INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 7 hours ago, mr_me said: Some say the ghosts behaviour changes others say they use patterns. I know the programmer said he first programmed the ghosts with some random movement but Atari insisted that the ghosts have predictable patterns, so he changed it. That's because if the ghosts had some random movement it would be ms pacman. Yes, I heard that too. I’ll tell you how it feels to me... they don’t have a defined pattern because each ghost can take one out of three decisions at some points. HOWEVER.... they definitely follow tendencies. So in that sense, they’re not random movements... that’s correct. But they don’t follow strict patterns either. That would make the game waaaaaaaaay too easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 They also send a ghost to guard that last power pellet, like in Lock N Chase .... so that’s in the program... 100%. And in later levels, when there’s one power pellet left, THREE ghosts b-line to the power pellet to guard it. That doesn’t sound random to me 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster8 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 6th Entry - Getting the hang of this.... ? 173,760 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 19 minutes ago, Rickster8 said: 6th Entry - Getting the hang of this.... ? 173,760 20 minutes ago, Rickster8 said: 6th Entry - Getting the hang of this.... ? 173,760 Nice! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 1 hour ago, INTELLIVISION SPARTAN said: Yes, I heard that too. I’ll tell you how it feels to me... they don’t have a defined pattern because each ghost can take one out of three decisions at some points. HOWEVER.... they definitely follow tendencies. So in that sense, they’re not random movements... that’s correct. But they don’t follow strict patterns either. That would make the game waaaaaaaaay too easy. But that's pacman. Arcade pacman was easily beaten with patterns and is the reason for ms pacman which can't. And ms pacman is a hack of pacman so the ms pacman ghosts have the same tendencies as pacman ghosts, with a little randomness added. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntyFanMatt Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 By the way, I love how we discuss each game in detail and also talk about past games here. That’s very cool. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster8 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 9 minutes ago, IntyFanMatt said: By the way, I love how we discuss each game in detail and also talk about past games here. That’s very cool. Still cannot figure out why there's not more participation here at the InTV HSC? ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 30 minutes ago, Rickster8 said: Still cannot figure out why there's not more participation here at the InTV HSC? ? Really Rickster???!??? After the scores you’ve been posting? You’re scaring everyone away! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster8 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 1 minute ago, INTELLIVISION SPARTAN said: Really Rickster???!??? After the scores you’ve been posting? You’re scaring everyone away! Lol not lately.... It's all Matt and you..... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intelligentleman Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 (edited) When you think about it, the power pellets don't so much as power up pac man as they power down the ghosts. You eat a power pellet and the ghosts turn blue. You eat a blue ghost and he quickly respawns back to normal. If pac man were really the one who is powered up, he should be able to eat the newly respawned ghosts. Edited August 14, 2020 by Intelligentleman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntyFanMatt Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 3 minutes ago, Intelligentleman said: When you think about it, the power pellets don't so much as power up pac man as they power down the ghosts. You eat a power pellet and the ghosts turn blue. You eat a blue ghost and he quickly respawns back to normal. If pac man were really the one who is powered up, he should be able to eat the newly respawned ghosts. Well that would be a cool twist! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 46 minutes ago, mr_me said: But that's pacman. Arcade pacman was easily beaten with patterns and is the reason for ms pacman which can't. And ms pacman is a hack of pacman so the ms pacman ghosts have the same tendencies as pacman ghosts, with a little randomness added. Yes for sure! It does have a Pac-Man feel more than Ms. Pac-Man. The more I think about it...... if someone loves Pac-Man and is a die-hard Intellivision guy (like us guys).... this is a pretty perfect port!!! I mean if you compare it to other ports like Frogger or Donkey Kong or pole position .... there’s no contest... the Pac-Man port is incredible! Obviously the new ports of Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man are works of art more than ports.... but comparing 80’s ports on the Intellivision, this is the best one! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster8 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 I think I'm seeing double..... ?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 16 minutes ago, Rickster8 said: Lol not lately.... It's all Matt and you..... LOL !!! You started with a sprint and you’re just on a quick lemonade break!