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Wow, that's fun. I wish I could articulate why the music and dying sound effect are both so great. The gameplay has a great rhythmic feeling to it. It's also re

by prhn 3y ago

Wow, that's fun. I wish I could articulate why the music and dying sound effect are both so great. The gameplay has a great rhythmic feeling to it. It's also really tense. I scream every time that damn ghost catches me. The best part is when I die I feel like I made a dumb mistake, and that if I improved just a few things I could be way better. Too many games these days give you the allure of depth and complexity by making things difficult in the wrong ways.

PaulHoule 3y ago
It's pretty, I'll give it that. I don't feel like it was my mistake when I got killed often, for one thing the ghost is faster than me, sometimes respawns right next to me, ...
- prhn 3y ago
  Isn't the ghost spawn at least somewhat predictable? I think it picks the farthest edge from where you ate it. Also, it only spawns at the edges, so don't eat the ghost near the edge if you're not sure where it will spawn. Yes the ghost is faster than you, but it can't wrap around the stage like you can.
  - brianpan 3y ago
    You just need to use your eyes. ;D
glhaynes 3y ago
The best part is when I die I feel like I made a dumb mistake, and that if I improved just a few things I could be way better. I think I've heard Miyamoto talk about that. When the frustration is all with yourself (rather than with the game itself), and you just know that if you try one more time, that'll be the one where you won't make any dumb mistakes. I think it's the cornerstone of every action game that appeals to me.
- IggleSniggle 3y ago
  Also the cornerstone of every strategy game that appeals to me.
filoleg 3y ago
There is something to be said about “easy to learn difficult to master” curve, as well as overall basic simplicity and the feedback loop being very transparently clear and “tactile.” The one game that never fails to hook me in that way is Quake 3. Every mistake feels like your own, but with a very clear and obvious path for improvement. Every improvement step feels incremental and doable, none of that “noscope 180 from the bushes where i had zero chance to spot the enemy” situations. Even on kills where it initially felt like some annoying cheap trick, i watch the killcam, and walk away very impressed and eager to try out their approach myself. And it always makes perfect sense. As opposed to a lot of more modern games, where killcam only frustrates me more. Imo this is the same thing that made the original DOOM a massive sensation, but I feel like Quake 3 would be easier to relate to for a lot of people (on HN or elsewhere). At the time, I was too young and growing up in a wrong part of the world to catch that original DOOM hype. But with Quake 3 (and imo even quake 1 and 2), that phenomenon truly transcended countries and cultures.
- boredemployee 3y ago
  Quake takes a lifetime to master
gerdesj 3y ago
It sounds like you need to experience eight bit computing! My Commodore 64 from 1986ish still lives after a re-capping a few years ago. I grew up with Sinclair ZX80, 81 and Speccy too. Nowadays we have such capable hardware that we can model near photorealistic stuff in real time. Not quite but not far off. Those manic sounds and graphical effects are what you get when the hardware is very limited and some very talented people decide they want more, a lot more. See if you can run up a simulator and get something like a Jeff Minter game running on whatever your IT gear is. You may like Attack of the Mutant Camels - the sounds are quite surreal, given the target hardware. Consider taking a look at RetroPie or something similar.
philmcc 3y ago
I think you're appreciating (what I also appreciate) that the chomp, ghost bite sound, and death sounds are all in the same tempo/bpm, so that when things happen it's in "rhythm" If you look closely, the chomping visual doesn't -actually- match up with the chomp sound, it's closer to if there was a track of chomping at a certain chomps per minute that gets toggled on/off if pacman is chomping. Same with everything else-is, so you mute/unmute sounds when the event happens, rather than trigger a sound play. Or so it sounds and seems to my ears and eyes.

by prhn 3y ago

PaulHoule 3y ago

It's pretty, I'll give it that. I don't feel like it was my mistake when I got killed often, for one thing the ghost is faster than me, sometimes respawns right next to me, ...

prhn 3y ago
Isn't the ghost spawn at least somewhat predictable? I think it picks the farthest edge from where you ate it. Also, it only spawns at the edges, so don't eat the ghost near the edge if you're not sure where it will spawn. Yes the ghost is faster than you, but it can't wrap around the stage like you can.
- brianpan 3y ago
  You just need to use your eyes. ;D

glhaynes 3y ago

The best part is when I die I feel like I made a dumb mistake, and that if I improved just a few things I could be way better. I think I've heard Miyamoto talk about that. When the frustration is all with yourself (rather than with the game itself), and you just know that if you try one more time, that'll be the one where you won't make any dumb mistakes. I think it's the cornerstone of every action game that appeals to me.

IggleSniggle 3y ago
Also the cornerstone of every strategy game that appeals to me.

filoleg 3y ago

There is something to be said about “easy to learn difficult to master” curve, as well as overall basic simplicity and the feedback loop being very transparently clear and “tactile.” The one game that never fails to hook me in that way is Quake 3. Every mistake feels like your own, but with a very clear and obvious path for improvement. Every improvement step feels incremental and doable, none of that “noscope 180 from the bushes where i had zero chance to spot the enemy” situations. Even on kills where it initially felt like some annoying cheap trick, i watch the killcam, and walk away very impressed and eager to try out their approach myself. And it always makes perfect sense. As opposed to a lot of more modern games, where killcam only frustrates me more. Imo this is the same thing that made the original DOOM a massive sensation, but I feel like Quake 3 would be easier to relate to for a lot of people (on HN or elsewhere). At the time, I was too young and growing up in a wrong part of the world to catch that original DOOM hype. But with Quake 3 (and imo even quake 1 and 2), that phenomenon truly transcended countries and cultures.

boredemployee 3y ago
Quake takes a lifetime to master

gerdesj 3y ago

It sounds like you need to experience eight bit computing! My Commodore 64 from 1986ish still lives after a re-capping a few years ago. I grew up with Sinclair ZX80, 81 and Speccy too. Nowadays we have such capable hardware that we can model near photorealistic stuff in real time. Not quite but not far off. Those manic sounds and graphical effects are what you get when the hardware is very limited and some very talented people decide they want more, a lot more. See if you can run up a simulator and get something like a Jeff Minter game running on whatever your IT gear is. You may like Attack of the Mutant Camels - the sounds are quite surreal, given the target hardware. Consider taking a look at RetroPie or something similar.

philmcc 3y ago

I think you're appreciating (what I also appreciate) that the chomp, ghost bite sound, and death sounds are all in the same tempo/bpm, so that when things happen it's in "rhythm" If you look closely, the chomping visual doesn't -actually- match up with the chomp sound, it's closer to if there was a track of chomping at a certain chomps per minute that gets toggled on/off if pacman is chomping. Same with everything else-is, so you mute/unmute sounds when the event happens, rather than trigger a sound play. Or so it sounds and seems to my ears and eyes.