Snake Game

This is a classic Snake game implemented in Python using Pygame.

Features

• Arrow keys / WASD to move
• Eat food to grow and increase score
• Collision with walls or self ends the game
• Clean grid-based movement with consistent speed
• Pause (P), Restart (R), Quit (ESC)
• Optional sound toggle (M) if mixer is available

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• pygame
• numpy

Setup

1. Install dependencies (already installed if you used the setup script):

   pip install pygame numpy

2. Run the game:

   python snake.py

   If you are using the provided virtual environment, use:

   .venv/bin/python snake.py

Controls

• Arrow keys or WASD: Move
• P: Pause
• R: Restart
• M: Toggle sound
• ESC: Quit

Download

Get the packaged ZIP of the latest release:

• v1.0: https://github.com/fletcherholt/snake-test/archive/refs/tags/v1.0.zip

Troubleshooting

Here are quick fixes for common issues when running the game.

1) Double‑click opens the file in an editor, not the game

Run it from Terminal instead of double‑clicking:

cd /Users/holt/snake-test
./.venv/bin/python snake.py

If you don’t have the venv yet, create it and install deps:

cd /Users/holt/snake-test
python3 -m venv .venv
./.venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pip
./.venv/bin/pip install pygame numpy
./.venv/bin/python snake.py

2) "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pygame'"

You’re likely using a different Python than your venv.

./.venv/bin/pip install pygame
./.venv/bin/python -c "import pygame, sys; print(pygame.__version__, sys.executable)"

If install fails on macOS Apple Silicon, try upgrading build tools and reinstalling:

./.venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
./.venv/bin/pip install pygame

3) No sound or music

• Press M to toggle sound on/off.
• Check macOS output volume and device.
• Custom SFX/music should be placed in the project root (same folder as snake.py).
• Prefer .wav/.ogg for sound effects; .mp3 is fine for background music but can be less reliable for short SFX on some setups.
• If the mixer won’t initialize on macOS, try forcing the CoreAudio driver and run again:

export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=coreaudio
./.venv/bin/python snake.py

4) Window doesn’t open / pygame error about video system

• Make sure you’re not running over SSH/headless.
• Close other full‑screen apps that might grab exclusive display.
• Update pygame:

./.venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pygame

5) Controls don’t respond or the game looks paused

• On the start screen, press Enter or Space to begin.
• P toggles pause. If paused, HUD says “Paused”.
• Arrow keys or WASD move the snake.

6) Best score won’t update or looks wrong

Delete the best score file and it will be recreated next run:

rm -f .snake_best

7) The window is too big for my display

Reduce the grid size constant at the top of snake.py (e.g., GRID_SIZE = 20) and run again.

8) Still stuck? Share the exact Terminal output

Run the game from Terminal and copy the full error/traceback; include your macOS version and Python version:

sw_vers
./.venv/bin/python --version
./.venv/bin/python snake.py