The Ghost spawning rate depends on your score. When you are low in score they appear at larger intervals, but when you start getting points, they start appearing faster and faster.
This creates a dynamic difficulty that allows you to play at a slower pace if you are starting with the game. And prevents experienced players from getting bored at the beginning of each run.
It also means that if you return to a low score during a run the game slows down a bit and gives you a chance to get back on track.
They make 1 point of damage to the player when they touch them.
They die when getting damage, in general, from Guns.
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<img src="/icons/subtitles_red.svg" alt="/icons/subtitles_red.svg" width="40px" /> The regular Ghost HP is 6 and the default Gun damage is 3. So it takes 2 bullets to kill a Ghost as a rule of thumb to balance the different Guns.
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When a Ghost dies:
It drops 3 score points. You need to touch them to collect those points, forcing the player to move around and find a way to reach them.
Each of those points is worth 2 points, more than the points that are placed around the map.
Those points disappear in a short time so you need to pick them fast. Potentially placing you in a position where you need to let them go or take risks.
Ghosts also have a chance to drop a Health Pack or an Ammo Pack. The chances to drop each package depend on the player. The lower your health, the higher the chance to drop a health pack. And the same with your ammo.
If you kill a Ghost with your last bullet, that Ghost always drops an Ammo Package so you can keep playing.
For the same reason, the ammo package should have priority if the player is low on both resources.
There are 4 different types of ghosts, inspired by the original Pacman colours.
In addition to its colour, each Ghost has a different kind of eyes. This helps everyone to identify them, but especially people with colour blindness who often can’t distinguish enemies just by their colour.
<aside> <img src="/icons/subtitles_red.svg" alt="/icons/subtitles_red.svg" width="40px" /> Cool GMTK video about the topic: https://youtu.be/xrqdU4cZaLw
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The eyes look in the direction the Ghost is currently moving so you can see what each Ghost is doing.