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You know what I hate? California State Lottery's Pac-Man scratchers. Lemme tell you why.
It's not just because lotteries are terribly immoral and "a tax on people who are bad at math", that's all true and yes I don't like it for that reason, of course, but it's because it's PAC MAN.
And not just because it's a game for kids and it's encouraging lottery playing. That stuff can get you in trouble with any game, but apparently if you're already a lottery it's okay. And besides, pacman is 40 years old. Kids who played it when it was new are grandparents now
and it's not just because it's a classic video game:
I'm generally against turning classic video games in gambling because that makes them not at all fun, and video games are supposed to be fun.
No, it's because they specifically picked PAC MAN.
I'm generally against turning classic video games in gambling because that makes them not at all fun, and video games are supposed to be fun.
No, it's because they specifically picked PAC MAN.
And why is Pac Man such a problem? Well, lemme explain how Pac Man works.
So the original pac-man uses this maze layout.
Period.
There's no difference between levels: There's no different layouts, no randomization of the "maze", it's just always this. This maze, forever. (until you hit the kill screen)
Period.
There's no difference between levels: There's no different layouts, no randomization of the "maze", it's just always this. This maze, forever. (until you hit the kill screen)
And in this maze, there are four monsters.
Let's go through them:
Blinky is the simplest: Every time they come to an intersection, they calculate which turn will get them closer to pac-man, and go that way. So they follow you directly.
Let's go through them:
Blinky is the simplest: Every time they come to an intersection, they calculate which turn will get them closer to pac-man, and go that way. So they follow you directly.
Pinky is the next one: They're the ambusher. They do a similar movement, but instead target where Pac-Man is going to be in four tiles.
So they try to get in front of Pac-Man, cutting them off.
So they try to get in front of Pac-Man, cutting them off.
Inky has some complex movement. He basically calculates a position ahead of pac-man by two tiles, then finds a midpoint, then multiplies out the length by two.
This is hard to explain, but the important thing is that it depends on how pac man is moving and where inky is.
This is hard to explain, but the important thing is that it depends on how pac man is moving and where inky is.
the end result of this calculation is that it means that how Inky works changes depending on how close you are to them. If you're far away, they stay far away, and if you're closer, they stay close.
Finally, there's Clyde. Clyde works somewhat similar to Inky, but backwards:
Every time they come to an intersection, they check how far they are from Pac-man.
If they're far away (more than 8 tiles), they head directly for pac-man.
Every time they come to an intersection, they check how far they are from Pac-man.
If they're far away (more than 8 tiles), they head directly for pac-man.
but if they're close by, they instead switch to their own corner of the maze, heading there instead.
so the end result is that the behavior of Clyde is that they'll head towards you, then lose confidence and start running away once they finally get near by.
So these four different motions come together to provide a quite varied feel of the game. They're not just randomly wandering or chasing you directly, they all do different things at different times. It gives them personality and results in all kinds of different situations.
Anyway, besides these normal behavior, all the ghosts obey some specific rules:
They never turn around mid-tile, and when they're picking which way to go at an intersection, they never pick the way they came.
They never turn around mid-tile, and when they're picking which way to go at an intersection, they never pick the way they came.
There's some exceptions to these rules, because the ghosts go into special modes when in scatter mode or frightened mode.
(Scatter happens at periodic times and frightened happens when you pick up a power pellet)
(Scatter happens at periodic times and frightened happens when you pick up a power pellet)
but basically this is how the monsters move.
Pac-man moves based on how you move the joystick.
And the maze is always the same...
Pac-man moves based on how you move the joystick.
And the maze is always the same...
do you see what common building block of gaming I left out of this whole description?
Something that's in everything from Overwatch to Minesweeper to Monopoly to Solitaire?
Something that's in everything from Overwatch to Minesweeper to Monopoly to Solitaire?
RANDOMNESS
The monsters following pac-man using an algorithm. The maze is always the same.
Pac-man moves using the joystick.
YOU CAN LITERALLY BEAT PAC-MAN WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED BY MEMORIZING MOVES.
Pac-man moves using the joystick.
YOU CAN LITERALLY BEAT PAC-MAN WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED BY MEMORIZING MOVES.
Pac-man is FAMOUSLY a game that's predictable. This is part of why Ms. Pac-Man exists! it started as a mod that just mixed up some levels and added semi-random movement to the monsters to make it impossible to memorize.
And why? because people were memorizing it.
And why? because people were memorizing it.
Pac-man was getting old because people figured out simple strategies to beat the levels and the game doesn't really change, it just gets a little harder and faster and then you could go on forever... (if there wasn't a kill screen)
I've even heard of a mythological book that I've never been able to track down which just contains a guide to pac-man in terms of movements.
like "up down left left right up left left up"
like "up down left left right up left left up"
So Pac-man was a massive success because of a lot of reasons but one thing it is not is random.
It's the opposite, in fact. It's amazingly predictable.
It's the opposite, in fact. It's amazingly predictable.
WHICH IS 180 DEGREES FROM WHAT A FUCKING LOTTERY SHOULD BE
It's like getting a tattoo of Leviticus 19:28.
It's like putting a guy who hated paper money on the 20$ bill.
It's like putting a guy who hated paper money on the 20$ bill.
I'm just saying:
If you're picking a mascot/theme for your lottery, maybe you should pick something that isn't famous for being predictable and non-random?
If you're picking a mascot/theme for your lottery, maybe you should pick something that isn't famous for being predictable and non-random?
btw, because I referenced it a couple times:
Pac-man was intended to go on forever, but it doesn't. It ends at level 256, because you reach this mess:
Pac-man was intended to go on forever, but it doesn't. It ends at level 256, because you reach this mess:
It's caused by an overflow in the fruit-placing algorithm, which causes it to place far too many fruits, corrupting the memory and failing to correctly build the maze.
The game doesn't let you continue until you eat 244 dots, but there's only 131 dots on the level.
The game doesn't let you continue until you eat 244 dots, but there's only 131 dots on the level.
This can and has been fixed:
http://www.donhodges.com/how_high_can_you_get2.htm
http://www.donhodges.com/how_high_can_you_get2.htm
and if you apply the fix, the game does go on forever.
The levels "repeat" (which just means you see the same intermission cutscenes at the same places) but you stay at maximum difficulty.
The levels "repeat" (which just means you see the same intermission cutscenes at the same places) but you stay at maximum difficulty.
