Temple Of Snek cover
Temple Of Snek screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure, Indie

Temple Of Snek

Snek's 1.0 Half-anniversary

It's almost six months since Snek slithered out of early access!



It's hard to believe it's been so long. Back in February, I was so used to working on Temple of Snek that I couldn't really believe it was "finished". Heavy scare-quotes.

So this is a bit of a celebration. A half-anniversary. I wanted to write about some of the cool things around and since the 1.0 release, in the game, about development, and from the community. And since it's a celebration, we're doing a big 50% off sale - Snek's biggest discount yet - during the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase on 3rd-10th August. So that's an ideal time to grab it off your wishlist or recommend it to a friend!

About six years ago I typed the following into my ideas doc:

Tower of Snek. It's a Snake-like, except you're a giant snake monster defending the Tower of Snek from invading heroes who want to kill your priests and steal your loot. Small tile-based dungeon levels, could be procgen and roguish?


It didn't turn out exactly like that, huh? But the general idea was there. I was thinking of a tower of stacked levels, getting progressively harder as you climb, envisage as a 2D game with pixel-art tiles. This procgen, rougelike idea didn't stick around for long though. It was another couple of years before I decided to try making a basic Snake-like in 3D using spline meshes, purely as a learning exercise, and then I just kind of fell into making Temple of Snek. Version 0.1 was ready for early access in August 2021, and version 1.0 signified the end of early access in February 2023. Through that time the game got UGC with Workshop support, a kind-of-ridiculously-big, interconnected dungeon, and a ton of overhauls to various systems and features.

All of that was driven partly by the players and community, providing feedback and motivation. I'm very grateful to Temple of Snek players, and proud of the community we had through all of early access, and of the game it turned out to be. Cheers! 💚

Here's a list of seven things worth celebrating.

Cerebral Puzzle Showcase


Temple of Snek is joining the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase this week! It's a wonderful, curated collection of "thinky" games, and it's an honour to be included. If you buy one game this week, it should be a gift copy of Snek 😉… but if you buy more than one check out the showcase. There are some free demos too (including the excellent demo debut of the mysterious and puzzling CRT7 by Snek-friend Amicable Animal).


Updates Updates Updates


Throughout early access, there were minor updates every couple of months, as well as milestone updates like Mek-a-Snek (the snek-skin editor), Snek Workshop (the level editor), the hint system, and the three big Story Mode chunks. You can read more about them in the roadmap or change log. Two of my favourite minor updates were the addition of the rats and quetzal birds, and the spooky-scary-skele-Snek Halloween skin.


Version 1.0 ended early access, but it definitely wasn't finished-finished. Since then, there's been a ton of tweaks and new features like:
  • Pop-up length counter in the HUD.
  • Panning and zooming the map screen.
  • Adjusted some puzzles based on player feedback.
  • Visibility / readability enhancements.
  • Improvements to ultrawide support.
  • Improvements to the save system to help you get out of a jam if you accidentally use up all your restarts on the same checkpoint.
  • A bunch of bug fixes.


Player-made Snek-Skins


Since the Mek-a-Snek editor launched in version 0.2, players have been able to adorn their snek with custom scale patterns. In version 0.4 Mek-a-Snek got Steam Workshop integration for sharing patterns. All the colour patterns people have made resembling real snake species are fantastic, but personally I especially love the more creative ones, such as Lava Snek, by FerreTrip (which works well with the Glo-Snek body), Hotdog by Bubbles, and Arcade Anaconda, by CraftyMutt, as well as CraftyMutts knit patterns, which work well with the Woolly Snek body type, and are the kind I most like to make too.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2933461266
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2964386113
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3006194068
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3006201977


Scottish Games Awards 2022 Nominee


In October 2022 Temple of Snek was shortlisted for an award in the Creativity category of the inaugural Scottish Games Awards. It was a prestigious bunch of nominees. Snek was in very fine company, and I felt very proud!

Interactive Music


The music in Temple of Snek is a huge part of the vibe and character of the game. I think Miles Tilmann did an excellent job of composing compelling, energetic, expressive bops to fit the environments and chapters of the game and assist the rhythm-based gameplay. It's all produced as individual stems, in a way that made it easy for me to script as interactive music to fit the puzzles. If you're not familiar with the game and its music, you can check it out in the demo. Some of my favourite moments are when the interactive music can anticipate that you're about to solve a puzzle and bring in a flourish not just after it's solved, but almost at the time when you realise you're about to solve it. There are a couple of those moments in the demo. Miles's arrangements and support made that possible.

