Super powers for a co-op Pac-Man game?

My birthday is coming up next week, and every year I take a day off work and code up something fun. This year, I'm thinking about making a co-op Pac-Man game for our 4-player arcade cabinet. So, 4 pac persons, each a different color, all working together to clear one giant maze.

To make it even more fun, I want to give each Pac-person a unique super power that they can activate with a button. These would all be limited use, but recharge at the start of each level. Ideas so far:

• shoot lasers out of your eyes (to kill ghosts at a distance), 10 times/level
  
• grow double-size, able to eat ghosts even when they aren't blue, for 10 seconds
  
• drop up to 5 mines onto the maze behind you; ghost killed when it hits one
• bullet-time: everything else but you slows down 10X for 10 seconds

Anybody have any other ideas for superpowers in this game? I'm especially looking for ones that could be used together in clever combinations, if the players are smart enough and communicate well.

 

Nice idea.

Some coop super powers

Spawn 4 destination points (in color of players) if they reach in a certain time limit and jointly keep position, all ghosts inside the shape are killed or all food inside is sucked up.

If all 4 players manage to go to the same spot in a time limit they all get their extra power recharged

If all players activate special power at same time create an electricity grid / lightning bolt between them (shortest path) - this could also be limited to connections that are connected by food (ie would need to be used early in the level)

Each player can collect a flag and bring it to a special location, if all players have done this activate an extra power

Did not you do a color splat prototype? You could use this, ie each one leaves a trail and once someone eats a pill, everyone can hide in their own color trace

I think you need to have some Uber ghosts though...seems to get way unbalanced.

 

Yeah. "How to buff the ghosts?" was going to be my next question. I mean, it's a party game; it's supposed to be easy as long as everybody's having fun. But we might need a little more challenge to create that group feeling of awesomeness.

So... how to buff the ghosts?

 

• Player eats pellet of some variety
• Ghosts turn red, each one has a countdown over their head
• Eat ghosts for massive bonuses
• Don't eat them fast enough and they explode in a radius wide enough to give some concern

It's a pretty standard risk/reward thing, but added to a pac-man style game it could work.

 

@JoeStrout For the Pac-men.
Magnetic Tempest!!
Time to send out those popcorn soap suds!!
https://www.mobygames.com/images/sh...r-playstation-screenshot-magneto-executes.png

Or some kind of force field move, that hits ghost opponents, but leaves
you invincible for a limited time.

And to buff ghosts:
How about a power up, that only ghosts can collect, that gives them powers
for a limited time, or makes them invincible for a limited time.

 

Hah! I hadn't thought of this, but I like it. Just like the vitamins, which ghosts can't touch, you wouldn't be able to affect the ghost's powerups (you'd go right through them). But you could use it to strategically place your mines, or try to chase ghosts away (if there's some other power that does that) to keep them from getting it. Or just try to clear that area before the ghosts get to it, so you can be on the other side of the map when they get buff. Adds another level of strategy!

 

Haven't read all the replies, so I apologize if I'm repeating anybody, but in the first post I don't think any of the idea's involved really involved the co-op aspect? Synergistic powerups type of thing

1 player does "inflate balloon", which makes them grow really big and float in the air above the game space. 2nd player does "rumble smash", which makes them pop up and then smash against the board, which causes all small enemies to toss into the air. 1st player hits button to expel all the gas in a swirling torrent, which blows all the airborne baddies over the horizon. You could use either of these powerups alone to escape some situation, but use them together and you could clear an entire level (perhaps, or just make a big impact)

1 player does "decoy", which causes all enemies to aggro on them, 2nd player does "rolling smash" which makes them like a cannonball, destroying everything in their path. Again, either of these could be useful on their own (well, maybe not the decoy), but used together they can be very powerful.



Oh, and make sure the inflate balloon makes a raspberry noise while deflating. Otherwise there's no point.

 

Yes, that's good stuff. I would like powerups that can be used in combos together, though they should also be useful on their own.

I'm not sure your specific suggestions apply very well to Pac-Man, but I'll let them roll around in my skull and see what pops out!

 

TBH, I never played pac-man, though I have some idea what it's about. But these are just suggestions to give some substance to the basic principle of the idea.

 

Some of the Mario games have mechanics where you duplicate yourself and control two Marios at once. I always found it fun and seems like it’d work well in a pacman style game. It’s a powerup that can double your point gathering power at the expense of added complexity keeping track of both characters.

 

Oh man if there's four players, then why not have a powerup that switches the roles for a little bit, let it turn the Pac-Men into ghosts and vice versa.

Poison pellets, lose a life if you touch them so it forces you to turn around and fight a different path.

Colored pellets that send all ghosts towards your friend of that color.

Give the other player backwards controls.

Would it be so big that you couldn't see your friends some times? That might be a thing.

 

Thanks for the ideas. It's all on one screen, so you have to be able to see everyone; and it's supposed to be co-op, not competitive; some of your suggestions make me think you didn't catch that. But I appreciate the brainstorming all the same!

 

I caught it I just always like a competitive option, somebodies got to have a higher score anyway. Never thought about a multiplayer Pacman before. It might sound cliche, but it would probably look good painted in neon.

 

Each pac-player could also be able to eat a specific color of ghost, like a rock-paper-scissor scheme, and so be able to save others from time to time.

 

The Double Cherry.
I almost forgot about that item.

 

did you ever do this or did you enjoy your bday?

 

Yes.

 

Yes to what? Haha. If you did the coop, do you have a video to upload?

 

Yes, I did it and enjoyed my birthday. But no, I don't have a video. And I didn't quite get so far as adding superpowers — what I have at this point is pretty much just Ms. Pac-Man, but on a larger board and with up to 4 players at once.

 

A double YES. That's great + thanks for the update.

 

@JoeStrout What about a kind of pair-action electro-bolt powerup type thing between players, like this:

1. a special powerup object in the maze (stationary or perhaps moving in from a side chute periodically)

2. any player can pick it up, and they look different so you know they are carrying it, but it does nothing ... yet.

3. when they pass within X distance of (or touch?) another player, the powerup activates

4. when active there is a crackly zaggly line (lightning) between the involved players for some period of time

Now, what does this line do?

First of all, I think the line would not care about the maze: it would be drawn atop the maze and strictly between the involved players.

Second, it could have offensive-against-the-ghosts effects: you sweep the zappy line through ghosts and it kills them, or maybe stuns them, or maybe collects dots that it crosses

Third, it could have PvP offensive features, like sweep it through uninvolved players to kill them. The trouble with this is when two non-powerup players race to reach the guy with the powerup, it's kinda weird when the guy who didn't make it is suddenly fodder for the zappy line. So not sure about the PvP side of things, unless you have teams arranged in advance, and then you could only activate your powerup with your partner.

Finally, maybe if a third or fourth player gets involved (i.e., swept by the line or he gets close enough to an end player), then he too gets to be a part of the zappy stuff and all involved players have zappy lines connecting them, with the abilities above.