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntyFanMatt Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 5 minutes ago, INTELLIVISION SPARTAN said: Yes for sure! It does have a Pac-Man feel more than Ms. Pac-Man. The more I think about it...... if someone loves Pac-Man and is a die-hard Intellivision guy (like us guys).... this is a pretty perfect port!!! I mean if you compare it to other ports like Frogger or Donkey Kong or pole position .... there’s no contest... the Pac-Man port is incredible! Obviously the new ports of Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man are works of art more than ports.... but comparing 80’s ports on the Intellivision, this is the best one! Burger Time is probably the best arcade port on the Intellivision, and maybe even the best out of all competing consoles back then. But yeah this Pac-Man port is really good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 2 minutes ago, IntyFanMatt said: Burger Time is probably the best arcade port on the Intellivision, and maybe even the best out of all competing consoles back then. But yeah this Pac-Man port is really good. Ohhhhhh ya! I stand corrected. BurgerTime is the only game that’s actually better on the Intellivision than the arcade! Good call! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntyFanMatt Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 59 minutes ago, Rickster8 said: Still cannot figure out why there's not more participation here at the InTV HSC? ? I agree. There are a ton of people on this site now, and retro gaming is bigger than ever. I thought we’d have a lot more participation to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 10 minutes ago, IntyFanMatt said: I agree. There are a ton of people on this site now, and retro gaming is bigger than ever. I thought we’d have a lot more participation to be honest. We’ll start the new trend now....... next season, let’s have 50 or 100 participants ! Imagine what that would be like? Mind-blowing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster8 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 2 minutes ago, INTELLIVISION SPARTAN said: We’ll start the new trend now....... next season, let’s have 50 or 100 participants ! Imagine what that would be like? Mind-blowing! That sounds awesome, but unfortunately I just don't see it happening..... ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntyFanMatt Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 20 minutes ago, INTELLIVISION SPARTAN said: We’ll start the new trend now....... next season, let’s have 50 or 100 participants ! Imagine what that would be like? Mind-blowing! It would be great. But since Jacob’s message in the main thread didn’t seem to work, how else would we get them? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 36 minutes ago, INTELLIVISION SPARTAN said: Yes for sure! It does have a Pac-Man feel more than Ms. Pac-Man. The more I think about it...... if someone loves Pac-Man and is a die-hard Intellivision guy (like us guys).... this is a pretty perfect port!!! I mean if you compare it to other ports like Frogger or Donkey Kong or pole position .... there’s no contest... the Pac-Man port is incredible! Obviously the new ports of Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man are works of art more than ports.... but comparing 80’s ports on the Intellivision, this is the best one! If you can't use patterns, isn't what you're playing more like ms pacman than pacman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntyFanMatt Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, mr_me said: If you can't use patterns, isn't what you're playing more like ms pacman than pacman. In that regard, yes. Edited August 14, 2020 by IntyFanMatt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 You hear this a LOT ... “Pac-Man is easily beat with patterns”... that’s a misconception. It’s actually the 1 out of 10 million players who learnt the patterns. How many people know the patterns? 50? 100? For a billion people who tried Pac-Man! For the rest of us, it’s still challenging.I was able to do many boards but I didn’t have a pattern to clear the boards. I learnt tendencies. they created Ms. Pac-Man to avoid having those 75 players from learning patterns to beat it. The didn’t want “anyone” to learn patterns to beat it. the patterns are all on the internet; yet only one player per year is being added to the perfect Pac-Man list. So it’s either “too much work” or “who cares” that’s stopping the rest from learning it... so... it’s not that easy to beat Pac-Man with patterns :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 In the end... the Ms Pac-Man players figured out a way to beat it anyway using techniques instead of patterns. Techniques similar to Burgertine. They circle around and around and around until everything lines up then go into 5 or 6 patterns to clear each board. With more circling in between the patterns. It looks similar to the Burgertime patterns (techniques). So instead of having one long path as in the Pac-Man patterns... it’s patterns with techniques. the more I think about it... the less I know whether the programming is more like Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man. To be honest... the Intellivision Pac-Man feels more like Lock N Chase than either Pac-Man games. It’s a really compressed maze, and the ghosts have defined tendencies. (With 4 slightly different personalities). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTELLIVISION SPARTAN Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 I really like the programming in this one. I can see the speed of the game increases over time; then the speed slightly decreases .... The length of time that the ghosts stay blue changes from quick to long lasting, back to quick.... Sometimes the ghost eyes go straight to the ghost box and other times, the eyes move around a while before getting into the box. The change ups are really refreshing ... it keeps the game from getting boring. Really well done !! There was a ton of thought that went into the programming! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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