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Jarek
Jarek
Featured Creator
Featured Creator
Posts : 341
Join date : 2018-12-06
Location : Poland
20220427

powerpoint - Pacman on PowerPoint Empty Pacman on PowerPoint

Message reputation : 100% (1 vote)
powerpoint - Pacman on PowerPoint 410

The above screen shot of my game is a humble version of the original so I call it PAC.

Warning 1: Speed
It's SUPER slow because of this thing with timers in PowerPoint despite all good suggestions already employed. But once you get used to the tempo it can even become playable.

Warning 2: Features
A feature still within my coding potential but not available yet - I want to listen to your voices first with this or anything else:
- ghosts scattering after Bomb

Warning 3: AI (Artificial Intelligence)
My AI is really, really simple for the time being and it doesn't work properly at all. The ghosts either get stuck motionless around a bend or pile onto each other and move around as a single entity. And still - in their ackward way - they can sometimes surprise you, especially if you really go trying to win at the game! 


Greatly improved AI! Sometimes I get the impression these guys really try to outwit me!
 

A different maze build would solve the problem and the player wouldn't stand a chance. But that's not the point. The current one is more like the original and poses a fantastic brain challenge for the developer. I wrote PAC to test play AI. I don't want anything mathematically sophisticated for PowerPoint, only witty. With the in-game resources already gathered maybe we will be able to come up with something more advanced. I encourage all who have ideas on this to share their thoughts!

Download


Last edited by Jarek on Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:54 am; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : Updated screen graphics)
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Comments

johnr
Wed Apr 27, 2022 4:58 pmjohnr
I played the game and it worked like you say. Frantic clicking doesn't help, but you do get used to the tempo as you indicated.

Considering how much, or should I say, how little time you have had for developing VBA skills - this is quite incredible!
Jarek
Thu Apr 28, 2022 3:55 amJarek
Thank you for giving PAC a try, John.

Download again an updated version:

- Exit/Entry tunnel flashing indicator (did you try it?)
- +25 and +100 point animations for hitting bombs/catching ghosts
- the 'incredible' jingles sound when catching a ghost
- and of course: fixed some minor bugs

We're taking our Campervan for a spin for the long weekend ahead of us - it coincides with the 1st of May holiday in Poland, so 4 days total. In the meantime stay safe my friend.
Jarek
Thu May 12, 2022 1:50 amJarek
After the last update of Office 365 my Powerpoint would crash after the first PAC game. I changed some of the code so it doesn't - and added some original Pacman sounds + some background music that starts after catching a ghost. I also changed the score points to reflect the original. All previous links point to the new PAC version.

Download
Jarek
Thu May 12, 2022 1:57 amJarek
Still working on that AI but it seems a heck of a job...
rusnakcreative
Thu May 12, 2022 9:00 pmrusnakcreative
Love the new sounds, it really adds a lot to the experience! I tried your flashing green warp square, and that works pretty well! I have yet to capture a blue ghost, but have noticed that they freeze when they're blue. Did you do that on purpose, or should they be moving? Keep up the great work, this is turning out to be an impressive feat in PowerPoint!
Jarek
Tue May 17, 2022 10:10 amJarek
Ghosts freeze temporarily and that's on purpose so that PAC can get at them for 1000 points each. You have to lure some to be right behind your back when eating a bomb. In the original they scatter away and for a limited time Pacman starts moving much quicker to catch them. I'm currently working on that as well as an improved search-path algorithm (AI). Original ghosts always move forward and without stopping.
Jarek
Mon May 23, 2022 10:35 amJarek
Not much happening on the Forum recently so here's an updated version of PAC (Pacman)  powerpoint - Pacman on PowerPoint 1f604  
Probably my last  powerpoint - Pacman on PowerPoint 1f615 

Changes include:
- new maze graphics 
- modified ghost AI 
- 3 lives + 1 extra - you'll know what I mean once you play the game
- when you get a bomb the ghosts freeze temporarily - this didn't change. What changed is that for the duration of the 'freeze' you can move PAC much quicker by fast-clicking the arrow pad to catch more frozen ghosts and get more dots in the maze.

Download.
!C8Hypela/M!!fN+hj5w
Mon Jul 04, 2022 11:50 pm!C8Hypela/M!!fN+hj5w
The fact that this even works in the first place is mindblowing already, of course its clunky with the delayed response and movements, but dam yo, this is Pacman in its full glory, IN POWERPOINT.

The controls reminded me of Rusnak's (Mike was it? iirc) Minotaur game. But I distinctly feel more comfortable playing this, probably because of the delayed response and thus slower rate of gameplay. The arena probably has some impact too, Pacman is claustrophobic while Minotaur is in broad space, leaving players to feel insecure and anxious about where to go if threat appears.. Or so are my thoughts, players had time to collect their thoughts.

(Note: I was pulling thoughts from my experience playing the first version of Minotaur, apparently the game plays differently now since the latest patch, so meh I guess)

I don't have much thoughts to express on this one, except for how insanely amazing of a feat this is to pull off, I can only tip my hat off.

johnr and Jarek like this post

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