FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

(From FIRST Video Game)

I would like to get this going, so I made this thread for serious discussion, specifically the pre-code details.

There are several things needed to be finalized for version 0.1 Alpha:

• Structure of program
• Language
• The first game to be modeled
• What 3rd party stuff are we using (engine, graphics interface, etc).
• Everything else :yikes:

So far:
Language = MS VC++
Platform = Win32
Game = FIRST Frenzy (2004)

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

What exactly will a player control? Will they be able to design their robot/controls and run it against the many AI robots, will it be an online type thing (cool, although maybe hard), will they just be able to pick one of several predesigned robots, possibly unlocking new ones as they do better? :)

--EDIT--
Pardon my ignorance if this has already been mentioned in the other thread. Don't read chit-chat much. :)

----EDIT-----
Some of this was already mentioned. Don't bother with those parts... :)

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

(These are my oppinions and not a consensus)
Either a robot or act as human player (depending on game modeled)
not in-game. Probably an utility for that. The controls probably will not be visible, but the LEDs will be. Dashboard?
probably, though maybe not 'many'.
probably, but not this version
I don't think so.

Currently, I'm thinking about framework (Make a cheapy for debugging). I say come up with a robot standard, draw them later.

My goal for v0.1A is to be able to take a demo bot and drive it around a field, fairly realisticly.
*Include physics engine
*Import bots/fields from files
*render/control interfaced
*no configs, no AIs, no web/lan play (but framework for this should be in place, just values hard coded.)

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

A few questions..
Will the user be able to assign commands to keys they chose?
Will the game support joysticks? ex: Microsoft Sidewinder

A suggestion..
Would it be possible to simulate an innovation first robot controller to control a robot in the game? And if the previous is possible, could a user plug their team's control station (directly from the innovation first tether port) into their computer to control the robot on screen? This would include the use of pots. in the control station.

Thats my $.02 I can't wait for the first release of the game!:D
-Pat M.

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

yes to both, but not initial releases, which will primarily be framework, a skeleton.

yes, no. Half the point is to simulate a given FIRST game (the rest is to create another FIRST thing :D ). The joystick ports on the OI are mostly standard; If you plug in a custom box, the 4 analog and 4 digital inpusts will work, but LEDs will NOT (of course, this can be remmedied with a RS-232 box). As for directly plugging in the OI, probably not.

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

Would the game have an (possibly optional through settings) autonomous mode? IE, sort of like PCPat suggested, we would give the user the ability to program the robot is some way?

Maybe way too hard for now, but maybe in the future... :)

--EDIT--
Feel free to ignore me. I'm not helping much, am I? ;)

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

Depends on the target game. through your favorite IDE (translation: you need source code).
Not hard so much as a lack of anything to work off of.
some.

My last discussion on this.

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

any idea on when this might come out? i can't wait to see it :D

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

When? I'll tell you when the SourceForge site goes up.

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

Ok, so, since you are using VC++, I assume you'll use classes. So, some ideas:

• Individual classes for all robots. You can do fun things with these, such as pass in the robot spec file in the constructor, and the class could read it in and configure itself.
• Class for the game. This class would hold information on what teams which robots are on, where each robot is (maybe this could be a robot class function?), where balls are on the field, make sure robots follow rules, etc. Maybe even it could even read in rules/field structure from a file?
• Depending on how you do the physics engine, you could have classes for various field components, such as balls, goals, etc. For example, with the balls, they could keep track of bounces and other movement, relaying it on to the game controller.

Just some ideas. And some of that is rough obviously, like who gets to keep track of where robots/other moveable field objects are. :)

Yeah! I was helpful (or I tried). :)

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

Hrm ... sounds like a pretty darn big goal. Some points that might be helpful to ponder.

• Do you plan to let the user "build" his robot, or just have a few basic structures with room for light modification?
• If you allow modification, how do you try to "level" the playing field (since you're not spending real money or real time doing it, something has to limit the robots and make them competitive)?
• Do you plan on having AI bots to play against? Connect to other computers to get other human players in the game?
• I assume this'll be real time. What type of physical simulation do you (realistically) expect?

With that said, I would refer you to Crystal Space, a very nice graphics/gaming engine that has cross-platform support, 3ds max import abilities, and MS VC++ work files (which all sound like it would be useful with what you have planned ... aslo, they use to have a rudimentary physics support, but I don't know what's happened to it). And you might want to consider ODE, a pretty serious open source physics engine (for rigid bodies, which robots happen to be).

I'd take a good long hard look at the project, and try to come up with a reasonable set of goals. Remember that successful projects start out small and grow from there. The projects that start out with unrealstic aims tend to fail, as those contributing become disillusioned. Also, some sage advice from my limited experiences -- before you write a single line of code, have a very detailed outline of what the system will be like, to include class hierarchy and interaction, and other such details.

Edit: in regard to Texan's post, which happened to beat me ... I think it's a bit early to begin thinking about specific design issues. Start with a general outline of the project, to inclue non-coding issues too (e.g., a game's nice and all, but nothing without art ... and sound is pretty darn important too, and a whole slew of other issues). Then, work from there. Specific implmentation like what will be a class, etc., will come from the general design, and it's too early to say how you want to design the system. Or that's the way I see it, at least.

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

Here's some of my thoughts....

-Focus first on the robots. Have a few robot types to choose from, then hammer out the kinks and other problems. Then add a custom robo feature, then add human player.
-For a first game, I'd either do Stack Attack or Zone Zeal, but mostly Stack Attack. The game has more action and less moving 'parts' to it.
-Use a language that is supported and can be ported to, Windows, Mac, & Linux.
-Start small, then go big. Don't have many textures or other things, then keep adding things till it's a great game.

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

When you say class, do you mean an instance, or a template? (and I'm probably murdering OOP jargon)
I think every physical object will be an instance of the respective class, while the Field controller will do what the real one does: trigger events on the field. The Engine will control physics, etc.

Anyone work at Id? :D ;)

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

I just took this and said what I thought he meant. :)

Personally, I feel that "good" graphics and sound are easier to figure out and add after the main, supporting stucture is made. I'm one the guys who likes to get it running, then make it cool. :)

--EDIT--
What's Id?

Re: FIRST Video Game: Hammering out details
 

what will we be able to play it on?