What Pac-Man Brought to Game Design | Design Icons

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While a nascent games industry was laser focused on emulating the success of Taito’s Space Invaders, one designer tried to make something completely different - and ended up creating our second design icon: Pac-Man.
Sources
Retro Gamer UK Issue 61 | Retro Gamer
www.retrogamer...
Toru Iwatani, 1986 PacMan Designer | Programmers At Work
programmersatw...
Pacman: The Phenomenon | GameSpy
web.archive.org...
Q&A: Pac-Man Creator Reflects on 30 Years of Dot-Eating | Wired
www.wired.com/...
The Pac-Man Dossier | Gamasutra
www.gamasutra....
Pac-Man Interview with creator Toru Iwatani at GDC 2011 | RU-vid
• Pac-Man Interview with...
Interview 1 Vol. 1 with Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani | PacMan.com
www.onlinespiel...
Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto… | Google Books
books.google.c...
Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani | Japan Times
www.japantimes...
I Am Error… | Google Books
books.google.c...
These games inspired Cliff Bleszinski, John Romero, Will Wright, and Sid Meier | Joystiq
web.archive.org...
GO3: Kojima Talks Metal Gear History, Future | Gamasutra
www.gamasutra....
Learn More
Pac-Man Creator Toru Iwatani Biograph | Pac-Man Museum
pacmanmuseum.c...
Postmortem: Pac-Man, Iwatani's rhapsody in yellow | Gamasutra
www.gamasutra....
The Pac-Man Principle: A User's Guide To Capitalism | Google Books
books.google.c...
Toru Iwatani: Pac-Man and the real life of games design | Financial Times
www.ft.com/con...
Toru Iwatani - Mechanics of Pac Man | RU-vid
• Toru Iwatani - Mechani...
Extra Footage
Tokyo Landscapes | Bolo Bellheimer
• [Doc] Tokyo Landscapes...
The Ultimate Early 80s Arcade Tribute | Patrick Scott Patterson
• The Ultimate Early 80s...
Pinball Machine, 1970s USA | thekinolibrary
• Pinball Machine, 1970s...
80s Japan - Video Arcade | NichiBeiTrader
• 1980s Japan - Video Ar...
Happy Birthday Pac-Man: A look at news coverage in 1982 | Patrick Scott Patterson
• Happy Birthday Pac-Man...
Professor Toru Iwatani Gamelab Legend Award Interview | Gamereactor
• Pixels, Pac-Man 35th A...
Traffic, Busy Streets, Shibuya Crossing | thekinolibrary
• 1980s Tokyo, Japan - T...
Manhattan, New York 1980 | Mackenzie Rough
• Manhattan, New York 1980
Buckner & Garcia - Pacman Fever | EDUARDO ANDRES CONTRERAS NOBIZELLI
• Buckner & Garcia - Pac...
1984 Pac-Man Cereal Commercial | xntryk1
• 1984 Pac-Man Cereal Co...
Pac-Man Atari commercial compilation | Toy lover
• Pac-Man Atari commerci...
When Pac-Man was King - CBS Evening News | Shatner Method
• Video Arcade "Addictio...
Music used in this episode
Sun Bleach - Lifeformed (lifeformed.ban...)
Various - Lee Rosevere (leerosevere.ba...)
Pac-Man Fever - Buckner & Garcia
Wreck-It Ralph © Disney
Tom and Jerry © Warner Bros
Popeye © Turner Entertainment
Little Ghost Q-Taro © TV Asahi
Casper the Friendly Ghost © DreamWorks
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World © Universal Pictures
Pac-Man © Warner Bros
Contribute translated subtitles - amara.org/v/C3...

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26 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 617

@Spectral352 4 года назад

7:10 "For a human being like Pac Man..." Now that is a deep lore implication.

@JaydevRaol 4 года назад

Yeah 😄

@jackiexkh 4 года назад

I think that “human being” part refers to the player. The canonical name for Pac-Man’s species is “pac-person” Also there are a few times where it is shown that humans canonically exist in the Pac-Man universe alongside pac-people.

@lemminjuice 4 года назад

Yeah I think he's referring to the human player 'being' Pac Man in the game.

