JavaScript-PacMan 3D

"JavaScript-PacMan 3D" is another step in the evolution of the famous "JavaScript-PacMan". This game is written in pure JavaScript and doesn't require any plug-ins or other extensions. If Flash-Player 9.0 or higher is detected, an additional Flash-movie is used to provide the sounds.

The use of sound may affect the animation speed of the game.
Set the sound slider to zero to optimize the game for slower machines.

The original version of "JavaScript-PacMan" was designed as a demo-page for an advanced employment of JavaScript animation techniques. The first version (for Netscape Navigator 3.0) was published in late 1996/Jan.1997 and might well have been the first arcade style game on the web implemented in JavaScript only!

"JavaScript-PacMan 3D" presents a Pac-Man-like game in an orthogonal 3D-projection. The dimensions of the maze and the game play now resemble more closely to the original Pac-Man game (e.g.: each ghost features its individual personalitiy). "JavaScript-PacMan 3D" comes with 3 sets of levels (5 layouts each) and a shuffle play mode. The game also supports a special Ms. Pac-Man-mode using the Ms. Pac-Man figure and the original level layouts as well as some Ms. Pac-Man-like sounds. (Select "MS. Pac-Man" from the mazes-menu for this.)

CHARACTER	/	NICKNAME
- SHADOW		”BLINKY”
- SPEEDY		”PINKY”
- BASHFULL		”INKY”
- POKEY		”CLYDE”

("Monsters" and their names according to Namco™/Midway™ 1980.)

How to Play

Anyone who doesn't know Pac-Man? Really? O.K. – That's how to play:

Guide the Pac-Man, the munching yellow ball, through the maze and eat all the food, the little white dots laid out all around the passages. But be aware of the ghosts: they will give their best to pursue and catch you. (The ghosts will become more intelligent and dangerous in higher levels.)
There are also some bigger pellets: the power pills. Swallow one of these to become invincible for a few seconds. Now – while the ghosts are turned blue – you my haunt those nasty runners for some extra points.

A propos scoring: You will collect an extra live for every 10000 points (but you may not have more than five lives in stock).

Moving / Controls

Use the cursor keys or the numeric keypad to navigate the pac-man.

You may also use the following keys:

		W	(up)
(left)	A	S	D	(right)
	(down)

		I	(up)
(left)	J	K	L	(right)
	(down)

Other controls:

	N	....	New game
	P or ESC	....	Pause / resume

Touch Screens / Mouse Control

Control the pac-man by strokes (mouse gestures) at the maze:

Click (tap) anywhere in the maze and drag the pointer in the desired direction.
(You may steer in advance, not only when the pac-man is just encountering a crossing.)
Double-click (tap rapidly twice) to pause/resume the game.
Use the "New Game" button to start a new game.
Special Moves:
You may even use compound gestures (e.g.: left and up in a single movement): Steer in the first direction, keep the mouse down and steer in the next direction just after the turn.
This may be especially useful to navigate through winding passages as you haven't to click again for every turn.

Levels and Layouts

You may select any of these sets of maze-layouts from the "Mazes" pop-up menu:

Pac Levels: Sweet memories of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man (5 levels).
Alternate Levels: A set of another 5 levels. (© mass:werk)
Ghosts' Levels: A level to represent each ghost and a 5th bonus level. (© mass:werk)

Special play modes (also in the "Mazes" menu):

Pac-Man only: Repeats the original Pac-Man layout. (This is the first level of the "Pac Levels.)
Ms. Pac-Man: Play Ms. Pac-Man with the original 4 levels. (You've to play each level twice.).
Sequentially (all): This gives you a continuous drive through all 15 levels available.
Shuffle Play: Pick a random mix from all levels available.

Sound Integration

A tiny Adobe Flash movie (swf-file) is used as a simple sound player in case that Flash Player 9.0 or higher is detected. This provides a robust cross-browser sound integration in absence of any real world standard for sound integration and scripted sound control. Flash is not used for any other purpose – the game works just the same without the Flash plug-in. (Even the volume control is implemented in DHTML, just for the fun of it.)

Pac-Man Trivia

The original Pac-Man arcade game (which differs in some ways from this game) was first released by Namco (licensed and distributed in the U.S. by Midway) in 1980. The game was originally named "Puck-Man" (from paku paku – Japanese slang describing the motion of an opening and closing mouth while eating), and was renamed to conform to the North American market.

Eventually Pac-Man became the most successful video game ever, causing even a coin shortage in Japan. It is listed as the all time number one at the "Top 100 Videogames" of the Killer List of Videogames.

One of the most important off-springs was Ms. Pac-Man (released 1981 by Midway/GCC, later Namco). While the original Pac-Man featured a single maze and deterministic ghost movements, Ms. Pac-Man introduced changing mazes and some random to the ghosts in favor for a more varying game play.
So in fact JavaScript-PacMan owes more to Ms. Pac-Man than to the original Pac-Man game.

Version History

JavaScript-PacMan 3D – released in december 2008 (based on JavaScript-PacMan 2).

Features:

Orthographic 3D-projection with depth control
Game play closely related to original game (e.g.: scatter mode, individual ghost personalities)
3 sets of levels (5 different mazes each)
Continuous play through all available levels and shuffle mode
Sound integration via Flash Player 9 or better
Multiple input modes: keyboard and mouse control

Previous versions of JavaScript-PacMan:

2007: JavaScript-PacMan 2 – new design & enhanced features
2004: unified cross browser version and DOM compatibility, random maze generator
Aug. 1997: bigger maze for bigger screens, smooth animations (for NS 4.0 layers, MSIE 4.0 css)
Dec. 1996 / Jan. 1997: first release (for Netscape 3.0 and 12" screens)