Player-made Levels


Snek Workshop came out in two parts, completed in 1.0, and lets players make their own self-contained Snek puzzles using simplified tools and share them on Steam. It blows my mind whenever I play one of these creations and a player has used the game mechanics in a way I wouldn't have thought of, or poses a puzzle that challenges and intrigues me. I'd have thought I was so familiar with this game that I couldn't be surprised, but that's so not true. Some of my favourite levels on the Workshop are LEVEL 1 by SonySeva, Length Problem by Лёв, Water Room by ~HarrisoN~ and 氧化汞HgOlivere's excellent Binary System - it's very clever.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2936776886
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2914130805
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2912467032
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2947284492


"Very Positive" Reviews


As of writing, Steam player reviews are at 93% positive, out of 78 customer reviews (and 95% of 143 overall) which is amazing as far as I'm concerned. Sure, this bizarre mix of rhythm/metroidvania/realtime-puzzle game isn't going to be to everyone's taste, but I'm really grateful for all the positive reviews and kind words players have given. If you enjoy Temple of Snek and haven't left a review yet, please do! Don't feel that you have to write a lot of words, but it really helps in a big way to get Steam to show the game to more new players. It's still a long way to the 95% of 500 reviews you need for "Overwhelmingly Positive" ... but you never know! Every 👍 helps!

Thank you for checking out this post, and for checking out Snek!
Remember to wishlist, review, tell a friend, and if you don't own a copy buy it while it's 50% off, between 3rd-10th August!

Update for very wide UI, and the final hint.
Version 1.2.0 is out! This is a small update, but I'm calling it 1.2.0 to signify that it's the end of a series of minor updates that together, feel like a big update. Kinda? 🤣 It's been almost 6 months since 1.0.0, but I'll be posting more about that soon.

Version 1.2.0 improves support for ultrawide displays. It should make the UI easier to notice and read when the aspect ratio is greater than 16:9, and it will hopefully stop some reported issues with cropping of vertical FOV.

This update also adds a much needed extra hint in the one place in the late-game where people seem to get stuck the most - how to get onto the platform in the Chamber of the Goddess. Since the movement you need to do to solve that one spans a level transition, it's not simple to show a single hint for the whole puzzle, and previously it only showed the first half. But that meant you needed to know where to go to start the solution, in order to get the hint. Not too helpful! 😰 But now if you request a hint when you're near the end of the puzzle, it'll give you a clue about where to approach it from.



v.1.2.0



Improvements:
  • Added an extra hint to the Chamber of the Goddess location - the most requested hint on the forums and discord.
  • Adjusted UI throughout the game to stick to the central 16:9 rectangle when the aspect ratio is wider, which will keep things in proportion and make pop-ups easier to see (such as the length counter, load/save icon and message boxes).
  • A few other minor UI tweaks and efficiency tweaks.


Fixes:
  • Fixed a rare bug that could break saves on slower machines due to a race condition.
  • Fixed Chapter 10 description reverting to Chapter 9 on reloading.
  • Previously it was possible for the camera FOV to not adjust to changes in resolution and aspect ratio during play, but that should no longer be a problem.

Fix to one-step-at-a-time mode
In one-step-at-a-time mode, as well as tapping the button to move one square, you're supposed to be able to hold a directional button to move continuously, with Snek stopping when you let go of all the directions. At some point in the latter days of early access, a bug crept into that mode, and you could only tap, not hold. I've just done a quick fix for that, and one-step-at-a-time mode is now working as it should be. It supposed to be an accessibility mode to make the game more suited to your abilities and preferences, so sorry if it was feeling a little awkward!


v.1.1.3



Fixes:
  • At some point, the ability to hold down a direction button during one-step-at-a-time mode got broken ... it's now fixed.

the sneakiest update
Nothing to see here, just fixing a broken cheevo, and also changing a lightbulb while I'm here.

v.1.1.2



Fixes:
  • Fixed an issue with the sky-light that would happen if you die in the forest and respawn in the temple.
  • Fixed a broken hint trigger, and also fixed the Golden Path achievement. Coincidence???

quick update to avoid a sneak exploit

v.1.1.1



Fixes:
  • Prevented an exploit in the Cantina that could lead you to skipping a puzzle (and an important lesson) in the Labyrinths.

v.1.1: like 1.0, but moreso
Version 1.1.0 is here, adding a few little quality-of-life features, as well as a few fixes, on top of 1.0.0 and the previous minor updates. Details below!