@masonguyman3074 4 года назад

Pac MAN! 💪

@mslightbulb 4 года назад

Jackie-XKH pac-person is such a cute and silly term I might explode from happiness.

@yuuneeq9494 4 года назад

The cute, non-violent theme of devouring the weak.

@mdlchannel8318 4 года назад

I call it natural selection.

@acepedro12 4 года назад

I thought exactly the same thing, aeueahuaehuhea

@sachitechless 4 года назад

I mean... Pac-Man is the weak one just trying to get by and will die if caught so... really... Pac-Man gains the power to eat the rich?

@wulfherecyning1282 4 года назад

@@sachitechless Pacman is the only one of the 5 characters who gets to eat. The other four, who can not eat his reserved food, are savage poor thugs chasing him, and they only run away when he manages to get a court order waiving the law against cannibalism. Pacman is the rich and the ghosts are the poor. Or maybe trying to force a complex socio-political-economic narrative onto a simplistic top-down game is silly and should not be tried.

@HomerGumther 4 года назад

And don't forget fleeing vengeful spirits!

@VladShpiro 4 года назад

I had no idea Pac-Man had that clever AI, simple and brilliant. Thanks for the informative video

@KuraIthys 4 года назад

It's often cited as being one of the first (if not THE first) to try and use the really primitive AI that computers of the era could manage (not that modern AI is anywhere near as complex as you think - at least, not in games. Much of it is composed of similar basic stuff to pacman in many cases) to try and give each enemy a distinct personality... Which it does surprisingly well...

@irasponsibly 4 года назад

If you're interested in more detail on that, check out Retro Game Mechanics Explained

@thomasgibbs7239 4 месяца назад

One interesting quirk is that due to an overflow bug when Pacman is facing upwards Pinky and Inky target the square 4 tiles to the left of where they should be, which adds an exciting level of randomness to the game and really keeps you guessing. It also makes them more likely to make seemingly irrational moves which when they catch you out can make them seem even more intelligent!

@jana19993 4 года назад

It's the sound design as well. That repetitive, satisfying beat every time you eat the dots incentivises you to keep going. It's addictive.

@vinisun9171 4 года назад

janiqua thissss

@YoungTheFish 4 года назад

Pac-Man is about as non-violent as Kirby. Deep down, we all know the horror.

@slothbaby2104 4 года назад

THE HORROR

@EqualityEarth 4 года назад

What if Pac Man’s body design turned out looking just like Yellow Kirby?

@EqualityEarth 4 года назад

The Accidental Hipster oh that’s right I totally forgot about that! I remember that too now. Perhaps their differentiation is for the best. We wouldn’t want to get started with Sonic originally looking so much more like a hedgehog, the sprite would fit in a ball (JK)

@jackiexkh 4 года назад

I mean, the ghosts are able to come back after being eaten. When Kirby eats his enemies, they’re fuckin’ dead.

@vincentmuyo 4 года назад

It's why it's so popular with women.

@DarylTalksGames 4 года назад

The knowledge that Tom and Jerry was an inspiration for Pac-Man is all I needed to get through today

@CurtisJensenGames 4 года назад

Sorry, I totally missed that point, what did he say? Also, let me know if you get sick of reading this sort of thing, but it's always good to come across another Daryl comment or video :)

@evs2895 4 года назад

@@CurtisJensenGames 10:41

@CurtisJensenGames 4 года назад

@@evs2895 Thanks mate!

@aangsstaff4174 4 года назад

Daryl Talks Games I fricking love your channel

@magnuspeacock5857 4 года назад

@SpyengoEen understandable

@Absquatula 4 года назад

"Players should immediately get the point." This is the main reason I think Untitled Goose Game sold so well. House House knew what to do 👍

@sebastiansandoval4861 4 года назад

Yeah, the funniest thing about it is the idea that gooses are an icon that inmediately screams to people about messing with people

@lizardlegend42 3 года назад

@ً nah it's also just a really charming, relaxed game with a great art style and visual humour

@tanushbhansali 3 года назад

Yep players immediately understanding what they need to do in a game can be very powerful

@bast01 4 года назад

"A human being like Pac-man" Wait Pac-man is a human?!?

