Pacman RX WIP

[highrise]

hey guys

I realise that probably the last thing the Spectrum world needs is another clone of Pacman but I've been trying to make one I can be proud of for most of my adult life so I'm not about to give up now! It does feature a very close recreation of the arcade maze, including the correct number of dots which I don't think has been done before (apart from the emulator obviously). For the most part it also accurately reflects the arcade timings and ghost behaviours, although I am really aiming for a game that has the feel of the arcade rather than a 100% perfect replica since compromises are inevitable.

Progress over the last month has been pretty good so I thought I would share that here. Hope you like what I've done so far. I'd also like to shout out Marco Leal who wrote 'Pacman arcade' and Simon Owen who wrote the Pacman emulator for their friendly input having already trodden some of the Pac-paths before I did.



There is still a ton of polish and balancing to be done, but this version is also available to download and test for those who kindly support my work on patreon - www.patreon.com/happycodingzx

cheers!

[Lee Bee]

Fantastic work! Yes, there have indeed been a few really great modern versions of this game lately, and they're all good, including…

2011 - Simon Owen's Pac-Man Emulator
2022 - @Grongy's excellent and cute Spekku-Man
2022 - @Joefish's beautiful and technically groundbreaking Gnash Man Party
2023 - Marco Leal's very accurate Pac-Man

I would have thought we didn't need another Pac-Man clone on the Spectrum, but actually now I've seen yours, @highrise, I really think this is very worthy and unique, better than the others in many respects.

I love that it's highly accurate. So many Speccy Pac-Man clones compromise on maze accuracy. Your game is also far nicer looking than the emulator version with way better colours (the maze really needs to be blue IMHO). It seems nice and fast, and the border art at the side really adds a lot of fun to the game and gives a feeling of simulating an arcade cabinet!

For me, audio is particularly important, and IMHO your version has the best audio of them all. While I like all the versions in different ways, I think if I were looking to play a Pac-man game on the Spectrum, your version would be my go-to as I think it's the best all-round, beating even Marco Leal's for accuracy and audio, and fun!

I realise it's still a work in progress but there was just one thing which stood out to me as "wrong" and that's that the game doesn't freeze for a moment when you chomp a ghost! I always found that freeze highly satisfying, like you're really getting your teeth into the ghost! Also, if you're interested, I believe the eating sound can be even more accurate.

[gabriele amore]

nice!
just one little suggestion to get a more arcadish feel: when pacman eats a ghost, it should stay a little on it (both pacman and the ghost should breifly disappear and the little score message should appear in their place)

[highrise]

thanks guys

I certainly wouldn't be working on accuracy to this degree and not be aware of the ghost delay. First you get things working, then you add the embellishments. You'll note that the ghost score is not added to the score too - that's because all of that will be coded together.

Obviously there are some things I prefer in my version as compared to Marco's, but I can assure you that his attention to gameplay accuracy is pretty much perfect, better than mine in fact as i took a couple of shortcuts that I didn't think anyone would notice

[arjun]

I've just discovered all the modern Pacman games (except the emulator one which I was familiar with) on this thread. Fantastic stuff!

[StanVanman]

Looks brilliant, the bezel art makes a world of difference. Can't wait

[highrise]

some more updates

[Lee Bee]

Incredible, this is so good! After all these decades of (great) Spectrum Pac-man games, it finally feels like the definitive version has arrived. Makes me wonder if you might tackle some other classic titles.

[gabriele amore]

BRILLIANT!!!

[highrise]

Incredible, this is so good! After all these decades of (great) Spectrum Pac-man games, it finally feels like the definitive version has arrived. Makes me wonder if you might tackle some other classic titles.

Thanks! This is actually my fifth 'golden age' arcade conversion after converting Turtles, Joust, Asteroids and Lunar Rescue. Plenty more planned!

[worcestersource]

It looks fantastic! The ULA+ touches just nudge it towards further authenticity.

Personally, I’m looking forward to the implementation of the death sequence as I’ve yet to hear the sound effect as close to how I remember it.

[Lee Bee]

This is actually my fifth 'golden age' arcade conversion…

Forgive my ignorance. Many of your previous games don't seem to have had a lot of exposure, which is a shame.

The audio in your game is really fantastic and probably what stands out the most to me. Your "eat ghost" noise is even closer now, though this sound effects thread may be of value to you, where Joefish mentions triangle waves and I mention how the envelope can be put to good use.

[textvoyage]

It looks (and sounds) great and Pacman Begins is my favourite new Spectrum game so far this year.
I can't help wondering how you feel about Track N Field or Pole Position!

[highrise]

Another update

[ParadigmShifter]

And what happens if you pick "R" as one of the keys when redefining them?

[highrise]

Well, nothing, you can use R if you want, because in the menu you aren't moving Pacman so it won't clash.

[highrise]

I guess it could clash if you chose 'R' to as the 'start' key, I guess I could disallow that. Seems an unlikely choice though!

[ParadigmShifter]

Yeah that's what I meant if you pick R as start does it start, or get stuck in a redefine keys loop (or else you would not be able to redefine keys again).

I wouldn't even offer start as a key option myself, just have enter (or P, or space or something) to start. It's generally a bad idea to be able to redefine menu function keys anyway... in fact it was specifically disallowed by Sony and MS IIRC for PS and XBox submissions since they could foresee problems with it.

In SJOE all my menu options are fixed and I use a totally different "handle key press" routine in the menus anyway. EDIT: Since in game (keys are all redefinable) they auto repeat after a (varying dependent on function of the key) time anyway whereas in the menu they wait for no key to be pressed before accepting another keypress.

EDIT2: I would have expected 1 or 2 player game start as well unless you can't spare memory for stashing the dots eaten for the other player. Otherwise 1UP is spurious (although lots of single player arcade games still used that anyway!)

[highrise]

Thanks for the feedback, always appreciated.

The option to redefine the start key is there because it's actually the joystick fire button as well and is used in game for pausing the game too. The idea being that people play these games on emulators in a number of ways and you can be on the couch or playing on a portable system and quickly hit fire to answer your phone or whatever if you're going for a big score. It also makes it easy for you to start a new game with the joystick if you're on the couch or using a wireless controller. So there is method in that choice, especially as Sinclair and Cursor joystick options are provided via redefinition as well. It's a simple game so all I really need to do is disallow 'R' as this would prevent you from redefining the keys in the unusual event of you wanting to use 'R' for start / pause.

Although two player mode would be nice, feedback suggests the demand for that is very low compared to the amount of work involved in doing it. It's something that probably worked well when people were paying separately to share the machine, but even for high score challenges people seem to like to have their go and then pass it over. Games don't last that long!

As for 1UP, at this point it's traditional and the game is designed to look as much like a miniature version of the arcade as possible, so that's the reasoning there.