Snakes.run: rendering 100M pixels a second over SSH
11 hours ago
- #SSH
- #Terminal
- #Multiplayer Game
- A massively multiplayer snake game accessible over SSH by running 'ssh snakes.run'.
- The game backend, Snake Session Handler Daemon (sshd), supports thousands of concurrent players and renders over 100 million pixels per second.
- Challenges included optimizing terminal display, reducing bandwidth usage, and improving performance for concurrent players.
- Game mechanics involve a shared playfield with standard snake rules, rendered server-side and relayed to clients via SSH.
- Unicode Block Elements and color techniques were used to improve visual smoothness and reduce bandwidth.
- Bandwidth optimizations included stateful rendering, VT100 sequences, and 4-bit color usage, reducing data usage significantly.
- Performance improvements involved reducing garbage collection overhead, pre-allocating resources, and optimizing SSH packet handling.
- The game supports up to 2,500 concurrent players with smooth performance.
- The project celebrates the SSH modding community and revives the classic multiplayer snake experience securely.