@bast01 4 года назад

@@KevinJDildonik okay, that makes more sense

@badwrongfun5541 4 года назад

I'm reminded how Hello Kitty is officially supposed to be a human British girl named Kitty White and somehow not a cat at all.

@QuolashMCDuck 4 года назад

@@badwrongfun5541 wait what? ive always thought it was a bunny.

@Mswordx23 4 года назад

Well yeah he's Pac-MAN

@KusaneHexaku 4 года назад

@@QuolashMCDuck Hello *Kitty* didn't gave you a clue at all?

@subprogram32 4 года назад

So I never knew the story about 'Puc-Man' and the graffiti, so you taught somebody new today! Also I find it fasinating that, after Iwatani's quotes about how western kids wanted 'real settings' and the japanese wanted 'fairy tales'...it had a lukewarm reception in japan initially, and the american audiance is what began the momentum that ascended the game to the heights it is today. It almost feels like a case of 'suvivorship' bias obscuring the truth of the matter - that the american audiance *did* want less real, more 'fairy-tale' like games, it's just that they didn't seem to have any to play! And the moment one game did manage to get beyond the difficult starting point, it became huge.

@nightranger869 4 года назад

Same, I had no idea that it was originally called 'Puc-Man'

@yumitsup 4 года назад

You should watch Scott Pilgrim then! haha

@WOOTMAN24 4 года назад

@@yumitsup scott pilgrim vs the movie that ruined a whole generation of women

@fakegmale4648 4 года назад

wootman24 what do you mean?

@WOOTMAN24 4 года назад

Fake Gmale it’s a song lmao it’s actually called Scott pilgrim vs the world that ruined a whole generation of women

@dustinwainwright6429 4 года назад

I swear the ai system is so smart for its time and I loved your explanation of it!

@thorstend.888 4 года назад

Right. I knew it before, but never saw a visual representation of where the ghosts want to go. This shows it very clear how genius this is.

@MisterAppleEsq 4 года назад

To be honest it's pretty smart even now, just simplistic at the same time.

@jasonblalock4429 4 года назад

The design breakdown reminds me of Sid Meier's famous observation that (good) video games are a series of interesting decisions. This philosophy perfectly describes Pac-Man. At any given moment the player has choices to make, and more choices than might seem immediately obvious, but it's still a manageable number. Do you go left or right? Head straight for the pellet, or circle around while the ghosts are still slow? How do you split your focus? How much time to spend watching the ghosts vs watching where Pac-Man is going? From such a relatively simple ruleset, a surprisingly complicated number of strategies emerge. And it gets complicated specifically because it's *constantly* forcing the player to make difficult decisions, then reevaluate those decisions continuously as the overall game state changes. Plus, as one gains knowledge of the game - like starting to suss out the ghosts' behavior - that just adds new interesting choices to the pile. (How much do you REALLY believe that Clyde is going to turn around if you run at him?)

@CurtisJensenGames 4 года назад

Thanks for taking the time to type this. I, personally, come to the comments for extra information.

@AriyanK0091 4 года назад

Well said. Another game that captures this really well is Tetris. You're constantly making decisions about the placement of the pieces, their orientation, whether you should try to go for the risky last-second turn to clear the row or play it safe and hope for a better piece down the line.

@metzger5850 4 года назад

Clyde will always probably usually turn around...maybe.

@FraserSouris 4 года назад

How I remember the Ghosts Red is the fastest White/pink is the smartest Blue is the slowest Brown/orange doesn't care and kills pac-man accidentally lol

@guynamedrick4419 4 года назад

Actually Inky is the smartest but slow, Pinky is the fastest, Blinky is fast and gains speed by the eaten pelets, and Clyde just moves randomly.

@andrewsparkes8829 4 года назад

That is just listing what they do, not "how" you remembered it. How I remember the names: Pinky is pink. Blinky is red, because you blink a lot when your eyes are red. Inky is blue, the most common pen ink color aside from black. Clyde is, by default, the other one. See? That is a "how" list. Yours was not.

@NessaOfDorthonion 4 года назад

@@andrewsparkes8829 Clever mnemonic device, I'll have to remember that one

@andrewsparkes8829 4 года назад

@@NessaOfDorthonion Sorry if you saw a previous reply. @Fabeldier replied with "Pedantic" alone and then deleted their comment, and I replied to the most recent still-there comment which was yours, not noticing your owj comment was far more appreciative!

