PacManPlus

Ok, with regard to this step-by-step picture: I am almost complete with the 'Simple Model'. I am generating the following: NOTE: I am using the left side instead of the right side of the maze as that is how my mazes are stored in the game. Legend: (C) = Blank Cell Filled In Location = Monster Pen A = T FACING RIGHT: ├ B = T FACING DOWN: ┬ C = T FACING LEFT: ┤ D = T FACING UP: ┴ E = L FACING RIGHT: └ F = L FACING DOWN: ⌐ G = L FACING LEFT: ┐ H = L FACING UP: _| M = PLUS SIGN: ┼ N = BOX: █ O = HORIZONTAL BAR: - P = VERTICAL BAR: | The (C) characters at the top-most, left-most, and bottom-most cells I can extend the outer maze wall into. It's the ones in the other areas I will have to pick a surrounding cell to extend into. OR, I could just use a single cell wall like they do in some bootlegs. Also, I am probably only going to use the 30 rows so I don't have to worry about extending one of the tiles downward and just keep what I've got. The columns I'll obviously have to reduce by one, so I'll need to figure that out. Side Note, @RevEng Do you know how long it took me to realize that your avatar changes color? I had this screen up on my other monitor while I worked on PMC_XM on the main one. Out of the side of my eye I kept seeing *something* change on the other screen. Couldn't figure out what it was until I just had enough and stared at this page until I saw your avatar change colors. Very cool. and sneaky.

Thanks guys... I'm looking... BTW, RevEng, I understand where he gets the 5x9 grid - the outside paths are also valid, which means out outermost walls (even though they aren't accounted for in the 5x9) are there also. So you get the 27 + another 'cell' of 3 for the outsize walls to = 30. Then we need the 'expansion' of one cell to be '4' tiles and then we have 31. BTW, did you know that the Pac-Man maze actually allows for 32 rows but only uses 31? You can see this in Hangly-Man, where the 'empty' maze has the exit at the top. This is the only time that the top row is used. For two lousy maze pieces.

Hi guys. I actually spent the entire day today (I took a PTO day from work) to try and work on this and I haven't been able to get anywhere. Here is a Pac-Man maze generator written in JavaScript: https://shaunlebron.github.io/pacman-mazegen/ He did an excellent job with this; he talks about how he only uses certain pieces ('T', '|', '+', and 'L') rotated to fit (like 'Tetris'), but I noticed that some pieces have longer ends than others, and that's just one of the things I'm not understanding about this. How does he decide which pieces get a longer edge? Which edge? If you right-click and choose 'view source' you can see the JavaScript source code used to do this. I've decided that it would be better to understand the steps involved to do this and write my own 'version' of the maze generator rather than try and convert Java Script to 6502. Trouble is, I don't follow some of the steps involved (like what I mentioned above). Can anyone look at this and put this into steps so I can try and get this going? Thanks, guys Bob

I'm ok, thanks for checking in. Updated Video: What I have left: - Implement Yamaha Audio from Perry - Adjust Scatter Times (to be closer to the arcade) - Largest Pac-Man - Random Maze Generator (this is the one I am most concerned with, only because I am converting from Java code to MOS6502) I've started looking at it twice, only to get intimidated and put it aside again. - A few slowdowns here and there... - I'd like to rewrite the Monster 'Destination Tile' algorithm. I think I can get it closer to the arcade. - The 'move through monster' bug happens a little too often. NOTE: I've already fixed the sound issue that happens toward the end of the video.

That's weird, as I have a routine that I put in every game that zeros out RAM before I even do anything else.... EDIT - I just realized that I put the DL & DLL in the $6000 area RAM in this game only... which doesn't get zeroed out... makes sense now.

I actually stopped working on Ms. Pac-Man Twin because there was no more information about it. It's a very rare arcade game and it hasn't been dumped yet. The work I did was just from the videos and pictures that I've seen. Once there is more info on it (like a rom dump or more complete information about game play), I can then finish it.

Sure - what is the name of it?

Wow. I need to revisit that. I use $6000-$7FFF for RAM... Is that screenshot PAL? If so, then it's not detecting the number of PAL scan lines correctly. (It's supposed to auto-detect) Anyway, at this point I think when I do go back to it, I may restart it - as I want to use 320B mode for the entire game.

