The Project
Retro Pacman was a full recreation of the classic arcade game for a school project, using the original sprites and maze layout.
What I Did
I programmed everything from scratch, movement, collision, scoring, and especially the ghost AI. I started by implementing A* pathfinding but quickly realized it made the ghosts too smart, breaking the flow of the game. After researching the original design, I replicated each ghost’s unique “dumb but intentional” AI behavior.
What I Learned
This gave me a new respect for early game design and AI trickery. The original system was simple but brilliantly tuned to feel fair and dynamic. Rebuilding it helped me understand the value of illusion in design, that games don’t need complex systems to feel intelligent, just well-crafted ones.
Why I did this project
I built this because I wanted to reverse-engineer one of the most iconic games ever made. Pac-Man’s ghost AI has always fascinated me, and rebuilding it from scratch gave me a hands-on way to understand how early designers faked intelligence with simplicity. It was a deep dive into design craft and balance.