studied it...as it worked. Not only did it work well, it exceeded my best efforts by more than double the points! The idea was to trap off 2 of the 3 walls so that you can concentrate your efforts in a smaller area where mice can be instantly available. Of course, this only started working after the snake got to a certain length. Now...here is the results of multiple run-throughs of this new strategy. Total time of making was about 4 weeks.
Human Comparison
None to be found. :(
Thanks
- DrD2k9: for the talks on strategies.
nymx: I have replaced the movie with a version that is 1470 points higher.
nymx: This is it. I'm done with this game. 1290 more points, found after two days of hard work.
ThunderAxe31: The author couldn't find any further improvements. Still, this is incredible already!
I want to note that it doesn't seem like there is a fastest completion goal available, and this submission goes for the most obvious goal choice.
Anyway, this movie is great. Accepting.
