2013 Game?

[Flimsor]

The video at the start with the game ball being bounced up by the pinball-like flippers gave me the idea of having a pinball type game. I think that'd be cool.

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by MrTechCenter

Haha. Everybody's trying to find hints everywhere. I bet they haven't even decided on next year's game yet.

Actually, GDC members have repeatedly told us that yes, they have already created next year's game. I wouldn't be surprised if they "tweak" it between now and then, though, based off of what worked and didn't work this year.

[BleakRNS]

The Red Alliance chat was trying to find some hints for next year during Dean's speech. This is a bit of what they came up with, but I think there may have been some more clues. The quotes highlighted in blue have to do with when Dean paused after saying "connections," while the yellow highlighted posts deal with Dean's mention of "high visibility."

[TimSchley]

inb4watergame

[lorem3k]

Rock climbing.

Originally Posted by BleakRNS

The Red Alliance chat was trying to find some hints for next year during Dean's speech. This is a bit of what they came up with, but I think there may have been some more clues. The quotes highlighted in blue have to do with when Dean paused after saying "connections," while the yellow highlighted posts deal with Dean's mention of "high visibility."

It's no secret. Bill Miller even admitted that the Kinect would be huge next year. I was laughing at all the references Dave made about the Kinect when speaking, since he acted like we didn't know it.

[Mark Sheridan]

I really like the 2005 game piece. It was a fun challenge to figure out the simplest way to hold it. I hope next year's game piece is something we have not seen before or at the very least something we have not seen in a long time.

I think a simple PVC pipe will present a difficult challenge especially if there is a lot of pipes to score.


I like this year's cooperation bonus compared to previous attempts. I felt its value was too high. If next year has it again, it should be weighted less than a win. Also, I think it needs to be possible for one robot to achieve it. It could be difficult for one robot to achieve compared to having two robots going for (like filling up a goal with a certain # of game pieces, two robots would be quicker). I don't want a good robot to be punished in the rankings by playing against a weak alliance that can't cooperate.

[qzrrbz]

Originally Posted by Mark Sheridan

...

I like this year's cooperation bonus compared to previous attempts. I felt its value was too high. If next year has it again, it should be weighted less than a win. Also, I think it needs to be possible for one robot to achieve it. It could be difficult for one robot to achieve compared to having two robots going for (like filling up a goal with a certain # of game pieces, two robots would be quicker). I don't want a good robot to be punished in the rankings by playing against a weak alliance that can't cooperate.

Wouldn't one robot cooperating be similar to the sound of one hand clapping? A Zen game!

[lorem3k]

Originally Posted by Mark Sheridan

I really like the 2005 game piece. It was a fun challenge to figure out the simplest way to hold it. I hope next year's game piece is something we have not seen before or at the very least something we have not seen in a long time.

I think a simple PVC pipe will present a difficult challenge especially if there is a lot of pipes to score.

Depending on how the PVC pipes are dispensed, teams who also did FTC in 2010 could have an advantage, just being able to make essentially an oversized version of their FTC scoring mechanism.

Originally Posted by qzrrbz

Wouldn't one robot cooperating be similar to the sound of one hand clapping? A Zen game!

It could be done by awarding bonus seeding points to one alliance if they score a certain amount of points on their own goal. This would also add the strategic element of deciding whether or not to risk their victory by scoring points for the other alliance. It would be very interesting to see that play out.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by lorem3k

Depending on how the PVC pipes are dispensed, teams who also did FTC in 2010 could have an advantage, just being able to make essentially an oversized version of their FTC scoring mechanism.

Before or after the pipes are filled with varying amounts of water and capped? *ducks*

[JakeD]

If it was up to me I'd like to see a game piece like 2008. Its something that teams have seen before but on a scale that makes everything teams know about handling that type of object have to be reexamined.

As for an end game I'm a big fan of robots having to be elevated in some way. My favorite is 2007 where one robot has to elevate the others. 2004 and 2010 are fun to because it makes for a great spectator event when the end game involves robots trying to get up high in some way.

I'd like to see a co-op with the 2007 style end game as well. Co-op points based on one team elevating the other alliances robots above x height. More points for multiple robots. Get to see teams decide how many robots they think they could raise in 1 go. Plus imagine a blue robot raises 2 red robots, while the remaining red robot raises the two other blue for a full co-op.

[Tetraman]

I, for one, approve of tetras returning.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

I, for one, approve of tetras returning.

Tetras would be cool, but put a twist. Get a different random shape. Something like a hexagonal prism that's been hollowed out.

[ZipTie3182]

It's by no means a "hint" but in the videos of the Q&A session at champs, Bill Miller mentioned that they are possibly scrapping their plan for 2013 due to seeing this year's game live. I think he meant that after seeing this year's game, they for some reason changed their mind about what they had planned. On that note, he repeatedly said they were very pleased with how cooperation worked out and that it was very hard to seed well if you didn't cooperate. So, I would expect co-op to be as value as it was this year again.

I also recall him very strongly emphasizing using the kinect in the offseason and that while this year the field did not support on-robot kinects, that may not be the case in future. Therefore, I see on-robot capabilities being a bonus next year or in 2014.

Just my thoughts....

-Anna

[Bryce Paputa]

I predict stacking and/or very small game objects (similar to the FTC balls this year). Last year's FTC game involved bridges, and so did this year's FRC game. I think this will happen again. There are also the Tetras.