4 ms·

Yes the movements in original Pac-Man were deterministic. There were books published back in the day that detailed the pattern you should take to beat each leve

Yes the movements in original Pac-Man were deterministic. There were books published back in the day that detailed the pattern you should take to beat each level. They were hard codes paths. There were a few variations and the only thing stopping you was your execution at higher and higher speeds. I got to the point on a Nintendo DS port of it where I could pretty much play forever (255 levels I think). Ms. Pac-Man didn’t have this as the ghosts were not deterministic any longer.

mikestew 4y ago
Original, arcade cabinet Pac-Man got an update after a while that eliminated the deterministic patterns. I'm sure the owners of 7-11 stores across the U. S. rejoiced, as I was one of those taking up space for quite a while for the price of a quarter (of a U. S. dollar).
- JohnBooty 4y ago
  In hindsight, was that an official Namco/Bally-Midway thing? Or an aftermarket modification? I think that was common at the time... never heard of an official update to Pac-Man (but I could well be wrong) I know that Ms. Pac-Man removed the full determinism but that was a total conversion and it seems like you're talking about an update to the original thing
  - mikestew 4y ago
    In hindsight, was that an official Namco/Bally-Midway thing? Ya know, it was over 40 years ago and I'm going from memory. But now that you question it, and after a bit of reading, it would seem that the patterns just changed (as sibling comment states). All I know is, I showed up for a round of Pac-Man at the local 7-11 in Danville, IN after my part-time high school job, and the patterns didn't work anymore (or quit working after a point a few levels in, don't recall).
- toast0 4y ago
  There's a (solder) jumper that was commonly adjusted for 'hard' mode where the level progression is a bit different (starts at a later level and skips a few early on), you can tell by where pac-man dies during attract mode. There were also hacked roms to speed things up; those weren't official, AFAIK.
JohnBooty 4y ago
They were hard codes paths. Not hard-coded paths, per se. It's more elegant than that. Each ghost has a distinctive deterministic movement algorithm based on Pac-Man's current position - some target the square ahead of him, some target the square behind, etc. That's why they seem so smart; it's like they're trying to surround/flank you. (If this seems underwhelming, I assume you it was a really neat trick back then - the ghosts had a level of personality and cunning not seen before. Combined with the cute, cartoony visual design of the ghosts themselves it was quite something.) http://gameinternals.com/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior http://gameinternals.com/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavio...

mikestew 4y ago

Original, arcade cabinet Pac-Man got an update after a while that eliminated the deterministic patterns. I'm sure the owners of 7-11 stores across the U. S. rejoiced, as I was one of those taking up space for quite a while for the price of a quarter (of a U. S. dollar).

JohnBooty 4y ago
In hindsight, was that an official Namco/Bally-Midway thing? Or an aftermarket modification? I think that was common at the time... never heard of an official update to Pac-Man (but I could well be wrong) I know that Ms. Pac-Man removed the full determinism but that was a total conversion and it seems like you're talking about an update to the original thing
- mikestew 4y ago
  In hindsight, was that an official Namco/Bally-Midway thing? Ya know, it was over 40 years ago and I'm going from memory. But now that you question it, and after a bit of reading, it would seem that the patterns just changed (as sibling comment states). All I know is, I showed up for a round of Pac-Man at the local 7-11 in Danville, IN after my part-time high school job, and the patterns didn't work anymore (or quit working after a point a few levels in, don't recall).
toast0 4y ago
There's a (solder) jumper that was commonly adjusted for 'hard' mode where the level progression is a bit different (starts at a later level and skips a few early on), you can tell by where pac-man dies during attract mode. There were also hacked roms to speed things up; those weren't official, AFAIK.

JohnBooty 4y ago

They were hard codes paths. Not hard-coded paths, per se. It's more elegant than that. Each ghost has a distinctive deterministic movement algorithm based on Pac-Man's current position - some target the square ahead of him, some target the square behind, etc. That's why they seem so smart; it's like they're trying to surround/flank you. (If this seems underwhelming, I assume you it was a really neat trick back then - the ghosts had a level of personality and cunning not seen before. Combined with the cute, cartoony visual design of the ghosts themselves it was quite something.) http://gameinternals.com/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior http://gameinternals.com/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavio...