Pac-Man's Ghost Behavior Algorithms 194
An anonymous reader writes "This article has a very interesting description of the algorithms behind the ghosts in Pac-Man. I had no idea about most of this information, but that's probably because it's difficult to study the ghosts when I die every 30 seconds. Quoting: 'The ghosts are always in one of three possible modes: Chase, Scatter, or Frightened. The "normal" mode with the ghosts pursuing Pac-Man is Chase, and this is the one that they spend most of their time in. While in Chase mode, all of the ghosts use Pac-Man's position as a factor in selecting their target tile, though it is more significant to some ghosts than others. In Scatter mode, each ghost has a fixed target tile, each of which is located just outside a different corner of the maze. This causes the four ghosts to disperse to the corners whenever they are in this mode. Frightened mode is unique because the ghosts do not have a specific target tile while in this mode. Instead, they pseudorandomly decide which turns to make at every intersection.'"
Re:Programming lesson (Score:4, Funny)
Then you'll get one kid who goes "Aww man. I totally thought this was Ms Pacman! I built it with no sense of direction whatsoever!"
It appears their web server (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Programming lesson (Score:2, Funny)
Shut up.
Re:Programming lesson (Score:4, Funny)
Don't be sexist. Chicks hate that.
Re:Programming lesson (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Programming lesson (Score:2, Funny)
Top scientists think the reason decreased depth perception arose in women is because of the thousands of years men have been convincing them that something 5inches long is actually 8inches.