Slither.io

Slither.io
Developer(s) Steve Howse
Platform(s) Browser, iOS, Android
Release date(s) Browser, iOS
March 2016
Android
March 27, 2016
Genre(s) Tactical arcade game
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Slither.io is a massively multiplayer browser game developed by Steve Howse.[1] Players control a snake-like avatar, which consumes multicolored pellets from other players, and ones that naturally spawn on the map in the game to grow in size. The objective of the game is to grow the longest snake in the server. Slither.io is similar in concept to the popular 2015 web game Agar.io and is reminiscent of the classic arcade game Snake.[2] The game grew in popularity following its promotion among several prominent YouTube users such as PewDiePie.[3] A mobile version of the game for Android was released on March 27, 2016,[4] and topped the App Store shortly after its release.[5]

Gameplay


The objective of the game is to control and move a snake (or a worm to most players) around a colored area, eat pellets to gain mass, defeat and consume other players to grow the biggest and longest in the game. If the player's snake's head collides into a part of another snake, the player loses the game and must start over. The defeated avatar's body turns into bright, shining pellets for other players to consume.[3] These pellets that remain from "death" of an avatar will correspond to the color of the avatar itself. Pellets also spawn from other snake avatars. By pressing the space bar or clicking the mouse, the player can activate "boost mode", which causes the avatar to speed up. When a player does use "boost mode", the snake loses mass causing the snake's size to shrink slightly. The mass that is lost from the boost appears in a line where the boost was used. This feature is useful to outmaneuver and defeat opponents.[6] The drawback is that the avatar will lose some length while being speed-boosted.

There is a border that confines avatars within the circular game board. If a snake hits the border, the player loses the game, but will not turn into the aforementioned pellets. A good strategy to defeat and consume enemies is by coiling and thereby trapping them within the player's snake, leading to the inevitable "death" of the opponents.[7] According to the app description in the Apple App Store, the player with the biggest snake at the end of the day gets to send a "victory message" to the world.[1]

Skins

There are several default skins, each one a different solid color, randomly chosen when the player joins the server. Players can choose to customize their snake's appearances using custom skins with unique designs including the American flag and skins with motifs and colors representing famous YouTubers, such as Jacksepticeye and PewDiePie. In order to unlock custom skins, players must share the game on Twitter or Facebook using the external links found on the website.

Protocol

The game uses WebSockets to communicate with the server, a low-latency protocol codified in the HTML5 standard and supported by all major browsers. In this regard, it is similar to other games including Agar.io.[8][9]

Reception

The game reached the top of the App Store sales charts in the free software category[10] in regions including the United States[11] and the United Kingdom.[12] Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku said that the game's low barriers to entry and similarity to Agar.io explained Slither.io's popularity. She noted the game's fast pace.[3] Boing Boing compared the game's core mechanic to that of the 2009 game Osmos.[13] Brandt Ranj from Business Insider said that despite lagging heavily at times, Slither.io is very entertaining.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "slither.io on the App Store". App Store. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Slither.io Proves Size Doesn't Always Matter". Gamezebo. April 11, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Hernandez, Patricia (April 14, 2016). "Slitherio, YouTube's Hottest New Game, Is More Fun Than It Has Any Right To Be". Kotaku. Archived from the original on April 29, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ "AppBrain". www.appbrain.com. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Slither.io tops free iPad charts in the UK". MCV UK. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Brandt Ranj (April 30, 2016). "Slither.io". Business Insider. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  7. ↑ "8 tips and cheats for App Store smash Slither.io". Pocket Gamer. May 3, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Slither.io Protocol Documented". Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Diep.io Protocol, a project dedicated to reverse-engineering diep.io's client/server protocol". June 19, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Top apps and games: slither.io, all the Lifelines and, of course, Exploding Kittens". Montreal Gazette. May 4, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Top Apps on iOS Store, United States, Games, May 14, 2016". App Annie. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Slither.io tops free iPad charts in the UK". MCV UK. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Slither.io is an addictive mutiplayer snake game". Boing Boing. Retrieved April 30, 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.