Re: Game Hint #2
 

I agree with you completely that the places are just as important as the actions.

If you want me to think about the places...I'll say that Colorado is a square with 4 corners, Pheonix is in the state of Arizona a state with 3 corners, Minnetonka is in the state of Minnesota a state with 2 corners and Dover is in the state of Delaware a state with 1 corner.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

How are you defining "Corners"? If you look at the NW corner of Delaware, I think you will find a second corner. There may be more in other states depending on how you define a corner.
-Ryan

Re: Game Hint #2
 

90 degree corner

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Honestly, I think this is the best analysis I have read yet.
The only hole is that we get the flags before we get connected. The order is off.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

I would say the places are red herrings. FIRST knows very well our tendency to over analysis everything, and the hints themselves are usually very simple. This thread on the whole is spending too much time with google maps and place names, trying to figure out the game from those, when the real hints are probably in the first part of each line. Why? The locations are just obscure enough to seem like viable clues, but have enough connections to send us on a wild goose chase.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

I'm going base a portion of my theory off of this.

We start with a connection of some sort (possibly with another robot or the addition of a manipulator or field piece to our robot), then put the manipulator through a window to fish something out (possibly a fish).

I believe the last part is saying that this is a hint about the field itself, not necessarily that the clue is about playing the game.

The first clue (a fish) connects nicely to Minnetonka (and Minnesota as a whole), as there is a lot of fishing here. Billbo's idea of a window could also connect to the "window" that ice fisher's make in the ice while ice fishing, and the zamboni idea would fit in with it well too- the connection could be the fact that zambonis move on ice more so than the fact that they smooth over the ice.


On a completely unrelated note, I definitely felt a little burst of happiness at Minnesota being in a hint.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Not necessarily, maybe this year they won't tell us what alliance we are on until we come onto the field.:ahh:

Re: Game Hint #2
 

That would defeat the whole purpose of alliances.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Last year, they used places. I think that the places may actually be more likely to be hints than the first part of each line.

C, P, CA
C, P, AZ
M, M, MN
E, D, ? (could be NH or DE)

Looking at the above list (hint's Street, City, State first letter), I don't see any recognizable patterns, unless you count the CAM in the state names. Not being sure which Dover is referred to, I left that one questionable.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Not really, you would just have to make up strategies with you team mates on the fly, which could even be fun!

Re: Game Hint #2
 

But again, aside from the speculations that have been running around this thread, what easily discernible information is there in the names? Compare that to the first section of that line, where some obvious hints are laid.

"Make a connection": communicate with something during autonomous, or simply a reference to the new control system.

"Make a pickup": our robots need to pickup the game pieces, and based upon the fish, this could involve picking them up from up high or from a hole

"head to the field": Dump the scoring pieces in a goal of some sort, or park the robot in a scoring area.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

I was thinking the same thing sorta. The making a connection makes sense because we are now using IP adresses.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

OK

The new Control System comes with this fancy new $230 camera. They obviously want us to use it. My guess is:

Take your machine out of the shop on Colorado in Paramount;
Take your robot out of the pits. Reference to ice, slippery surface. Machine capable of driving on ice.

stop by and get connected on Central in Phoenix;
Plug in your driver station and get your robot ready. Microsoft on Central, moonfish is an audio tracker, connect to something using audio/video tracking (my guess is video with the camera, find something on the field and go get it)

drive by and make a pickup on Minnetonka in Minnetonka;
When you start the game, pick up a game piece and take it to the actual playing field, maybe hand it over to another player and keep feeding them pieces or something.

then head to the field on Evergreen in Dover.
Take the piece to the field, kind of lumped it in with the last one.


Either way, I'm banking on camera's as a very important piece. That is almost a given in my mind.

I think the clue is a representation of a match. Where it starts and ends and what relates to what is still up in the air.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Obvious? I don't think you read one of my posts earlier, where I talked about an alternative meaning.

"Make a connection" with your buddies to "make a pickup" game of your favorite sport. You "Head to the field" to do that, don't you?

And why would they include the last part of each line if it doesn't help attempts to decipher the hint? With the GDC, every element of a hint has a meaning. Even the shape, if it has one, can have a meaning. If it doesn't have a meaning, the hint would have read

"Take your machine out of the shop;
stop by and get connected;
drive by and make a pickup;
then head to the field."

It doesn't make much sense that way, does it? Looks like a todo list.

On the other hand, if you just have the locations, you get a bunch of locations and nothing else to help.

"on Colorado in Paramount;
on Central in Phoenix;
on Minnetonka in Minnetonka;
on Evergreen in Dover."

Now it really doesn't make sense.

In a sense, it is a todo list. But it tells where, not just what.

Wait a minute. Amazing Race has a set of clues that tell contestants what to do. I wonder...
GDC, you're a year late with this one!

Re: Game Hint #2
 

I agree that GDC wouldn't simply have part of a hint without a reason, however, as I stated earlier, IMO the locations are in the hint as red herrings, to make us over analyze. And when I said "obvious" I meant that work required to decipher the first part of each line is much less then the amount of work put into deciphering the locations. Though I agree that a robot form of the amazing race would be awesome.





EDIT: Another idea as to the third line: Perhaps we once again have human players handing game pieces to the robots, only this time from the sides, not ends, of the field.