felix089

How decisions work

When a character commits to a corridor its next junction is known, so the game asks jev about it straight away (one System One request per frame, one choice question per character, options = legal directions described with computed facts: distances to pellets, power pellets, fruit and ghosts, whether the nearest ghost is coming closer, and whether a ghost can reach the end of the corridor before Pac-Man). Up to three requests are in flight at once. If the character reaches the junction before the answer, it waits there (its panel card says "thinking…"). After 2 s, or on an error, it uses a greedy rule.

Pac-Man can also get a second question mid-corridor: when a dangerous ghost is in the corridor ahead, or can reach the junction at its end before he does, jev is asked whether to keep going or turn back right now (pacman_escape). Pac-Man keeps moving while it is open, and each situation is asked once.