Computer and video games are a popular activity that is enjoyed by children and adults alike. Many people dream of creating their own game, and some people are very successful!
Today we're going to tell you the story of a game you've probably played more than once!
The creator of Pac-Man
Toru Iwatani was born in Tokyo on January 25, 1955. He is considered to be a creative genius who took video games to the next level, making them fun not only for boys but also for girls. The most famous games he has created are Shakeys Pizza and Pac-Man.
Pizzeria idea
Where did the Pac-Man idea come from? For this fun and everyone's favorite game, we should thank... pizza!
In 1977, young Toru started working as a programmer at Namco and developed arcade versions of Gee Bee, Bomb Bee, and Cutie-Q. After working on these projects, Iwatani wanted to create something completely different. He was thinking about a game that could be played together and that would interest girls. The developer was eager to dispel the myth that video games are nothing but “combat” and their virtual worlds are dark and brutal.
He was looking for a cool idea for an easy and enjoyable game everywhere and ended up finding it... at the pizzeria! Having decided to eat pizza, Toru took the first piece and saw the main character of the future game on a plate in front of him. Since Pac-Man was aimed at girls, the game dev came up with the idea of adding fruit to it.
From developer to professor
In the US, Pac-Man was released in 1980 under the Midway brand.
After creating the famous game, Toru worked for Namco for some time, becoming a leading arcade game developer. In April 2005, he began teaching character design at Osaka Art University as a visiting professor. In early 2007, Iwatani left Namco to join the faculty at Tokyo Polytechnic University. He considered it important to pass on his knowledge, which he had accumulated over 30 years, to the next generation.
8 things you probably didn't know about Pac-Man
- The name of the game was born from the phrase paku paku, which means “to slurp”.
- To make the game more kawaii, Iwatani “painted” the ghosts bright colors and gave them big “deer” eyes.
- Every ghost has a name. Their names are Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.
- Ghosts behave differently: Blinky is constantly stalking Pacman, Pinky tries to ambush him. Inky moves randomly depending on Pacman's position, with Clyde approaching him and then fleeing to the lower left corner, potentially cutting off escape routes. These behavioral differences are achieved using AI algorithms.
- The idea that Pacman periodically gets the opportunity to eat a “power pill” came from a cartoon about Popeye the sailor who ate spin to grow stronger. In addition, there is a Japanese concept called “kokoro” (spirit, vitality), which also influenced the main “highlight” of the Pac-Man gameplay.
- The game was originally named Puck Man, but Midway was worried that mischievous vandals might change the word Puck on slot machines to something more rude =)
- The game features animated episodes between levels that show how ghosts can haunt Pacman. This was the first experience of its kind in the history of video games.
- Within a year of its release, Pac-Man was played 250 million times each week. The main character of the game became the first playable character to appear en masse on various goods, such as T-shirts, lunch boxes, pajamas and even romantic valentines for gamers =)
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