Quick question on a mod to some source

[zero-x]

Allright, I know the theory is pretty basic, but I wanna know if the rough and tough of it is just as basic as it should be...
I wanna take a PacMan for the PSP, and make it 3D, however, the theory is that you just replace 2D graphics with 3D graphics, however I know this is not the case, I know I have to create and place a camera, and render the 3d graphics... but would I be able to essentially keep the AI intact and potentially make small changes to the rest of the code body to create the final product?
Maybe also add a 3rd dimension to the playfield later down the road?
Just theoretical questions, not saying I am taking on the project or not, just saying I might... depending on the difficulty of it...

[PSPJunkie_]

You'd have to write it from scratch. The only thing you might be able to copy is the AI path finding.

[Art]

If you have a readable Pacman source code you should be able to reuse the
AI while it is still a 2D playfield.
Someone did a 3D Pong game with different camera angles,
but I don't imagine the actual game is written any differently.

If you have source, I don't see why you'd need to write it from scratch since
every character is still just a set of coordinates on a 2D grid.

[zero-x]

Thanks art, and Junkie...
(by the way, shame aboot xFlash, but its understandable, circumstances do arise )
Yeah, that essentially makes it all easier, modify the character source to return coordinates (X,Y,[z]--3d levels only, IF i decide to go that far) as an array and just have it be
characters[x]=[x,y(,z)];
and then when it comes to render time just render the object at x,y,0 (2d levels) or x,y,z (3d levels..duh)
amirite?
anyway, thanks for the insight... btw, it'll either be asking for source from someone or use some premade source I found somewhere and 'port' that to PSP (its really almost psp compatible out of box, just gotta add in blips and some different imports and change all graphic calls to psp ones lol...)

[SG57]

Theres a few ways to approach this. Are you wanting to make a 3D PacMan for the better of the PSP community by just having a great time playing it, or are you wanting to make it for the better of experience.

If you just want it on the PSP to play, you can port an already existing one (nehe.gamedev.net, look for hte 3D Pacman in the downloads section, ive ported it to the PSP last summer and didnt know about the clipping problem with the PSP, so it rendered ugly, i may go back and give it another try )

Or the opposite extreme, well... Make a 2D one and replace all Y values for Z values and give everything a constant Y value :P (kidding, it takes much more work converting from 2D to 3D)

[youresam]

Something like that would still be programmed in 2D, but rendered in 3D.

[zero-x]

I know the level of work for 2d->3d, i've done it before (RPG, calculator, long time ago... don't ask.. z80/68k is a b*tch) for the most part though, the core elements of the game will remain unchanged, and therefore allow me to just rewrite the very heart of the game...
the difference is I have to "create" a "world" and give the player some "eyes" to look through, in otherwords, initialize a 3 dimensional plane, create objects in that plane, and then create a camera object to view the objects with... when I was working with a calculator it was a bit different than now, with a calculator I had to do raytracing to give it a POV that looked 3d, this time I need to actually do 3d work which I have never done before... hence me learning from this experience, and of course, it would also be a benefit for the community, all of my programs to date have been Open Source under GPL, so not only would the gaming community benefit, but some of the programmers (and would-be programmers) would benefit as well... on to the more complicated stuff, are there any hardcore examples of 3d for the PSP with source? I don't want like.. incredibly complicated work with splines and dynamic shadows, I just want basic 3d stuff, moving camera, rotating camera, objects that move (and animate?) just to learn the operations required to do it, and potentially look at getting some of the basic stuff working...
after I get an initial release (if I can take this monster on...not that its really that big...) I'll see what the response is, and if I like it, I'll put in some other twists to pacman that I've been dreaming about... and depending on my experience gain, I may be able to throw together some other junky 3d games XD pacman isn't the simplest game ever, but its a good place for me to start, it has every kind of generic object that has ever been in a game:
teleports, walls/buildings, enemies (with AI), characters, camera, objectives..
everything else from that point just extends one of the above...
anyway, thanks for the help...

[youresam]

If you have the PSPSDK, theres some 3D samples at:
C:\cygwin\usr\local\pspde v\psp\sdk\samples\gu