Lesson 13

The last thing we need to do is check to see if the snake ran into itself.

var ate = function(snake, otherThing) {
  var head = snake[0];
  return CHUNK.detectCollisionBetween([head], otherThing);
}

We've created an ate function that accepts a snake and the previous version of the snake. We can also think about passing the ate function other things, which we'll get into in a bit. In ate we also reuse the detectCollisionBetween to find out if there's a collision.

Now we just have to check if the newSnake ate it's previous self to see if there was a collision! We do this by calling the ate function inside of advanceGame.

var advanceGame = function() {
  var newSnake = moveSnake(snake);

  if (ate(newSnake, snake)) {
    CHUNK.endGame();
    CHUNK.flashMessage("Whoops! You ate yourself!");
  }

  if (ate(newSnake, [apple])) {
    newSnake = growSnake(newSnake);
    apple = CHUNK.randomLocation();
  }

  if (ate(newSnake, CHUNK.gameBoundaries())) {
    CHUNK.endGame();
    CHUNK.flashMessage("Whoops! you hit a wall!");
  }

  snake = newSnake;
  draw(snake, apple);
}

Notice, we've abstracted out the ate function by reusing it. It can now determine if the snake ate itself, an apple or the wall.

If your snake no longer moves after this step, make sure that you assigned snake = newSnake in the advanceGame function.

Expected Results

What your snake.js file should look like:

var draw = function(snakeToDraw, apple) {
  var drawableSnake = { color: "green", pixels: snakeToDraw };
  var drawableApple = { color: "red", pixels: [apple] };
  var drawableObjects = [drawableSnake, drawableApple];
  CHUNK.draw(drawableObjects);
}

var moveSegment = function(segment) {
  switch(segment.direction) {
    case "down":
      return { top: segment.top + 1, left: segment.left };
    case "up":
      return { top: segment.top - 1, left: segment.left };
    case "right":
      return { top: segment.top, left: segment.left + 1 }
    case "left":
      return { top: segment.top, left: segment.left - 1 }
    default:
      return segment;
  }
}

var segmentFurtherForwardThan = function(index, snake) {
  return snake[index - 1] || snake[index];
}

var moveSnake = function(snake) {
  return snake.map(function(oldSegment, segmentIndex) {
    var newSegment = moveSegment(oldSegment);
    newSegment.direction = segmentFurtherForwardThan(segmentIndex, snake).direction;
    return newSegment;
  });
}

var growSnake = function(snake) {
  var tipOfTailIndex = snake.length - 1;
  var tipOfTail = snake[tipOfTailIndex];
  snake.push({ top: tipOfTail.top, left: tipOfTail.left });
  return snake;
}

var ate = function(snake, otherThing) {
  var head = snake[0];
  return CHUNK.detectCollisionBetween([head], otherThing);
}

var advanceGame = function() {
  var newSnake = moveSnake(snake);

  if (ate(newSnake, snake)) {
    CHUNK.endGame();
    CHUNK.flashMessage("Whoops! You ate yourself!");
  }

  if (ate(newSnake, [apple])) {
    newSnake = growSnake(newSnake);
    apple = CHUNK.randomLocation();
  }

  if (ate(newSnake, CHUNK.gameBoundaries())) {
    CHUNK.endGame();
    CHUNK.flashMessage("Whoops! you hit a wall!");
  }

  snake = newSnake;
  draw(snake, apple);
}

var changeDirection = function(direction) {
  snake[0].direction = direction;
}

var apple = CHUNK.randomLocation();
var snake = [{ top: 1, left: 0, direction: "down" }, { top: 0, left: 0, direction: "down" }];

CHUNK.executeNTimesPerSecond(advanceGame, 1);
CHUNK.onArrowKey(changeDirection);

How the game should work so far:

Congratulations! You've built the snake game!

If you want your friends and family to be able to play your game, you'll need to put it online. Lesson 14 includes instructions on putting your game online.

Helpful Links

  1. Article on Abstraction from Princeton

Next Step:

Go on to Lesson 14

Back to Lesson 7