@NessaOfDorthonion 4 года назад

@@andrewsparkes8829 Its okay no worries! I try to show my appreciation for my fellow humans when I can

@hemangchauhan2864 4 года назад

Game history is such an under appreciated topic, and so Design Icons is a fantastic way to get more people learn about important historic games

@JJMcCullough 4 года назад

I've heard it said that in Japan, they were never supposed to be "ghosts," and that's just something Americans came up with, because we have a different cultural conception of what "ghosts" look like. In Japan they were just supposed to be fantasy monster things. One of the coffee break segments has one of the monsters getting his skin torn off. It's weird we never talk about that.

@Nic_2751 3 года назад

Pac-Man World proves they are ghosts as they live on Ghost Island, with skeletons gravestones evil trees spooky music and they all float and are made of tearable suits.

@revimfadli4666 3 года назад

You mean yokai? IIRC they're more like naturally occuring spirits, quite like Jinns in Islam, rather than wandering souls of dead people. The closest translation in English would probably be "demon"

@reoire843 3 года назад

I never saw very far into the cutscenes back in the day, so this video is the first time I saw the part where his suit gets ripped. That seems so bizarre to me. Especially the part where one of his legs apparently sprouts a pair of eyes and runs off by itself… WTF

@drzerogi 3 года назад

Going to need a citation for that. Your coffee break segment example is not proof that they aren't ghosts: these segments are just gags after all. They play more like silly outtakes than part of Pac-Man lore.

@JJMcCullough 3 года назад

@@drzerogi my citation is that they’re not called ghosts in Japanese, they’re called monsters.

@bigcat5348 4 года назад

The last point about Pac-man not establishing a lasting genre isn't entirely true, though the genre wasn't fully realized until the Playstation. Pac-man is basically the first survival horror game. You flee from invincible enemies while trying to accomplish objectives until you acquire a power-up that allows you to fight back, plus a lot of horror games have labyrinthian level design.

@fearlesswee5036 4 года назад

Huh, never thought of it like that, you make a great point actually.

@firebal6129 4 года назад

Eh, I don't know about horror. Survival though, for sure!

@bcriceroni6553 4 года назад

@@firebal6129 but they ARE ghosts tho, so why not? I feel I should clarify that I'm joking and ik there are other criteria for a horror theme.

@nebula_the_starfish 3 года назад

perhaps a pseudo-stealth game too? its a stretch but it does have a few aspects of stealth games and, even if it didn't establish the genre itself, it was probably an inspiration

@m1lkweed 4 года назад

When Pac-man is facing up, Pinky doesn't go four tiles ahead. She goes four up and four to the left.

@antoninmalon7225 4 года назад

I noticed the error too :).

@hi-i-am-atan 4 года назад

Pretty easy slip-up to make, though, considering it was a slip-up on the programmers' part in the first place.

@Daniel-yy3ty 4 года назад

@@hi-i-am-atan "it's not a bug, it's a feature" XD

@coyraig8332 4 года назад

That happens with all the ghosts

@fraserweist3793 4 года назад

shedding a single tear for the fact that you mentioned "bizarre, story-based pac-man adventures on consoles" and didn't show a clip from pac-man world 2 which is legitimately AMAZING

@Nic_2751 3 года назад

I’m absolutely disappointed

@MariotheAnimator 4 года назад

"The player should immediately get the point" The most important quote that literally every game developer should listen to.

@piteoswaldo 4 года назад

I can classify my favorite games in 2 categories: the ones which you immediately get the point and know what to do, and the games which nothing is obvious and learning the goals and mechanics are the biggest feature.

@TheXMachinery 4 года назад

*Death Stranding has entered the chat*

@quickrat3348 4 года назад

Absolutely. I hate when modern games fail to tell the most basic rules to us the players.

@mobiusdick6225 4 года назад

"when talking about good ARCADE game design" I agree a game should be as simple as it CAN be, but in most games it's too complex. How are you gonna get Metal Gear Solid or Dark Souls so intuitive that your grandmother can pick it up and play it?

