Horror Pacman is a third-person person horror game where you are playing as Pacman inside the maze. Scour around, look for pellets, and kill ghosts in this twist on the classic game.
Summary
This project was a design challenge while I was in university to reinvent a classic game in a new genre. My group took Pac-man and shifted it into a horror theme. I worked as a Systems/Technical Designer creating things like the map generator for the designers and AI Behaviour. I also worked on the Player Character controls and how we handled the camera in the tight corridors of the maze and mechanic designs to help with the horror game such as the map giving a top down view, but immobilizing the player and obstructing the view.
In Depth
Role
My role in creating this game was a System Designer/Technical Designer. I was in charge of developing the map creation tools, the ghost AI behaviour, as well as managing others to keep them on track for the project. I also helped with a lot of the problem solving for this game. Whether it was a logistical design problem, like how to show the ghosts in a third person view, to coding problems, like debugging code to find where it is going wrong.
Game Framework
Everything was scripted in C# using the game engine Unity3D. The project also utilized SCRUM Management.
Game Timeline
This project was completed within 1 month.
Level Design
I designed the level pictured above for Horror Pacman. I felt that the level was interesting in the way that it allowed for Pacman to have many different avenues to head down. There are small conglomerates in the corners that allow for him to use many paths to escape the ghosts, as well as long corridors that allow him to outrun the ghosts.
System Design
I created the system that allowed for map creation. It is a giant tile based system that generates the correct tile based on input from the designer. The tiles are given a type in the editor, and in run time will generate a wall, or pellet or whatever the designer dictates.
Gameplay Design
I helped design Pacman's character controller. I created the map mechanic that allowed the player to get a view of their surroundings, while also blocking their view and stopping them from moving. The ghosts don't appear on this map, so it creates risk and reward. I created the tech that allowed the player to rotate on the spot as well as rotate around corners.
Sound Design
We designed the ghost to give different screeches to allow the player to know when ghosts were nearby even if they were out of sight. The screeches correlated to each ghost and each ghost would scream for different reasons. Blinky would scream if saw you wheras Pinky would scream if she started to chase you.
AI Design
I designed the AI behaviours of the ghosts to be fair to Pacman, but also still kind of true to the behaviours of the ghosts in the actual game. I also designed a sight cone combined with a light to let players know of the ghosts locations from behind, or around corners. The ghosts would wander until they found Pacman when they would activate their specific behaviours.
Blinky will chase Pacman, until he isn't visible when Blinky turns the corner.
Pinky has a radial search distance and will alert the player when he has found him with a banshee scream.
Inky will alert Blinky about where Pacman is and Blinky will start to chase him down.
Clyde acts like he does in the game and just wanders around aimlessly.
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