Snake Byte FAQ(Apple game)
by Andrew Schultz [email protected]
Version 1.0.1
Copyright 2001

Snake Byte is copyright 1981 by Sirius Software Inc. and Chuck
Sommerville.  I am not affiliated with them in any fashion but wanted to
make a brief document to keep this interesting game's memory alive.

If you wish to post this on your web site, please drop me a note
addressing me by name(don't depersonalize me, man :) ) and it will
likely be received favorably.  I don't intend to profit off this, and I
don't think there's much profit in this, but I appreciate people asking.

********
AD SPACE
********

My site with stuff about other Apple games:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762

*************************

WHAT IS SNAKE BYTE?

FAQ GUIDELINES

POINTS

OTHER IMPORTANT STUFF

SNAKE BYTE LEVELS

VERSIONS/CREDITS

*************************

WHAT IS SNAKE BYTE?

 You're this snake that goes around collecting apples on a 40x40 grid.
You have to collect 10 before you can exit at the top center, but for
each apple you collect(shown one at a time for the most part) you get
bigger--and you are more likely to crash into yourself.  As the levels
increase, different obstacles are placed in the grid.  In addition,
there's a timer for getting the apples.  If you don't, three more
appear, and if you die, those three are added to the 10 required next
time you go apple hunting.  But you have to pick them up singly, which
is a pain.  There are cheat versions of Snake Byte floating around that
don't have you timed after you pick up the first apple, allow you to
start on a higher level, or get a bunch of snakes.  They make the game
rather more interesting and playable.

 Snake Byte is a graphical extension of a more basic game, "White
Lightning," where you chased randomly-valued boxes in an arena without
any plums until you got killed.  There was also a text version TRS-80
game called "Hustler" which was on the computer at my elementary school
and whose title some concerned parents upset.

 These games generally used arrays to keep track of your snake's
length, and frequently your snake would break off when the length got to
be 200 or so.  Only boxes appearing on top of your tail would clear
things.

FAQ GUIDELINES:

 y=0 is the top of the screen, as in Apple GR.
 In the map, - may indicate more than one unit on the screen.  * never
does.

POINTS

 You receive 10x points for each apple you hit, where x=1+.5p and p=#
of plums.
 You receive a bonus of 20x points if you get through a level without
losing a snake.  In any case you receive an extra snake when you win a
level.
 Each arena is 40x40, including the border on the outside.

OTHER IMPORTANT STUFF
 You have approximately 100 moves to nail an apple before more appear.
Your snake head goes three times as fast as the counter.
 Your snake's length starts at 12 units.  It grows by 10 units for each
apple you hit until you crash or win the level.  Note that this means
you can never catch the very end of your tail unless you've just eaten
an apple(Galen Komatsu pointed this exception out to me.)
 PROOF:  Make the arena a 40x40 checkerboard.  Assume your head is on a
BLACK square.  Then the next move will lead to a white, then black, and
so on.  Given that your tail is (11+10x) moves away from your head, and
that is an odd number, it will be on a WHITE square if your head is on
BLACK.  Similar reasoning for if your head is on a WHITE square.  So you
can never hit it in the standard course of play, unless(as Galen Komatsu
points out) you have just eaten an apple, and your snake is growing.
The best way to try this is on the first level.  Since you start out at
12 units, you will have to double back a bit to get to your tail--if you
don't, you'll grow 10 units but need to reach 12.  Shortening the
distance from the tail to the plum is best done by alternating on the
left and right arrows.
 You enter at x=20, y=39 and must leave at x=20, y=0.
 If you hit left or right before starting a level, you will crash into
the bottom wall you come out of.
 Plums move diagonally and bounce predictably.
The plum below, going SE, will bounce back in the direction it came:
 o
  +<-apple
The plum below if it is bouncing SE will bounce back NE.  However the
one to the right will bounce backwards.

o             o
====+ <-you     /=+
               |

 Plums may travel in one of the four cardinal directions if they are
pressed for space.  Also on many boards they will bounce back and forth
until you break up their patterns, particularly the one in the upper
left.


