GH4ST by Shaun LeBron

[raw]
made by Shaun LeBron for LD33 (COMPO)
Coordinate the four ghosts, which adhere to the actual AI from the original Pac-Man arcade. Your only power to catch Pac-Man is to choose which ghost is allowed to move per turn.

In this game, you must learn to exploit the deterministic behaviors of your ghosts and Pac-Man in order to catch Pac-Man before he gets his fruit.

THE POST-COMPO VERSION linked below fixes A.I., improves animation, and adds more levels.

Ratings

Coolness 60% 3
Overall 3.43 241
Audio 2.09 636
Fun 3.36 245
Graphics 3.31 351
Humor 2.66 491
Innovation 4.39 5
Mood 3.13 363
Theme 4.00 95

Feedback

alkazar
24. Aug 2015 · 13:25 UTC
Turn based pacman! Very neat concept!
onilink_
25. Aug 2015 · 08:30 UTC
Too bad it is so short, the concept is fun :p
DanteDouglas
26. Aug 2015 · 09:45 UTC
This is fantastically innovative. Huge fan. Wish there was more!! This is something I would pay for an entire version of.
thebrickanator
29. Aug 2015 · 02:29 UTC
Really liked the game concept and a clean style.
puppetmaster
30. Aug 2015 · 21:05 UTC
Awesome cool concept for a puzzle game! Nice presentation, and tutorial. First 5* for theme and innovation! Congrats for your entry!
Jod
30. Aug 2015 · 21:31 UTC
Very slick graphics. The compo version really benefited from some music, as seen in the post-compo version.
Teesquared
30. Aug 2015 · 22:21 UTC
I never realized how difficult being a ghost can be. Interesting take on Pac-Man. You have an innovative idea and gameplay system here.
superfluous
30. Aug 2015 · 22:21 UTC
Very cool concept. I'd love to see if it holds up to being a completed game.
Sparrow
30. Aug 2015 · 22:39 UTC
Absolutely brilliant! Good work.
NickMakesGames
30. Aug 2015 · 23:46 UTC
a spectacular idea. I think that everyone's behaviour is a *little* tough to read right now, but with a little bit of additional feedback, this is very well on it's way to being a stand-out puzzle game that I could see myself happily losing hours to.
I don't often suggest that people expand on LD games out of respect (I personally prefer to leave my products alone after a game jam) but I think it would be really tragic if you didn't further explore this idea and flesh it out into something more complete.
Arg410
30. Aug 2015 · 23:52 UTC
Great API, I've never heard of clojure or leiningen until now. Maybe i'll mess with them, always love a new programming language!!!!
GaTechGrad
31. Aug 2015 · 00:54 UTC
This game is really convoluted. I would have rather seen an original concept, rather than ripping off Namco's PacMan. I think if it was in real time rather than turn-based, then it might have actually been fun to play.
veoviscool12
31. Aug 2015 · 01:32 UTC
I really, really love this game. I think the concept is fantastic, and I love the way you solved the AI vs. Player input problem. Graphics are great, and the path arrows make it easy to visualize what's going to happen next. My only complaints are that it's really short (I want more! >:|) and that it's hard to remember which ghost does what at times. I get that this could be part of the challenge, but maybe an optional toggle that shows a little pop up with a short description of what each ghost does. Overall, I loved this game, and it's really polished. Great work. :)
Aevek
31. Aug 2015 · 01:41 UTC
Really cool idea to use the AI algorithms of a game and force the player to think inversely. I liked the concept enough to try the post-compo version, and you had already implemented everything I was about to suggest, so great job!
Mach60KAS
31. Aug 2015 · 01:50 UTC
I really love the idea behind this game - it's extremely unique! My main issue is how short the compo version is - which is we're all rating. Still, I think the improvements you made to the post compo version (path visualisation, music, levels) are very well handled. Excellent work!
jwin
31. Aug 2015 · 05:06 UTC
This is an awesome idea, very cool to play with the AI and try to devise a strategy!

The levels in the post-compo do a good job of exploring the idea further, although I think it would take even more levels before I really felt like I got the hang of it.
Benjamin
31. Aug 2015 · 06:40 UTC
The core idea is neat, and the tutorial is pretty good but you should have focus on finishing it. I mean very few is missing here. Just designining 2-3 more level would have been enough.
A number on ghost would also be great to memorize the control faster.
Sometime a game is unfinished just because we describe it as unfinished. People dont know all the thing you wanted to add to your game. Just package it as finished and most of the time people will think it is.

If you want to make a post-compo versoin, the level of this games would be easier to design if you create a solver which try every combination of ghost move to check if the level can be finished.
Once it's done you just have to add/move/remove ghosts or square to check if a solution exists and how complex it is. I used this method to create my LD25 entry ( http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-25/?action=preview&uid=2952 )
Maxi and The Gang
31. Aug 2015 · 07:47 UTC
Very interesting game~! well done!
grywhttl
31. Aug 2015 · 07:51 UTC
Awesome concept! I'd like to see it developed fully
khahem
31. Aug 2015 · 08:25 UTC
Excellent and very interesting interpretation of the theme with a nice polished look.

