The Snake That Eats Puzzle Game Mechanics
A collection of single-screen Puzzlescript games, designed by members of the Thinky Puzzle Games Discord community, from January to July 2026.
Games are presented in the order they were made, not in order of difficulty, so feel free to play them in any order you like!
Controls:
- Z is undo
- R is restart
- WASD or arrow keys for movement (swipe on mobile)
- X or Spacebar for action (tap on mobile)
- ESC exits to the level select
Participants in this collaboration were given a small piece of the previous participant's puzzle (either the sprites, or the shape of the level*) and tasked with using it to create a brand new puzzle.
*because we were experimenting with the format, there are two puzzles that also use the same mechanics as the previous puzzle: Mining Caverns and Untitled Circuitry Puzzle 2
Participants:
- Tetramouse
- xxuurruuii
- HKMG
- maia s ravn
- Osi Fisher
- Aspeon
- Slabdrill
- configurations
- Monakrom
- pluf
- CHz
- clickmazes
- Pastimeshark
- Mistafixxa
- bird
- dead0ne
- knexator
Thank you also to Nabokos and AwesomePhoenix for their valuable feedback early in the process.
Comments
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That first level "Metal Gear Liquid 3: Snake Feeder" was pretty gnarly, ngl. But it was doable after a couple of hours at hammering away. My one hint to players struggling is to notice that the snake will always take a step towards a shortest path to where you land after you move. So if you want them to take a specific path, consider where the snake and you have to be placed for that decision to be a shortest path. Figuring out the routes you can take to maintain your gap with the snake and increasing it with the apples is pretty much key. There are a couple other brain blast moments, and out of the box thinking, but I will not spoil the fun.
I also really enjoyed the two fish levels at the end. Really awesome game guys!
Metal Gear Liquid 3: Snake Feeder is harder than a 100x100 Rubik's Cube
hmm
What a thrill
Game is difficult.
Great execution on the retro Atari visuals. The minimalist layout keeps the focus entirely on the movement. The controls feel very reminiscent of Bit Game Maker, which makes it easy to pick up but tough to master. Even without sound, the interaction feels snappy. It gives a fun, adventurous nod to classic Indiana Jones games. Dropped a follow—looking forward to seeing how you expand on these mechanics!
The 2nd level is impossible. The snake is too close to me and one hole is surrounded by apples, and is thus inaccessible.
I’m also having a lot of difficulty figuring out what to do; I get the general idea (bait the snake into the fruits so that it stops to eat them, allowing you to create distance), but I would have benefited from some introductory levels/isolated areas to teach me how to play it.
I love the concept of this project and each individual game I’ve looked at has been interesting, my brain’s just not quite big enough.
Yeah, but it doesn't exactly explain how to bait the snake into eating a fruit located in a blocked corner :(
The first few games are really hard; a bunch of the later ones are a lot more approachable. I haven't been able to do the beginning ones either.
what do you think is more likely, they uploaded an impossible level or we haven't figured it out
I'd say 50/50.
i am quite confident it's us
It's mathematically impossible.
please show your work
Huh?
As the developer of that game I can confirm that it is possible to solve, and I know of multiple people who have done so. It is quite difficult, but in no way impossible.
Since the hole on the bottom right corner is blocked by apples on both sides and it seems like the snake can't eat them due to the alignments of the bricks, I thought it was impossible. Yet you say some people managed to pass the level, so I guess there's something I'm missing.
so what was the math
confirming that after a few days of revisiting, i have finally beaten the second level. I thought for sure, at first, it was impossible. I stumbled upon the first move - confusing the snake's pathfinding and letting it commit a disadvantageous path. From there, I worked out blocking with the barrels for a long long time until I finally discovered a configuration that let me freely solve the remainder of the puzzle.
Pretty difficult puzzle but super nice to solve - no hidden mechanics, just challenge your assumptions and consider where the computer would make a mistake in good faith. The snake does not read bombs as obstacles.
Great game>.
I can't seem to play the game via itch on Windows?
Fantastic line-up
Are you using a web browser, or the itch app? You may need to click the game window before it will accept keyboard inputs!
Thank you! I just needed to press X - the main screen looked like a screenshot list that would showcase various in-game screenshots. But was just a splash screen.
Thanks again!
Woohoo! Heist at the Crate was fun.