@quickrat3348 4 года назад

@@mobiusdick6225 Well, they are intuitive actually. You know you have to kill anything in DS and you know you have to hide in MGS. You don't need 10 androgenous characters to tell you this in a text box or in a 5 min cutscene

@ChrisLT 4 года назад

Never realized all the tiny things that make Pac-Man such a brilliant game. Makes it easier to understand why it's still so fun to this day.

@KnightsDisillusion 4 года назад

I love the Design Icons Series! Video Game history is amazing.

@Jolgeable 4 года назад

Do you know that channel Ahoy? He has some beautiful docs as well.

@Stephen-Fox 4 года назад

Incidentally considering how often I've read or heard info on the ghost behaviour it's amazing that you've finally explained it in a way that makes sense to me (particularly the scatter mode and Clyde's behaviour)

@ghostderazgriz 4 года назад

The first developer that believed games were for everyone, not just a single demographic. That's a very inspiring legacy thay members of the gaming industry today continue to uphold.

@ralofpatel470 4 года назад

That is awesome pathfinding. Didn't imagine he tought of this so many years back.

@Evanski 4 года назад

"Non violent" But you eat the flesh of ghosts so there just scared floating eyes

@salvatoremazzone6912 4 года назад

What is dead may never die, but rises stronger and more aggressive with each increasing level

@felixroux 4 года назад

Flesh of ghosts?

@piss7438 4 года назад

Thats not... They don't...

@zyaicob 4 года назад

The what of ghosts?

@mascotvt 4 года назад

They are wearing sheets so...

@TheCronoSage 4 года назад

Hearing the cutscenes referred to as coffee-break moments reminds me of Earthbound's (Mother2) literal coffee break scenes.

@JairusC 4 года назад

Your videos are all so visually compelling and informationally intensive. The combination of these allow for an entertaining and thoughtful analysis of video games throughout the years. Your channel has, time and time again, provided a valuable resource for developers, gamers, and even the general public. Your goal to educate and provide a fun way of analyzing trends, gameplay mechanics, and even developing for different demographics is splendid. Please continue the good work and I look forward to more of your content.

@BRICK101 4 года назад

I'm really enjoying this new series. Can't wait for more!

@BitsofJoshua 4 года назад

You truly are the most consistently high-quality gaming channel on RU-vid. Every one of your videos, regardless of topic, draws me in for the entirety. I'm loving this new series. Cheers!

@romilrh 4 года назад

I love how you handled the "Puck-man" bit lol

@piss7438 4 года назад

Puc-man*

@kirb_erus 4 года назад

Scott Pilgrim telling the exact same Puc-Man story should always be used for that moment

@piss7438 4 года назад

@@kirb_erus Puc-man*

@otooandoh9556 4 года назад

Fantastic video Mark! I would love an episode analyzing the modernization of these classic arcade games and what lessons were retained and/or forgotten. I think that would make for a great follow up.

@GunnarClovis 4 года назад

God, this might be a new favorite on the channel, actually! I didn't know about all of Toru Iwatani's great quotes. But this really resonates with me; it's very similar to the material in a game design lecture I gave a few months ago (which I still need to re-record and upload to RU-vid...) about tension, pacing, and engagement. Really great stuff! Also, I can't help but shout out your fantastic motion graphics. The Design Icons logo is so excellent. Really wonderful work.

@subprogram32 4 года назад

Agree about the logo, it is lovely!

@onelazynoob15 4 года назад

It's amazing how compelling Pacman is even today with polished AAA 3d games. I keep thinking back to the time Google pulled their Pacman anniversary Google doodle early because of how much productivity they killed in workplaces around the globe.

@Lishtenbird 4 года назад

> a non-violent theme > the concept of eating Hm...

@onurbalik 4 года назад

A non-violent theme - pacmans jaw rips apart when he dies

@NoNameAtAll2 4 года назад

running away for you life from ghosts that haunt you and kill on touch

@Lishtenbird 4 года назад

And then eating their (supposedly flesh, judging by the cutscenes) bodies in revenge.

