SFML Game Development By Example

Fixing bugs

Let's discuss the several approaches that might be used in a situation like this. First, the programmer might think about putting a flag somewhere that remembers if the direction has already been set for the current iteration and gets reset afterwards. This would prevent the bug we're experiencing, but would also lock down the number of times a player can interact with the snake. Let's say it moves once a second. That would mean that if you press a key at the beginning of that second, you wouldn't be able to change your mind and hit another key quickly to rectify your wrong decision before the snake moves. That's no good. Let's move on to a new idea.

Another approach may be to keep track of the original direction before any changes ...