Snake Sprint

Cinevva's analyzer read this game's design doc and its source, then wrote the brief below. "Make your own" hands it to the game creator as your opening message, so you start from a real spec rather than a one-line idea.

Recreate a polished browser arcade game titled “Snake Sprint,” using a centered responsive layout and a canvas-based 7x7 Snake board. The game is a classic grid snake: start with a three-segment green snake horizontally across the middle row, head at the right facing right. The player chooses a direction, the snake advances one tile at a time, orange fruit appears on an unoccupied tile, eating it increases score and adds a body segment, and new fruit is randomly placed on another open tile. The goal is to eat as much fruit as possible without hitting the board edge or the snake’s own body. If every tile is filled, show a “Board Cleared” end state. Store and display a persistent best score.

Perspective and board: use a flat, top-down square canvas with no camera movement. Render a dark navy-to-near-black gradient background and a clearly visible 7x7 checkerboard of individually rounded cells, with subtle slate borders, gradients, vignette, and soft depth/shadows. The board sits inside a large rounded rectangular frame with a faint border and shadow. The snake segments are inset rounded squares with green gradients and soft green glow; alternate body segments slightly between green shades. Add a translucent highlight strip to each segment. The head is distinct with a brighter gradient, two dark eyes positioned according to its current direction, and a small forked pink tongue pointing forward. Draw the food as a glowing orange fruit: radial orange shading, a tiny pale stem, and a small light-green leaf.

Gameplay rules and timing: movement is tile based, initially moving horizontally only after the first direction input. Reject direct reverse turns and allow a short queue of up to two direction changes so responsive quick turns work. Classic mode starts around 280 ms per tile, accelerates every 2 fruit by 16 ms down to a 150 ms minimum. Rush mode starts around 235 ms, accelerates after every fruit by 12 ms down to 110 ms. In Classic and Rush, crossing an edge ends the run with a “Wall Crash” state; colliding with the body ends it with “Tail Crash.” When checking self-collision, permit moving into the square vacated by the tail unless the snake is eating. Add Wrap mode, starting around 285 ms and accelerating every 2 fruit by 14 ms down to 160 ms; in this mode each edge wraps to the opposite edge, while self-collision still ends the run. Use smoothly interpolated eased motion between grid cells, configurable with a 0–100% smoothness setting: 0% should feel like crisp snapping and 100% should glide for most of the interval between moves. Keep all gameplay on the 7x7 grid.

Controls: support Arrow keys and WASD, touch swipes on the canvas, and a fixed on-screen D-pad with up, left, down, and right buttons. The first direction input starts the run. Support P to pause/resume, R to restart, and Escape to open/close the menu. On mobile, place the D-pad near the bottom center; on wider screens place it at the lower-right. Hide or fade the D-pad while the menu overlay is open. Prevent touch scrolling.

HUD and interface: create a dark, glassy, responsive interface around the board. Above it show four stats labeled SCORE, BEST, MODE, and SMOOTH, with large values; Smooth displays the selected percentage. Beside or below the stats show a rounded message panel with contextual text such as “Choose Play from the menu, then pick a direction,” “Pick a direction to begin,” “Nice bite,” “Clean line,” “The board is getting tight,” “Watch the edges,” “Too tight,” “Paused,” and mode-specific encouragement. Below the board show the note “7x7 board • Arrow keys, WASD, swipe, or tap the D-pad” and Menu and bright Restart buttons.

Initial/menu overlay: on first load show a centered translucent overlay card over the board, with a rounded dark navy panel, subtle border, blur, and shadow. Use a cyan pill badge reading the current mode and “7x7,” the large title “Snake Sprint,” and explanatory copy about playing a compact 7x7 run, switching modes, viewing credits, and tuning movement feel. Show current Mode and Smoothness pills, the current mode’s description, and buttons: bright “Play,” “Select Modes,” “Adjust Smoothness,” and “View Credits.” Opening the menu pauses an active run. Menu screens should include:
- Mode select: title “Choose a Mode,” explanatory text, and selectable Classic — “Walls and your own tail end the run,” Wrap — “Slide through one wall and come out the other side,” and Rush — “Fast starts and sharp speed ramps.” Highlight the selected mode and reset the board when changing modes.
- Smoothness options: title “Adjust Feel,” a 0–100 range slider, live percentage, and text explaining that lower values snap and higher values glide. Persist the setting.
- Credits: title “Credits,” with cards stating “Design & build — You + this in-browser game builder” and “Tech — HTML, CSS, and Canvas — no engine, just a polished browser arcade loop.”
- End screen: badge “RUN OVER,” title based on the reason, final explanation, Score/Best/Mode pills, and “Play Again” plus “Main Menu” buttons. For a wall crash say how much fruit was reached; for a tail crash say the snake twisted into itself; for a cleared board explain that every tile was filled.

Visual style: dark futuristic arcade UI with navy/indigo gradients, glass panels, cyan primary accents, white text, muted blue-gray secondary text, green snake, orange fruit, pink danger tongue, rounded corners, and restrained glowing shadows. Make the canvas and UI resize responsively while preserving the square board. Include local persistence for best score, selected mode, and smoothness so they survive reloads.