Pac-Man Ultimate Edition chats: Dev team member Flicky1211

 

 PART OF AN ONGOING SERIES OF INTERVIEWS INVOLVING PAC-MAN ULTIMATE MIX

 

smashwhammy
How did you get started with working on UltiMix

flicky1211
It all started back in early 2024, I found a game called "Pac-Man 80". It was a collection of mazes from various Pac-Man games (basically a prototype Ultimate Mix).  I played the game for a bit but noticed it had some issues with inaccuracies in gameplay as well as some other issues. 

The game was open source, as I could download the game and make changes to the game on my own side. At that point, I got to work on some improvements. Originally, they were very small changes, such as changing Pinky and Sue's speed to match the rest of the cast and some maze design fixes. Eventually though, it led to an entire project to make the game as close to the arcade trilogy as possible. This was mainly a solo project, though I did have some help and suggestions from a few other friends of mine.

At some point, I thought it was time to find and contact Retropone so I could release my project with his permission. I looked on and off for quite a while, but on September that same year, I came across him in the TIC-80 discord server. I approached him with my project, and he was so impressed with my work, he decided to use my version as the basis for the new updates for Pac-Man 80. After that, I made a few additional changes (Retropone made a few changes of his own too) and the update was released.

After that point, he introduced me to his LÖVE version of the game (which would be known at that point as Pac-Man Ultimate Mix), which would use a lot of my programming from the updated version of Pac-Man 80. I assisted him on the maze design as well as the documentation of Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man. Back then, it was just me and him working on the game, and we didn't get an influx of new members on the team until October 2024, when we revealed the project to a Pac-Man server I was in, where people offered to help. In August 2025, the game was ready enough to be revealed to the public, and a few users made videos of the game, though the game was still in the works at that point.

smashwhammy
Also, how'd you meet up with Retropone

flicky1211
As mentioned, I first found him in the TIC-80 Discord server, after asking around if I could release my project at the time.

smashwhammy
ah

smashwhammy
if you don't mind, can you say what mazes/maze sets you're responsible for that's in UltiMix?

smashwhammy
if any

smashwhammy
i thought i was talking to SJB for a second

flicky1211
Oh, I see.

I was mainly responsible for porting mazes such as Jr. 2600, Ms. Pac CD-I, Hangly Plus, Quest for the Golden Maze, and Arrangement '05 (which hasn't been implemented yet).

I also did a few original sets, such as Jr. Pac-Man Sugar Rush and Ms. Pac-Man MSX.

smashwhammy
how was the maze making process like, on the dev side?

flicky1211
Pretty tedious.

Mazes needed a collision map, and a graphics map (so you could actually see the maze). The collision needed to be drawn manually, which, depending on the maze, took a very long time. The graphics were a similar story, though the process has since been automated. It still wasn't perfect as some manual adjustments were needed.

smashwhammy
and what about fruit paths (for Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man logic)

flicky1211
For Ultimate Mix, fruit paths in Ms. Pac-Man would come out from any tunnel and would circle around a fruit spawn point (that's used for the Pac-Man fruit logic) for a period of time. Once that time is up, it will pick another tunnel to escape the maze. If it can't reach that tunnel, it will disappear (SECRET EASTER EGG CENSORED). If there are no tunnels in a maze, it will spawn where the ghost house is and roam around for a period of time until is disappears.

Jr. Pac-Man fruit spawn and disappear in the same fashion, but it's behavior is different. Once spawned it will pick a random power pellet in the maze and go towards it. After that, it will randomly pick another power pellet (or the same one) and lock on to it. If it touches the power pellet, it will explode and destroy the power pellet. If there are no power pellets available, it will target the player for a period of time until it disappears.

smashwhammy
what about the ghosts?

smashwhammy
and how were the paths programmed for the fruits

smashwhammy
as far as the development goes

flicky1211
Well, as far as I know, fruit are programmed to target specific things, whether it'd be fruit spawns the ghost house or Pac-Man himself, they have no specific paths to take to my knowledge.

The AI for each ghost is programmed in a way that it's difficult to explain properly, but what I can say is that if a ghost has no AI programmed for them, they default to chasing the player like Blinky does.

smashwhammy
ah

smashwhammy
is it hard using the dev tool to do all this?

flicky1211
The only dev tools we have is the character/ghost viewer (for animations) and the maze builder.

It wasn't too hard to use either, though the maze builder in particular isn't exactly user friendly.

smashwhammy
ok

smashwhammy
how user un-friendly are we talking

flicky1211
This is what it looks like. The function keys (F4, F5, F6, etc.) controlled whether you wanted to place objects or maze walls, or change the color of the maze. The E key moved to the next page.



smashwhammy
i'll assume you're ok with me showing this picture, right?

smashwhammy
and to censor the part about that one secret

flicky1211
I mean, Retro showed this off publicly not too long ago 

smashwhammy
oh

smashwhammy
going to your broader fandom of Pac-games, what's your favorite arcade Pac-game

flicky1211
My favorite has to be Jr. Pac-Man, it's not often acknowledged and isn't as popular as Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man.

smashwhammy
mine would probably be Ms. Pac-Man

flicky1211
Ms. Pac-Man is a good choice too.