It would be cool to put that in place of the 'kill screen'

There most certainly will be:

; DATA FOR INTERMISSIONS DURING ATTRACT MODE (I.E. NOT IN-GAME INTERMISSIONS) ; INTERMISSION 0 - ORIGINAL PAC-MAN 1ST INTERMISSION BUT WITH PAC & MS. PAC RETURNING AFTER ENERGIZER ; INTERMISSION 1 - ORIGINAL MS. PAC-MAN 2ND INTERMISSION "THE CHASE" ; INTERMISSION 2 - BLINKY ARRIVING 1/2 WAY ACROSS THE SCREEN, FINDS NOBODY, THEN LEAVES (THEN PAC-MAN BRIEFLY SHOWS) ; INTERMISSION 3 - POPEYE PAC-MAN IS SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN. PAC-MAN COMES IN, SEES HIM AND THINKS 'WTF?' ; INTERMISSION 4 - PAC-MAN FACES ENERGIZER, BLINKY TRIES TO SNEAK UP ON HIM, PAC QUICKLY TURNS AROUND AND BLINKY STOPS (LOOKS OPPOSITE DIRECTION)... ; INTERMISSION 5 - INTRODUCE ONE OF THE FOUR MONSTERS (RANDOMLY) ; INTERMISSION 6 - INTRODUCE PAC-MAN AND MS. PAC-MAN ; INTERMISSION 7 - SCARED MONSTER MOVING THROUGH, MS. PAC APPEARS, MONSTER SHUDDERS AND TURNS BACK.

Yep... Believe it or not, they are TIA.

Thank you so much guys... You are all so nice to me... It is always appreciated. @bizarrostormy Basically, the differences are: - Higher resolution, better graphics (graphics taken directly from the arcade) - As stated Yamaha Audio for XM people - MUCH better TIA sound for non-XM people - Localized high score (until you turn the machine off) for non-XM people - Inclusion of an actual random maze generator, so the maze possibilities are endless - Inclusion of 'Worlds Largest Pac-Man'* - Inclusion of the Popeye Pac-Man bootleg *I reserve the right to remove this one if it becomes too difficult. So, in working on the sounds, I figured out how to look at the wave forms and compare the sounds from the TIA to that. As a result, I can't believe how close I got to the arcade with some of these sounds. With basic TIA! I did notice that GCC moved the Ms. Pac-Man theme from the key of 'E' to the key of 'C' for the TIA. I understand why: there are many notes in that original key that the TIA can't do. So I'm leaving it in the key of 'C'. I moved the Pac-Man theme back to the key of 'C' (like the arcade), but the modulation in the second bar to 'C#' left some notes... shall we say... close... Anyway, here is the latest WIP... with better sounds! *Also notice that the 'pass through' bug actually happens twice in this video (once in the game demo) @AtariBrian - Yes, I hope to have all new artwork for this label

Thanks, guys - you are all so awesome. The good people like you are what keeps me coming back here. Even when I'm gone for a while. Wow. All this time I've played Pac-Man and made conversions, I never paid attention to the number of different speed sirens, and always assumed there were 4. There are actually 5. So, I'm doing TIA sounds now. Recording the arcade and slowing them down. I'm determined to get them all as close as possible. For the Blue sound, now that I know that it's possible to get pretty much the exact sound (thanks to DINTAR816's 2600 port). I actually slowed down the arcade, DINTAR816's port, and mine and put them side by side until I got them all the same. I got the Pac-Man 'monster eat' sound extremely close, and the Eyes going back to pen is very close too. The fruit eat sound is almost identical when put side by side. These are all the Pac-Man sounds first. I'll attack Ms. Pac next; although I already got her death sound MUCH closer to the arcade than it was. This is what I have left after I finish these sounds: - Adjust scatter / exit pen times to try and get as close to the arcade as possible - Intermissions - Popeye Pac - Largest Pac - Random Maze Generator conversion. When this is done I'm immediately moving on to my next project to keep my output going. When I stop, I seem to stop for a long time, and I don't want to do that here.

Thanks guys! I'll give that a shot... and Darrell, I joined 'club dasm'. Thank you for alerting me to that.

