Re: Next Year's game idea....
 

Makes ya think though doesn't it? What would happen if there was a time multiplier in a 2 on 2 game? Speak of evil....ipes...Dave is listening...shut up Andy...don't give him any ideas!!! ;)

Re: Next Year's game idea....
 

Water!!
:p

Re: Next Year's game idea....
 

Oh man....that would be so awesome. I would love to see that.

Re: Next Year's game idea....
 

Well... I like the idea of hover crafts... :D THAT WOULD BE SICK!!! It's possible... I don't know maybe set up walls around the playing field inorder to protect people...

Re: Next Year....
 

I am kind of surprised at how people focus so much on "scoring elements" that everyone assumes must be some sort of small, movable object that there are several dozen of on the field, which the robots manipulate for score. I think things like hanging on the bar or last years ramp are more interesting methods of scoring than just moving around bunches of balls, floppies, or whatever else you like. If there is stuff to manipulate, it would be interesting if there were fewer so robots wouldnt spend time "farming", especially when the match is so short. I like the idea of something like the capture the flag where there would be few elements and which would require alliances to work together to a much greater degree.

Re: Next Year....
 

Well, well, well, Chris... Aren't we just the excitable one? ;)

Re: Next Year....
 

I really like that idea too. Though the thing I fear is how much it would turn into a battle bots type match. It would be robot vs. robot the whole time.

Re: Next Year....
 

I think to remedy that you take a cue from FLL. Rather than do a LOT of Robot vs. Robot, do more Robot Vs. Field. Throw some more obstacles out there.
Maybe the robot has to trigger a lever to let down a bridge (NO, I am NOT serious, this would cost insane money and I'm using it in an exaggerated sense to demonstrate a point).

...Although I've always seen FLL as the graduation from Robot vs. field to Robot Vs. Robot, and I LOVE robot vs. robot.

Re: Next Year....
 

I do think that this is probably the major concern with having less "robot vs field" and more "robot vs robot" as specialagentjim calls, but this is where the real challenge in designing the game comes from. Robot vs Field just seems to defeat the purpose of getting dozens of teams and thousands of people together when the robot could be doing everything its doing with only 1 other or no other robots. I think a larger degree of interaction between robots than this year had is important.

Re: Next Year....
 

I've seen some examples of robot vs. field, and I'm personally not a fan. And if I can't get into it, I have little hope for spectators. But maybe that's me.

I could seriously see a CTF game in FIRST. Or, if we were gonna get really sweet, perhaps laser tag. I mean, we've already had to deal with infrared sensors once before, now let's have the robots go to town with 'em!

Thing is, how would you reset after a capture? Have a ref release another flag once an alliance scores, or just have a lot of flags? One requires a lot of neutral human (ref) intervention mid-match, the other puts us right back where we were to begin with. Ah well...FIRST has a way of working that out.

Re: Next Year....
 

Well i wasn't thinking about exactly a CTF game, just the idea of all teams focusing on one or a few objects. To make the game as complex as this year, their would need to be more to it, like a human player's involvement and the oppurtunity to put lots and lots of things on your chasis other than a drivetrain so it can't be just grabbing an object and driving with it. The field could have many manipulable/movable items that could affect gameplay. just a simple way to deal with the problem you mentioned, scoring could be based on the time a flag is in the scoring zone, not just entering the scoring zone, that way the opposing team could recapture it. Obviously, a significantly larger amoutn of thought needs to go into this than we can give here just typing away at our PCs.

Re: Next Year....
 

I didn't like the ramp... You see too many robots tipping because of their center of gravity or robots having "plows"... I hate it when robots tip because matches just get boring... You need a lot of excitement and the more options and different ways to score then the more excitement there is...

i don't konw... just my opinion...

Re: Next Year's game idea....
 

With the capture the flag kind of idea, you could have some sort of object that the robot had to manipulate as the "flag."

Ex..some sort of ball..bin...floppy....or some other unknown object. It would allow for both talented veteran teams and rookie teams to compete...because a robot could get in the way no matter how simple it is.

Re: Next Year's game idea....
 

a double decker field with ladders will be interesting. ramps, stairs... thats already been done. a rope ladder would be even more interesting.

or maybe a game that uses deflated balls and you get points by blowing them up

Re: Next Year's game idea....
 

I have always thought about a double decker field... I would absolutely love to see HOVERCRAFTS!!! That would be crazy but I think that that would never happen... Well, not in this decade...