I'm wondering if balance and gameplay richness could be improved in a more "tower-defensy" setting, where failure and success comes more progressively, through repeated planning errors vs. efficient defense design.
01101101
31. Aug 2015 · 08:55 UTC
Very very cool idea! I've read the Pacman Dossier in the past and immediately programmed a clone as well because these AIs are just great :) Also that page where you can play the original pacman with the ghosts paths visible is pretty neat!
Too bad you couldn't complete your LD game in time, it is original, well executed and quite fun! :)
Congrats!
SecondDimension
31. Aug 2015 · 10:26 UTC
There were a fair few Pacman games in this LD, and also in the 'You are the Enemy' competition, but this is by far the best take on it I've played. It was really enjoyable
🎤 Shaun LeBron
31. Aug 2015 · 14:12 UTC
Hi, the reason I didn't add any more levels in the post-compo is that I discovered an exploit in the mechanic that can break the game. It becomes really easy to guard intersections, or just sit on the fruit. I don't have any more time to try to rebalance it somehow.

Thanks for all your comments
tanjent
01. Sep 2015 · 17:09 UTC
This is a really cool concept. Really slick presentation as well.
Vennril
03. Sep 2015 · 11:43 UTC
That was amazing! Great idea and very well executed. Loved the insight on the ghost AI.

I would totally play a complete game of this :)
BUNN1E5
04. Sep 2015 · 21:28 UTC
Really cute. I wish it was longer. However, because there was only ever on piece of fruit I could easily put one ghost on the fruit and make it impossible for Pac Man to win. Though it still was a great game!
abcdef65g
04. Sep 2015 · 21:29 UTC
Lovely concept and idea, I really enjoyed it. A whole new take on a classic. And I did open up and check your source, very well written, specially considering the time frame for the game making.
wooltech
04. Sep 2015 · 21:38 UTC
Nice method of making a reverse pacman.
Drauthius
04. Sep 2015 · 22:05 UTC
Would have been better if you skipped the in-depth tutorials and instead completed a single level. But interesting concept!
ChuiGum
05. Sep 2015 · 04:14 UTC
Turned based Pac-Man was really cool! Super innovative! Great job! :)
treeman
05. Sep 2015 · 08:24 UTC
Very neat, nice idea!
dunin
05. Sep 2015 · 08:25 UTC
Cool concept and really instructive!
You ran out of time but you have a great game to develop!
Tselmek
05. Sep 2015 · 10:48 UTC
Really nice concept, wish there was more levels (in the original version). Needs some music but good job nonetheless!
KeyboardCat
05. Sep 2015 · 10:51 UTC
Interesting game ! Really good work !
randoman
05. Sep 2015 · 14:14 UTC
This is great, it mixes two things I love: puzzles and AI. I would love to see more levels!
David Yates
05. Sep 2015 · 14:33 UTC
Really cool idea, and I love that you used the original Pacman AI. This seems like such a simple idea and obvious in retrospect, but I've never seen it done before: it's brilliant and contains deep possibilities.
CrazyMinnowStudio
05. Sep 2015 · 17:32 UTC
Really cool concept! Makes playing the ghosts so much more fun than playing pacman.
dancingmad
05. Sep 2015 · 23:06 UTC
I had a lot of fun to play your game !
Mechanics are awesome.
Great job !
synchingfeeling
11. Sep 2015 · 05:53 UTC
awesome idea, well executed, would play more. I love the fresh approach to an old game.
DuzDuz
11. Sep 2015 · 10:19 UTC
Very good concept! I liked it a lot
crucknuk
11. Sep 2015 · 11:28 UTC
The idea is well thought. It is a good try to give the ghosts another meaning in the game :)
Made me giggle, keep up the good work! :)
Flygamer101
11. Sep 2015 · 12:32 UTC
Very Nice :D Loved the game. Wait a minute.
THIS WAS MADE IN 48 HOURS? Nice!
eddynardo
11. Sep 2015 · 14:42 UTC
nice one :)
Kerdelos
11. Sep 2015 · 21:37 UTC
Interesting concept and well conceived tutorial, too bad it's that short.
dcolgan
11. Sep 2015 · 21:51 UTC
Super cool. I love the premise here. The only level was really great and I think it is neat taking a concept that already exists, that pacman ghosts already have behaviors you can use, and turning it into a new puzzle game. If the content were there, I could see myself playing this a lot.
Patomkin
12. Sep 2015 · 07:38 UTC
A reverse Pacman puzzle game would be absolutely brilliant - too bad there are only two or three real puzzles here :(
axoona
12. Sep 2015 · 20:34 UTC
this game has great potential, keep it up!
local minimum
13. Sep 2015 · 11:45 UTC
Cool idea for a game! Wish, as many have pointed out, that where were more actual levels after the tutorial to play. Also, though tutorial was really neat and since there is an undo anyway, it would have been nice if there was some indicator or the ghost's intentions/behaviors. Or if first time you press e.g. '2' you only select the second ghost and that shows a short bio to the side of the playing field. I didn't try to see how many regrets one had (but it might be cool to limit them to undo last five steps or so). In that case some reset level would be perfect. Final thought, the shift+right was rather awkward, I think the next level should load with a 1-2 second delay upon catching pacman. In all though, a very interesting game mechanic that you should consider furthering some more.
OldPeculier
14. Sep 2015 · 16:27 UTC
Superb start. I really want to play this for real—too bad you ran out of time.
HThomson
15. Sep 2015 · 00:21 UTC
Hands down the most innovative game I've played throughout this whole competition. Also love the minimalist art style, fantastic job all round! As others have said it'd be great if it were longer however that's only a minor point considering the 48 hour time limit and all.