Thanks guys, again as always. If I weren't about 80% done, I would consider doing this (as I had just gone over that approach with @RevEng the other day). The only things: - As @tep392 stated, it would change the game to "XM Required", which I would rather not do unless it's absolutely necessary; I don't want to limit who can play this game... Most likely 'Defender' will be "XM Required" because of the blitting. - It still wouldn't resolve the fact that I want to keep as much screen real estate for the maze itself, scrolling as little as possible. One of the things about this game is that you needs to see where the monsters are at all times. - Finally (and this is a personal preference), I don't really like vertical score displays (my apologies, Trebor).

I am using bank switching in my PMC_XM game, but I'd really like to put code in some of the banks (right now I'm using it for tables, graphics, and data only). The only issue I see is addressing. I am compiling the main program (fixed at $C000-$FFFF) separately from the banks (7 banks switchable from $8000-$BFFF). However the banks are listed from $0000-$1BFFF to compile (like I did for Bentley Bear). I am assuming when I compile them, any direct jumps (JMP, JSR) are going to use the $0000-$1BFFF addresses and not the $8000-$BFFF for each bank (as it doesn't know about them). Is there a way to either: a) Force DASM to compile the banks as repeating $8000-$BFFF blocks, or b) Combine the source code for the main program and 'DataBanks' (BTW, excellent unreleased Prince song of the same name), compile them together and tell DASM to use $8000-$BFFF for each bank before $C000-$FFFF? Thanks, guys Bob

Did not know that. Thank you!

Thanks, guys - always for the kind words you tell me, and appreciating what I do - even if it's a repeat. Truth be told I've been wanting to do this for a while, but when I heard the Yamaha example sounds, I thought it was the perfect 'excuse' to do so. Hey Trebor! Short answer: I can't. Explanation: It started out as a way to have the maximum amount of the board on the screen as possible at any given moment, and turned into a necessity as I am at the end of Maria cycles as it is now (over 400) with the character mode being just as wide as the maze,and up to 7 sprites possible on a line (the level / life indicators are a sprite). Also, I originally had the level indicator going up the right side of the maze, but when I did that there was some 'disappearing' going on because I maxed out Maria. Done. Thank you so much, you guys are some of the nicest people I've ever (almost) met. Soon, my friend, soon... I would like to finish the in-game intermissions (and a few other things) first.

WIP Demo. No Yamaha sounds yet. Even the 'pass through' bug made it into the game. There are 8 different 'little intermissions' that can play during the title screen. The monster introductions count as 1 (it randomly pics one of the four monsters and introduces it). @Defender_2600 This is the compromise I was talking about. I used your idea for the monster's eyes, and some of the colors. For Pac-Man, I did a little of both... although Blinky looks a little jaundice...

@Defender_2600 --- I think I have a compromise between your idea and my original one. Nevermind about the fruit (at least not yet)... I'm working on something. Thanks, Bob

@Defender_2600 In looking at this: If I take more 'liberties' with the maze colors (and fruit colors), I might be able to pull this off. The only thing is that I'll have to use P0 color 3 for the player. Taking Ms. Pac-Man mazes into account only (because the Pac-Man/Pac-Man Plus/Ultra etc. only use the outline, and can go between Blue and Green with Inky's color like it is now), Maze 1: Inside P0 color 3, outline P0 color 2 Maze 2: Inside P4 color 3, outline P4 color 2 Maze 3: Inside P4 color 2, outline P4 color 3 Maze 4: Inside P4 color 3, outline P4 color 2 (I can make P4 color 3 a little darker here to more closely match the arcade) Maze 5: Inside P0 color 2, outline P0 color 3 (It doesn't match the arcade, but at least it's different) Maze 6: Inside P0 color 3, outline P0 color 2 (like the first maze) The only thing, is the blue monsters will match whatever Inky's color is. Marco, if you can come up with convincing fruit bitmaps without changing the palette colors, I will try VERY hard to get this working. Thanks for always making me see other ways to resolve color issues. Bob

Yeah, with regard to speech, I ran out of ROM space pretty quick. I do really want to add more if I can free up more ROM space, but I did this 4 years ago, and I can't find the speech converter I used for this.