smashwhammy
at an arcade that i go to IRL, i've scoredd 160k and gone to the 20s, level wise

smashwhammy
past the point where power pellets lose their potetncy to turn the ghosts blue

flicky1211
Oh yeah, that's a very good score. This the fast mode?

smashwhammy
yes

smashwhammy
and with some altered level things

smashwhammy
level 6 has short pellet timers and 7 the longer timers

flicky1211
Oh yeah, I recognize that as the game's hard mode.

smashwhammy
this also has the extra life amount upped to 20k to compensate for the speed

smashwhammy
btw, if you could, would you play any of the classics with or without Plus mode

flicky1211
I usually play without Plus mode, though I do give it a shot once in a while.

smashwhammy
i do wonder if they get in trouble for the cola can looking a bit like a Coca Cola can, when it comes to Pac-Man Plus

flicky1211
Not too sure, as it's been unchanged in the Jakks Pacific Plug & Plays, recent versions have changed the logo to "PAC" or removed the branding entirely, making it a blank can.

smashwhammy
the Arcade1Up version has it be a blank can

flicky1211
Yeah.

smashwhammy
and what about the later arcade games (Super and beyond)

smashwhammy
which one would you say is your favorite out of those

flicky1211
I do occasionally play the later games from time to time; I would have to say my favorite of those is Pac-Mania.

smashwhammy
jumpinng can be useful....until Funky and Spunky shows up

flicky1211
Pretty much.

smashwhammy
thoughts on Kinky from Arrangement (AC)?

flicky1211
He definitely adds to the Pac-Man formula by transforming the ghosts into powered-up forms, some based on the various aspects of the game like the jump pads and the dash panels.

smashwhammy
also, why 2 different games with the same name (Arcade and Console versions of Arrangement)

flicky1211
Beats me, though Arrangement '05 was named Pac-Man Remix on mobile when it was ported from Battle Collection.

smashwhammy
When did you first really get into the Pac-Man family of games

flicky1211
Back when I had my hands on a Ms. Pac-Man Plug & Play (later finding out that there was one for Pac-Man as well),

smashwhammy
i don't remember my first time

flicky1211
Dang...

smashwhammy
not sure of any other questions i have

smashwhammy
besides if there's any IRL cabinets anywhere near you

flicky1211
Sadly no, the places that had such cabinets were really far away.

smashwhammy
ah

smashwhammy
i have to go out of town just to get to the Ms. Pac-Man machine i mentioned before

flicky1211
I see, it's hard coming across a genuine cabinet these days.

smashwhammy
yea

smashwhammy
and when you do, it's probably a conversion or a MAME

flicky1211
Definitely, I once saw a Jr. Pac-Man cabinet in Tennessee back in 2019, it was definitely a conversion. A few others like Dig Dug were based on those 60-in-1s.

smashwhammy
is there anything you'd like to tell aspiring fan game devs out there?

smashwhammy
of any game

flicky1211
All I will say is, game dev takes a long time to grasp. Having a team or a group who can contribute can help.

smashwhammy
speaking of, i have asked your fellow teammates if they want to add their input into this whole thing

smashwhammy
none's gotten back to me yet, but i understand hout busy life can be

smashwhammy
btw, seeing your bio on Discord, i feel you when it comes to retro games

smashwhammy
a lot of modern games (especially the AAA titles) are all hype and no substance

smashwhammy
which is why when something like Pac-Man Ultimate Mix comes around, it's like a light at the end of a tunnel

[smashwhammy
any hype it gets, it deserves

flicky1211
All the positive thoughts on the game are appreciated.

And yeah, I'm not too into modern games myself, though there have been exceptions.

flicky1211
Most recent example is Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac.

smashwhammy
i need to get back on that game

 smashwhammy
and of course they'd rename Sue, the Pac-Person, despite not being related to Sue, the ghost that first appeared in Ms. Pac-Man

flicky1211
And sue still appears in Pac-Mania.

smashwhammy
this whole legal thing baffles me

flicky1211
Hoping it'll get solved eventually.

smashwhammy
same

smashwhammy
speaking of, what are your opinions on Pac-Mom and the other replacements

flicky1211
I personally don't really like Pac-Mom and Pac-Sis' designs, they're very uncanny. Pac-Boy is inoffensive, as he looks the closest to the design of Pac-Jr. (maybe remove the blush and it'll be even better).

smashwhammy
well, we'll end our talk, since i'm running out of things to ask

smashwhammy
and i don't really feel like artificially inflating a thing with off topic questions  that don't relate to anything tied to the main topic

smashwhammy
thanks for agreeing to talk to me, i'll send you the transcript and the blog post link when they're ready

flicky1211
Alright.

 

 PROJECT PLUG (NOTE, THIS WILL BE ON EVERY ENTRY IN THIS SERIES): YOU CAN GRAB THE CURRENT VERSION OF ULTIMATE MIX HERE https://retropone.itch.io/pac-ultimix (CURRENT VERSION AS OF BLOG POST: PUBLIC DEMO V1.1)

 

WANT INSIDER CHATTER FROM THE HEAD CREATOR, THE DEVS, OR JUST TALK WITH THE PAC PACK?

DISCORD INVITE: https://discord.gg/j9n7ekXRB2