Python Snake Game — CSC-1004 Course Project

A Tkinter Snake game implemented in Python. Submitted as part of CSC-1004: Computational Laboratory Using Java (Python component), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-SZ).

Course context: the Python assignment requires preliminary Snake rules, Python GUI, and direct keyboard control. 3

Features

• Tkinter canvas rendering (no external game engine required)
• Grid-based snake movement with constant game tick
• Four-direction keyboard control: Arrow keys
• Two food types:
  • Type 1 (red): grow snake by 1 unit
  • Type 2 (orange): grow snake by 2 units
• Score increases by 1 for each food eaten
• Live HUD: length, score, elapsed time
• Win condition: reach target length (MAX_SNAKE_LENGTH = 8)
• Lose conditions: wall collision or self collision
• Game-over screen with final length, time, and score
• Restart via on-canvas button or R key
• Lightweight collision lookup using set for snake and food positions

Tech Stack

• Python 3.x
• Standard library only: tkinter, random, time

Project Structure

main.py # SnakeGame class, GUI, game loop, input handling

Requirements

• Python 3.8 or newer
• Tkinter (bundled with official Python on Windows/macOS; on Linux install python3-tk if not present)

Run

python3 main.py

Or, inside the project folder:

python main.py

Controls

• Arrow Left / Right / Up / Down : change direction
• R : restart after game over
• Mouse click on “Restart” button : restart after game over

Game rules

• The snake starts at the canvas center moving right.
• Eating red food grows the snake by 1 and adds 1 score.
• Eating orange food grows the snake by 2 and adds 1 score.
• The game ends with a win when snake length reaches 8.
• The game ends with a loss on wall hit or self collision.
• Target/win length, cell size, canvas size, and speed can be changed via class constants in main.py.

Customization

In main.py:

• CELL_SIZE : pixel size of one grid cell
• GAME_SPEED : milliseconds per move (lower = faster)
• MAX_SNAKE_LENGTH : win length
• CANVAS_WIDTH, CANVAS_HEIGHT : board size
• Food colors and HUD colors : class color constants

Notes for CSC-1004

• Python GUI: Tkinter Canvas, text HUD, button binding.
• OOP: all logic encapsulated in SnakeGame.
• Keyboard event handling via root.bind('<KeyPress>', ...).
• Advanced options you can mention: two-type food growth, set-based collision optimization, restart button + hotkey, score/time/length HUD.

Repository: https://github.com/berserkross/PythonSnakeGame