As always, thanks for playing! Don't forget to leave a review - it really, really helps people to find the game.

v.1.1.0



Improvements:
  • Added an achievement for completing Story Mode.
  • All achievements are now localised on Steam.
  • Added a pop-up length-counter to the Story Mode and Workshop HUDs, to help you keep track of Snek's length changes.
  • Attempted to make the introduction of infinite NPC doors more obvious.
  • In Story Mode, you can now pan the pause screen map.
  • Added effects to make intersections from magic tiles more obvious.
  • Increased the maximum reloadable checkpoints from 5 to 8, so you can go back a little further if you need to.
  • Changed the way checkpointing works to include a limit on the number of consecutive saves you can do on the same checkpoint. If the game detects that you're going in circles over the same checkpoint, it will try to avoid overwriting all your reloads. The number maximum consecutive uses of the same checkpoint is 75% of the maximum reloadable checkpoints (i.e., 6 out of 8).
  • The puzzle at the end of the Long Corridor has been simplified (by making the platforms equal heights, repositioning the camera and adding some arrows).
  • Some minor UI changes to make the game more controller and Steam Deck friendly.


Fixes:
  • Stopped a door from automatically closing in the inner-sanctum, which could previously allow an exploit that skipped an important lesson.
  • Fixed flipped UVs on the "God Mode" snek head. (That means colours in Mek-a-Snek will apply to the correct side of the God Mode head.)


v.1.0.13



Fixes:
  • Fixed an exploit in the final puzzle that would allow you to catch the Capitan when you weren't meant to.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the final cutscene from playing if you happen to have not skipped the opening cutscene. It's a very silly bug. Don't ask.


v.1.0.12



Improvements:
  • Added some extra floor arrows to the final guard room puzzle, as it was too difficult for the early game.


Fixes:
  • Potential fix to the bug that causes Workshop thumbnails to sometimes fail to upload.

A small but important patch
Now that snek devotees are beating the temple, a couple of new issues popped up right at the end. This is just a quick patch to push em back down again.

v.1.0.13



Fixes:
  • Fixed an exploit in the final puzzle that would allow you to catch the Capitan when you weren't meant to.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the final cutscene from playing if you happen to have not skipped the opening cutscene. It's a very silly bug. Don't ask.

Small post-launch patch
Just a teeny tiny patch!

v.1.0.12



Improvements:
  • Added some extra floor arrows to the final guard room puzzle, as it was too difficult for the early game.


Fixes:
  • Potential fix to the bug that causes Workshop thumbnails to sometimes fail to upload.

Version 1.0 is out now!
The Quetzalcoatl update brings Temple of Snek to version 1.0, and out of early access!

It's been a long journey - thank you for coming along! Like Snek, this game turned out bigger than I could've imagined, and I hope you enjoy it.

The full details are in the change log, but here are some highlights.

Final Chapters


The last act of Story Mode is ready to play, including new puzzle types, locations and music. You'll get to see some environmental story that was only hinted before, and bring the tale to a conclusion! Story Mode is now something like 4-6 hours long, depending how quickly you solve the puzzles. If you get stuck, remember the hint system that was added since the previous Story Mode update. It's time to deal with those invaders once and for all! This final Story Mode instalment has some very challenging and mysterious puzzles, and some surprises that I hope you'll love!

Things to Make and Do


The Snek Workshop level editor is also now complete, building on the Viracocha update, and adding localised tooltips. All the tile-types are now available to use in your own creations, and there is now a low-key track to groove to while you create. The whole UI has minor improvements overall.



This update is named in honour of the Mexica god Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl, who sometimes appeared as the feathered serpent, was the god of the winds, of craft and learning and wisdom, and was the patron deity of the Aztec priests. Snek is not meant to be Quetzalcoatl, she is a different, fantastical deity, but as Snek's story comes to an end, she will fly like the wind, learn about her nature, and help the priestesses overcome the conquistadors. There's a myth that the Mexica people thought Hernan Cortés was Quetzalcoatl himself, which led to the fall of the Aztec Empire, but that's not true. It was made up by colonials afterwards, and the Mexica weren't stupid. Just as Snek is not Quetzalcoatl, the Capitan character in Temple of Snek is not Cortés, but still, it'll be nice to see him dealt with by the end of the game.

If you enjoy Temple of Snek, be sure to leave a review to let people know. While the game is "finished", we would still welcome feedback or bug to reports via the feedback form in-game (F8) or join us on the Discord. If the in-game hints aren't enough, the discord server is also the best place to get help from the community.

Temple Of Snek Will Leave Early Access on February 15th
Hello All,

Snek's long journey is almost at an end! On February 15th version 1.0, the Quetzacoatl update, goes live and will include:

- A Finished version of Story Mode, with new puzzles, locations, music, and an ending to the story.
- A Finished version of Snek Workshop level editor.



Thanks to everyone that has played the game so far and helped us get to the finish line.

-Miles @ Pixeljam & Aetheric


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