Snakey Math combines classic arcade action with mathematical drills.
Key Features
• Great arcade experience with lots of color, sound, and voice action at any screen resolution.
• Up to 8 snakes total, of which up to 4 can be controlled by players.
• Small groups of 2 to 4 students can compete and learn together at one computer, while single players can enjoy the built-in action.
• Computer-controlled opponents eat any nearby number, keeping students on their toes.
• Players can decide on any point value for ending a game, whether this means winning group competitions or fulfilling single-player goals.
• Game design provides superior drills with ample follow-through, allowing wrong answers to be eliminated one by one rather than simply flashing the correct answer.
• Flexible math problems let students or administrators set the desired range of operands, including negatives and decimals, and choose any combination of operations. Multiple operations per problem are supported to help students understand the order of operations.
Requirements
Mac OS 7.0 or later
4 Megabytes of free RAM
68020 or higher processor or PowerPC
Snakey Math makes good use of speech synthesis (Macintalk/Speech Manager/Text-to-Speech), but does not require it.
Proper Use
Snakey math uses the keyboard for game play.
As with any action game, make sure that students know how to play without banging on keys or pressing them down too forcefully! Also, in Snakey Math it's not necessary to keep holding keys to move; if fact, doing so will slow down the game. The best way to play is to press keys and then release them as you would when typing. (See the Movement section for details.)
Getting Started
If you need to adjust the sound for your surroundings, use the Options menu to change the "Sounds" and "Comments" settings. The "Sounds" option determines whether sounds will be played, and the "Comments" option toggles the game's voice features. To adjust the sound volume, use your computer's external volume buttons or the "Volume" settings in the Options menu.
You may want to show students how to set the game options when they are new to the game. The Snakes, Speed, and Playing Area options can be adjusted to suit the speed of the Macintosh and the skill level of the students. They also might like to know about the "No Touching" option.
Objectives
At the start of each round, a problem and four possible answers are presented. A player must simply eat the correct answer to grow and gain points. From time to time, speed bonuses appear. These make the lucky player faster than other snakes and continue until the player gets a correct answer.
Snakes
All snakes in Snakey Math have minds of their own. Unless controlled to do otherwise, they will eat any nearby numbers and move about as they wish.
When a player joins the game by pressing a key, he or she takes over one of the snakes. At that moment, the snake will begin to move under the player's control, and the player's score box will appear. The outline of the score box will match the color of the snake.
If the player stops controlling the snake for a while, the snake will revert back to its own will until the player starts pressing keys again.
Snakes thinking on their own eat any nearby numbers, but do not actively seek speed bonuses.
Movement
Four keys control the direction of each snake. Snakey Math uses four sets of these keys, distributed throughout the length of the keyboard, to allow players to choose a comfortable position for playing and to allow up to 4 players to participate. These sets of keys are displayed at the top of the screen at the beginning of each game.
Note that you shouldn't hold down keys when playing; they simply act to change direction, not to propel the snake, so press and then release them, just as you would press and release keys when typing.
Pressing "back" in the direction opposite to the way you are going will quickly reverse the snake. For example, if your snake is moving to the right, pressing the left key causes the snake to immediately change directions. This makes the snake's tail its head, and can prove very useful. If the snake cannot move in the new direction, or if another direction is desired, two quick key presses will do the job--the first key press to reverse the snake, and the second to start it in a new direction.
Note that if the snake cannot move for a moment, it reverts back to its own mind until you press another key.
Scoring
More points are gained for correctly answered questions if other choices are still remaining:
+ 200 points : if all four choices were available when the answer was chosen.
+ 150 points : if the answer was chosen correctly from three choices.
+ 100 points : if there were two choices left.
+ 50 points : if only the correct choice was remaining.
Points are halved when a wrong answer is chosen!
100 Points are deducted for hitting other objects when playing with the "No Touching" option.
Use the "Play" menu to set a goal for game points. The game will end when this score is reached. Note that this can work equally well to determine the winner of group games or to determine an acceptable level of accomplishment for single players.
No Touching
If the "No Touching" option is enabled, snakes may not run into the sides of the arena or the bodies of snakes while being controlled. Doing so will cause a score penalty and send the player back to a starting position.
