Orbital Snake Version History

The original version of Orbital Snake was written and released towards the end of 2002. Although initially planned to be a simple update to enable the game to run on modern hardware, the version now available was in fact completely redesigned and recoded from the ground up in the summer of 2009.

• Synchronised game clocks to framerate to improve consistency of performance, particularly when running on lower-spec hardware.
• Modified code to improve efficiency of some interfaces for lower-spec systems.
• Minor and miscellaneous code fixes and optimisations.

• Updated scoreboard-submission and in-game version update notification systems to work with future updates.

• The left and right mouse buttons can now be used to control the snakeship!
• Game now responds correctly to being tabbed back to Windows.
• Added notice of loading status on game load.
• Miscellaneous code tidying and improvements.

• Fixed code to improve server communication times when viewing or submitting scores to the online scoreboards.

• Fixed minor bug allowing powerups to spawn overlapping junk.

• Fixed bug causing the Turbo Bonus not to be correctly added to scores.
• Minor and miscellaneous code improvements.

• Fixed minor navigation bug in main menu interface.
• Difficulty bonus now takes more factors into account.
• Time bonus now increases with snakeship length.
• Revised Turbo Mode bonus.
• It is no longer possible to gain additional lives.
• Modified frequency of powerups.
• Revised and modified in-game information display in both solo and versus modes.
• Added five new patterns of starfield!
• Added new multiplier powerup to temporarily earn double points!
• Added new powerup to refill speed gauge!
• Various tweaks and improvements to menu navigation.
• Improved timing code to make performance more consistent across different systems.
• Minor graphical tweaks and improvements.
• Minor and miscellaneous code updates and improvements.

• Unlockable game modes are now displayed ghosted (with hints) in main menu prior to unlocking.
• Slightly updated code dealing with graphics resolution for better compatibility with modern systems.
• Minor and miscellaneous interface and code improvements.

• Fixed serious bug causing crash in main menu.
• Menu navigation fixes and improvements.

• Added ability to view the latest ranking world scores from within the game.
• Minor menu navigation improvements.
• Miscellaneous minor code revisions and updates.

• Improved speed of server communications, hopefully reducing timeouts.
• Hunger gauge flashes red when near to speeding up.
• The game can now automatically check for new versions on startup.

• Fixed bug potentially allowing scraps to appear in dead-ends.
• Increased timeout tolerance when connecting to the high-score server.
• Added ability to view the world top players and best totals as well as best scores from the in-game highscore chart.
• Highscore usernames can now be protected with a password (set in the member profile at the RjB Software forums!)
• Difficulty Bonus added to award more points for harder levels!
• Miscellaneous minor improvements to functions and cosmetics.

• Minor tweaks.

• Fixed bug causing the snakeship to be destroyed when consuming debris after destroying all body segments.
• The player's score is now displayed at the end of the game, before showing the high-score tables.
• The game now submits information to the online high-score chart about whether or not a score was achieved in turbo mode.

• Added check to prevent multiple instances of the game executable running simultaneously.
• It is now possible to retry sending of high-score submissions on errors communicating with the server.

• Fixed minor bug causing only two digits of the current bonus to be displayed.
• The game now only prompts to enter a name when a new high-score is achieved.
• Updated format of high-score submissions.
• Added a specific error report when trying to access the high-score server with an outdated copy of the game.

• Reduced the combined high score needed to unlock the Versus Game.
• Added the ability to upload high-scores to an online score-chart!
• Optimised the save-file format.
• Added the ability to sever the snakeship's body using the ghost-drive.
• Improved collision handling for shots.
• Increased the maximum name length to 15 characters.
• Limited valid name characters.
• Minor tweaks.
• Miscellaneous code improvements.

• Minor tweaks.

• First release.