[RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

After we finish our discussion with Frank on STEAMworks, we'll be doing a little Q&A with the viewers. So if you've got questions on how this year's game came to be, post them in this thread! We'll pick the best and ask Frank a few on the show TONIGHT at 9 PM ET at twitch.tv/FRCGameSense . We will also be accepting questions live as always via our chat-bot.

NOTE: This is not a chance to ask your FRC Q&A system question on what is or is not a rope, or whether velcro is a good rope.

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

At what point in time is the initial idea for the game created? How early do you start on each year's game (many years in advance or...)

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

Going off Mark's question...

How did the creation schedule for STEAMWORKS compare with STRONGHOLD or Recycle Rush? Was it further ahead of schedule, behind, about even?

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

What's your reasoning behind deciding to omit some parts of the field drawings?

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

Are we to expect "themed" games for each upcoming season in the near future?


What led to the concept of having students ON the game field during live matches? How much heartburn was there about that decision?


Are we to expect vision obstructions for drivers to become the new norm in FRC game design? Is it an intentional feature that's being designed into the game to up the engineering challenge, or simply a byproduct of other game design priorities?
(Follow up: If an intentional feature, how much weight is given to spectator experiences? Upping this particular engineering challenge often comes at the direct detriment of spectator experience, as the quality of on-field play is lowered by drive teams having limited visibility."

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

Did you guys consider mini bots in the creation of the game? The entire theme seems to point towards them. Rope climbing mini bots using only the default ropes would have been a fun challenge.

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

Do you like the prisoner dilemma design challenge? (teams have to choose one of two game aspects to focus on without knowing what other teams will focus on, risking too many or too few gear/fuel focused bots)

What process will field reset utilize to count 50 fuel balls per hopper container?

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

Do you enjoy building the game as much as we enjoy playing it ?
Do you sit back a play the game with other FIRST employees sometimes?
If so how well did you do?

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

I want to upvote all Sean's questions. #1 especially. "themed" games led BEST down a rabbit hole of ever zanier and more complicated games, and I'd rather FRC avoid that.

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

What is the reasoning behind the new robot size format?

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

Does Frank have any regrets about aspects of previous game designs, especially Stronghold and Recycle Rush.

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

please try to keep q's original like either this



or more commonly this



thanks

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

There's only on Q that matters in the grand scheme of things.

Re: [RSN] Give Us Your Q's for Frank to Answer Tonight!
 

As this year's game is almost entirely scored automatically by the field, how much testing has been done to ensure that scoring is handled reliably? Are there any backup plans in place to do manual scoring in the event some or all of the field fails to function properly?