@aurin_komak 4 года назад

Am I a violent person, I eat food

@sodiboo 4 года назад

Oh look it’s my life in just one youtube comment

@skatemazon 4 года назад

your edits skill are on point, i would definitely see a live from the editing

@BreninWatson 4 года назад

God your editing is spectacular, I’m taking notes homie. 👌👌

@joesmith2424 3 года назад

Its almost frustrating how flawless your videos are

@Siehste-VideogameEssays 4 года назад

Pacman‘s AI is the most surprising thing to me! The constant tension of playing the game doesn‘t allow for too much observation while playing it, making the AI feel incredibly smart, even though it‘s based on very simple rulesets. Modern games usually occupy the stealth and survival genre, allowing the player to observe and learn the ins and outs of the AI-system with as much time as they need, which leads to a more shallow experience with it. Thanks for the knowledge, incredible video as always!

@Fawriel 4 года назад

Aww, I have a new respect for Pacman now. Iwatani is a good dude.

@akhon 4 года назад

After all these years, I assumed the ghosts movements were random. Pretty amazing AI and design choices for that time.

@immortalsun 4 года назад

Yet another incredible video by one of my favourite channels on RU-vid!

@VideoGameAnimationStudy 4 года назад

Man, those graphics at 3:38 are just on another level, Mark. You've really outdone yourself here. As an animator, I can see the amount of insane work that must've taken!

@masfreak89 4 года назад

This was absolutely fantastic. I have seen most of your videos, and I love them all, but this is undoubtedly one of the best ones you’ve made. Always enjoy your work, keep it up!

@matthall8744 4 года назад

My heart skipped a beat when you mentioned PAC-MAN 256. Thanks for the shoutout Mark.

@RizoftheDead 4 года назад

That bit about the AI used for the ghosts is fascinating. I've heard about it before but showing it moving along with the grid and line drawn made me realize how brilliant the design is. Thank you as usual for the amazing work.

@thejoyfuldragon887 4 года назад

man that guy was truly ahead of his time. especially with what he said about games needing to satisfy players more than developers. so many games today don't think about that and include so many frustrating design decisions that make no sense from a player's perspective.

@VladlustTV 4 года назад

The editing is soooo smooth! I want a video editing tutorial made by Mark!

@KaiClavier 4 года назад

No need to wonder if Ms. Pac Man was _possibly_ made without permission, look up "Classic Game Postmortem: Ms. Pac-Man" to see a talk by the developer on it. It's... a very interesting talk, to say the least.

@JakobFrankMogensen 4 года назад

It does seem kind of odd Mark didn't stumble across the post mortem in his research, given all the other Pac-man games and legacy he found. Oh well, doesn't take away from the rest of the video. :)

@JakobFrankMogensen 4 года назад

@@CoercedJab Sure thing. :)

@Calcifrizzle 4 года назад

Nice video! It's kind of crazy to think about what a lasting and wide-ranging influence this little guy has had.

@deathtoll2001 3 года назад

HOLY CRAP IT'S CRYSTAL CASTLES! I played the heck out of that as a kid on the Commodore 64, but had long since forgotten the name :D This video is absolutely amazing! I had no idea that the game was so advanced, or that it had inspired nearly so much. Thank you again for all that you do.

@inuinuinuinuinu 4 года назад

you have officially become my favorite youtube channel. amazing design notes and production. any student of design, architectural, industrial, game or otherwise could benefit from watching these videos.

@cintron3d 4 года назад

Jokes aside, this was really interesting. Especially the different behaviors of the ghosts. I didn't know about that. And a special thanks for including the bit about puck man, because I didn't know that either.

@KusaneHexaku 4 года назад

There is actually a bug within Pinky's code that make it so that if Pacman is facing toward the top of the grid, Pinky will target the tile 4 ahead AND 4 to the right of Pacman instead. The same also happens with Inky's calculations.

@Emelenyt 4 года назад

Love this series! Pac Man is such an iconic character and it's crazy to think just how much thought went behind the game

@Doran. 4 года назад

Wow. Pac-man was the first video game character. That's brilliant! This is a great series, Mark. Keep up the great history research and writing. I can't wait for the next episode. (Also, for the record, I did not know the tidbit about the original "Puck-Man" name before this video, but that totally makes sense.)

