
Spoiler alert! This story contains key details for the “Pac-Man” episode of Amazon Prime Video’s “Secret Level.”
For this team, adapting the video game into a TV series made sense.
“Secret Levels,” currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, is an animated anthology series that draws inspiration from several video games, including Mega Man, Pac-Man, and Unreal Tournament. The series is produced by Tim Miller (Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots and 2016’s Deadpool) with executive producer Dave Wilson (Love, Death & Robots and Bloodshot) and features a star-studded cast. Keanu Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emily Swallow, Kevin Hart.
“Our studio, Blur, has been around for almost 30 years, and we’ve been in the games industry for most of that year, making movies and trailers, so this pairing is almost a natural. That was the case,” Wilson told USA TODAY. .
How the video game was adapted into “Secret Levels”
The team had fun exploring different options for how to tell a story based on different video games.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
“I love the fact that I get to participate in different types of storytelling, from art to tone,” Miller said. “We try to give everyone a little something.”
Episodes are adapted from new titles and classic series, and cover a variety of game genres, including sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Miller said the duo also considered including different types of games, including adventure games, first-person shooters, and 8-bit games.

“Secret Levels”: What you need to know about the video game feature Prime Video Anthology
Wilson said the process behind developing each short episode from across the game’s world was complex but concise.
“First, we sit down with developers and narrow down their 40-year franchise or new franchise to what we call a creative guide,” Wilson said. “Which characters should we use? Where are the no-fly zones for the series that we don’t want to adapt or no longer consider as part of moving forward? These creative guides are shared with authors. They help us We choose the idea, it becomes a short story, and that short story is turned into a screenplay.”
The game companies they worked with were a great resource because they “know their games inside and out,” Miller said.
Many companies have staff members called loremasters, which is “a great title for a great job just to know everything about the game,” Miller said. “They give us a very clear idea of what characters are interesting to explore, what roads are interesting to drive, and we go from there.”
A different kind of Pacman – and a new game

The visual style, tone, and themes of the “Secret Level” episodes are as diverse as the games they’re based on, but most of them hit familiar beats.
And Episode 6, “Pac-Man: Circle,” is a horror twist on the colorful classic character. This horrifying and sometimes bloody story tells of a warrior who is made stronger by a floating pack of gold balls that feeds him many enemies in an unfamiliar environment.
Wilson said having these different versions of Pac-Man was a “simple mandate” from entertainment company and video game developer Bandai Namco. Bandai Namco develops, owns, and publishes the Pac-Man franchise.
“I don’t know if people will look at this and think we’re off the reservation, but their mission is, ‘We want people to wonder what they did to Pac-Man.’ “It was,” Wilson said. “We tried many times to find a story that would embody that feeling, but failed until head writer JT Petty went home one weekend and came back with an episode.”
On Thursday, Bandai Namco announced Shadow Labyrinth, a 2D action platformer that takes Pac-Man even darker.
Why ‘Secret Level’ creators didn’t consider removing the Concord episode
One of the “Secret Level” episodes is based on the video game Concord, a highly anticipated title that faced problems upon release.
PlayStation shut down the online first-person shooter in September, shortly after its August 23 debut, and Sony announced it would offer full refunds to anyone who purchased the video game. Concord’s developer, Firewalk Studios, also shut down after the game went offline.
But the “Secret Level” production team never considered removing or reworking the Concord episodes. It was completed before the game became difficult to release.
“The worst thing we could do would be to delete the episode,” Wilson said. “It’s just a hole in the series rather than a celebration of what thousands of people came together to create.”
MORE: Why the new LEGO Horizon adventure game is perfect for young people (and old people)
“You have to show some respect for people who put themselves out there,” Miller said. “The[Concord]episode is really fun, and the characters are cool and really beautiful. It’s a real shame, or insult to injury, not to show the work of all the artists and animators who made that episode. They did a lot of work. “It takes hard work.” ”
The Concord-based episode of “The Secret Level” will be released on Prime Video on December 17th.