[Bongle]

Seconding the autonomous mode dislike. As a programmer, I really liked games like 2006 and 2008 where autonomous was a separately-scored section where a skillfully built robot and control software could score some serious points. The way it is in this game (and 2009 and 2007), the best you can do is get yourself an extra 15 seconds, or 12.5% more play time than your opponents.

However, apart from the relatively low score, this autonomous mode should be pretty good. A well-done robot should be able to score from the far-away section, or at least move the balls into the alliance's near section. I look forward to champs when 6 balls go flying into the chute in 15 seconds.

Finally (and another like): Unlike last year, there isn't really any "penalty" for trying in autonomous: if you attempt to kick a ball and fail, it doesn't really do your team any harm. Last year, if you dumped all your 10 balls in an attack and failed, you lost a LOT of balls and it'd be difficult to recover from that.

Another dislike is the shortage of game pieces. I think 20 would be better, but I assume that the GDC tried it with a variety of game piece counts and found this optimized something, so I'll just roll with it.

In general, I think I like the game. It should be fairly action-packed: robots precariously navigating bumps, balls flying over bumps, balls falling from the top, it should be good.