Thief Run

The core gameplay mechanic of running round a grid feels mindlessly satisfying, and I quite like the idea of a turn-based snake game. But there's too little to do, it's too easy, and because there's no reward for a high score, when you do eventually zone out and walk into a mine, you don't really care.

If you have a direction in mind for this, then I'm interested in seeing how you flesh it out. If you don't, may I suggest you push this to a minimalist, single-screen Rogue-like? There could be something very interesting in taking the Rogue-ish ideas of turn-based experimentation and increasing abilities/threats, and mashing it up with the Snake-ish concepts of limited space and coin-grabbing.

Alternatively, have a look at a ZX Spectrum game called "Survival"; it's the un-recognised grandparent of the "move through a grid collecting stuff" genre, and there may be mechanics in there that are worth reviving (and it's old and obscure enough that _no-one will ever know_). Good luck.

In the subroutine that spawns mines, make the following check: "If (new mine X-position != player X-position AND new mine Y-position != player Y-position)", and only if that check is satisfied should the new mine be placed.