Kodu Pac-Man

Gameplay:

User/cycle codes:

page 1

page 2

 page 3

ghost/kodu code:

(note: depending on the ghost the size, speed, and colour of path followed may differ slightly)

How close is your game to the original? 

What is different? What is the same?

I believe my game to be oddly not too similar to its original. I mean you can tell it's a re-imagineing of pac man just from playing

 it, but there are many creative differences. For example getting points by eating small pellets (apples) gives you points and eating big yellow pellets (yellow apples) give you power ups. However the differences are vast as well; pac man gains speed when he eats power ups, he can power up again while having still be in his powered state (thus making him more powerful), he can shoot blips when powered and shoot missiles when powered twice, he stuns (or damages when powered twice) instead of eating the ghost, as well as various other changes not only to pac, but things like the power ups, ghost, environment and more. In conclusion the differences may be apparent, but at the core it is a Pac man remake

What extra or creative details did you change or add to your version of the game? Why did you create these changes?

I made bigger spaces to move in due to movement limitations, ability to shoot when powered up, stun and damage features when "pac man" is powered up, ghost follow paths (because roaming didn't word too well), and a central point ball. I added most of these features either because of limitations (like replacing eating ability with stun/damage) or for a more modern/flashy take of the game (ex. Shooting). However some features like having a central point ball and more power up pellets; were to make the game easier to beat.

What difficulties did you have? How did you fix this?

Setting up how power ups worked, making "ghosts" follow paths properly (not get stuck or go too slow), finding a way to get past ghost or eat them, and making the game difficulty balanced; would just be some of the difficulties I faced. How did I solve some of them? Well for the power ups I got help from another student to show me a way to switch pages to a "power up state page" which completely solved my problem and let me make "power up state 1"and "power up state 2". To get ghost to follow a path (and not get stuck) I scaled them down and increased their speed and acceleration (this took me a while to figure out). I "fixed" the problem with eating "ghosts" by making it so I stunned them while powered up and damaged them while powered up twice.

Lastly I fixed the problem with difficulty by increasing speed when powered up, added shooting and stunning/damaging to the user, added more power ups, and added a central point ball to increase your points therefore letting you win without having to collect "all" the pellets.

What feedback did your beta testers have for you and how did you implement their suggestions?

What would you improve with your game? What would be the next steps with your game?

Maybe added some more "ghosts" and making them more reactive (ex. increase turn speed?), making a more complex maze, adding a respawn and lives feature, make the cycle more easy to control when powered up twice, and maybe add a "Mega" ghost that chases you. Overall just adding more features and improving user interface to better the overall gameplay.