Snake in Python
East Canton High School · October, 2021
As a side project while I was ahead of schedule in my Amazon Future Engineer program, I used some of the spare hardware (an 8x8 lcd matrix and a joystick) to make the game snake in python.
I began this journey by getting to know the 8x8 LCD as well as how it interfaces with the arduino. The matrix accepts an array of 8, 8 bit integers. Each of these bits represents an LED that is either turned on or off depending on the value of the array. This being my first experience with binary I had a few hurdles to overcome. I began by making a program that displayed text that scrolls across the screen. This utilized a library of arrays for each letter and number, tediously hardcoded by yours truly. After learning how the display operated and getting the display working, I moved on to the joystick which was much simpler. I separated the input into 3 different values: left/right, up/down, and pushdown button input.
Now that the hardware was all good to go, I set out to create the game snake. The overall structure of it is pretty simple:
- Read the joystick values to choose the snake’s velocity in each axis
- Add the velocity to the head’s position (provided the velocity is in a valid direction)
- Checked to see if it was on a point of interest (apple, body, boundary point)
- If it is an apple: Add one to the length of the snake and re-assign a random position for the apple
- Write the current snake and apple pixels to the matrix display
After getting this functional and properly working, I decided to 3D model housings for the display and the joystick which I then printed on our classroom’s Ender 3 3D Printer.
A full demonstration is shown below, and the source code is hosted on my github here
Note: Unfortunately I had to set the frame rate intentionally low here. Though I can clearly program the game snake, I was horrendous at actually playing the game.