Dr. Snake by codescapade

[raw]
made by codescapade for LD 41 (COMPO)

Dr. Snake is a combination of snake with Dr. Mario. You control the snake until you hit something and then the snake falls down in its current shape.

The goal is to match 4 or more of the same color horizontal or vertical in a line to remove all the targets.

Controls: Arrow keys to move the snake. M to Mute the sound.

Screen Shot 2018-04-23 at 01.38.59.png

Screen Shot 2018-04-23 at 01.46.20.png

Screen Shot 2018-04-23 at 01.39.17.png

Ratings

Given 4🗳️ 1🗨️

Feedback

Jimbly
27. Apr 2018 · 17:34 UTC
I love it! Wow, what a brilliant combination that works so very, very well. I love caring about the color of my snake's head. I love figuring out weird ways to ram my snake into a wall to have it fall in the right pose onto the other blocks. I really like being able to spin my snake in circles for a bit to give myself some time to figure out a clever placement. I also love that just from the title and 4 color picture I could guess almost exactly what the gameplay was going to be like, yet it felt so fresh. I managed to get through two levels, this is quite challenging! Only thing that felt a little frustrating was having no way to speed things up, not sure how that should be done, perhaps just a button to press to immediately jump forward a space, or even a "freeze" button that would drop the snake, but I think that would ruin the elegance and trickiness of finding a place to get in the right position. Really tempted to throw together a competitive local multiplayer version of this before my next game day...
amras0000
28. Apr 2018 · 19:25 UTC
It took me far too long to figure out that the 4 same-colored blocks had to be in a line, not just adjacent. I also needed a bit to work out when blocks would fall, and when they'd stick around. Once I had that down though, this game proved to have a lot of depth and strategy to it. I don't think I ever felt like I needed a speed button; the game's slow but not unreasonably so. Wouldn't hurt to have one though.

One issue I had with the gameplay is that it was difficult to judge distances. I had to do a lot of mental arithmetic to figure out where my snake would fit, and how. I think a visible grid (both on the map and on the snake) might have helped with that, but I'm not sure.

Also, I'd have liked to have a restart button (or known what it is if you have one), since I had to restart the game after every game over and had to return to level 1.

I definitely enjoyed my time with this title. It's got a good idea behind it, with good execution and a fair bit of depth. Good work.
torcado
04. May 2018 · 02:53 UTC
ooh this is cool! i really love the combination of these two puzzle ideas. The gameplay felt really slow, even if it would have made it harder i think i would have liked if the snakes moved a little faster, eventually i lost just from getting impatient. otherwise i thought it was cool! i like the art :grin: