Snake

The gist: build a game where you move a snake around a field eating apples. The snake grows with each apple eaten. And if the snake collides with itself, its game over.

Snake is great introduction to tile-based gameplay. It's got short play sessions, simple rules, and is quite replayable. I remember playing it on my mom's Nokia smartphone in the car when I was a kid and continually having a blast.

Mock-Up

The graphics can be as simple as a square for the snake's parts and the apples. Here's a snake clone I made:

Specs

• Snake head moves around field automatically
• Loops back to the other side when it goes off screen
• Arrow keys change the movement direction and the rest of the body follows
• Apples spawn randomly on the field
• When snake head overlaps with apple, the apple disappears and the snake grows a new part
• When the snake's head collides with any part of its body, the game is over
• Allow the player to restart

Concepts

• Tile-based movement
• Random spawning
• Collision detection
• Increased difficulty

Extra Credit

• Keep track of parts grown and display at the end
• Keep track of high score
• Increase the snake's movement speed the longer it gets (more apples = more energy = more speed)
• Add music and sound effects