@jonaswolthaus1901 4 года назад

Can you please continue this series? I just loved these videos:))))

@genericanimeguy 4 года назад

Learning so much from you Mark. Hope to one day participate in one of your game jams. Cheers!

@portnaluinge 4 года назад

This is such a great series - I wish you’d do more.

@benjaminpenny2279 4 года назад

You’re two videos into this design icon series and man I am loving it, I had no clue about the AI in this game, watching your videos is a truly enriching experience. Thanks man.

@parttoon8305 4 года назад

14:05 Aw man, Crystal Castles, one of my old favorites.

@Absquatula 4 года назад

Trackball arcade games, forever!!! ❤

@stevenxenoknight3845 4 года назад

This video was literally perfect. We all owe a whole lot to the phenom that is Pac-Man.

@markusk581 4 года назад

Nice coincidence! Just a few days ago I uploaded a Mac-Man themed Mario Maker 2 level: *R9Y-PP5-RDF*

@madxientist 4 года назад

my grandma also had been obsessed in pacman for famicom(which belonged to my cousins). She even saw illusions of pacman while she closes her eyes for bedtime. The experience frightened her so much she and eventually quitted playing video games lol

@eduardorpg64 4 года назад

Yet another masterfully designed video, Mark! Iwatani's idea to make Pac-Man popular with women ended up being a success. I mean, even my mom, who doesn't play games at all, told me that she played Pac-Man back when it originally came out. And of course that the enemies' AI was an impressive feat, since this was a game from 1980! I was actually mind-blown that the ghosts had a relatively complex AI since I thought games back in the 80s didn't have AI. Keep up the good work!

@futuramax 4 года назад

Love the game, loved the video. Excellent work as always, thanks Mark!

@Thelorme 4 года назад

Your videos are always incredibly scholarly and I love you for that. The depth of research mixed with your profesionnalism and solid editing really makes you my favorite youtube channel. I have a thing for history of video games and you offer that content perfectly. I'll be looking forward to the next Design Icons

@lrgogo1517 4 года назад

I remember hearing that the ghosts weren’t officially ghosts until Atari said so in a manual as an excuse for the enemies always blinking. Hearing that they were goblins gave more context for whatever was going on in the later cutscenes.

@kausmage25 4 года назад

You won me over with the Scott Pilgrim Clip. Thank youuu

@dcashley303 4 года назад

That grid makes the game so much easier to understand. Super smart.

@GwydionAE 3 года назад

This and the video about Space Invaders were so neat! Love this kind of stuff. I'm a bit sad I only see one more Design Icons to watch for now, but hopefully more will pop up in the future.

@JC_Revan 4 года назад

Hearing about the ins and outs of Pac-Man's design is the best feeling that seeing behind the curtain or learning the magician's tricks has been for me. What an amazing game. Revolutionary

@connorherron8607 4 года назад

I was waiting for the vandalization name change thingy, and then you one-upped that by making sure to include the great joke from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

@RodTejada502 4 года назад

Wow! Mindblowing the strategy behind it, always wondered how they pulled it off back in the day.

@NikkiTheViolist 4 года назад

Oh yeah, that's a lot of games I never knew were inspired by Pac-Man. Zelda? Metal Gear? Wolfenstein? Yeah, interesting Pac-Man basically created/revolutionized the Adventure genre, the Stealth genre, and the First-Person Shooter.

@lightgivemepower6425 4 года назад

And side scrolling platformer

@mattdavisgames 4 года назад

Love this video! You deliver fully on both the history and design analysis, which I don't think many channels could do. Keep it up!

@1fareast14 4 года назад

0:21 recognized the dustforce music right away :)

@kilroy987 2 месяца назад

I've been working on my own personal clone of Pacman as a passion project. The AI for each of the ghosts only makes up a tiny bit of the code, since all it does is decide which way a ghost will turn at the next intersection. Still, I'm sure a lot of thought and design went into the game, simple as it is. The chase mechanic requires that Pac-Man not be able to constantly move in one direction without turning around - the farther you run, the closer you come to having to turn a corner, letting the chasing ghosts flank you. You can stay ahead of the ghosts by turning as early as possible. The code behind the game is very simple (with a just a little complexity in when ghosts actually make their decisions about where to move, and how some timed events are handled) - the effectiveness of the game all came from the forethought and design of the game rules and board.

