When I started painting the pac-dots, I knew I needed to make a path for the Pac-Man I painted earlier to get from the starting point to the place I put him, so I figured that out. Then, I tore off some newsprint and put pieces down over the paths I didn't want to paint. That worked out well, but then I started thinking about the ghosts. I knew that the original Pac-Man had set patterns for the ghosts, and even though I was trying to avoid getting too into the details, I fired up my MAME cabinet to figure out their placement.

I was able to get Pac-Man in that location with those pac-dots and the Power Pellet missing. I had to eat a ghost, but it is possible to get him to that place without dying or eating more pac-dots than I painted. I paused the game, busted out my other four colors of paint, and finished it up without too much trouble. I did have to bend my rules about brush strokes, because the ghosts were just too faint. I thought that would have been kind of neat at first (they are ghosts), but it just wasn't doing anything for me, so I went over them a few times. Also, the cherries in the maze looked like a red wang before I added another stroke or two.

I like how it came out, and I'm thinking of doing one of the first screen of level 1-1 in Super Mario Bros. It was a fun project, it didn't cost much, and it wasn't difficult to make. If something like this interests you, be sure to check out my inspiration as well as the i am 8-bit works.