ACO PacMan Curriculum v2.0
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Scalable Game Design
Create the quintessential arcade game of the 80’s!
Wind your way through a maze while eating pellets.
Watch out for the ghosts!
Created by: Jeffrey Bush and Cathy Brand
University of Colorado, School of Education
This curriculum has been designed as part of the Scalable Games Design project.
It was created using portions of prior work completed by Susan Miller
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-1312129
and CNS-1138526. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Creating “PacMan”
With
AgentCubes Online
PacMan
ACO PacMan Curriculum v2.0
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Scalable Game Design
Vocabulary/Definitions
Algorithm ............. a set of instructions designed to perform a specific
task.
Attribute .............. a variable belonging to an agent (such as scent) also
called a Local Variable by computer scientists.
Brackets .............. method of setting information apart using “[“ and “]”.
Broadcast ............ controllers send out a message.
Ghost ................... the agent that chases PacMan.
Collision ............... an event wherein two agents run into each other.
Diffusion ............... the process in which an attribute’s value (in this
game, scent) is calculated based on the scent values of
the neighboring agents.
Increment ............. to increase by one.
Hill Climbing ....... a specific form of searching/seeking technique, or
algorithm, by which the seeking/searching agent uses
information (the value of the scent agent attribute)
embedded in the floor agent.
Method ................. a named set of rules evaluated by an agent in response
to a message.
PacMan ................ the main character who eats the pellets as the user
moves him around the world.
Parentheses .......... method of setting information apart using ( and ).
Polling .................. the process of asking agents to update a simulation
property and then taking some action based on the
value of the simulation property.
Propagate ............. the spreading of the scent.
Randomly ............. to occur in non-predictable ways.
Rule Order ........... the order in which rules are placed for each agent.
Simulation
Property .............. A named value that all agents can see and update.
PacMan
ACO PacMan Curriculum v2.0
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Scalable Game Design
Student Handout 1A:
Part I - Basic Game
Initial Story: Create the quintessential arcade game of the 80’s! Wind your way through a maze
while eating pellets. Watch out for the ghosts!
Create these Agents and the world or
clone our blank game
with the agents already designed
and start at step 11:
https://www.agentcubesonline.com/project/68900
PacMan
Ghost with two depictions
Pellet
Ground
Wall
16x21 World with PacMan, Red & Green Ghosts
You are about to create your first game. Because this is new to you,
we will give you some parts of the code. Be careful – you will have
to find the patterns to create the rest of the code. If you get stuck,
check in with a nearby student to get some help!
PacMan (Continued)
ACO PacMan Curriculum v2.0
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Scalable Game Design
Launch AgentCubes Online and Create a New Game
Step 1:
Create Project
Go to
https://www.agentcubesonline.com/
If you have an account, click on the Login link. If
not, click on the Sign up link.
After you login, click on the blue “New project” link
below your login name.
Step 2:
Name the Project
Name it PacMan and
click Create project.
Create the agents for PacMan
Step 3
Click on the +Agent button.
Choose Inflatable Icon, then Miscellaneous, then “packy” to get a picture of PacMan.
Type PacMan in the Agent Name box and click on the OK button.