Pacman vs Ghosts Simulator v6.2

A Java implementation of the game Ms. Pac-Man for the Ms Pac-Man vs Ghosts Competition that ran in 2011-2012. The code is written by Philipp Rohlfshagen based on earlier implementations of the game by Simon Lucas and David Robles.

Run Software

##1. Download

Clone this repository:

git clone [email protected]:davidrobles/pacman-vs-ghosts.git

or download the zip file:

pacman-vs-ghosts-v6.2.zip

##4. Run the Code You can execute the code by running the class:

Executor.java

This class contains a main method with numerous options for execution. Just uncomment the one you wish to run.

Start Coding

#1. Inspect the Files

The files you need to edit are:

• pacman.entries.pacman.MyPacMan.java
• pacman.entries.ghosts.MyGhosts.java

These files extend Controller.java. You will need to provide code for the:

getMove(Game game, long timeDue)

#2. The getMove() Method

In order to create a controller, you need to provide code for the method:

getMove(Game game, long timeDue)

in MyPacMan.java or MyGhosts.java. These files are already included in the code.

In the case of Ms Pac-Man, this method returns an element of the MOVE enumeration found in Constants.java. The elements are:

• MOVE.UP
• MOVE.RIGHT
• MOVE.DOWN
• MOVE.LEFT
• MOVE.NEUTRAL

In the case of the ghosts, this method returns an EnumMap thae maps every element from the enumeration GHOST to MOVE:

• GHOST.BLINKY
• GHOST.PINKY
• GHOST.INKY
• GHOST.SUE

To calculate a good move, you can query the game object to access information about the game state. The long timeDue indicates the system time the next move is due. You have 40ms per game tick to provide a response.

#3. The Game object

Every game tick, your controller receives a copy of the current game state via the getMove() method. The game object contains all the information required to make an informed decision. The class Game.java is the only class you need to be concerned with (you may also need to know about Constants.java, which holds all the game's enumerations and constants, and GameView in case you would like to use visual aids. The game is represented as a graph: you move from one node to another throughout the game. Pills and powerpills are located on specific nodes throughout the maze. Nodes are generally referred to by their indices.

#4. Putting it together Whenever the getMove() method gets called, you receive a new copy of the game and the time the move is due. Query the game state using its many methods to obtain information about the pills, powerpills, positions of Pac-Man and the Ghosts etc. The game also provides numerous additional helper methods to obtains things like shortest paths or moves to take to approach a specific target. Below is an example of the simplest possible controller: a ghost teams that always chooses random moves to make.

  public final class RandomGhosts extends Controller<EnumMap<GHOST,MOVE>>
  {
      private EnumMap<GHOST,MOVE> moves=new EnumMap<GHOST,MOVE>(GHOST.class);
      private MOVE[] allMoves=MOVE.values();
      private Random rnd=new Random();

      public EnumMap<GHOST,MOVE> getMove(Game game,long timeDue)
      {
          moves.clear();

          for(GHOST ghostType : GHOST.values())
              moves.put(ghostType,allMoves[rnd.nextInt(allMoves.length)]);

          return moves;
      }
  }