Pacman - the Amiga conversion from the arcade game

[lmimmfn]

Originally Posted by jotd

oh it seems we're going to be in the ports competition btw I decided to have a serious take on Pacman the day they announced it, and you started to work on KungFu master at the same time IIRC.

Ohh, competition is good , look forward to the results.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by jotd

oh it seems we're going to be in the ports competition btw I decided to have a serious take on Pacman the day they announced it, and you started to work on KungFu master at the same time IIRC.

I started work on KFM on the 27th July and I had no idea the competition was running until it was mentioned on my Discord. However I've pulled out of the compo for a few reasons.

[jotd]

progress: plotted dots & blitted pacs all over + ghosts

notice how the bitplanes interact (should not happen in the real game because of alignment)



The dots is a data table 0,1,2 depending on the dot type.

[yelo]

Impressive!

[Cobe]

Nice progres

Originally Posted by jotd

notice how the bitplanes interact (should not happen in the real game because of alignment)

Expected and always interesting to see "Amiga" behaviour. If you were not up for arcade perfect port maybe you could use it in your advantage...

[jotd]

added interrupts and joypad read. Added lives display, and proper sprite "engine" to display all frames. Also animated pacman and "ready" message.

missing pen gate (no biggie). new screenshot using 4 sprites for ghosts. Looks pixel-perfect // arcade game (I moved the status to the right because of the screen layout that would require too much height. I noticed that a lot of home ports do that too.



source updated in real-time on https://github.com/jotd666/pacman500.git

[jotd]

quick update: now fully implemented pacman moves including corner-cut (that one was pretty tricky to make work)

I have to post a video sometime. Got to create a YT account first lol.

[vulture]

very impressive work jotd!

[turrican3]

Thank you jotd,
it's a pleasure to see the amiga so alive !!!!

[lmimmfn]

Looking great jotd, cant wait!

[Bren McGuire]

wow we're getting spoiled! this looks awesome.
do you think it'd be possible to, after all the 1:1 stuff is done, to add enhancements, like graphic ones? i love in the new pacman games that you can change the graphic sets and that would be cool here too (check pacman dx if you havent)

Originally Posted by jotd

added interrupts and joypad read. Added lives display, and proper sprite "engine" to display all frames. Also animated pacman and "ready" message.

missing pen gate (no biggie). new screenshot using 4 sprites for ghosts. Looks pixel-perfect // arcade game (I moved the status to the right because of the screen layout that would require too much height. I noticed that a lot of home ports do that too.

Attachment 72784

source updated in real-time on https://github.com/jotd666/pacman500.git

[drHirudo]

Originally Posted by Bren McGuire

wow we're getting spoiled! this looks awesome.
do you think it'd be possible to, after all the 1:1 stuff is done, to add enhancements, like graphic ones? i love in the new pacman games that you can change the graphic sets and that would be cool here too (check pacman dx if you havent)

Once the main port is done, it is easy to utilize the various modifications, hacks and enhancements of the game.
For example here is small list of unofficial products from the game:
Unofficial products:

Pac-Man [Galaxian hardware]

Crock-Man

Ghostmuncher (LAI Games)

New Puck X (Deluxe)

Newpuc1 (Unibox)

Newpuc2 (Kamiya)

Joyman (Monster)

Hangly Man (Nittoh)

Caterpillar (Phi)

Buccaneer (Bucco)

[jotd]

Originally Posted by Bren McGuire

wow we're getting spoiled! this looks awesome.
do you think it'd be possible to, after all the 1:1 stuff is done, to add enhancements, like graphic ones? i love in the new pacman games that you can change the graphic sets and that would be cool here too (check pacman dx if you havent)

Well, the game uses 1:1 graphics and palette, and 1 plane only for pacman, sprites for ghosts so 3 colors only per ghost. Matches the original game pretty well, but not a remake with more colors where the blitter would have to be used.


What I'm planning next if that game works is Mrs Pacman. Different maze, small ribbon in Pacman hair (so 2 bitplanes), slight ghost behaviour change and that's it.

[turrican3]

yeah mrs pacman.

[lmimmfn]

Jotd, will you be releasing the source? Might have missed it, maybe you answered already.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by lmimmfn

Jotd, will you be releasing the source? Might have missed it, maybe you answered already.

You missed it on this very page, only a few posts back.

[jotd]

yes, source is up to date. I have zoned a "playable" demo where you can just move and take the tunnel & eat dots.

nothing much happening, but it may interest some of you.

I must say that assembly language isn't really an issue for me now. It's more like getting things right in the sequences, the positions, the algorithm... which is encouraging because I had thought that writing a game in 100% asm would be a torture. It is not. It's fast, compiles very quickly and you never have compilation errors but you need a strong discipline.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by jotd

oh it seems we're going to be in the ports competition btw I decided to have a serious take on Pacman the day they announced it, and you started to work on KungFu master at the same time IIRC.

You should be fine to enter if you restarted it in assembler in early August. Good luck to you!

[lmimmfn]

Originally Posted by gimbal

You missed it on this very page, only a few posts back.

Ohh very nice

[Havie]

I am sure you may have seen this but just in case:

[ Show youtube player ]

I also posted a link to Ms Pacman AI in the other Ms Pacman thread in the programming section. Still amazes me; the thought, ideas and programming that went into these 80s arcade games that made them so playable but that's probably why they became classics! Compare this AI to a bad copy from the same time where the ghosts either just move randomly or just home in on the player.