When snakes are thinking for themselves, they may run into things without any penalty.
You receive a bit of leeway the very first time your snake is activated, but afterwards you must be careful when taking control of your snake after it has been doing its own thinking, to avoid running into yourself or something else before you've gotten off a good start.
Speed
The "Speed" menu lets you choose a frames-per-second rate for game play. The speed of your machine will be a factor in how fast you can play.
The speed of your computer also affects how many snakes can be played at once at an acceptable rate. Use the "Snakes" menu to select the number of snakes.
Math
The math settings window allows you to choose operations and ranges for math problems.
The unregistered software demonstrates multiplication with operands from -12 x - 6 to 12 x 6. However, the "Sample Problems" area allows you to see the wide variety of problems that the registered software supports; simply choose any desired settings and several examples will be generated.
Other Options
The "Show Keys" option determines whether the key sets are shown at the beginning of the game to help players recognize the proper keys to use. Players who are familiar with the game might not want to see the key sets.
(If the key sets are shown, they persist until someone has started playing, but disappear soon after. To provide an easy way to have another look at the keys after they have disappeared, the "Show Keys" option uses a special technique: normally it simply turns the option on and off, showing and hiding the key sets accordingly; but if the option is checked and the keys are invisible, it shows the keys without turning off the option.)
The "Playing Area" options let you set the size of the playing area. A small screen area is easier to navigate and helps older computers keep up, while a large area may be fun at faster speeds or with more players and snakes.
Snakey Math automatically adjusts to any screen size, but lower screen resolutions may allow faster game performance. If you need to change the settings of your screen for any reason, there's a handy "Screen Settings..." shortcut in the Options menu to change your screen settings easily.
Snakey Math will adjust not to any changes in resolution and playing area size until starting a new game. The game will remind you about this when you change resolution or playing area size. Of course, sooner or later you will no longer need to be reminded, and the "Show Reminders" option allows you to turn off these messages.
The "Web Browser" option is only used for those computers without systemwide internet configurations. This option lets you change the preferred browser that you use to open links from Snakey Math.
Purchasing
Snakey Math may be purchased by using secure web page, e-mail, FAX, postal mail, or phone.
The easiest way to register is to start up Snakey Math and click the "Register" button, letting the software walk you through the process.
Alternatively:
To register by web page, go to www.kagi.com/curry and follow the link to the secure web site.
To register by e-mail, FAX, or postal mail, use the "Register Curry Software" application.
To register by phone, follow the directions in Snakey Math's walk-through section.
Updates
From time to time, a new version of Snakey Math with superior features may be made available.
Check the web page at www.kagi.com/curry for the latest version of Snakey Math and other software.
(The current version of Snakey Math is 1.0. If a newer version were released, it would have a higher number, such as 1.0.1 or 1.1.)
Just for Fun
If for some reason you want to switch the snake back to its own control (...to catch your breath; or perhaps you want to let the snakes compete by themselves, after the fashion of bug races?...) and you are not in the "No Touching" mode, you can simply run into anything (a wall, another snake, yourself) and the snake will move under its own power in a moment. If you are in the "No Touching" mode, you can use the "C" position instead: put the snake into a "C" shape and then press back in the direction opposite to the way you're heading.
If your snake is long, you can trap an opponent by closing them in with your snake. The smaller you can make this enclosure, the longer it will last as you move away from the other snake, giving you a good head start before the cage unwinds!
Try chasing your tail...
Try to touch the nose of your snake to the nose of a snake that is minding its own business...
Legal Notice
This software is provided with no warranties. In no event will the author be responsible for any claim.
The software components, such as design, code, graphics, and sounds, are copyrighted and may not be used without permission.
Contact the author for information about re-distribution or commercial publication.
Snakey Math may be included on CD collections if these conditions are fulfilled:
- The collection makes it clear that the products it contains are shareware.
- The distribution is complete and unmodified, with this original documentation and Register application.
- I must be contacted at curry@kagi.com well enough in advance (at least two weeks before collection content is finalized) to approve the distribution and offer any information that would affect the distribution, such as updates to the software or potential problems.
