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1-Pixel Pac-Man

Posted by Soulskill on from the point-based-ghostbusting dept.

szczys writes: Retro games just aren't the same since the display technology resolution has exploded. I went the opposite direction and chose a display with less resolution than the original. This reinvention of Pac-Man uses a 32x32 RGB LED module which are made for LED billboards. This makes the player just one pixel. Add in an Atari joystick and we have a winner.This is a great programming challenge. If you've never looked at Pac-Man AI before, it's fascinating and worth your time!

41 comments

  1. Pac-Man AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Did you really say Pac-Man AI?

    1. Re:Pac-Man AI by halivar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If that phrase made no sense to you, then you either (a) don't understand AI or (b) don't understand Pac-Man.

    2. Re:Pac-Man AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Pac-Man was one of the first games where the different ghosts had unique behavior patterns based on the users input so yes, Pac-Man AI

    3. Re:Pac-Man AI by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In the computer science context: yes.

      In the Hollywood context (which's what I think you had in mind): no.

    4. Re:Pac-Man AI by beelsebob · · Score: 1

      What would be wrong with saying Pac-Man AI?

    5. Re:Pac-Man AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      That is not the definition of AI. AI would apply to one ghost just as easily as four ghosts. Otherwise, fuck everything we're doing 5 ghosts for super AI.

    6. Re:Pac-Man AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kinda like the AI in an anti-lock breaking system.

    7. Re:Pac-Man AI by GTRacer · · Score: 2

      Kinda like the AI in an anti-lock breaking system.

      No wonder Kurzweil et. al. are so against AI - It's gonna do something horrible to our Google/GM/Uber self-driving cars and kill us aaaaaaaallllllllll!

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
    8. Re:Pac-Man AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "Pac-Man was one of the first games where the different ghosts had unique behavior patterns based on the users input so yes, Pac-Man AI"

      +5 insightful. Wow, this site has fallen so quickly.

    9. Re:Pac-Man AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To make the original in that day and age and using very limited tools (low memory and CPU for instance), is indeed an accomplishment. Making the game enjoyable was a big push for games in general.

      Today, the problemspace of "Pac-Man AI" is easily solved using the appropriate data-structures, search tree and pruning. It's a bit more complex than tic tac toe, but solvable. It's not comparable to chess or Go. The hard part would actually make the ghosts cooperate or limit their aggressiveness so as to make the game a more challenging and/or enjoyable experience.

      With limited memory, CPU or using ASM it'd be hard again, but just because you've chosen the "wrong" tools for the job. There's alot of powerful tools at our disposal in this day and age that we take for granted. I bet you can learn alot in the process though, going back to the roots and maybe seeing a bit of what the original developers were seeing.

    10. Re:Pac-Man AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AI just means rules based solution. I hate to tell you this, but pac-man probably had some rules based solution.

    11. Re:Pac-Man AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      yeah everything was better back in MY day when I first started to going to whatever sucks now!

      --- said everyone, every decade, everywhere

    12. Re:Pac-Man AI by sh00z · · Score: 1

      What would be wrong with saying Pac-Man AI?

      The fact that the game's (ghosts') responses are completely deterministic. They follow distinct logical rules, and do not make "choices."

  2. Not as small as guimp! by Travis+Mansbridge · · Score: 0

    http://guimp.com/pacman_flash.... Original smallest website in the world!

  3. I wanna see ms. pac-man's vagina by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    and pac-man's pee pee.

  4. Maybe... by Nukem,Duke · · Score: 2

    You can get GTA V working in 32x32 display next.

    1. Re:Maybe... by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Funny

      >> GTA V working in 32x32

      Already did.
      http://www.icon100.com/up/3272...

  5. Fun little project, of course ... by hattig · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ah, but this will not be able to implement the ability to swing around corners that traditional pacman has, which lets you get away from chasing ghosts, just a little bit.

    Otherwise, it's a great project if you want to work with microcontrollers and embedded programming. Beats the obvious tetris clone at least. Sokoban might be another good game to implement. And Bejeweled.

    1. Re:Fun little project, of course ... by mosschops · · Score: 1

      It can if it's still tracking positions at the original resolution, with only the display down-scaled.

