Location Based PacMan
| This project was done as a part of the Creative Technology course dissertation, 2021. You can find the Unity project by clicking the Github icon. -> |  |
Introduction
This was done as part of the GlobAR project (click here to read more), but still deserved to stand on it's own. Out of pure boredom and nostalgia, I was playing PacMan one evening, while getting my mind away from a bug on a project I was working on.
Somewhere in that frustration, I thought up a Location-based version. Imagine actually being chased by a PacMan ghost, running around getting points and power-ups. I found it funny - funny enough to try creating it. It has the potential to be a great work out app, or just a fun game to play.
NavMesh and Unity
NavMesh, short for Navigation Mesh, is a Unity package that helps create walkable surfaces in a Unity game, allowing players to
calculate walkable routes, between two locations in the game world. Documentation on this was limited as it was mostly for static
planes and/or 2D game environments.
When getting it to dynamically generate with the map on Play, the building meshes, and materials seemed to fade and turned into a
light blue tint that would occasionally flash. Using a NavMeshAgent, I was able to create a quick enemy to catch the user’s character
(simulating PacMan). Accessing the app on a phone created too much lag to continue with the project. Exploring a different method
might have been a better way to go.
Development
Moving away from AR based applications, I thought I would focus on the geolocation. The idea of real world PacMan
seemed almost impossible to pass up as I thought about it. Not only would it be interesting, but it would also make for a
good run. Of course, during these times, it may not be so accessible due to lockdowns and staying indoors.
Making the map walkable was not very wise in this case, as the NavMesh component (explained in Section 6.2.2) I had
used was not very compatible with the application. The use of the NavMesh component was to enable to enemy
character to follow the player to real world positions.
Evaluation
Final video project: GlobAR
During such a chaotic time, with COVID-19 and the lockdowns, working with locative technologies and testing it proved to
be limited. Even when it came to being at home and working, I made the most of what I could. There are a lot of
techniques looked at throughout this project.
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