Three weeks ago, I released my classic browser-based snake game—a project I started 15 years ago—under a free and open-source license.

In my previous three posts, I introduced the various systems, their interactions, the game design, and the underlying technologies. In this post, I will close off this series by outlining some future work.

Persistent top scores and rewards

While the game already supports persistent user data, there’s an opportunity to expand what’s stored. For example, displaying a top score or a leaderboard before a game would showcase player progress.

In addition, rewarding players for challenging achievements—such as unlocking colorful snake skins—could be a fun addition and an extra layer of incentive.

Revamping mid-game pacing with quests

The early-to-mid-game is designed to be fast-paced and fun, but as the snake grows, the pace tends to slow down. Introducing quests could revitalize this phase.

Successfully completing a quest might clear most of the snake’s tail while retaining accumulated points, effectively resetting the board. This cyclical design would allow the game to alternate between high-octane action and a more strategic, quest-driven experience—providing skilled players with endless play possibilities.

Improving rendering and performance

Despite being a technical achievement that runs even on the oldest browsers, the game’s responsiveness can be enhanced.

Currently, the game board is rendered using HTML tables and the DOM. Switching to modern web APIs like the Canvas and WebGL could yield improved visual effects and better performance.

Moreover, the game’s engine lacks a dedicated animation frame system. With all animations running on separate timers and the snake’s movement directly tied to its rendering, there’s an inherent speed limit across browsers and hardware.

Dynamic environments and new challenges

Currently, when Geolocation is enabled, the game determines dusk and dawn times and automatically switches between day and night themes.

At the moment, day and night modes only alter the color scheme. However, I’ve long considered adding dynamic gameplay elements—for example, roaming enemy snakes that appear at night to steal food or cause collisions. These challenges could justify increasing the spawn rates of rare food during nighttime, adding more meaningful differences between day and night.

Coupling the snake’s movement with its rendering made it challenging to introduce additional moving entities, especially since food speed boosts meant that snakes wouldn’t always move in sync. After we’ve decoupled the snake’s movement from its rendering, incorporating these extra dynamic elements should be much more straightforward.