How to add settings to snake game(Processing)? - processing

Question

Im trying to add settings to a snake game made in processing. I want to have something like easy, normal and hard or something along the lines of that and change the speed and maybe size of the grid. If anyone coudl explain how to id greatly appreciate it!
ArrayList<Integer> x = new ArrayList<Integer>(), y = new ArrayList<Integer>();
int w = 30, h = 30, bs = 20, dir = 2, applex = 12, appley = 10;
int[] dx = {0,0,1,-1}, dy = {1,-1,0,0};
boolean gameover = false;
void setup() {
size(600,600);
x.add(5);
y.add(5);
}
void draw() {
background(255);
for(int i = 0 ; i < w; i++) line(i*bs, 0, i*bs, height); //Vertical line for grid
for(int i = 0 ; i < h; i++) line(0, i*bs, width, i*bs); //Horizontal line for grid
for(int i = 0 ; i < x.size(); i++) {
fill (0,255,0);
rect(x.get(i)*bs, y.get(i)*bs, bs, bs);
}
if(!gameover) {
fill(255,0,0);
rect(applex*bs, appley*bs, bs, bs);
if(frameCount%5==0) {
x.add(0,x.get(0) + dx[dir]);
y.add(0,y.get(0) + dy[dir]);
if(x.get(0) < 0 || y.get(0) < 0 || x.get(0) >= w || y.get(0) >= h) gameover = true;
for(int i = 1; i < x.size(); i++) if(x.get(0) == x.get(i) && y.get(0) == y.get(i)) gameover = true;
if(x.get(0)==applex && y.get(0)==appley) {
applex = (int)random(0,w);
appley = (int)random(0,h);
}else {
x.remove(x.size()-1);
y.remove(y.size()-1);
}
}
} else {
fill(0);
textSize(30);
text("GAME OVER. Press Space to Play Again", 20, height/2);
if(keyPressed && key == ' ') {
x.clear(); //Clear array list
y.clear(); //Clear array list
x.add(5);
y.add(5);
gameover = false;
}
}
if (keyPressed == true) {
int newdir = key=='s' ? 0 : (key=='w' ? 1 : (key=='d' ? 2 : (key=='a' ? 3 : -1)));
if(newdir != -1 && (x.size() <= 1 || !(x.get(1) ==x.get(0) + dx[newdir] && y.get (1) == y.get(0) + dy[newdir]))) dir = newdir;
}
}

Answer 1

You need to break your problem down into smaller steps:
Step one: Can you store the difficulty in a variable? This might be an int that keeps track of a level, or a boolean that switches between easy and hard. Just hardcode the value of that variable for now.
Step two: Can you write your code so it changes behavior based on the difficulty level? Use the variable you created in step one. You might use an if statement to check the difficulty level, or maybe the speed increases over time. It's completely up to you. Start out with a hard-coded value. Change the value to see different behaviors.
Step three: Can you programatically change that value? Maybe this requires a settings screen where the user chooses the difficulty, or maybe it gets more difficult over time. But you have to do the first two steps before you can start this step.
If you get stuck on a specific step, then post an MCVE and we'll go from there.