  6. Atari 2600 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Still looks better than Pac Man on the 2600.

    1. Re:Atari 2600 by GTRacer · · Score: 1

      The neighbor's dog dropping in my yard look better than Pac-Man on the 2600. Malign 2600 E.T. all you want - It looked ok for its time and if you could figure out the pit exit trick, it was a pretty twitchy platformer/adventure game. And yes, I've played it recently. Pretty much every time I ride E.T. at Universal in fact ^^

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
    2. Re:Atari 2600 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't get all the ET hate. It was honestly my absolute favourite 2600 game. I didn't realize it was so maligned until I ran across all the bitching on the internet. Honestly, I wonder how many of the haters were even alive or owned a 2600 when this game was released. Most of the complainers seem to be teenagers. It seems like a bunch of bandwagon jumping or hipsterism.

    3. Re:Atari 2600 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you like being stuck in holes?

    4. Re:Atari 2600 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here is my very old pacman nda for the Apple IIgs which was very low res.

      Pacman on the Apple IIgs

  7. Ghost AI ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pac-Man is controlled by the player. Perhaps you meant ghost AI?

    1. Re:Ghost AI ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Pac-Man is also the name of the game...

    2. Re: Ghost AI ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then it should say 1024 pixel pac-man...
      It would probably be pretty hard to play it with only 1 pixel...

    3. Re: Ghost AI ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man_%28character%29
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man

      Pac-Man the character is 1 pixel in this version of Pac-Man the game. The Pac-Man game uses AI to control the ghosts. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's wrong.

  8. Watch-sized by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    As the market for smart-watches grows, game miniaturization along these lines may make for a pretty big market. I smell $'s.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Watch-sized by szczys · · Score: 1

      The issue there is user input. In this case, the Atari joystick is half the fun. I've seen this same display used to play tetris with an IR remote control... it's not nearly as fun as with a joystick.

    2. Re:Watch-sized by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      not nearly as fun as with a joystick

      But if you are stuck in an airport, queuing at the DMV, or in a boring meeting/lecture, being able to play a simple game on your watch is a great option. (Especially if you forgot your phone or its battery is low.)

      Being able to tap on the right, bottom, left, and top of the watch face for direction control is all you need. A simplified version of Pac-Man seems like an ideal game for a smart-watch.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  9. 1 pixel? 1024 pixel! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    32x32=1024 pixel

    1. Re:1 pixel? 1024 pixel! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Reading comprehension? The game is not 1 pixel, Pac-man is 1 pixel.

  10. Be careful! by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    Be careful where you demo that. It might be mistaken for a bomb!

  11. Been there, done that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A neat little DIY project but not a first. PacMan Mini Arcade pretty much did the same thing 30-some years ago.

  12. Collision detection does not work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not a good implementation, the Pacman and ghosts just walk through each other as seen here in the video:
    https://youtu.be/xKPRTjCqYnI?t=3m9s

    And not like the real pass-through bug as explained in the Pacman Dossier:
    http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html#CH3_Just_Passing_Through

    1. Re:Collision detection does not work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not a good implementation, the Pacman and ghosts just walk through each other as seen here in the video:
      https://youtu.be/xKPRTjCqYnI?t=3m9s

      And not like the real pass-through bug as explained in the Pacman Dossier:
      http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html#CH3_Just_Passing_Through

      So, what did you write that was better?

  13. Bug for bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They say they coded the original Pacman ghost behavior, but do they support the original bugs as well?

  14. 32 x 32 = 1024 pixels, not just one by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

    A pixel is just one dot, or as Wikipedia puts it, the "smallest addressable element" of a digital display. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P... If each of the 32x32 elements can be turned on or off, then they each constitute a pixel.

    1. Re:32 x 32 = 1024 pixels, not just one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A pixel is just one dot, or as Wikipedia puts it, the "smallest addressable element" of a digital display. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P... If each of the 32x32 elements can be turned on or off, then they each constitute a pixel.

      You dumb shit. 1 pixel refers to the character, not the whole game. Go back to reddit.

  15. Code of Life by sixtuslab · · Score: 1

    DO NOT EAT