Disclaimer: This is an unofficial fan project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Bandai Namco Entertainment. Pac-Man is a trademark of Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.

🟡 Multiplayer Pac-Man

A couch competitive twist on the classic arcade game.

Features

• Classic Pac-Man gameplay with all four ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde)
• Up to 4 simultaneous local players (up to 2 on the same keyboard)
• Player profiles with persistent high scores per level with a leaderboard
• Customizable levels via JSON board files
• Keyboard and gamepad support

Downloads

Pre-built binaries are available on the Releases page.

Platform	File
Windows	Pac-Man-windows.zip
macOS (Apple Silicon)	Pac-Man-macos-arm.zip
macOS (Intel)	Pac-Man-macos-x64.zip
Linux (GCC)	Pac-Man-linux-gcc.zip
Linux (Clang)	Pac-Man-linux-clang.zip

Running on macOS

macOS will block the binary by default since it isn't code-signed. To run it:

xattr -cr Pac-Man
chmod +x Pac-Man
./Pac-Man

If macOS still blocks it, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.

How to Play

Creating Profiles

1. On the profile selection menu, select Create Profile and enter a username
   • Press Enter to activate the text box (it turns blue when active)
   • Press Enter again to unselect the textbox
2. Press Continue to proceed to the Main Menu

Multiplayer

• Each player needs their own profile
• The currently logged in profile becomes Player 1
• Player 1 should press the join key first - see below
• After selecting Play, additional players join by pressing the movement key for their chosen control scheme:
  • Press W to join with WASD
  • Press ↑ to join with arrow keys
  • Press the Middle Left Button to join with a controller

⚠️ Mouse input is not supported. All navigation and selection must be done with a keyboard or gamepad — clicking buttons with a mouse will not work.

Controls

In-game movement:

	WASD (left side)	Arrow Keys (right side)	Gamepad
Move	W A S D	↑ ← ↓ →	D-Pad

Joining & profile selection (after selecting Play):

	WASD (left side)	Arrow Keys (right side)	Gamepad
Join	w	↑	Middle Left Button
Confirm / Select	Left Shift	Right Shift	A / Cross
Back / Deselect	Left Ctrl	Right Ctrl	B / Circle

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• A C++20 compatible compiler (GCC, Clang, or MSVC)
• CMake 3.20 or newer

Steps

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/chanuka-williams/Multiplayer-Pac-Man.git
cd Multiplayer-Pac-Man

# 2. Configure
cmake -S . -B build

# 3. Build
cmake --build build

# 4. Run
#   Linux / macOS:
./build/game/Pac-Man
#   Windows:
.\build\game\Pac-Man.exe

Linux Dependencies

On Ubuntu/Debian, install the following before configuring:

sudo apt-get install -y \
  libasound2-dev libx11-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev \
  libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libxcursor-dev \
  libxinerama-dev libwayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev

Custom Boards

Board layouts are defined as JSON files in resources/boards/. Add your own .json file there, and it will appear in the map selection menu automatically.

Contributing

This is still in its early stages so the codebase is still evolving — contributions and improvements are very welcome!