Pacman inspiration

Toru Iwatani is one of the most famous personalities in the video game industry. In April 1979, that is, almost 35 years ago, while working at Namco, he began to make the game PacMan, which was released on May 22, 1980. Toru Iwatani was a designer, programmer - Shigeo Funaki, Toshio Kai was responsible for the music. Almost the three of them invented the yellow Pac-Man, eating everything in its path. And today the game is popular. When in honor of the 30th anniversary of the game, Google launched PacMan Doodle , during the first day it played 505 million people. Pacman is mentioned several times in the Guinness Book of Records, in particular, as "the most successful game for slot machines."
Since 2007, Ivatani has been working as a professor at Tokyo Polytechnic University, where he lectures students on how games can bring happiness to people's lives.

Here are his thoughts on games and life, which Toru Iwatani presented to The Japan Times in June 2010.
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A good game is always easy to understand. The player must immediately understand its meaning. For example, when you watch a game of golf, you immediately realize that the goal of the game is to roll the ball into the hole. The same, for example, with the game Super Mario Brothers , and with the game of pinball - in these games you know exactly what to do.

By the fun should be approached with all seriousness. Since childhood, I love itazura, that is, mischievous. I always did some damn things, suddenly jumping out of the box to surprise someone or play tricks on someone. I stuck plastic beetles to the springs so that they jumped out of the bag, tied my shoelaces to friends. I still do that sometimes. Fun - first of all! And also at the end of everything and in the middle.

It takes time to make a good game. Although game developers often work in "turbo mode", not all customers are usually patient. I understand both those and others. To create a good game it takes, probably, about 100 people, and a couple of years of time. And how many companies can afford it? But games are like good wine or whiskey. They need time to “ripen”.

Want to know what's going on in the world - go to tachinomiya. (Tachinomyia - "standing bars", quite common in Japan). I try to go only to the cheapest places, there I see people as they are - someone happy, someone confused. Alcohol and chatter in such institutions flow in a continuous stream, so there you can learn a lot of interesting things.


To do something really good, you need to learn to empathize. You need to love people and want to make them happier. Doing Pacman, we thought a lot about what he feels, who is constantly being chased. We wanted not to torture the players, but just to tickle their nerves. In the end, Pacman always has a way to salvation, and it's fun!

All people are players. The Dutch historian Johan Huizinga published in 1938 a book called Homo Ludens (“The Man of the Game”), where he wrote about games as cultural phenomena, about how important they are for creative development. We all sometimes need to satisfy our burning curiosity.

The more you learn, the better. Sometimes I sleep one and a half hours a day. Until half past three in the morning I watch TV, flipping through the channels. On each linger no more than 5 seconds. Then I move to the computer and sit still on the Internet. It is full of interesting things.

If you are open and friendly, the results will come. Just do your work well, and everything will be as it should.

If you care about the quality of what you are doing, then you can probably get something good. The Japanese usually care about quality. To do something right you need preparation and thoroughness. We were born for this.

Even if you don’t really want to become famous, it can happen to you. The programmer Funaki and Zvukovik Kai left Namco immediately after creating Pacman, so my name is more known than their names. And this, of course, is not very good.

One of the meanings of my life is to help others and not be a burden to anyone. I myself do the dishes, go to the store to shop, prepare simple dishes.

When an idea seems cool to you, ask at least 10 people what they think about it. I generally advise you to ask questions about everything and everyone.

Happy end is what everyone wants. It's great when we are confident in the future happy ending already at the beginning. This is something like a popular TV series on Japanese television, when we know for sure that at the end of each episode, all the bad ones will be punished, and the good ones will be rewarded.

Helping the weak and creating new opportunities for them is a great motivation to work. I would like to make games that bring joy to everyone - even to those who have never played before for some reason. For example, because of their lack of money, electricity, or something else that is necessary for games now. Blind and other people with any problems also want to play.

In life, I never had a clear goal. Nevertheless, I have achieved certain results. The natural course of life is best.

Chatters do not fit into our little world. In life, we can not be like a pacman, without closing his mouth for a minute. If you like to talk a lot and listen a little, then be prepared for being “eaten” or thrown out of the group.

First of all, think about others, and then, perhaps, the world around you will think about you. Well, if not, then fine.

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You may notice that many designers are still inspired by Pacman. They create furniture, cakes and more.







Make and designs for t-shirts. Here is the image came recently from one of the designers on our site LuckyTee.ru