SNAKE BYTE LEVELS

 There are 29 levels in Snake Byte.  After you complete them, you go
through them again.  Hooray.  Note that the * in the maps below may be
points on the 40x40 grid but the - and | are lines.

 LEVEL 1
 Blank.

 LEVEL 2
 Bar in middle (10, 20) to (30, 20)
 Color:  Orange/green stripes
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$       $
$       $
$ *-*-* $
$       $
$       $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$

 LEVEL 3
 Plus sign
 Color:  red/orange stripes
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$   *   $
$   |   $
$ *-*-* $
$   |   $
$   *   $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$

 LEVEL 4
 E
 Color:  white
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$ *-*-* $
$ |     $
$ *-*-* $
$ |     $
$ *-*-* $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$

 LEVEL 5
 Double-H
 Color:  white/green
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$ * * * $
$ | | | $
$ *-*-* $
$ | | | $
$ * * * $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$

 LEVEL 6
 Box with opening at (20, 10) and (21,10)
 Color:  black/purple
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$ *- -* $
$ |   | $
$ *   * $
$ |   | $
$ *-*-* $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$

 LEVEL 7
 Zigzag in middle.  Openings at (11-14, 10/30) as well as (26-29, 20).
 Color:  Orange/black
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$ * *-* $
$ |   | $
$ *-* * $
$ |   | $
$ * *-* $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$
(NTS)

 LEVEL 8
 Two lines.  From (1,19) to (18,19) and (21,20) to (38,20).
 Color:  green/red
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$       $
$       $
$-*- -*-$
$       $
$       $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$


 LEVEL 9
 Columns
 Color:  white/green
 Lines at (5/10/15/20/25/30/35, 10-30).

 LEVEL 10
 Interlocked E(holes at (26-29, 10/20/30) and (11-14, 15/25))
 Colors:  blue E, green interlocking
$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$           $
$ *-*-*-* * $
$ |       | $
$ * *-*-*-* $
$ |       | $
$ *-*-*-* * $
$ |       | $
$ * *-*-*-* $
$ |       | $
$ *-*-*-* * $
$           $
$$$$$$$$$$$$$
(NTS--box boundary at (10,10)/(30,30))

 LEVEL 11
 Box with vertical line(10/30, 19/20)
 Color:  green/orange stripe
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$ *-*-* $
$ | | | $
$   *   $
$ | | | $
$ *-*-* $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$

 LEVEL 12
 Box with sides(10/30, 20)open and line (20, 18-22) inside
 Color:  red/orange stripe box with orange line
$$$$$$$$$
$       $
$ *-*-* $
$ |   | $
$   *   $
$ |   | $
$ *-*-* $
$       $
$$$$$$$$$

 LEVEL 13
 Maze that starts at (7,7) and each vertex to (31,31) is at (6x+1,
6x+1)
 Color:  white/blue
Maze map: (upper left removed so plum can bounce around)
 *-* *-*
|   |   |
*-* *-* *
       |
*-* * *-*
 | |
* * *-*-*
|       |
* *-*-* *

 LEVEL 14
 Rooms.  A big box with corners at (5,5) and (34,34) and holes at
(10/30,19) and (5/19/34,20) and reflections about y=x thereof
 Color:  black/green

 LEVEL 15
 Two square rooms.  (18,1) to (18,18) to (1,18) on top, (23,38) to
(23,23) to (38,23) on bottom.  Holes at y=9, 10, 29, 30.
 Color:  white/blue

 LEVEL 16
 Broken-up plus, making four rooms.  (19,1) to (19,16), (19,22) to
(19,38), and reflections about y=x thereof

 LEVEL 17
 Four lines, (1,18) to (18,18), (21,1) to (21,18), (18,21) to (18,38),
(21,21) to (38,21).
 Color:  white/green

 LEVEL 18
 Lnes at x=y=19, breaks at (9,19), (19,9), (29,19), (19,29).
 Color:  purple/black

 LEVEL 19
 Squares with corners (5,5)/(34,34) and (10,10)/(29,29) and holes at
x=20 and y=20(i.e. 4 holes each.)
 Colors:  red/orange stripes for outside square, blue/black for inside

