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history of the game,

the designer and his design philosophy,

MDA framework within the game.

 _______________ 1)  History

2)  Designer 

a)  Toru Iwatanii)  Born: January 25, 1955 in Tokyo Japan

ii)  Self-taught

iii) Joined NAMCO Ltd., at the age of 22 in 1977iv)  INTERVIEW

(1) Process

(a) “Taberu” to eat 

(b) I wanted to create a comical game that women could enjoy(c) Origin Story

(i)  Pac Man is that one lunch time I was quite hungry and I ordered a

whole pizza. I helped myself to a wedge and what was left was the

idea for the Pac Man shape (ii) Paku-paku= Japanese slang for the way his mouth moves. Lead to the

name Pacman (d) Order of Process 

(i)  Game about eating (ii)  Pac man and dots are simplify the concept (iii) Maze- to Add structure and direction for the player (iv) Enemies to add tension and drama

 b)  Philosophy

i)  Interested not in computers but in creating images that communicate with people

ii)  “I don’t fit the mold of visual arts designer or graphic designer” iii) “I just had a strong concept about what a game designer is-someone who designs

priojects to make someone happy. That’s his purpose” iv) “I’m not a programmer” v)  Pac-man can not distinguish right from wrong and simply acts like a child

vi) We tried out each feature as we went along. If it wasn’t fun or didn’t add

anything to the game’s complexity, we dropped it. vii) Recently I’ve felt I would like to make the people who enjoy playing games cry–

give them an emotion different from the ones they’re used to when they playvideo games. 

viii)  Much more difficult. It’s possible to induce laughter in a short time with jokes,

but getting people to cry requires creating a special situation, and that takesmore time. A film such as E.T. where one laughs and cries is quite difficult. 

ix) It's about a man and a woman... They come together, they fight - they have a big fight

and split up. They realise they made a mistake, and come back together again. They get

married and live happily ever after.

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3) That's what I think the relationship between the developer and the players should be like - they

quarrel, but they make it constructive for both of them

i) 

4)  Elements:i)  The Maze

ii)  Dots

iii) Pelletsiv) Ghosts

(1) Red, pink, blue and orange

v)  Pacmanvi) Ghost container 

5)  The Game was Designed A->D->M

a)  Aesthetics

i)  To appeal to women and make people happyii)  Sensation-Game as sense-pleasure

iii) Challenge- Game as obstacle course

iv) Submission- Game as pastime

 b)  Dynamics

i)  The game took the idea of the violent and epic games and aimed to simplify them inorder to create a pleasurable experience

ii) 

6)  Mechanics:i)  Core Mechanic:

(1) Moving around a maze eating dots

ii)  Eating is scoring points and temporary defense from ghosts

iii) Movement(1) Ghosts move and attack in waves with their own personality

(a) Red=Blinky=direct chase

(b) iv) Ghost Conversion

(a) Speed change and AI change

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