Neon Snakes: Multiplayer Snake Arena

C#, .NET MAUI, TCP/IP, JSON, MVC

Dec. 8, 2023

CS 3500 - Software Practice I

Project Summary & Video Demonstration

A network based multiplayer battle game based on classic Snake. Players compete to grow their snakes by collecting power-ups while avoiding collisions with rivals. As snakes grow larger, they gain more control of the arena, using their size and movement to outmaneuver opponents.

How it Works

The Handshake

The server has two main responsibilities: listening for new connections and managing the world state once a connection is established. The game does not begin until the first player joins. A client connects by sending its name to the server’s DNS on port 11000, where the server is listening. After creating the player in the world, the server continuously sends back world state updates until the connection is terminated or the server shuts down..

Client/Server MVC

MVC was applied again in this assignment, layered on top of a client/server architecture. The Server represents the Model, handling world state, game logic, collisions, spawn locations, and object modeling. The Client combines both Controller and View: the Controller interprets world data from JSON and sends movement data back to the server, while the View simply renders the world and front end. The Model and Controller communicate bidirectionally over TCP/IP, while the View receives one-way updates from the Controller.

Game World Customization via XML

Game arena and initial snake data are stored in a configurable file that the server owner can edit before startup. Settings such as world size, wall positions, maximum power-ups, and snake speed can all be adjusted. Although not shown in the demo, if no wall exists at the edge of the world, snakes wrap around in a Pac-Man–style manner.

`Show me the code...`

Next Project: Sprite Animator

→