4 ms·

Battlesnake raises $1.5M to turn coding into competition

48 points by bvanvugt 5y ago

chairmanwow1 5y ago
This seems like a lot of fun. How does it work? Do you interact with the game via an API?
- qnsi 5y ago
  You create a server, that Battlesnakes call via API.
- xtagon 5y ago
  You build the API which implements a move handler, and every turn of the game the Battlesnake engine calls your move API with the full board state information and your API returns a move (up down left or right). https://docs.battlesnake.com/references/api https://docs.battlesnake.com/references/api
hiimcory 5y ago
Congrats Brad & team! I've had a ton of fun participating in prior tournaments, and I look forward to seeing where you guys take it moving forward!
- bvanvugt 5y ago
  Hey, thanks for playing! <3
raman162 5y ago
This looks really promising, I can see myself watching this like sports. Congrats to the founders for such a creative ideas.
tephra 5y ago
Every year the CS department at my old uni have a get together dinner for old and current students and teachers. The main event is a programming competition called snakeu (or something similar can never get the spelling correct), which is exactly this but in Java and no web servers. A few times the winner have been the team that took the basic snake which always turns right and improved it by always turning left (generally you get 15 or 30 mins to code it).
jna_sh 5y ago
If you want to get a feel for what building a Battlesnake is like, would definitely recommend the Thursday Twitch shows! This one was a lot of fun, where penelope_zone (of rubyfmt/Stripe/Ruby Central fame) built a Battlesnake in Bash: https://www.twitch.tv/battlesnakeofficial/v/1150727860?sr=a&t=12s https://www.twitch.tv/battlesnakeofficial/v/1150727860?sr=a&... Disclaimer: I host one of the recurring segments on the Battlesnake Twitch
- bvanvugt 5y ago
  Bashtle Snake is one of the greatest Battlesnakes ever made.
xtagon 5y ago
Just as COVID started, my friends and I were planning a trip to Victoria, BC to participate in one of Battlesnake's live tournaments. Travel restrictions put a stop to things, but ever since then, Battlesnake has had an amazing online/virtual presence and we've been able to participate in multiple events through Twitch. I'm using it as practice to learn programming languages that I don't normally play with at my day job. Also learning a ton of game theory and data structures/algorithms along the way!
bagrow 5y ago
Anyone play RoboWar back in the day? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboWar https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboWar
zardoz-90 5y ago
I was really concerned with what would happen to BattleSnake during the pandemic. The live events were way too much fun and I wasn't sure how that would transfer fully online. Turns out I didn't need to worry. The online shows have been top-notch! The quality of the games are better (snakes tend to be better prepared) and the casting team is hilarious. Even my non-techie partner loves watching them. Can't wait to see what the team does with funding.

48 points by bvanvugt 5y ago

chairmanwow1 5y ago

This seems like a lot of fun. How does it work? Do you interact with the game via an API?

qnsi 5y ago
You create a server, that Battlesnakes call via API.
xtagon 5y ago
You build the API which implements a move handler, and every turn of the game the Battlesnake engine calls your move API with the full board state information and your API returns a move (up down left or right). https://docs.battlesnake.com/references/api https://docs.battlesnake.com/references/api

hiimcory 5y ago

Congrats Brad & team! I've had a ton of fun participating in prior tournaments, and I look forward to seeing where you guys take it moving forward!

bvanvugt 5y ago
Hey, thanks for playing! <3

raman162 5y ago

This looks really promising, I can see myself watching this like sports. Congrats to the founders for such a creative ideas.

tephra 5y ago

Every year the CS department at my old uni have a get together dinner for old and current students and teachers. The main event is a programming competition called snakeu (or something similar can never get the spelling correct), which is exactly this but in Java and no web servers. A few times the winner have been the team that took the basic snake which always turns right and improved it by always turning left (generally you get 15 or 30 mins to code it).

jna_sh 5y ago

If you want to get a feel for what building a Battlesnake is like, would definitely recommend the Thursday Twitch shows! This one was a lot of fun, where penelope_zone (of rubyfmt/Stripe/Ruby Central fame) built a Battlesnake in Bash: https://www.twitch.tv/battlesnakeofficial/v/1150727860?sr=a&t=12s https://www.twitch.tv/battlesnakeofficial/v/1150727860?sr=a&... Disclaimer: I host one of the recurring segments on the Battlesnake Twitch

bvanvugt 5y ago
Bashtle Snake is one of the greatest Battlesnakes ever made.

xtagon 5y ago

Just as COVID started, my friends and I were planning a trip to Victoria, BC to participate in one of Battlesnake's live tournaments. Travel restrictions put a stop to things, but ever since then, Battlesnake has had an amazing online/virtual presence and we've been able to participate in multiple events through Twitch. I'm using it as practice to learn programming languages that I don't normally play with at my day job. Also learning a ton of game theory and data structures/algorithms along the way!

bagrow 5y ago

Anyone play RoboWar back in the day? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboWar https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboWar

zardoz-90 5y ago

I was really concerned with what would happen to BattleSnake during the pandemic. The live events were way too much fun and I wasn't sure how that would transfer fully online. Turns out I didn't need to worry. The online shows have been top-notch! The quality of the games are better (snakes tend to be better prepared) and the casting team is hilarious. Even my non-techie partner loves watching them. Can't wait to see what the team does with funding.