The Concept
Many years ago when I first saw the ghosts at Burning Man, it took me back to my childhood and reminded me of great memories of playing PacMan and basically any 8-bit game of my childhood. I want to be able to bring that feeling back to others and remind them what they used to dream of as kids. Working with Ghost Frequencies, we have been able to design and start the build process matching their style to fit seamlessly into everyone's childhood memories of PacMac. However, I wanted to be able to bring in something new and expand the capabilities beyond just a yellow, or even a multi-colored circle in the desert.. I also want to be able to get people to wonder what that is out in the distance.. That is why we hand built each of the two 7,500 individually controlled LEDs to be able to incorporate patterns and artwork from various artists on this 10 foot tall circular diffused art panel (screen). With this we can bring to life PacMan as an animated figure in the distance as well as visuals only seen in our dreams when we are able to get away from the day to day life of rectangular display devices.
The Design
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The base vehicle is expected to be a Columbia BC2 Payloader or a Taylor Dunn B2-48 (electric cart) with a 4" boxed aluminum frame that is bolted to steel shoes that are welded directly to the frame of the cart. This frame structure is what will support the two 10 foot tall round side panels that make up the well known PacMan or 'RetroMan' character. On the front of the cart will be an infinity mirror / pacman game that will be playable with a game controller when PacMan is stationary.
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RetroMan is lit on both sides by over 7,500 WS2812B LEDs on each side. This allows for individual control of each LED. These LEDs are diffused by ¼" white polycarbonate plastic allowing the 51,000 lumens to be seen without a grid like effect. RetroMan has 3 main modes, PacMan: an animated PacMan that would be clearly visible from a distance. Interactive mode: the pacman panels can be used to play 8 bit arcade games when RetroMan is taking a rest. Visual mode: In this mode we can display burner created visuals to be displayed and go along with the music playing.
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Coming Soon
The Renderings
These renderings are to give a rough idea of what the final RetroMan is going to look like
