Game Idea: PvP Pac-Man
Concept
Play Pac-Man online against other players. 1 player plays as Pac-Man and 4 other players play as the ghosts. Pac-Man’s goal is to collect as many dots as possible, and the ghosts’ goal is to work together to catch Pac-Man. Players receive points at the end of the round based on performance, and roles are rotated for the next round.
Gameplay
In terms of strategy, the ghosts will need to work together in order to win. Pac-Man will move faster than the ghosts, so the ghosts’ main strategy will be to trap Pac-Man in a corner. To encourage teamwork, all ghosts will receive the same amount of points at the end of round regardless of who actually caught Pac-Man.
The fact that the ghosts can share information makes the game much harder for Pac-Man than the original, so he needs a new advantage too. We allow Pac-Man to see the entire map, but the ghosts can only see a small radius around them. The ghosts’ vision is shared with each other, so together they can see a large portion of the map.
The game then becomes a hide-and-seek game, where the ghosts spread out strategically to try to find Pac-Man. Pac-Man hides from them for as long as possible while collecting dots along the way. If the ghosts find an area with no dots, they will know that Pac-Man has already been there. Once Pac-Man is spotted, the ghosts converge on his position and Pac-Man must try to escape before becoming trapped.
With the gameplay changes, the characters should be changed as well. Some other ideas are:
- A squirrel collecting nuts vs. 4 wolves
- A thief collecting coins vs. 4 policemen with flashlights
- A human looking for supplies vs 4 zombies
Mockups
Pac-Man's point of view
The ghosts' point of view