@mushroomdude123 4 года назад

Pac-Man Adventures in Time on PC was the only game I could consistently get my dad to play with me when I was little. He was better at it than I was and taught me how to conserve the Power Pellets for when I needed them. Every time I utilize that strategy, I remember the nights we spent playing together. I think it’s fitting that Pac-Man found less success as a 3D platforming mascot and more as an old school arcade relic. That’s just what he does best.

@Antimuffin 4 года назад

"Creating a fun game is not about satisfying yourself as a developer." - I feel like this a lesson that amateur designers really need to learn. So many people's first attempts at making games, especially puzzles, is more about proving how smart they are and how clever their puzzles are. But *good* designers make the *players* feel smart and clever. That's the real challenge--making something just hard enough that it feels good to solve while still giving players enough tools to solve it.

@rodrigogonzalezduarte5874 4 года назад

Oh man I didn't know the puck man thing. Great video as always, Mark.

@rafaela00002 4 года назад

the editing in this is fenomenal

@shawnheatherly 4 года назад

I never knew how much complexity there was in the ghost AI in the original game. That's awesome.

@tamsinsandrielle 4 года назад

Thank you for this video! Thanks for your time and your work :)

@guusbaeten2195 4 года назад

I really liked the part where you explained the behaviour of the ghosts and the different parameters to up the difficulty

@specknacken6507 4 года назад

Wow at that Blue Ghost A.I. behavior. Just wow.

@PaulKankiewicz 4 года назад

I basically never comment on videos, but this was too good to not say something. I had heard about the different AI behaviors before, but your visual representations of them were fantastic! Thank you!

@Thorcoal 4 года назад

Great job, Mark! One of your best videos, simple, yet incredibly informative and very interesting.

@northrain0462 4 года назад

That's already a great serie, thanks for your hard work Mark!

@danielemazzali9810 4 года назад

i just wanted to say i really really really really really like this series. Thank you Mark for doing this

@baronohm2569 4 года назад

I'm loving the quotes and insight from the creators in this series. Lots of great game design wisdom!

@RameenFallschirmjager 4 года назад

absolutely brilliant! The facts that I learned from this video are mind blowing! I had never thought pac-man is so sophisticated!

@brouhajoe 4 года назад

Congrats on this. Masterfully done.

@ludosrex 4 года назад

I would like to see a video on arcade games. They had a craze for a few years, fell into the doom of only being found in bowling alleys and are starting to make a comeback.

@DanatronOne 4 года назад

I really hope this series covers Spacewar!. It's a game I'm oddly fascinated with - it's one of the first games ever, predating even Pong by a decade. It's also in my opinion aged incredibly well, and is fun to play even today. It had complex physics, multiplayer, and non-pixel based sprites. It was unlike anything else for the time, and frankly any time after. It's also a large inspiration for the popular game Asteroids.

@andrewgavin1490 4 года назад

Loving this series (and all your videos), particularly the reference to one of my own games (Crash Bandicoot) - even if you did use footage from the reboot rather than the (better, no bias here :-)) original!

@ovunctuzel1806 4 года назад

Hey Mark, would you consider making a video on Power Spikes? I think that is an integral part of enticing gameplay. We can see this in early titles like the PacMan eating the power pellet to become super powerful for a short amount of time, Mario's star powerup - but also in modern titles when we level up, find awesome loot, etc. All of these have to be balanced by taking the power away from the player either after a certain amount of time, the powerful weapon you obtained breaking after a while, or enemies catching up to your level.

@peppidesu 4 года назад

3:52 pinky doesn't always target pacman in front. the screen coordinates are stored in two adjecent bytes and addition is done all at once. when pacman is facing up, 1 is subtracted four times from its y position. subtraction on the NES however works by adding 256-n to a value. this causes the value to overflow, and gives you the desired result. but because subtraction is done all at ones, the value 00FF is added instead, causing the overflow bit to get carried to the previous byte, the one corresponding to the x coordinate. so whenever pacman subtracts 1 from any y coord, it will always add 1 to the x coord.