Cyberpunk 2077's improved police chase system is inspired by Pac-Man

One of the hallmarks of Cyberpunk 2077, especially after the Phantom Liberty update, are its dynamic police chases. Among them, a player crime You may find yourself quickly surrounded by the police and, after some crime, a super-spicy MaxTac. But what you might not realize is that while you're trying to avoid this horde of cops, you're actually playing a very, very complex version of a very, very old arcade game: Pac-Man.

At the Game Industry Conference in Poznań, Wielko Poland, I attended a speech by Maciej Celmer, senior artificial intelligence programmer at CD Projekt, entitled “Heat, MaxTac and Blockades: Police System, “Cyberpunk 2077″ and more”. In the speech, Celmer introduced the specific content of “Cyberpunk 2077” in detail Police pursuit system revamped Players criticized the system at launch for being too forgiving and unappealing.

The new system implemented in 2023 is more dynamic and more popular with players. According to Selmer, it had an unusual inspiration: Pac-Man.

“Remember the Pac-Man games? Each ghost had a different way of catching the player?” Selmer said during his speech. “We did something similar in the car chase. For example, one of them could try to take the shortest path to the player, while the other could try to flank him or intercept him at an intersection. We applied seven different strategies to the cars in this part of the chase.”

After the presentation, we reached out to CD Projekt to learn more about what Celmer is about. He confirmed via email that Pac-Man was one of “many” inspirations for the Police Chase update, “especially for the designers who came up with the idea. We wanted to surround the player with chase vehicles, but at the same time, always try to leave at least a 'path to freedom' – basically a way to escape. However, situations in Night City, especially during chases, can be very dynamic, so 'try' is definitely the right word here.”

Selmer breaks down the seven aforementioned “tactics” for police cars chasing us. Each strategy combines a logical combination of a vehicle's spawn location and its post-spawn behavior, with which strategy used depends on heat, the state of the police system (relaxed, alert, or combat) and other factors. From there, the car can also perform different actions depending on the situation, such as ramming, shooting, blocking, overtaking, or lining up with the car being pursued. In Selmer's words, these seven strategies are:

• Moving towards the player – Moves in a straight line directly towards the player. Used during alarm conditions.
• Away from the Player – Directly away from the player. Used during alarm conditions.
• Patrol Quadrant – Patrols the area around the player.
• Crossroads Trap – Attempts to outflank the player at the next crossroads.
• Approach players from anywhere – aggressively.
• Search Player – Conduct an initial search at a crime scene. Used during alarm conditions.
• Search from anywhere – Fallback strategy used when we cannot find a suitable spawn point for Strategy 6, so the car spawns from anywhere and starts searching for the player.

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