 LEVEL 20
 Maze.  Six columns/rows with corners at (5,5) and (35,35).
 Color:  Blue
(The top pixel is out so that the plum can move around.)
-* *-*-* *-*
 |     | |
* * *-* * * *
|     |     |
* *-* * * *-*
| |     |   |
* * *-*-*-* *
 |
* *-* *-*-* *
|           |
* * * *-*-* *
| | |     |
* * *-*-* *-*

 LEVEL 21
 Two squares, with corners at (5,5) and (34,34) and (10,10) and (29,29)
respectively.  They have holes at (5/34, 19/20) and (29, 19/20).
 Color:  purple

 LEVEL 22
 Box with horizontal lines through (10/20/30, 10/20/30) and points
removed in 1-square radius from (10/20/30, 10/20/30).
 Color:  blue
 *****
   *
*   *   *
*       *
***   ***
*       *
*   *   *
   *
 *****
(NTS)

 LEVEL 23
 Vertical lines at y=18 and y=21.  Holes at (18, 9/10) and (21, 29/30).

 LEVEL 24
 A bunch of horizontal lines from x=5 to x=34, broken at x=20.  From
(19,16 to (19,23) there is a straight line as well as from (21,16) to
(21,23).  Above and below there are horizontal lines every other
coordinate.

Rough sketch:

   etc.
**** ****

**** ****

**** **** y=16
   * *
   * *
**** **** y=23

**** ****

**** ****
   etc.

 LEVEL 25
 A bunch of bent lines.
 Color:  Blue/black and green/black.

 ggggggggggggggggggggggggg
   g
 b g bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
 b g b
 b g b ggggggggggggggggggg
 b g b g
 b g b g bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
 b g b g b
 b g b g b ggggggggggggggg
 b g b g b g
 b g b g b g bbbbbbbbbbbbb
 b g b g b g b
 b g b g b g b ggggggggggg
 b g b g b g b g
 b g b g b g b g bbbbbbbbb
 b g b g b g b g b
 b g b g b g b g b ggggggg
 b g b g b g b g b g
 b g b g b g b g b g bbbbb
 b g b g b g b g b g b
 b g b g b g b g b g b ggg

This structure's upper corner is (3,6) and its lower corner is (36,33).

 LEVEL 26
 Four rooms--tough to describe so I'll give a text map below.
 Colors:  orange in upper left, blue/black in upper right, green/purple
in lower left, blue in lower right.

                          *  *  y=7
                          *  *
                          *  *
********  ********* ********  ********
*      *  *       * *                *
*      *  *       * *                *
*      *  *       * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
******************* ******************

******************* ******************
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *                *
*                 * *      *  *      *
*                 * *      *  *      *
*                 * *      *  *      *
********  ********* ********  ********
      *  *
      *  *
      *  * y=32

 LEVEL 27
 Vertical and horizontal lines at x, y= 9, 19 and 29, except for when
y, x=4, 14, 24, 34.  This creates a "room" effect.  Most have 4 units on
each side of the door unless they are at the top or left, in which case
there are 3 and 4.
 Color:  blue

 LEVEL 28
 Divided in two parts by a winding maze.
 Color:  blue
*********
*   *   * y=1
* * * * *
 *   *
********* y=18

********* y=20
 *   *
* * * * *
*   *   * y=38
*********
x=20^

 LEVEL 29
 Vertical and horizontal lines at x, y= 9, 19 and 29, except for when
y, x=4, 34.  Much tougher than 27, and you'll find that you may have to
fill up a room by "swimming" back and forth.

 LEVEL 30
 See level 1.  Bonus and points are reset.

******************
End of FAQ proper

VERSIONS/CREDITS

* ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net for having this old favorite from my
childhood.
* Some people at the GameFAQs Apple IIe board(pepper2000 started a
thread,) for bringing this game's memory back to me.
* Galen Komatsu([email protected]) for pointing out how to catch the
snake's tail.  I think he was in on the thread too.

1.0.1 4/2/2001:  added info about chasing your tail :)
1.0.0 1/28/2001:  submitted first version to GameFAQs.com.  Might add
more level-specific strategy later.

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