Build a game like Pac-Man with Claude Code
A maze chase arcade game: maze with dots to eat, chasing enemies with different behaviours, power pellets and more.
The Claude Code prompt
Build an original browser game in the same genre as Pac-Man: a maze chase arcade game. Use your own name, characters, art, sound and levels. Only the general mechanics should feel familiar; do not copy Pac-Man's name, characters, art, music or level layouts. Version one should have: - Maze with dots to eat - Chasing enemies with different behaviours - Power pellets - Lives and score - Levels The hard part: Enemy AI. Give each chaser a simple targeting rule. How to build it: 1. Read this folder first. If it is empty, set up a browser game with Vite, TypeScript and Phaser (or Three.js if it is 3D). Write a short PLAN.md with the game loop, entities, controls and what you are leaving out of version one. 2. Get the core loop playable before anything else: maze with dots to eat. Use simple shapes or free placeholder art until it feels good. 3. Add the rest of the mechanics one at a time, keep game rules in pure functions you can unit test, and make it work with both keyboard and touch. 4. Add a start screen, game over, score and a saved best score in localStorage, plus sound effects you generate or that are free to use. 5. Run it, play it, tune the difficulty, fix what breaks, and finish with a summary and how to deploy it as a static site.
Paste it into Claude Code in an empty folder. It plans first, so read PLAN.md and steer before it starts building.
Version one
- Maze with dots to eat
- Chasing enemies with different behaviours
- Power pellets
- Lives and score
- Levels
The hard part
Enemy AI. Give each chaser a simple targeting rule.
Make it yours: original name, characters, art and levels. Familiar mechanics are fine; Pac-Man's assets are not.
More to build
- A game like Roblox
A platform of user-made multiplayer games: simple 3D worlds players can build in, join other players online, avatars you can customise and more.
- A game like Minecraft
A block-building sandbox game: voxel world with simple terrain generation, place and break blocks, day and night cycle and more.
- A game like Fortnite
A battle royale shooter: small arena map, shrinking safe zone, loot drops and more.
- A game like Wordle
A daily word guessing game: daily puzzle shared by all players, coloured tile feedback, on-screen keyboard and more.
- A game like Chess.com
An online chess site: play online against others, play against a computer, puzzles and more.
- A game like Pokémon GO
A location-based creature collecting game: map of your real surroundings, creatures that spawn near you, catch mini-game and more.