Snake in Python

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, which ended up making it to the final program. After getting the display working, I moved on to the joystick, which was much simpler. I just 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:
1. Use the joystick to assign a velocity in both axes
2. Add that value to the snake’s position
3. Checked to see if it was on an apple
4. If yes: Add one to the length of the snake and re-assign a random position for the apple
5. Display the current snake and apple on the matrix

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 Ender 3 3D Printer.

A full demonstration is shown below, and the source code is hosted on my github here