Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
crocodile, you might have a beautiful cherry tree in your garden that blooms so
spectacularly in spring, you might be an Inuit brought up in the far north of Canada
and never seen a real tree. All this affects the kinds of signifi eds we might individu-
ally associate with a given signifi er. Semiotics is not a science. It does not give us
unique answers. It is a good way of coming to understand things like topics and
fi lms and games, but it doesn't give us “the answer.”
PAC-MAN'S SIGNS
Pac-Man is full of signs. Pac-Man is signs! Table 10.1 gives a list of all the signifi ers
that make up Pac-Man, together with a signifi ed for each. Each signifi er - signifi ed
pair makes up a single sign. The signifi eds listed in the table are the kinds of meaning
we would derive from the signifi ers of the game Pac-Man without thinking unduly
in terms of games and without trying to come up with the ultimate meaning of Pac-
Man. There is another set of signifi eds for the same game, the same set of signifi ers,
which are more specifi cally to do with Pac-Man being a computer game.
Table 10.2 shows the kinds of meanings we would fi nd in the signs of Pac-Man
as a result of playing the game.
So, most of the signs in Pac-Man have two distinct signifi eds: one that we
recognize from our experience of the world around us, other communications media
and so on, and one that arises from the basic act of exercising agency in the game.
We all know this about most computer games anyway, although not all games have
Table 10.1
Basic Set of Signs for Pac-Man
Signifi er
Signifi ed
Pac - Man (inside game area)
Pac - Man signifi es a character (a person?): his
mouth opens and closes; he eats.
Chomping noise
Reinforces the notion of Pac - Man eating.
Beeping noise
Pac - Man moving and not eating
“ Score ” + numbers at top of screen
Some sort of scoring system
Pac-Man (below game area)
Two other Pacmen when the game starts
Small yellow dot
Could be seen as representing food, Pac-Man' s
ordinary everyday food.
Large yellow dot
Bigger food, means Pac-Man can now eat ghosts
Ghosts (brightly colored)
Active, threatening
Ghosts (pale blue, blank expression)
Stunned or mesmerized, can be killed.
Ghosts (fl ashing)
Danger, returning to life
Pair of eyes
Bodiless ghosts returning to their home.
Blue lines
Delineate navigable areas
Exit left and right
Teleporter to other side of game area
Fruit
Special luxury food
Numbers
Appear when something is eaten and then disappear
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