This weekend, the 5 minutes of personal, free time I managed to wangle away from family responsibility ended up being spent on what I thought was a fascinating read. As somebody who could only be considered a casual Pac-Man player, I had no idea that the enemy AI in the game was so complex, or at least, seemingly complex.
I’d imagined that each ghost was simply a palette swap, that their names and displayed characteristics were spurious – and that their sole aim was to chase and capture the iconic, dot-munching circlet. Well, I imagined wrong. Very wrong.
Each of the ghosts you see, is programmed with it’s own characteristic AI. Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde each behave differently, cycling through different modes of engagement, with little visual clues to tell you which mode they’re in.
“This is the heart of the game. I wanted each ghostly enemy to have a specific character and its own particular movements, so they weren’t all just chasing after Pac Man in single file, which would have been tiresome and flat.â€
– Toru Iwatani, Pac-Man creator
Reading the full analysis helps you understand just how gosh-darned clever the game’s developers were, and how simple instructions can lead to some pretty complex behaviour. It’s a good read, if you have the time, inclination, and a cup of coffee.
Check it out, over at GameInternals.
Failing that, try the Google Cache link
Last Updated: December 6, 2010
Gavin Mannion
December 6, 2010 at 15:33
I have to admit it never crossed my mind really but that is pretty cool…
I wonder if anyone ever worked out which ghost was the smartest and caught more pacmen?
Geoffrey Tim
December 6, 2010 at 15:39
If you read the article, I’m sure it would be the red one, when it’s in Cruise Elroy mode.
Luna
December 6, 2010 at 19:50
When I was really little, and just around the time Pac Man craze (Yeah, I’m not a kid) started to die down… and I was old enough to read the books about PacMan, I found this info out way back then. I believe the red ghost is the most aggressive of the ghosts, but I don’t know who caught more of who. Or whom. Whatever. ^_^