Soverypacman!, It's not dead yet!

Yeah. The basic movement code for my ghosts is random, but I'm taking some extra measures to make some of the usual tricks and such from the real game work, so it feels a bit more authentic.

I goona try to predic the future, for the cutscenes you will use you're PM2 style SVH sprites,

The game itself is looking good, although the title logo on the black background sort of bothers me, what with the white stuff giving it that unpolished look. I cleaned it up a bit though, so perhaps it would look a bit nicer on that background:


Attached Image

Hey, thanks! I was planning to clean it up myself, but now I don't have to! Don't worry, you'll get your name in the credits.

would you like to use my SVH SFX I made for MFGG Tennis Tour? (it's the sound of 1000 SVH's screaming outside your house)

This post has been edited by mr.mario on Oct 17 2006, 08:08 PM

No thanks. All the sounds effects I'm using are from the regular 'ol Pacman. However, to give it a more original touch, I also have background music from the Super Mario Advance version of Mario Bros. play in the background. And, about what you said before, no, I'm not going to use the PM2 Soveryhappy. Like the real game, I'm using the ingame sprites for the intermissions.

well, if you change your mind it's in the open source, help yourself, now off to work on a secret project...

If you really want a good hold of the AI, here's an algorithim if you want (I'm not so good at implementing algorithims in my games ):

1: Ghosts never go to the opposite direction than the direction previously before (eg: left to right). Make sure that the ghost never goes back in the opposite direction unless its the only open way.
2: When the ghost reaches a spot where he could go more than one direction, the ghost will go in the direction where he would most likely get pacman. Check if both: (a)Pacman is above or below the ghost (b)Pacman is next to the left or the right of the ghost. For example, If pacman is above and to the left of the ghost, the ghost would rather go left or up than down and right.
3: When the ghost has made a decision (Pacman is to the left and above the ghost) , make sure that the ghost can't go through walls by determining if a possible direction is open or blocked. For example, the ghost would rather prefer to go left or up. If there is any blockage that would prevent the ghost going up, check to see whether the ghost can go in the optional direction. (If both desired directions are blocked, skip the next step because 5 and over is a backup plan).
4: Once the ghost has made a desirable direction that is open, the ghost will immediately move to that direction. End the normal algorithm here.
5: If all desired directions are blocked, the ghost will look for any open space. If any space is open(except the opposite direction, only go to that direction if its the only choice), go there. (If all directions are blocked, go to the next step) End backup algorithm here.
6: If all directions are blocked, stop moving. End final backup algorithm here.

Hopefully it makes sense.

This post has been edited by Red Vandom on Oct 18 2006, 08:04 AM

Did't i Make that sound? Well it's originaly from Worms 2!


Anyhow the Game looks GREAT
can't wait to see it finisht

Actually, I took the sound of mario laughing, made it louder, and echo'd it like 12 times,

i thought you ment this sound http://archive.mfgg.net/index.php?sh...0&#entry1646572
(It's called the same)

anyhow ON topic, i really like the idea of having SVN in there to
this game RAWKS!

Thanks! When I was trying to come up with a smily for the blue ghosts, Soverynothing was the first thing that popped into my mind.

And, Red Vandom, a number of the things you mentioned are already in the game. The whole never reversing direction thing is not perfect, but it's okay. Also, a couple things such as the ghosts reversing their direction when you eat a power pellet, as a well as the "hiding spot" from the real game work as well. So, in other words, my ghosts don't really chase SVH, but they are a bit smarter than, say, the ghosts in the GM example.

Oh, cool =)

Since I'm assuming that the enemy smilies represent inky, pinky, binky and clyde, Each smilies algorithims have their twist into it :o
1: Binky(Valiant): Always follows original algorithm
2: Pinky(Sneaky): This one is a bit tricky to explain. If Binky is following in one desirable direction, Pinky will resort to taking the optional desirable direction if possible. (Eg: Pacman is left/below Binky and Pinky, If Binky is moving down, Pinky will go left when he decides to make a turn if the left space next to Pinky is open)
3: Inky (Shy): Has a 20% percent chance of wanting to go in the direction away from pacman (without violating the no-return rule)
4: Clyde(Dumb): Decision making is random, has a 40% chance of following Binky's algorithm.

This post has been edited by Red Vandom on Oct 18 2006, 09:20 PM

SPEED

While the ghosts are bound by the same limitations of the maze as Pac-Man himself, they differ in speed in several ways:

They turn corners more slowly than Pac-Man.
They slow down while walking through the "tunnels" on the sides of the maze, whereas Pac-Man walks through them unhindered.
Blinky increases greatly in speed once a certain number of dots are eaten. The higher the level, the sooner this happens. The accelerated Blinky is unofficially referred to as Cruise Elroy,[citation needed] which may be a reference to Elroy Jetson. (Apart from Blinky, the ghost speeds are equal and constant.)

BEHAVIOR

The movements of the ghosts are strictly deterministic—there is no random or even pseudo-randomness in the algorithms choosing their paths. Experienced players have exploited this flaw by devising precise sequences of movements for each level in order to play indefinitely (termed "patterns"). A later revision of the programming altered the behavior, but it still wasn't random, and new patterns were devised for it.

There are a few notable quirks in the behavior of the ghosts:

1. If the player survives long enough in a level without being caught by a ghost, the ghosts will all suddenly reverse directions and each will head for a different corner. This term is called "Scatter Mode", and it will continue to happen as long as the player stays alive without having finished the level, cycling between converging on the player, and de-converging into their respective corners (Blinky: upper right, Pinky: upper left, Inky: lower right, Clyde: lower left). If this process goes on long enough, and the player has still not completed the level, then the ghosts will constantly attack and never go back into Scatter Mode.

2.The ghosts will never go upwards into either of the two passages immediately above their monster pen (unless they are in their blue vulnerable state). Players being closely pursued can lose their pursuers by leading them to the top of the monster pen then going upwards into either of the two passages; the ghosts will not follow.

3. Pac-Man may go upwards into (and stop in) the corner immediately to the right and above his starting location facing upwards. When the ghosts are not closely pursuing him, they will never find him, and instead will roam aimlessly around the board until Pac-Man leaves that spot. This trick is used by marathon Pac-Man players to allow themselves an occasional bathroom break.

4.Each ghost has its own unique behavior: Blinky follows you a lot, Pinky is faster than the others, Inky is bashful as his name implies because if Pac-man makes a threatening move towards him he will back into an intersection if there is one, and Clyde will often not follow Pac-man even if Pac-man passes right by it.

This post has been edited by Red Vandom on Oct 18 2006, 09:30 PM

That comes from Wikipedia, right? Yeah, I've been using that as a resource pretty extensively.

And, to what you said in the post above that, my ghosts don't really have a command to follow SVH, they just randomly move about the maze. I'm working to add some extra coding that adds a bit more reason to movement, especially if SVH is nearby. Wish me luck.

Oh, and yeah, they are supposed to represent the different ghosts from Pacman.

This post has been edited by Toodles Team on Oct 19 2006, 01:31 PM

I remember the AI going something like;
If (Pacman's Y =< Ghost's Y) { Ghost turns down from next possible path.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm really having trouble with getting the chasing thing to work, though, so don't expect anything amazing. For the most part, the ghosts' movement is going to be random. I have taken some measures to keep the difficulty up anyway, so don't worry about it being too easy or anything. Just expect dumb ghosts.

Wait, if this is not already included; when you hit a power pellet, the "ghosts" should turn into soverynothings.

Scroll around a bit, and you will find that it is alreayd part of the game!

*waits s'more"