advanced-snake-mechanics

name	Advanced Snake Mechanics
description	Guidelines for analog movement, mass-based growth, and smooth visual representations.

Advanced Snake Mechanics (Snake.io Style)

1. Movement and Turning

• Do not use 4-directional grid movement.
• Velocity Vector: Movement should be determined by an angle and a speed.
• Turn rate should be capped. When a player moves their mouse or joystick in a new direction, the snake's heading angle should gradually interpolate toward the target angle to create momentum and wide arcs.

2. Segments & Following Logic

• The snake is a series of nodes (segments).
• The head moves based on the velocity vector.
• IK / Follow Mechanics: Each subsequent body segment follows the position of the segment directly in front of it.
• Ensure a minimum distance is maintained between segments so they don't bunch up. If the distance exceeds a target segment length, the segment moves linearly toward the previous segment.

3. Mass and Growth

• Snake length is a visually smoothed representation of its mass score.
• When consuming a pellet, increase mass instantly, but visually add body segments gradually over several frames.
• Boost Mechanics: When boosting, deduct mass from the player continuously and decrease their length gracefully. Dropped mass should spawn as specialized high-value pellets behind their tail.

4. Death & Explosions

• When a head collides with another snake's body or the arena boundary, the snake dies.
• Remove the player from the active array and spawn numerous pellet entities corresponding to their mass at the exact positions of their former body segments.