Play Paclone from Amstrad Computer User in your browser

Paclone was a type-in listing I wrote that was published in Amstrad Computer User (ACU) January 1992. Below you can play the game, and see the original listing as it appeared in the magazine. Click the game window to activate it (including sound), and then use the cursor keys to play.

About the Paclone type-in from ACU

This game is a simple Pac-Man clone, written for Amstrad Computer User magazine in 1991. In 2024, I took another look at it, using some of the new things I'd learned creating BAS Invaders and Anaglyph Aliens. The original game listing had unresponsive controls. When I originally wrote the game, I assumed that the game couldn't be any faster in BASIC, and accepted its sluggishness. Looking at the code in 2024, I could see plenty of opportunities to streamline it. It's not that the code was bloated, more that it was unnecessarily sophisticated. By simplifying the movement code, including using INKEY instead of INKEY$, and declaring all variables as integers using defint a-z, I was able to make the game significantly faster.

I tried adding an on-screen score display, but it wasn't worth the loss of speed. I did add in multiple layers of difficulty, with the flying enemy getting faster on each of the first four screens you complete.

I also took the opportunity to improve some of the presentation elements. Simple things like hiding screen updates and tidying up transitions between screens make the whole game feel slicker. The level completion ditty was improved by cutting a bit off the end. For some reason, the character faced a random direction on each movement in the original listing, so now they look left or right when they move in those directions, which feels much better when you're playing.

The game is not a true Pac-Man clone: the enemies home in on you, and one of them flies over the walls. There are no power-ups, either. The corner items just get you bonus points. With the modifications I've made to the original listing, I think this is fun little program. There's a strategy you can use of attracting the enemies to a particular position and then running away. The game is fast enough now for you to steal a nugget from right next to an enemy, if you time it right.

A fun bonus feature in this game is that it includes speech if you have a DK Tronics Speech Synthesiser connected.

Paclone includes a stereo sound effect called Transound and the sprites were created using my Amstrad CPC Sprite Designer.

Download my disc of Amstrad games and utilities to use in your favourite emulator here.

The Paclone listing from ACU

Load another game into the Amstrad CPC 6128 emulator

• Play The Further Adventures of Fred
• Play Anaglyph Aliens (an Amtix CPC type-in)
• Play BAS Invaders (an Amstrad Addict type-in)
• Play Alien Intervention (an Amstrad Action type-in)
• Play Gribbet (an Amstrad Action type-in)
• Play Wallbuster (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Watch Fishtank (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Play Misfit (from my book The Basic Idea)
• Play Paclone (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Play Chords Tutor (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Play 3D Mapper (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Use the User Defined Graphics generator
• Reset the machine and program something yourself
• How to embed the Amstrad CPC 464 / CPC 6128 emulator in your website

You can download my Amstrad CPC games and utilities disc to use these programs in your favourite emulator.

Where next?

• Sean's Amstrad CPC homepage, including Amstrad type-ins and my Amstrad BASIC programming tutorial.
• Download my disc of Amstrad games and utilities, including Paclone and many more.
• Read my books to learn to program in Python or Scratch