Of the most famous arcade games, Pac-Man features a remarkably elegant algorithm for movement. We took this hard-coded process and transformed it into a living game with emergent elements. Giving each player the role of Pac-Man or ghost, we simulated multiple games on an irregular playing field, the Number Garden.

We chose the Number Garden to help with our algorithm, as it it provides a gridded surface on to which we can move in 4 directions at any one time. We also hoped that the calculated, but ultimately emergent nature of our algorithm would be enhanced by the numerical but random layout of the Number Garden floor.