Text adventure with Pacman
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Tags: Pacman, text adventure, video games
Pacman as a text adventure? An exciting experiment by N. Landsteiner.
Seen at Nerdcore: the Pacman text adventure. I do not really have to say much about it, but I will anyway. Text adventures are now largely forgotten games, but in the 70s and 80s they were insanely popular. In text adventures, you had to read really long texts (gimmicks like graphics are just not that old yet) and then type letters to indicate where you would like to go. Then a new, long text tells you what to expect at the next intersection. This is actually more exciting than you might think, especially since my first (and probably only) BASIC program was a very simple text adventure.
Pacman is another old acquaintance and consists of nothing more than a yellow circle with a gap that gets bigger and smaller as a mouth. Traditionally, Pacman is always hungry and feeds on yellow pixels on the screen. However, like most living things, Pacman has natural enemies in the form of colorful ghosts that are stuck in a square in the middle of the screen at the beginning of each level, but then come out and chase Pacman. The only way to escape them is to run away or eat one of the randomly appearing goodies that turn Pacman into a hunter. It is incredible how much you have to write to explain such a simple and captivating principle.
You move north. As you move you are eating the food pellet in your way. It tastes delicious. There is a shrieking noise echoing through the maze. The air is painfully infused with a whizzing sound as the ghost comes down on you. The last you feel, are the ghost’s sharp teeth in your neck. As you regain consciousness you are in the exact place, where you entered the maze first.
Of course, in the tradition of the genre, there is also a section with maps and tricks for the game. Normally, you draw maps for yourself so that you can find your way around easily. But let’s not be so retro about this.